"As long as one is a Nichiren Shoshu priest or lay believer, he or she should absolutely be obedient to the high priest. Those priests and lay believers who, instead of following him, go against him or attack him, are no longer considered practitioners of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. Despite countless slanderous words or malicious plots, we consistently have protected the head temple and followed the High Priest, for we believe doing so is truly correct faith." -- Daisaku Ikeda
Ikeda said this : "Despite countless slanderous words or malicious plots, we consistently have protected the head temple and followed the High Priest, for we believe doing so is truly correct faith." --
ReplyDeletebut what he really meant was this : Despite countless slanderous words or malicious plots, we consistently have protected the head temple and followed the High Priest, for we believe doing so is truly the path of least resistance to amassing great wealth.-
In my humble opinion --
~Katie
agreed.
ReplyDeleteikeda never cared much for the priesthood. personally, i doubt he ever really cared for nichiren/lotus sutra. when one looks at his younger pictures, one can see "mean" as his true aspect. he was into toda and toda was his ticket to power.
in the middle 70's the temple rebuked ikeda for his arrogance toward the priesthood and the nichiren shoshit teachings. although publicly he apologized, his facade of support for them unraveled. this, i believe, was when his plan to separate from n s began to bloom. had the separation been over a correct faith/doctrine.....then fine. not the case, it was over ego and power. hence, nasty shallow remarks and silly skits. toda was incorrect but i am pretty sure he is not happy with ikeda senseless.
what say you dirham?
I say you and President Ikeda are the same level. Lying sacks of filth lower than the dust. Except I think you are beneath him. In fact I don't think you are even worthy to be called an SGI member. That's too much value already, especially for a violent insane man like you. Does that make sense to you moron? M-o-r-IKEDA-O-n.
Deleteyou know you miss your ikeda sensei..........admit it.
Deletewhy else would you keep talking about him?
break those attachments sweetie.
real world dirham: you have one week to start talking about buddhism and the teachings. otherwise off you go.
just so you know. rules are rules. we have troll rules here.
don't blow it. good luck!
And a trivial little pipsqueak Troll at that is Dirham
Deletei had a long time sgi/nst friend. she joined back in the late 60's. sometime around 1990 she went with the temple and left the gakkai. a very long story short, circa 2007, out of the blue, she called me saying she was depressed and miserable and had been for sometime. she asked me, do you think the priests and the temple can put a curse on me? my reply to her was nope, its all cause and effect.
ReplyDeleteha ha, dirham, your comment made me think of this true story, and it also makes me laugh.
question dirham, is your above comment what you learn at your temple from your priests?
ReplyDeletedirham, time is running out.
Yo! Dirham,
ReplyDeleteOne of these beings, " maybe a worm or some sort of a cockroach" carved your Dai-No-Honzon !! surely, you don't ban them from gazing at their craftsmanship?
~Katie
people who claim to be nichiren buddhists but despise his teachings are the worst kind of slanderers. is this not what the shoshit and ikeda senseless produce? they chant the daimoku brought by nichiren like a magic potion, while despising what he taught. nichiren tells us that the daimoku they chant is NOT the daimoku of the lotus sutra. like a counterfeit dollar bill, it may look the same, but holds no power. and is actually illegal. neither the shoshit, or the sgi teach real buddhism. eagle peak is the place to be.
ReplyDeleteYes it is Greg!
ReplyDeleteI am loathe to ban anybody because I have been banned from so many places. Sooner or later the birds and beasts who graze here leave, their tales between their legs as the humans approach.
ReplyDeletesometimes i am right , sometimes i am wrong.,,,,,,,,your house.
ReplyDeletewhen you have time Facebook me. or call when you can. thanks.
gloria told me she offered you a special gift. she loves you as her doctor. pretty amazing for someone who is not even a buddhist. speaks highly of her and you. very encouraging .
Only Namu Myoho renge kyo is correct because Namu Myoho renge kyo is the personal name of the Supreme Law. Neither Nam Myoho renge kyo, Namo Miao Fa Lien Hua Ching, Namas Saddharma pundarika sutra nor Devotion to the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma is the name of the Supreme Law.
ReplyDeleteEven were Nichiren to have written the Daimoku in brail, it is written Namu Myoho renge kyo. Nichiren never wrote Nam Myoho renge kyo, not once in thirty years, not on his Gohonzons nor in his writings.
“And when the two characters for Namu are prefixed to Myoho-renge-kyo, or the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, we have the formula Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.” -- The Opening of the Eyes
"The jewels of this jeweled vehicle are the seven precious substances which adorn the great cart. The seven jewels are precisely the seven orifices in one's head, and these seven orifices are precisely the [seven characters] na-mu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo, the essential Dharma for the Final Dharma Age." -- Recorded Lectures of Niko [Ongi Kikigakai]
Nichiren on discarding even a single character of the Lotus Sutra:
"A single character of the Lotus Sutra is like the great earth, which gives rise to all things. A single character is like the great ocean, which contains the water from all rivers. A single character is like the sun and moon, which illuminate all four continents.
