"Whenever Founder Niwano gave us guidance at the Great Sacred Hall, he did not always have the manuscript at hand. Still, he often introduced the scripture, as he effortlessly quoted line after line from the Threefold Lotus Sutra. In other words, the practice of ‘expounding’ – he was always sharing the teaching of the Lotus Sutra with us. When we adapt this to our own practice, we may not be able to quote exactly from the scripture. Yet, we use words and expressions such as the following: “You’re taking it the wrong way. Your husband is angry because he’s actually worried about you.”; “The branch leader’s words are actually Buddha’s words. Don’t take what she’s saying lightly.”; “Did you discuss and receive guidance from the district leader before you did that? If you act without guidance, your action will not be blessed with divine protection.” With so many numerous words and expressions, we are expounding the teaching of the Lotus Sutra."
is rita paying attention?
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ReplyDeleteMark you are similar to that Nikkyo Niwano of the Rissho Kosei-kai , in that you both promote the same Threefold Lotus Sutra as follows; You must agree with Niwano because you both think this version of the Lotus Sutra is pretty good and therefore Rissho Kosei-kai or the Nikkyo Niwano and SGI aren't all that bad because you have some things in common that you all may like. Maybe this book holds the key for unity amongst the warring tribes Nichirenism or maybe I'm just grasping at straws
ReplyDeleteNikkyo; Finally, I would like to remind readers that my book, A Guide to the Threefold Lotus Sutra is only an outline of the Threefold Lotus Sutra: a simple guide to it. Because the sutra has long been appreciated as a work of great literary merit and because almost every word or phrase in it contains an important teaching, I would like to encourage readers to go on to the sutra itself.
The Threefold Lotus Sutra, translated by Bunno Kato and others (Weatherhill/Kosei, 1975), has been praised highly and is well worth reading.
The many passages from the Threefold Lotus Sutra quoted or paraphrased in the present book are taken from that one. It is my sincere hope that my book Buddhism for Today: A Modern Interpretation of the Threefold Lotus Sutra (Weatherhill/Kosei, 1976) will also be of help.
It reads well. I am not a Chinese scholar to know if it is an accurate translation. I use all the translations available online.
ReplyDeleteAs far as being "all that bad", "copying" is the least meritorious practice of the Lotus Sutra. They have the other more important practices all wrong.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they have a good copy and the comments are just as good. Its a good start. The more important practices can be picked up elsewhere. It is good if everyone has something to offer. So far what I see there is no group of Nichiren Buddhists that have all the right answers, wouldn't you agree ?
DeleteOne problem is what Nichiren terms "mixing". Here are the Four Dangers of the Soka Gakkai:
ReplyDeleteThe first danger of the SGI teachings is mixing the clean with the unclean. No dog would ever intentionally eat ground glass. No infant would ever intentionally ingest a toxic substance nor would any mother intentionally give her baby a toxic substance. However, a dog will eagerly eat a steak inundated with ground glass and an infant will readily drink tainted breast milk. A mother, not knowing that the noxious drug is excreted into her breast milk, inadvertently gives it to her baby. This is what the SGI members serve to the children of the Buddha. They serve the poison of the heretical doctrines of Nichiren as True Buddha, The DaiGohonzon, and the Oneness of Living Mentor and Disciple to their children in the milk of Namu Myoho renge kyo. Or they, like a mean and deranged farmer, serve their loyal dog the ground glass of slander of the orthodox sects in the steak of the Jiga-ge.
The second danger is as noxious as mixing the clean with the unclean: Taking a piece of the teachings from the middle, a piece from the end, and a piece from the beginning and re-attaching them in reverse order or mixing them up. The former practice is like a surgeon who reverses a vein when creating an arterial bypass. The flow of blood ceases and the patient dies. The latter practice (that of mixing up the teachings) can be likened to a physician who is ignorant of adverse drug-drug interactions. He mixes two or three safe and efficacious drugs together which turns them into a powerful poison. The former practice of rearranging the teachings is commonplace in the SGI. For example, those teachings that Nichiren Daishonin taught before he had fully developed his faith are given precedent over the later complete teachings or they promote the theoretical teachings of expedients over the essential teachings of abandoning expedients and the exclusive faith and practice of the Lotus Sutra. An example of the danger of mixing several efficacious practices which when mixed have a deleterious effect, are the practices of shoju and shakabuku in the Soka Gakkai which are practiced without understanding the times or the circumstances in which we live. They practice shoju towards the slanderers of the Dharma such as the Zen men, Nembutsu adherents, and believers in Islam and practice shakabuku towards the members of the Kempon Hokke and the Nichiren Shu. These sundry practices the SGI perpetrates on the children of the Buddha. Neither Greg Martin nor Dave Baldshun nor any of the salaried SGI leaders are good persons and neither is their master, Daisaku Ikeda. Both have the mission of destroying the teachings and harming the children of the Buddha, Daisaku Ikeda from above and the salaried SGI leaders from below.
The third danger of the SGI is that they arbitrarily add doctrines and concepts to the Great Pure Teachings where none exist and claim them as “the original and authentic teachings of Nichiren Daishonin”. This is worse than forging Gosho because it is more insidious. By altering a word here or a word there, to already extant and authentic Gosho (literally putting words in Nichiren’s mouth), they become adept at fooling the people. This cunning and treachery they inherited from the perverse seven hundred year tradition of the Taisekaji priests and their Gosho Zenshu, Oral Teachings, and faked transfer documents. Fortunately, we have the unadulterated Showa Tehon Collection of Original Gosho (as well as expert linguists), to keep them honest. We also have the disciples and believers of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin whose correct faith and understanding renders them capable of clarifying such matters.
ReplyDeleteThe last danger is that many innocent people fall prey to the Soka Gakkai's argument, “Nichiren said this but meant that” which is the teachings of the delusion of fundamental darkness. Since this is a visceral and emotional argument and the people are steeped in the Three Poisons, no amount of logic or scholarship will suffice to overturn it. Most people can no more see their own eyebrows than heaven in the distance [Nichiren]. It will require the wisdom of the Buddha born of faith in Nichiren Daishonin’s Gohonzon and the Lotus Sutra to destroy these arguments and devils.