Nichiren's translation of Namu Myoho renge kyo is
“ Adoration be to the Scripture of the Lotus of the Perfect Truth!”
Yet, Soka Gakkai changes Kant's august philosophy of Beauty, Goodness and Truth to Beauty, Goodness and GAIN. Doesn't that signify that they change the meaning of Daimoku (Namu Myoho renge kyo) to Adoration be to the Scripture of the Lotus of the Perfect Gain"!
Nichiren vigorously disputes such secular (prosperity Buddhist) interpretations of the Daimoku. True prosperity is the merit gained from chanting the Daimoku and attaining Pure and Perfect Enlightenment:
"Since childhood, I, Nichiren, have never prayed for the secular things of this life but have single-mindedly sought to become a Buddha." (The Hero of the world)
"Since childhood, I, Nichiren, have never prayed for the secular things of this life but have single-mindedly sought to become a Buddha." (The Hero of the world)
"True priests are those who are honest and who desire little and yet know satisfaction. Volume one of The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra states: “Those who have yet to attain the truth should humble themselves before the highest principle, which is comparable to heaven, and feel abashed before all the sages. Then they will be monks with a sense of shame. When they manifest insight and wisdom, then they will be true monks.” (How Those Initially Aspiring to the Way Can Attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra.)
and
"A good teacher is a priest who is free from any fault in secular affairs, who never fawns upon others even in the slightest, who desires and is satisfied with little, and who is compassionate; a priest who reads and upholds the Lotus Sutra precisely as it teaches and also encourages and leads others to embrace it. Such a priest the Buddha has praised among all priests as the finest teacher of the Law." (The Essential of Attaining Buddhahood)
“In our humble view, the ruler of our sacred dynasty has received the charge given long ago by the Thus Come One Shakyamuni and has undergone profound instruction in the pure and perfect teaching of the Lotus Sutra, so that the doctrines of the unique and wonderful truth that it expounds have for the first time been explained and made clear. Thus we, the scholars of the six schools, have for the first time understood the ultimate truth. From now on, all the beings in this world who are endowed with life will be able to embark on the ship of the wonderful and perfect truth and quickly reach the opposite shore. Zengi and the others of our group have met with great good fortune because of karmic bonds and have been privileged to hear these extraordinary words. Were it not for some profound karmic tie, how could we have been born in this sacred age?”
"Answer: As I have explained in my earlier discussion, a great truth that was not spread widely by Mahākāshyapa or Ānanda was in time propagated by Ashvaghosha, Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, and Vasubandhu. As I have also explained in my discussion, there was a great truth that was not fully made known by Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu, and the others, but was propagated by the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai. And, as I have further explained, it remained for the Great Teacher Dengyō to establish an ordination platform of the great precepts of perfect and immediate enlightenment that were not spread widely by the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che." (The Selection of the Time)
Further down:
"At that time the emperor was greatly amazed at the proceedings, and on the twenty-ninth day of the same month he dispatched [Wake no] Hiroyo and [Ōtomo no] Kunimichi as imperial envoys to question the men of the seven temples and six schools at greater length. All of them in turn submitted a memorial acknowledging that they had been defeated in the debate and won over by Dengyō’s arguments. “When we privately examine Profound Meaning and other commentaries by T’ien-t’ai, we find that they sum up all the teachings expounded by Shakyamuni Buddha in his lifetime. The full purport of the Buddha’s doctrines is made clear, without a single point being left unexplained. The Tendai school surpasses all other schools, and is unique in pointing out the single way for all to follow. The doctrines that it expounds represent the most profound mystic truth and are something that we, students of the seven major temples and six schools, have never before heard of, and never before seen. Now at last the dispute that has continued so long between the Three Treatises and Dharma Characteristics schools has been resolved as dramatically as though ice had melted. The truth has been made abundantly clear, as though clouds and mist had parted to reveal the light of the sun, moon, and stars. In the two hundred or more years since Prince Shōtoku spread the Buddhist teachings in this country, a great many sutras and treatises have been lectured upon, and their principles have been widely argued, but until now, many doubts still remained to be settled. Moreover, the lofty and perfect doctrine of the Lotus Sutra had not yet been properly explained and made known. Was it that the people who lived during this period were not yet qualified to taste its perfect flavor?
“In our humble view, the ruler of our sacred dynasty has received the charge given long ago by the Thus Come One Shakyamuni and has undergone profound instruction in the pure and perfect teaching of the Lotus Sutra, so that the doctrines of the unique and wonderful truth that it expounds have for the first time been explained and made clear. Thus we, the scholars of the six schools, have for the first time understood the ultimate truth. From now on, all the beings in this world who are endowed with life will be able to embark on the ship of the wonderful and perfect truth and quickly reach the opposite shore. Zengi and the others of our group have met with great good fortune because of karmic bonds and have been privileged to hear these extraordinary words. Were it not for some profound karmic tie, how could we have been born in this sacred age?”
In China in past times, Chia-hsiang assembled some hundred other priests and, together with them, acknowledged the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai to be a true sage. And later in Japan, the p.560more than two hundred priests of the seven temples of Nara proclaimed the Great Teacher Dengyō to be worthy of the title of sage. Thus, during the two thousand and more years after the passing of the Buddha, these two sages appeared in the two countries of China and Japan respectively. In addition, the Great Teacher Dengyō established on Mount Hiei an ordination platform for conferring the great precepts of perfect and immediate enlightenment, precepts that even the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai had never propagated. How then can you deny that in the latter part of the Middle Day of the Law the wide proclamation and propagation of the Lotus Sutra was achieved?
Answer: As I have explained in my earlier discussion, a great truth that was not spread widely by Mahākāshyapa or Ānanda was in time propagated by Ashvaghosha, Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, and Vasubandhu. As I have also explained in my discussion, there was a great truth that was not fully made known by Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu, and the others, but was propagated by the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai. And, as I have further explained, it remained for the Great Teacher Dengyō to establish an ordination platform of the great precepts of perfect and immediate enlightenment that were not spread widely by the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che.
"And, unbelievable as it may seem, there clearly appears in the text of the Lotus Sutra a correct Law that is supremely profound and secret, one that, though expounded in full by the Buddha, in the time since his passing has never yet been propagated by Mahākāshyapa, Ānanda, Ashvaghosha, Nāgārjuna, Asanga, or Vasubandhu, nor even by T’ien-t’ai or Dengyō. The most difficult and perplexing question is whether or not this profound Law can be broadly proclaimed and propagated throughout the entire land of Jambudvīpa now at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, the fifth of the five five-hundred-year periods following the Buddha’s passing.
Question: What is this secret Law? First, tell me its name, and then I want to hear its meaning. If what you say is true, then perhaps Shakyamuni Buddha will appear in the world once more, or Bodhisattva Superior Practices will once again emerge from the earth. Speak quickly, for pity’s sake!
They say that the Tripitaka Master Hsüan-tsang, after dying and being reborn six times, was finally able to reach India, where he spent nineteen years. But he claimed that the one vehicle doctrine of the Lotus Sutra was a mere expedient teaching, and that the Āgama sutras of Hinayana Buddhism represented the true doctrine. And the Tripitaka Master Pu-k’ung, when he paid a return visit to India, his homeland, announced that the Buddha of the “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra was Amida! This is like saying that east is west or calling the sun the moon. They drove their bodies in vain and exerted their minds to no avail.
But fortunately, because we were born in the Latter Day of the Law, without taking a single step, we can complete [the bodhisattva practice] that requires three asamkhya kalpas, and without feeding our head to a tigress, we can obtain the unseen crown of the Buddha’s head." (Ibid)
Nichiren goes on...
"Therefore, I say to you, my disciples, try practicing as the Lotus Sutra teaches, exerting yourselves without begrudging your lives! Test the truth of Buddhism now! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo." (Ibid)
Not the GAIN of Buddhism
In the Opening of the Eyes, Nichiren teaches:
"The Nirvana Sutra says: “[World-Honored One, today I have learned the correct view for the first time. World-Honored One, up till today] we all have been people of mistaken views.” Miao-lo explains this by saying, “They themselves referred to the three teachings [they had practiced until that time] as mistaken views.” And Great Concentration and Insight says, “The Nirvana Sutra says, ‘Up till today we all have been people of mistaken views.’ ‘Mistaken’ is bad, is it not?” The Annotations on “Great Concentration and Insight” says: “‘Mistaken’ is bad. Therefore, let it be known that only the perfect teaching is good. There are two meanings involved here. First, what accords with the truth is to be accounted good, and what goes against the truth is to be accounted bad. This is the meaning from the relative viewpoint. [Second,] attachment [to this viewpoint] is bad, and transcending it is good. [This is the meaning from the absolute viewpoint.] From both the relative and absolute viewpoints, we should abandon all that is bad. To be attached to the perfect teaching is bad, and to be attached to the other [three] teachings is of course even worse.”
It is not what accords with gain that is correct. It is what accords with "truth'.
"Thus it is very difficult to establish peace in society. One may be letter-perfect in reciting the Lotus Sutra, but it is far more difficult to act as it teaches." (Lessening One's Karmic Retribution").
"Though evils may be numerous, they cannot prevail over a single great truth, just as many raging fires are quenched by a single shower of rain." (Many in Body, One in Mind)
"It stands to reason that there can be no attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form unless it is based on the sutra of the single truth that is pure and perfect." (The Doctrine of Attaining Buddhahood in One's Present Form)
"The Benevolent Kings Sutra states: “Evil monks, hoping to GAIN fame and profit, in many cases appear before the ruler, the crown prince, or the other princes, and take it upon themselves to preach doctrines that lead to the violation of the Buddhist Law and the destruction of the nation. The ruler, failing to perceive the truth of the situation, listens to and puts faith in such doctrines.” (Op cit, The Selection of the Time).
"In volume five of Great Concentration and Insight we read: “These days there are many devilish monks who break the precepts and return to lay life. Fearing that they will be punished for their action, they then go over to the side of the Taoists. Hoping to GAIN fame and profit, they speak extravagantly of the merits of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, usurping Buddhist concepts and reading them into their erroneous scriptures. They twist what is lofty and force it into a mean context; they destroy what is exalted and drag it down among the base, striving to put the two on an equal level.” (Op cit Opening of the Eyes).
Who does this remind you of?
"IF you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured since time without beginning and to attain without fail unsurpassed enlightenment in this lifetime, you must perceive the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings. This truth is Myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth innate in all life." (On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime)
This TRUTH, not this gain.
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