Recent letter to an ex-SGI member

The person misses the focus and energy of chanting a half hour of Nam Myoho renge kyo when SGI.

Hi! My name is Mark. Almost everything we learned in the Soka Gakkai/Nichiren Shoshu was wrong: The chant is Namu Myoho renge kyo, not Nam Myoho renge kyo; A copy of a Nichiren inscribed Gohonzon is superior for developing strong faith; their doctrines on mentor-disciple and the infallibility of the High Priest is false. the succession is through the scrolls of the Sutra and writings of Nichiren Daishonin; Nichiren as True, Eternal, Original Buddha is wrong...It is Shakyamuni Buddha of the Juryo Chapter; their teachings on desires and attachment is mistaken; Gongyo may be recited in English. We can recite the entire 16th Chapter as the Nichiren Shoshu or any and all of the Lotus Sutra; We may have staues of Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren on the altar; Flowers may be offered; SGI interfaith is wrong; the forceful practices (shakubuku) is the principle practice in this day and age, not the peaceful practices (shoju). Nichiren practiced the forceful practices towards non-believers almost exclusively and the peaceful practices towards his disciples and believers (unlike the Soka Gakkai leaaders who habitually admonishes their own members and talks kindly towards other Buddhists and non-Buddhists and the Nichiren Shoshu priests who admonish everyone); They study principally the writings of Daisaku Ikeda and the High Priests and we study principally the Lotus Sutra and authenticated writings of Nichiren such as the Five Major Works (and when they do study Nichiren, they focus on the inauthentic/altered and earlier texts and the commentaries of Daisaku Ikeda and the priests.) No interpretation of the Lotus Sutra is necessary except for the Supreme Votary Nichiren's interpretation.

From my experience, the energy and focus of practicing as Nichiren did is realized within minutes of chanting rather than hours, let alone a half hour.