“Now the Latter Day of the Law, is the time when the seven characters of Namu Myoho renge kyo-the heart of the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra that Shakyamuni Buddha who had achieved enlightenment in the remote past, along with the bodhisattvas Jogyo, Muhengyo and the others is to propogate-will alone spread throughout the country.”
"In the first five hundred years of the Former Day of the Law following the Buddha’s passing, only Hinayana teachings spread, while in the next five hundred years, provisional Mahayana teachings spread. The thousand years of the Middle Day of the Law saw the rise of the theoretical teaching. In the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, only the essential teaching spreads, but even so, the theoretical teaching should not be discarded. Nowhere in the entire Lotus Sutra do we find a passage suggesting that we should discard the first fourteen chapters, which comprise the theoretical teaching. When we distinguish between the theoretical and the essential teachings on the basis of the threefold classification of the entire body of the Buddha’s teachings, the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings were to be spread in the Former Day, and the theoretical teaching, in the Middle Day, but the Latter Day is the time to propagate the essential teaching. In the present period the essential teaching is primary, while the theoretical teaching is subordinate. But those who therefore discard the latter, saying it is not the way to enlightenment, and believe only in the former, have not yet understood the doctrine of Nichiren’s true intention. Theirs is a completely distorted view."
"Thus a single word of this Lotus Sutra is as precious as a wish-granting jewel, and a single phrase is the seed of all Buddhas."
cont...
"Again, a single character equals innumerable others, for the validity of the sutra was attested to by the Buddhas of the ten directions. The treasures bestowed by a single wish-granting jewel equal those bestowed by two such jewels or by innumerable jewels. Likewise, each character in the Lotus Sutra is like a single wish-granting jewel, and the innumerable characters of the sutra are like innumerable jewels. The character myō was uttered by two tongues: the tongues of Shakyamuni and Many Treasures. The tongues of these two Buddhas are like an eight-petaled lotus flower, one petal overlapping another, on which rests a jewel, the character of myō.
ReplyDeleteThe jewel of the character myō contains all the benefits that the Thus Come One Shakyamuni received by practicing the six pāramitās in his past existences: the benefits he obtained through the practice of almsgiving by offering his body to a starving tigress and by giving his life in exchange for that of a dove;9 the benefits he obtained when he was King Shrutasoma who kept his word, though it meant his death, in order to observe the precepts;10 the benefits he obtained as an ascetic called Forbearance by enduring the tortures inflicted upon him by King Kāli;11 the benefits he obtained as Prince Earnest Donor and as the ascetic Shōjari, and all his other benefits. We, the people of this evil latter age, have not formed even a single good cause, but [by bestowing upon us the jewel of myō] Shakyamuni has granted us the same benefit as if we ourselves had fulfilled all the practices of the six pāramitās. This precisely accords with his statement “Now this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children.” Bound as we common mortals are by earthly desires, we can instantly attain the same virtues as Shakyamuni Buddha, for we receive all the benefits that he accumulated. The sutra reads, “Hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us.” This means that those who believe in and practice the Lotus Sutra are equal to Shakyamuni Buddha."
"Therefore, a single word from one of these kings can destroy the kingdom or insure order within it. The edicts handed down by rulers represent a type of pure and far-reaching voice. Ten thousand words spoken by ten thousand ordinary subjects cannot equal one word spoken by a king."
"Similarly, though we gather together all the various sutras, such as the Flower Garland Sutra, the Āgama sutras, the Correct and Equal sutras, the Wisdom, Nirvana, Mahāvairochana, and Meditation sutras, they could never equal even a single character of the Lotus Sutra."
"Shakyamuni Buddha and the written words of the Lotus Sutra are two different things, but their heart is one. Therefore, when you cast your eyes upon the words of the Lotus Sutra, you should consider that you are beholding the living body of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni."
cont...
ReplyDelete"The characters of this sutra are all without exception living Buddhas of perfect enlightenment. But because we have the eyes of ordinary people, we see them as characters. For instance, hungry spirits perceive the Ganges River as fire, human beings perceive it as water, and heavenly beings perceive it as amrita. Though the water is the same, it appears differently according to one’s karmic reward from the past."
The blind cannot see the characters of this sutra. To the eyes of ordinary people, they look like characters. Persons of the two vehicles perceive them as the void. Bodhisattvas look on them as innumerable doctrines. Buddhas recognize each character as a golden Shakyamuni. This is what is meant by the passage that says, “[If one can uphold this sutra], one will be upholding the Buddha’s body.”1 Those who practice with distorted views, however, are destroying this most precious sutra. You should simply be careful that, without differing thoughts, you single-mindedly aspire to the pure land of Eagle Peak. A passage in the Six Pāramitās Sutra2 says to become the master of your mind rather than let your mind master you. I will explain in detail when I see you.
