Two perspectives, SGI's and Nichiren's

Who is the Original Eternal Buddha?

An SGI member's perspective

"Since you think Shakyamuni was the ultimate Buddha, what do you make of him saying, "I, too, once also practiced bodhisattva austerities." Does this not infer that he studied under someone, a prior Buddha who taught him these practices, or do you think he just made them up himself?

Does he also not refer to his first attainment of enlightenment in gohyaku jintendo (a long, long time ago) instead of kuon ganjo, the infinite past?

Also, since the Lotus was preached 3,000 years ago, does that mean there is nothing more to learn for the rest of eternity?  Just wondering,"

Then, more recently he wrote:

"I guess if one can't reconcile the [fact] that Nichiren is the original Buddha, capable of inscribing his life-state into the form of a Gohonzon, the teacher of all Buddhas, past, present and future, the only alternative is to devise one clever guess after another."

Nichiren Daishonin's Perspective

The Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin teach that, "Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment at a time even more distant than gohyaku jintengo." (MW, Vol.2, p.268)

Here are more than a dozen additional passages from Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra which you recite every day:

"But forever here preaching the law."

And: 

"I forever remain in this [world]" 

And: 

"And then I tell all creatures

That I exist forever in this world" 

Therefore, once expedients are abandoned: 

"I [Shakyamuni] tell all creatures that I [Shakyamuni] exist forever in this world." 

"By the power of tactful methods

Revealing [myself] extinct and not extinct"

"[If] in other regions there are beings

Reverent and with faith aspiring

Again I am in their midst"

"other regions" means everywhere, means past present and future and means eternal:

"I behold all living creatures

Sunk in the sea of suffering

Hence I do not reveal myself"

Beholding all living beings means omnipresent.

"Hence I [Shakyamuni] do not reveal myself" (although "I" am always present.)

"Till, when their hearts are longing,

I appear to preach the Law:"

"I therefore appear to all living creatures."

All living creatures include those who have existed since time without beginning, those who now exist, and those who will exist in the infinite future.

"[I am] always on the Divine Vulture Peak

And in every other dwelling place".

This is self explanatory.

"Tranquil is this realm of mine,

Ever filled with heavenly beings,"

Parks, and many palaces

With every kind of gem adorned,

Precious trees full of blossoms and fruit,

where all beings take their pleasure"

Again, "ever" is forever [eternal] and "all" is all throughout the Three Existences. This passage brings up a very  important point: Not only the Buddha Shakyamuni who teaches all beings the eternity of life is eternal but so is his land and so are the masses of beings.

''But all who perform virtuous deeds

And are gentle and upright

These all see that I exist."

Again, "all" is all. Those who existed, exist and will exist (from the standpoint of the Truth of Temporary Existence) who perform virtuous deeds and are gentle and upright, these beings see that Shakyamuni always exists. Does that mean that those who don't see the Buddha, those such as Nikken, Ikeda, and yourself, are not virtuous and upright? 

"For the Buddha's words are true, not false.

Like the Physician who with clever device,

In order to cure his demented sons,

Though indeed alive, annonces his own death

Yet can not be charged with any falsehood,

I, too, being father of this world,

Who heals all misery and affliction,

For the sake of the perverted people,

Though truly alive, say [I am] extinct;

Who is the father of this Saha world who heals all misery and all affliction? There can not be two fathers. This would have been an opportune time for Shakyamuni to announce a Buddha more original than himself [as the father of the world] but, as we see, the Buddha Shakyamuni, consistent from beginning to end, again announces, "I".

"I, ever knowing all beings"

Again, the words "I", "ever" and "all".

"Expound their every Law"

Buddha Shakyamuni [as He, Nichiren Daishonin, and we state]. teaches every Law.

"Ever making this my thought:

How shall I cause all the living

To enter the Way supreme

and speedily accomplish their buddhahood." 

The Original Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni always and exclusively practices the True Law and has been doing so since time without beginning. Nichiren, on the other hand, by his own admission, practiced the Nembutsu. The passage you cite, taken in the context of the entire Lotus Sutra and the commentary by Nichiren, is nothing more than an affirmation of Ichinen Sanzen. It means that even the Buddha from time without beginning contains the other nine worlds and manifests in different guises in order to preach the True Law. If you don't believe the Lotus Sutra and me, here is what Nichiren says in the True Object of Worship, explaining this passage of the Sutra:

"The Juryo chapter states: "Once I also practiced the

bodhisattva austerities and the life which I then

acquired has yet to be exhausted. My life will last

yet twice as many aeons from now." 

"He was speaking of the world of Bodhisattva within ourselves." 

"Thus, in the various sutras other than the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni does not assemble those Buddhas who carry out different austerities and practices and who possess the three bodies nor does he identify them as emanations of himself. Only in the Hoto chapter of the Lotus Sutra does he do so. This chapter then, is intended as an introduction to the Juryo chapter that follows later. Shakyamuni Buddha who was believed to have attained enlightenment for the first time only some forty and more years previously, calls together Buddhas who had become enlightened as long ago as one or even ten kalpas in the past, and declares that they are emanations of himself. This is a far cry indeed from the Buddha’s usual preaching on the equality of all Buddhas [in their Dharma bodies], and in fact a cause of great astonishment. If Shakyamuni had attained enlightenment for the first time only some forty years earlier, there could hardly have been so many beings in the ten directions who had received his instruction. And even if he was privileged to possess emanations, there would have been no benefit in his showing them to his listeners. T’ien-t’ai, describing what went on in the astonished minds of the assembly, stated: "It was evident to them that Shakyamuni Buddha possessed numerous emanations. Therefore, they understood that he must have attained enlightenment in the far distant past."

I have collected 98 additional passages of proof if you are still not convinced.

Question: What is the Meaning of Original Buddha or Original Teacher?

Original Teacher means that no matter how eminent, wise, or knowledgeable one may be, and no matter how diligent one is in carrying out the Six Paramitas (Six Perfections), there is no way that one could come up with, let alone reveal, Myoho renge kyo independently of Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha, in the history of the universe, was the one unique individual capable of doing so. Nichiren realized this, taught this, and reverenced Shakyamuni Buddha for His astronomical feat of autonomous self-practice. That is why He, rather than any other individual, is worshipped as the person of the Gohonzon (Ninpo-Ika). We owe our very Enlightenment to this Buddha and this Buddha alone.

The arrogance of those in the SGI and Nichiren Shoshu who misconstrue Shakyamuni Buddha's and Nichiren Daishonin's words for their own aggrandizement is cause to fall into the Lower Worlds and to remain there for a very long time. How can one follow someone who is so blind to the manifest reality that someone had to give them the Five Characters that they pay homage to? Daisaku Ikeda didn't come up with the formula Myoho renge kyo. The High Priest didn't come up with this formula. Even Nichiren Daishonin didn't realize and expound the Lotus Sutra in the infinite past. It was Shakyamuni Buddha who taught Nichiren Daishonin and the other Bodhisattvas of the Earth the Lotus Sutra in the remote past. It was Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha who planted the seed of Myoho renge kyo in our Buddha-nature, the seed that, if watered with a correct faith and practice, grows into the magnificent tree of the Supreme Enlightenment of Myoho.

As far as your question about nothing more to learn for all eternity, the World of Learning too is without beginning and end but it is not the state we should aspire to.

You have unquestioningly believed what your leaders and priests of Taisekaji have taught you without investigating the matter. You have gone against the Buddha's admonition to "be a lamp unto yourself" and to accept only those arguments based on the scriptures. I hope you will take this lengthy reply in the spirit in which it is offered and begin a faith, practice, and study, consonant with the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin.