Katie and Mark 06/12/2022

Katie: Katie do you help them? By acting like a crazed zealot ? By stirring up animosity towards them ? First off whatever your intentions you come off as a NON buddhist - only about yourself. Secondly you are relegated to the internet where we all just exercise caution regarding truth and honesty. Strike two ! Keep it up and you’ll be out - wasting a precious lifetime and failing to attain Buddhahood because you cannot eradicate your own evil / hateful karma. Too sad 🥲 ~ Katie

Mark: Preaching the truth whether the person accepts or slanders the true teaching (Poison Drum), is to help the person(s). I'm trying to help you but you are not unlike the people, Nichiren describes below in Letter to the Lay Priest Naoki:

"However, for twenty-seven years, from the twenty-eighth day of the fourth month in the fifth year of Kenchō (1253) until now, the eleventh month of the second year of Kōan (1279), I have not once retreated, but have continued to speak out all the more strongly—just as the moon waxes or as the tide rises. At first, when I alone chanted the daimoku, those who saw me, met me, or heard me covered their ears, glared at me with furious eyes, contorted their mouths, clenched their fists, and ground their teeth. Even my parents, brothers, teachers, and friends became my enemies. Then the steward and the lord of the manor where I lived turned against me. Later the whole province was in an uproar, and eventually the entire populace grew alarmed. Meanwhile, some people began to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo either to mimic or to mock me, or seemingly out of faith or seemingly to disparage me. Now one-tenth of the people in Japan chant only Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The remaining nine-tenths are those who chant both the daimoku and Amida Buddha’s name, those who are wavering between the two, and those who chant only the Nembutsu. People of this last group revile me as though I were an enemy of their parents or their lord, or a sworn foe from a past existence. Heads of villages, districts, and provinces hate me as though I were a traitor."

Katie: Secondly you are relegated to the internet where we all just exercise caution regarding truth and honesty.

Mark: Really, I don't have a life, the life of a Bodhisattva of the Earth, outside the internet? No relationships, no gentle and forceful activities, outside the internet? I don't care about truth and honesty? Regarding truth and honesty, how blind you are to reproach me and not the dishonest and corrupt Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu. Again, it is proof that that you are a slanderer of the Lotus Sutra. I pity you. You are also no different than one of the five thousand people who left the assembly. Nichiren writes in the On Reciting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra:

"Moreover, the “Expedient Means” chapter describes how the five thousand persons of overbearing arrogance withdrew from the assembly. They did so after hearing the Buddha make the concise replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle, and when the Buddha was about to begin making the expanded replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle. At that time, the Buddha used his power to influence them in such a way that they rose from their seats and withdrew. Later, through the Nirvana Sutra and the four ranks of bodhisattvas, the Buddha made it possible for these persons to achieve enlightenment in their present existence.

On the other hand, in the Non-Substantiality of All Phenomena Sutra it is recorded that Bodhisattva Root of Joy, addressing the monk Superior Intent, forced him to listen to the Mahayana teachings, causing him to speak slanderously of such teachings [and thus create a reverse relationship with them]. With regard to these two differing incidents, the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai explains that “the Thus Come One Shakyamuni was exercising the virtue of compassion in causing them to withdraw, while Bodhisattva Root of Joy was exercising the virtue of pity in forcing the monk to listen.”

  

In addition, when you say, "How do you help them", If you mean a widespread propagation of the true authentic teachings at this time, here is what Nichiren teaches in one of his Five Major Writings, On Repaying Debts of Gratitiude:

"And the Nirvana Sutra says, “Those who thus are able to take faith in works such as this Nirvana Sutra will be as few as the specks of dirt that can be placed on a fingernail.... But those who are not able to take faith in this sutra will be as numerous as the specks of dirt in all the worlds of the ten directions.”

These passages from the scriptures are extremely apt, considering the times we live in, and they are deeply etched in my mind. Nowadays in Japan one hears people everywhere declaring, “I believe in the Lotus Sutra,” and “I, too, believe in the Lotus Sutra.” If we took them at their word, we would have to conclude that there is not a soul who slanders the Law. But the passage from the sutra that I have just quoted says that in the Latter Day the slanderers of the Law will occupy all the lands in the ten directions, while those who uphold the correct teaching will take up no more land than can be placed on top of a fingernail. What the sutra says and what the people of the world today say are as different as fire is from water. People these days say that, in Japan, Nichiren is the only one who slanders the Law. But the sutra says that there will be more slanderers of the Law than the great earth itself can hold.

The Decline of the Law Sutra says that there will be only one or two good persons, and the Nirvana Sutra says that the believers can fit into the space of a fingernail. If we accept what the sutras say, then in Japan Nichiren is the only good person, the one who fits into the space of a fingernail. Therefore, I hope that people who are seriously concerned about the matter will consider carefully whether they want to accept what the sutras say, or what the world says."

Every day, I seek out those who left the Soka Gakkai or another established sect, those who still may believe somewhat in the teachings and those who chant from time to time and tell them that there is a Buddhist life outside of the established sects. I also tell them that the benefit of striving to have the same faith and practice as Nichiren, is endowed with a million times the merit and virtue of having practiced with the Soka Gakkai, Nichiren Shoshu, and Nichiren Shu. One can come to strive to have the same faith and practice as Nichiren by chanting the Daimoku and studying the Lotus Sutra and writings of Nichiren, particularly the Five Major wriitings. Those who have taken my advice are leading joyful fruitful lives.

Regarding being a zealot as if having zeal for the teachings is a bad thing, no one had greater zeal for the teachings than Nichiren Daishonin, "During the more than twenty years since then, I have spoken out with unremitting zeal, and I have been either driven from my dwelling or exiled. In former days Bodhisattva Never Disparaging was beaten with staves; now Nichiren must face the sword." - Letter to the priests of Seichoji

Katie: Keep it up and you’ll be out - wasting a precious lifetime and failing to attain Buddhahood because you cannot eradicate your own evil / hateful karma. Too sad.

Mark: Katie, your mirror is cloudy and you are projecting from your muddled unconscious (seventh level of consciousness). The moment of our deaths will be the conclusive statement for our lives...who had grasped the essence of the Lotus Sutra and who was a true disciple of Nichiren Daishonin.