Your SGI dictionary states, "opening the provisional and revealing the true... Abandoning the expedient or provisional teachings and revealing the true teaching of the Lotus Sutra."
Nichiren followed the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, “Honestly discarding expedient means, I will preach only the unsurpassed way.”
"Then, drawing the bow of the Buddha’s declaration, “I have not yet revealed the truth,” and notching the arrow of “honestly discarding the provisional teachings,” I have mounted the carriage drawn by the great white ox6 and battered down the gates of the provisional teachings."
The only expedient means employed by the Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin was that they appeared to die.
Nichiren also teaches:
"But the bodhisattvas of superior capacity honestly discard expedient means and do not carry out the practice of gradual progress. They practice the Lotus Sutra, and when they attain its truth, they simultaneously acquire all manner of fortunate results. Persons such as these are called the people of the one vehicle."
and
"The Lotus Sutra, wherein the Buddha honestly discarded expedient means, says that one can “gain entrance through faith alone.” And the Nirvana Sutra, which the Buddha preached in the grove of sal trees on the last day of his life, states, “Although there are innumerable practices that lead to enlightenment, if one teaches faith, then that includes all those practices.”
That is what SGI should be teaching, faith in the Lotus Sutra, not faith in the mentor.
He teaches in the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra:
"Coming now to the character myō, the Lotus Sutra says, “This sutra opens the gate of expedient means and shows the form of true reality.” The Great Teacher Chang-an states, “Myō means to reveal the depths of the secret storehouse.”20 The Great Teacher Miao-lo says of this, “To reveal means to open.”21 Hence the character myō means to open."
The Buddha was speaking falsely when he taught in the first Fourteen Chapters that he gained Enlightenment for the first time under the Bodhis treee. From the 15th Chapter on he only taught the Imeasurable Lifespan of the Buddha. He abandoned that most important teaching of the first Fourteen Chapters. Likewise, he abandoned that the teaching that there are many Buddhas throughout Jambudvipa.
Nichiren further teaches:
"In essence, the entity of Myoho-renge-kyo is the physical body that the disciples and followers of Nichiren who believe in the Lotus Sutra received from their fathers and mothers at birth. Such persons, who honestly discard expedient means, put faith in the Lotus Sutra alone, and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, will transform the three paths of earthly desires, karma, and suffering into the three virtues of the Dharma body, wisdom, and emancipation. The threefold contemplation and the three truths will immediately become manifest in their minds, and the place where they live will become the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light. The Buddha who is the entity of Myoho-renge-kyo, of the “Life Span” chapter of the essential teaching, who is both inhabiting subject and inhabited realm, life and environment, body and mind, entity and function, the Buddha eternally endowed with the three bodies—he is to be found in the disciples and lay believers of Nichiren. Such persons embody the true entity of Myoho-renge-kyo; this is all due to the meritorious workings that the spontaneous transcendental powers inherent in it display. Could anyone venture to doubt it? Indeed it cannot be doubted!"
and
"...No expedient or provisional teaching leads directly to enlightenment, and without the direct path to enlightenment you cannot attain Buddhahood, even if you practice lifetime after lifetime for countless kalpas. Attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime is then impossible."
Since you Chas, Fail to discard expedient means, actually embracing them, you don't share the same Three Virtues as the Disciples and believers of the Buddha and Nichiren.
For example, were your doctrine of "many Buddhas" correct, it would be OK to worship and revere Dainich Buddha or Amida Buddha. However, Nichiren teaches,
"I explained to him that, by making five images of Amida Buddha, he was condemning himself to fall five times into the hell of incessant suffering. The reason for this, I told him, was that the Lotus Sutra—wherein the Buddha says that he is now “honestly discarding expedient means”25—states that the Thus Come One Shakyamuni is our father, while Amida Buddha is our uncle. Anyone who would fashion no less than five images of his uncle and make offerings to them, and yet not fashion a single image of his own father—how could he be regarded as anything but unfilial? Even hunters in the mountains or fishermen, who cannot tell east from west and do not perform a single pious act, are guilty of less offenses than such a person."