“Now this Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law I have been speaking of represents the true reason why all Buddhas make their advent in the world and teaches the direct way to the attainment of Buddhahood for all living beings. Shakyamuni Buddha entrusted it to his disciples, Many Treasures Buddha testified to its veracity, and the other Buddhas extended their tongues up to the Brahmā heaven, proclaiming, ‘All that you [Shakyamuni] have expounded is the truth!’ Every single character in this sutra represents the true intention of the Buddhas, and every brushstroke of it is a source of aid to those who repeat the cycle of birth and death. There is not a single word in it that is untrue."
"Even if one were to prepare a feast of a hundred flavors, if the single flavor of salt were missing, it would be no feast for a great king. Without salt, even the delicacies of land and sea are tasteless."
“The Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, before which I bow my head, in its single case, with its eight scrolls, twenty-eight chapters, and 69,384 characters, is in each and every one of its characters the true Buddha who preaches the Law for the benefit of living beings.”
"Every single character in this sutra represents the true intention of the Buddhas, and every brushstroke of it is a source of aid to those who repeat the cycle of birth and death. There is not a single word in it that is untrue."
"If one discards one word or even one brushstroke of the sutra, the offense is graver than that of one who kills one’s parents ten million times over, or even of one who sheds the blood of all the Buddhas in the ten directions."
I can supply dozens more similar passages.
Were believers to chant together, some chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and others chanting Nam Myoho renge kyo, how discordant it would be. Some chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and others chanting Nam Myoho renge kyo is one of the principle causes of Nichiren faith disunity. One may spout all the theoretical reasons in the world why Nam Myoho renge kyo is equally correct but reality and actuality trumps them all.
Throwing out the character Mu is to throw out a golden Buddha from the heart of the Lotus Sutra. Perhaps the SGI should remove the character Mu from their Gohonzons as they have from Nichiren's writings?
Wow lots of name calling then mark comes in with doctrine. U nfortunately I hate to break it to U but the U in namU is based on specific translations. Listen carefully to someone chanting correctly and U will hear the U pronounced almost automatically, unconsciously. The textual proof is appreciated. But remember it boils down to translation. It would behoove U to make your readers cognizant of this...
ReplyDelete. "eagle peak is the place to be." In your own house is the place to be studying and practicing and taking local responsibility for the wide spread propagation. NOT JUST A WEBSITE. THAT'S IRRESPONSIBLE. A place to debate and reflect YES but not live or propagate. Be careful to make statements that you don't think thru...you'll be perceived as someone like the ones you admonish! I hope you understand my point. It strict but with compassion.
ReplyDeleteFYI "No Name" who employs *smart ass* commentary with no regard for *textual proof*--
DeleteConsider, this passage - "opening and last portions of this letter are missing and its date and addressee unknown" WND vol 2, pg. 1073.
"On Namu"- Nichiren writes:
"I do not build Buddhist halls or pagodas. I do not carry out almsgiving. the only thing I hold precious is my life, and this I have offered to the Lotus Sutra."
"The Buddhas of the three existences of past, present, and future, when they were still ordinary mortals, all offered their lives to the Lotus Sutra and thus were able to become Buddhas."
"For this reason, the names of various Buddhas are prefixed by the word *namu*. *Nmu* is a word of the language of India, and in this country it means 'to dedicate one's life.' Explaining the term 'to dedicate one's life', T'ien-t'ai says it means 'to single-mindedly deduce one's life.' By offering their lives to the Lotus Sutra, they became Buddhas. And now I, Nichiren, offering my life to the Lotus Sutra..."
This is all that is extant of this letter. NOW, look at what is noted by the Gakkai, in the background:
"Nichiren Daishonin speaks of how he has dedicated his life to the Lotus sutra, and discusses the significance of the term *namu* OR *NAM* "---
Huh? -- how slick is THAT? --- Namu is not interchangeable with Nam !!
Furthermore, I have NEVER heard anyone in SGI pronounce Namu-- as two characters-- NEVER-- Nor, is it written correctly as Nichiren himself wrote on the Gohonzon and throughout his writings-- WHY?
Nichiren refers to the 5(five) characters:- myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo- or the 7 (seven) characters, Na-mu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo -- of the Mystic Law-- the True Teaching for the Latter Day--
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo= 6 (six) characters.-- ever notice that?
You have no idea what each participant on this site does locally-- YOU are totally irresponsible with your knee jerk crack pot comments.--
Admonish yourself first-- your arrogant attitude is intolerable.
~Katie
Yes anonymous. This is one man's faith in and understanding of the teachings along with his friends in the Dharma. Everyone who reads this blog, preponderantsly laymen, all have a responsibility to lead lives which best reflect the greatness of the Lotus Sutra [Myoho renge kyo].
Delete