Katie: It is our behavior as human beings that reflects our faith, not our ability to quote or copy/paste the Gosho and the Lotus Sutra. Awakening or activating Buddha in our lives, is having the Buddha “ teaching us within our own lives “, which means each of us will have a unique experience and path. What is the point of making comparisons or engaging in competition regarding “ benefits” — when the Buddha and Nichiren assured us ALL who recite/ embrace Myoho Renge kyo will attain benefits , the extent of which even the Buddha could not fully describe? I contend that anyone claiming another’s daimoku is “ worthless” is a liar. There is no such thing as worthless daimoku, though there is the tendency for self doubt and criticism of others— because we are common mortals!
Mark: "You merely advance the principle of nonduality without understanding the principle of duality", as Nichiren taught. You are not only calling me a liar but Nichiren:
"These evil men will read and recite this sutra, but they will ignore and put aside the profound and vital principles that the Thus Come One has expounded in it and replace them with ornate rhetoric and meaningless talk. They will tear off the first part of the sutra and stick it on at the end, tear off the end and put it at the beginning, put the end and the beginning in the middle and the middle at the beginning or the end. You must understand that these evil monks are the companions of the devil.” - The Opening of the Eyes.
As you see, there is worse than even worthless Daimoku, the evil Daimoku of SGI members and especially the leaders, the daimoku of the Nichiren Shoshu priests and members, and that of the Nichiren Shu priests and members (the Daimoku of all of them EXCEPT for the neophyte members who know no better). For example, they chant the Daimoku but replace the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren with the meaningless talk of "mentor and disciple", "interfaith", "you don't have to give up your religion to practice the teachings of Nichiren", and the "importance of the study of the Human Revolution" (at the expense of the study of the Lotus Sutra and writings of Nichiren Daishonin). That is why the neophyte Bodhisattvas of the various sects all gain benefit but their benefits wither and die the longer they associate with the evil fiends of the leaders and priests of these sects.
You should rather reflect on your behavior and the behavior of the various Nichiren sects than reflect on my behavior.
Katie: The only precept is to recite the daimoku- assiduously, so —- wouldn’t encouraging each other to continue no matter what be the ONLY reasonable , true measure of our faith in Myoho Renge kyo?
Mark: Nichiren only mentioned "the Diamond Precept" but twice, in Teaching, Practice, and Proof and in an early writing, The Meaning of the Sacred Teachings of the Buddha's lifetime. Even in the Latter writing, Nichiren when citing the Diamond (chalice) precept, IS NOT referring to the Daimoku. If chanting were the only aspect of Nichiren Lotus Sutra Buddhism, he wouldn't have cited Shakyamuni Buddha more than one thousand times and the Lotus Sutra, almost two thousand times. It is not OK to chant the Daimoku and slander and depreciate Shakyamuni Buddha of the Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the embodiment of the Gohonzon or the Lotus Sutra itself..
None of these posts are dialogue, BTW.
ReplyDeleteThey will be if Katie responds
ReplyDeleteI direct you to Nichiren’s conclusion - last paragraph of the Kanjin Honzon-sho :
ReplyDelete“ Salvation Through the Odaimoku”… Lord Sakyamuni Buddha, with His great compassion, wraps this jewel with the five characters of myo ho ren ge kyo and hangs it around the neck of the ignorant in the Latter Age of Degeneration..” —-
The name, entity, quality, function and teaching of the Lotus Surea, the essence of the chapter, “ The Life Span of the Buddha, is , THIS EXCELLENT MEDICINE is, MYO HO REN GE KYO!
“ Remember this especially at the time of the last moment of life Have an unwavering faith in the Lotus Sutra and continue chanting the daimoku, which is the right way of meditation based on the “ actual” doctrine of 3,000 existences contained in one thought.”: Nichiren -“ Response To The Lay Priest Lord Toki “:
There is a profoundly apt message in the parable of the burning house- The Buddha, protecting HIS children from the horrific dangers in the metaphorical “ burning house”, did NOT berate and threaten them! Instead He announced to His imperiled children :
“ I have many varieties
Of rare playthings,
Excellent carts wonderfully bejeweled,
Goat carts and deer carts,
Now all just outside the door;
Come out all of you!”