Please the following to heart from the Opening of the Eyes:
"The “Expedient Means” chapter, which belongs to the theoretical teaching, expounds the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, making clear that persons of the two vehicles can achieve Buddhahood. It thus eliminates one of the two errors found in the earlier sutras. But it nevertheless retains the provisional aspect, and fails to reveal the eternal aspect, of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Thus the true doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life remains unclear, and the attainment of Buddhahood by persons of the two vehicles is not properly affirmed. Such teachings are like the moon seen in the water, or rootless plants that drift on the waves.
When we come to the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, then the belief that Shakyamuni first obtained Buddhahood during his present lifetime is demolished, and the effects of the four teachings are likewise demolished. When the effects of the four teachings are demolished, the causes51 of the four teachings are likewise demolished. Thus the cause and effect of the Ten Worlds as expounded in the earlier sutras and the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra are wiped out, and the cause and effect of the Ten Worlds52 in the essential teaching are revealed. This is the doctrine of original cause and original effect. It reveals that the nine worlds are all present in beginningless Buddhahood and that Buddhahood is inherent in the beginningless nine worlds. This is the true mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, the true hundred worlds and thousand factors, the true three thousand realms in a single moment of life.
When we consider the matter in this light, we can see that Vairochana Buddha seated on the lotus pedestal of the ten directions as described in the Flower Garland Sutra, the little Shakyamuni described in the Āgama sutras,53 and the provisional Buddhas described in the sutras of the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom periods such as the Golden Light, Amida, and Mahāvairochana sutras are no more than reflections of p.236the Buddha of the “Life Span” chapter. They are like fleeting reflections of the moon that float on the surfaces of various large and small bodies of water. The scholars of the various schools of Buddhism, confused as to [the nature of the Buddhas of] their own school and, more fundamentally, ignorant of [the Buddha of] the “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, mistake the reflection in the water for the actual moon, some of them entering the water and trying to grasp it in their hands, others attempting to snare it with a rope. As T’ien-t’ai says, “They know nothing of the moon in the sky, but gaze only at the moon in the pond.”
You Chas know nothing of the moon in the sky (Lord Shakya of the Essential Teachings). You gaze only at the moon (many independent Buddhas).
There are dozens or more similar passages. Please wake up Chas.
Regarding the teachings before the Lotus Sutra:
"Honestly discarding the provisional teachings I now will reveal the truth."
Teachings lose their power according to the time. A horse and buggy is no longer a practical means for transcontinental travel. The provisional teachings are no longer practical today. The teaching that all paths lead to the same place is an absurdity. Mein Kampf is a teaching. It is the teaching of Adolph Hitler. Does this teaching leads to the same place as the Lotus Sutra? No, the teachings of Mein Kampf lead to hell. The teachings of the Lotus Sutra lead to Buddhahood. Even the advanced teachings in the Flower Garland Sutra, for example, the "ten meditations", are useless in this Latter Day because those in the realms of Learning and Self Realization, our scientific and cultural leaders, are precluded from attaining Buddhahood through the teachings of the Flower Garland Sutra. Furthermore, no where in the Kegon Sutra are we exhorted to practice it in this degenerate age. Tientai taught the principle that the higher the teachings, the more people will be able to benefit. The Lotus Sutra is the highest teaching by the Buddha's own admission. Only the Lotus Sutra can benefit those people that the other sutras are powerless to benefit, we the people of this Latter Day.
In the Latter Day we must abandon all expedients and since the SGI is an expedient by their own admission, it must be abandoned. We, on the other hand have abandoned the expedient teachings and teach the truth directly. The SGI and especially your Sensei misunderstand Buddhism.
Soren SGI: "Abandon all expedients," Mark? I have to confess, I cannot even begin to imagine how one would do that. Every waking moment of our lives involve expedient means to achieving something; if nothing else, we go on breathing in order to remain alive.