You cannot dispute the fact that Sakyamuni Buddha is perfectly enlightened and that Nichiren is His envoy, the messenger who brought “ the excellent medicine” to “ the ignorant in the Latter Age of Degeneration”. Both exemplify deep concern and great compassion towards “ ignorant worldlings “- wanting to alleviate their suffering and save them from the terrors in this threefold world. Their one constant thought : How to cause the suffering people to take the excellent medicine!
I ask what you’re thinking as you continue to berate believers for their “ ignorance” of the profound teachings ? I question your belief in the perfect teaching when you insist on adding your personal view of the importance of “ mindful awareness” of profound doctrines over simply “ taking the excellent medicine” myo ho ren ge kyo ! And I question your intent — as it should be clear enough by now that contentious condemnation of believers is your sole agenda here.
~ Katie - kindly post “ in your dialogue series “😉
FYI- re: " It is not OK to chant the Daimoku and slander and depreciate Shakyamuni Buddha of the Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the embodiment of the Gohonzon or the Lotus Sutra itself.."
ReplyDeleteNever run across this in any group of Nichiren Buddhism adherents-- not in SGI, NST, Nichiren Chu, Kempon Hokke...
Yes, that is a truly horrid thought--- and curious as to why you harbor it?
Marty
And you publish her reply on the thread where it was posted
ReplyDeleteIF it meets your criteria
one cannot follow nichiren, hence Shakyamuni if one follows SGI or shoshu/shu. cannot be done. bad teacher, bad friends.
ReplyDeletegregorio
The Law transcends all the differences amongst us. I hope you have this experience - or at the very least , that you don’t close your mind to it .
ReplyDelete~Katie
Well, so much for my replies ,
ReplyDeletelol — guess you don’t believe the Gosho and sutra passages I shared.
Anyone can discover them for themselves and quickly determine you and Gregorio are not following the Buddha and Nichiren.
Such are my prayers 😊
~ Katie
"These evil men will read and recite this sutra, but they will ignore and put aside the profound and vital principles that the Thus Come One has expounded in it and replace them with ornate rhetoric and meaningless talk. They will tear off the first part of the sutra and stick it on at the end, tear off the end and put it at the beginning, put the end and the beginning in the middle and the middle at the beginning or the end. You must understand that these evil monks are the companions of the devil.” - The Opening of the Eyes.
ReplyDeleteNot men who embraced the daimoku -
DeletePlease, please stop conflating the “ slanderers” Nichiren addressed and us ordinary folks reciting . Embracing / believing Myoho Renge kyo !
~Katie
Nichiren clearly states in Letter to Tonsured Layman Soya (Soya nyudo sho), “They entirely look up to groups of icchantikas and rely on them as leaders and, reverencing slanderers against the Dharma, make them national teachers (ie: Ikeda, the High Priest). Taking up the Classic Filial Piety of Confucius, they beat their parents’ heads and, while chanting the Lotus Sutra of Lord Shakya with their mouths, they go against the Master of teachings.” Nichiren, quoting Dengyo states, “Although they praise the Hokkekyo, on the contrary, they kill the heart of the Hokke.”
ReplyDeleteWe have heard from SGI members that, because they chant and propagate the Daimoku, either regardless of their beliefs or precisely because they embrace the Daishonin as the Original Buddha and Ikeda as their mentor, they are assured of attaining Buddhahood. Sometimes they restate the medieval Tientai doctrine that “I am already a Buddha”, citing inauthentic works or twisting the words of the authentic ones. I have heard them state, citing Reply to Lord Matsuno, that the Daimoku is the same regardless of who embraces it, like the gold possessed by a fool and that possessed by a wise man and that there is no distinction. They assert that this gives them the license to teach their [arbitrary] interpretation, opinions, faiths and practices of the teachings and that they are all consonant with the Lotus Sutra and teachings of Nichiren.. However, the Daishonin repeatedly warns that, when one chants contrary to the heart of the Sutra, one is a devil. Denying the central position of the Original Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni, is to have no faith in the Sutra and to slander it and its Supreme Votary, Nichiren
continued...
That’s your basis for the broad generalizations and condemnation writ large of SGI? Those examples would warrant life to life discussion - public generalized shaming is very poor form.
DeleteThis is just a basic principle of common decency - reasonable action motivated by compassion.
What you wrote above is little more than mean spirited gossip.
Reflects on your faith and understanding !
~Katie
Continued....
ReplyDeleteThe Daishonin quotes the sixth patriarch of the Tientai in his Chu Hokekyo (Annotated Lotus Sutra), “If it is not the right object (or field), even though there is no falsehood, it will also not form seeds.” The field or object is none other than the Buddha of beginingless time, Shakyamuni who is one with the Law of Namu Myoho renge kyo.
“Priest Shan-wu-wei was once the king of Udyana in India. He renounced the throne, became a priest, and in the course of his Buddhist practice journeyed through more than fifty countries in India, finally mastering all the esoteric and exoteric teachings of Buddhism. Later he went to China and became the teacher of Emperor Hsuan-tsung. Every Shingon priest in both China and Japan has since become his disciple. Though he was such a respectable person, he died abruptly, tortured by Enma, the king of hell, although no one knows why.
Nichiren considers that this happened because Shan-wu-wei was at first a votary of the Lotus Sutra, but when he read the Dainichi Sutra, he declared it superior to the Lotus Sutra. Similarly, Shariputra, Maudgalyayana and the others were not doomed to wander through the evil paths for the period of sanzen-jintengo or gohyaku-jintengo because they had committed the ten evils or five cardinal sins. Nor was it because they had committed any of the eight rebellious acts. It was because they met someone who was an evil influence, and discarded the Lotus Sutra to take faith in the provisional teachings. Yuiga Yoga (Guru Yoga or mentor/disciple) and interfaith, for example, are provisional teachings
According to the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai, “If one befriends an evil person, he will lose his mind.” “Mind”means the heart which believes in the Lotus Sutra, while “lose”means to betray one’s faith in the Lotus Sutra and follow some other sutras. The Lotus Sutra reads, “… but when they are given the medicine, they refuse to take it.” The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai also stated, 'Those who had lost their minds would not take the excellent medicine, even though it was given them. Lost in suffering, they fled to other countries.' Since this is so, the believers of the Lotus Sutra should fear those who plague their faith more than they fear bandits, burglars, midnight killers, tigers, wolves or lions — even more than invasion by the Mongols. This world is the province of the Devil of the Sixth Heaven.”(The Learned Doctor Shan-wu-wei). Those who teach that Daisaku Ikeda as Eternal Mentor or the High Priest of the Nichiren Shoshu is necessary to attain Buddhahood are those who plague one's faith.
Key Wird : PRIEST!
DeleteYou are ragging on lay believers , Mark -
Ordinary people who embrace: believe in Myoho Renge kyo. Don’t you see how you disrespect believers ?
~Katie
Again - no similarity between believers today and the PRIEST Nichiren wrote about !
ReplyDeleteAnd no similarity between you and Nichiren - though you will contend otherwise as you trash people who say they are “Buddha”😵💫
~ Katie
Notice none of MY replies are posted / yet.
ReplyDeleteYou are not making even a hint of an effort to engage in actual dialogue. Control freak behavior is not “ praise worthy “
~Katie
Katie, you are even angrier than usual today. Why don't you chant for a few minutes to control your anger. I am approving almost every comment, save for advertisements having nothing to do with a post. Besides, you want me to jump the moment you say "jump"? I too have a life outside of the blog. As soon as I get to approving your comment it will be approved,
DeleteSuperiority is the hallmark of the world of anger, Mark.
ReplyDeleteYours screams on every post !
Katie corrected you with clarity and patience.
See? You keep pronouncing that your perceptions are the bottom line.
But they are not. FYI
Marty