Mark: Yes, abandon all expedients. Stop telling people, "you will definitely get that girlfriend if you chant" or " the abolition of all nuclear weapons will be realized in the next several decades, thanks to the SGI". Saying such things are an indication of "arrogant licentiousness". This is not the way to keep people chanting for fifty years as your (SGI's) miserable track record indicates. People will come to hate you for lying to them. People want to hear the Law not the arbitrary opinions of self proclaimed leaders. It is precisely because SGI does not abandon expedient means that you forfeit your right to call yourselves disciples of Nichiren but even more profoundly, you smother the seed to quickly attain Supreme Enlightenment.
"In essence, the entity of Myoho reng kyo is the physical body that the disciples and followers of Nichiren who believe in the Lotus Sutra received from their fathers and mothers at birth. such persons who honestly discard expedient means, put faith in the lotus sutra alone and chant Namu Myoho renge kyo, will transform the three paths of earthly desires, karma and suffering into the three virtues of the Dharma body, wisdom and emancipation. The threefold contemplation and the Three truths will immediately become manifest in their minds, and the place where they live will become the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light. The buddha who is the entity of Myoho renge kyo, of the Juryo chapter of the essential teaching, who is both inhabiting subject and inhabited realm, life and environment, body and mind, entity and function, the buddha eternally endowed with the three bodies---he is to be found in the disciples and followers of Nichiren. Such persons embody the the true entity of Myoho renge kyo; these are the meritorious workings that the spontaneous transcendental powers inherent in it display. could anyone venture to doubt it? Indeed it cannot be doubted!" (Entity of the Mystic Law, pg.64)
Then, on pg. 67 - 68 we read:
Question: Since the beginning of the kalpa of continuance, has anyone become enlightened to the lotus that is the entity of the Mystic Law?
Answer: The Shakyamuni Buddha who lived in a past even more distant than gohyaku-jintengo became enlightened to the lotus that is the entity of the Mystic Law. Thereafter in age after age and lifetime after lifetime, he declared that he had attained the way and he revealed the fundamental principle of wisdom and reality (the deep merging or fusion of objective reality or truth and the subjective wisdom to realize that truth, or the Buddha-nature inherent within one's life).
In our present world as well he appeared in the kingdom of Magadha in central India, intending to reveal this lotus of the Mystic Law. But the people lacked the proper capacity and the time was not right. Therefore he drew distinctions reguarding this lotus of the single Law and expounded it as three kinds of flowers, delivering to the people of the provisional teachings of the three vehicles. For over forty years he guided and led them with these temporary teachings according to their capacities. During this period, because the capacities of the persons he addressed were so varied, he bestowed upon them the various flowers and plants of the provisional teachings, but he never spoke of Myoho renge kyo. That is why, in the Muryogi Sutra, the Buddha said: "In the past I sat upright in the place of meditation[forsix years] under the Bodhi tree...In these more than forty years, I have not yet revealed the truth."
But when he preached the Lotus Sutra, he cast aside the various plants and flowers of the Hinayana doctrines and the provisional teachings, which correspond to the expedient means of the four flavors and three teachings, and explained the unique doctrine of Myoho-renge. When he opened the three figurative lotuses to reveal the single lotus of Myoho renge, the people of the provisional teachings with their four flavors and three teachings were able to gain the lotus of the first of the ten stages of security.(point of nonregression). Not until he revealed the lotus of 'opening the near and revealing the distant" were they able to obtain the lotus of the highest result, advancing to the second stage of security, the third stage of security, the tenth stage, the stage of near perfect enlightenment and finally, the highest stage of perfect enlightenment."(ibid).
Teaching the Human Revolution, Ikeda Guidances volume 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and the inane snippets of Gosho with hundreds of lines of Ikeda interpretation is not the way to ensure people will chant for fifty years and more or to attain to the higher stages of faith and practice. You cast aside the Lotus flower and embrace the Soka weed. You fail to teach the doctrine of Myoho renge kyo. You would do well to follow the lead of your friend who left the SGI for greener Buddhist pastures. If not, you will fail to see your life fulfilled in the manner you envisioned when you first started chanting. This is not a threat, this is an observation.
No comments:
Post a Comment