A Remonstration of the Modern Nichiren Sects (and others) Utilizing the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

 

From Nichiren's third most important writing, On Repaying Debts of Gratitude with commentary:

"But the situation now is far worse. Today those who slander the Law fill the entire country, and I, Nichiren, attack them, strong in my determination to uphold what is right and just. We battle no less fiercely than the asuras and the god Shakra, or the Buddha and the devil king.

The Golden Light Sutra states, “There will be times when enemies among the neighboring states will begin to think as follows: ‘We must call out all our four types of troops and destroy that country [where the slanderers of the Law live].’”

The same sutra also says: “There will be times when the rulers of neighboring states, observing the situation and mobilizing their four types of troops, will make ready to set out for the country [where the slanderers of the Law live], determined to subdue it. At that time we [the great deities] will instruct all the countless, limitless numbers of yakshas and other deities who are our followers to assume disguises and protect these rulers, causing their enemies to surrender to them without difficulty.”

The Sovereign Kings Sutra states the same thing, as do the Great Collection and Benevolent Kings sutras. According to the statements of these various sutras, if the ruler of a state persecutes those who practice the correct teaching and instead sides with those who practice erroneous teachings, then the heavenly kings Brahmā and Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, and the four heavenly kings will possess the bodies of the worthy rulers of neighboring states and will attack his state. For example, King Krita was attacked by King Himatala, and King Mihirakula was overthrown by King Bālāditya. Kings Krita and Mihirakula were rulers in India who attempted to eradicate Buddhism. In China, too, all those rulers who tried to destroy Buddhism were attacked by worthy rulers."

"But the situation in Japan today is much worse. For here the rulers appear to be supporters of the Buddhist teachings, but they assist the priests who are destroying Buddhism and persecute the practitioner of the correct teaching. As a result, ignorant people all fail to realize what is happening, and even wise persons, if they are no more than moderately wise, have difficulty grasping the situation. Even the lesser deities of heaven, I suspect, do not understand. For this reason, the confusion and depravity in Japan today are even greater than those in India or China in the past."

Since that time, I too have been persecuted by the military-industrial establishment. A coincidence? I don't believe so.

"In the Decline of the Law Sutra the Buddha speaks as follows: “After I have entered nirvana, in the troubled times when the five cardinal sins prevail, the way of the devil will flourish. The devil will appear in the form of Buddhist monks and attempt to confuse and destroy my teachings. . . . Those who do evil will become as numerous as the sands of the ocean, while the good will be extremely few, perhaps no more than one or two persons.”

In like manner, many so-called Nichiren Buddhists, for example, the Soka Gakkai, the Nichiren Shoshu, and the Nichiren Shu destroy the vital principles of the Lotus Sutra, thus destroying the sanctity of life of tens of millions of lives. On Repaying Debts of Gratitude teaches us about such men:

"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.

Someone might object that the passage in the Nirvana Sutra speaks about the votaries of the Nirvana Sutra being as few as the specks of dirt that can be placed on a fingernail, while I am talking about the Lotus Sutra. I would reply to this as follows.

The Nirvana Sutra itself says, “[When this sutra was preached . . . the prediction had already been made] in the Lotus Sutra [that the eight thousand voice-hearers would attain Buddhahood].” The Great Teacher Miao-lo says, “The Nirvana Sutra is itself pointing to the Lotus Sutra and saying that it is the ultimate.” The Nirvana Sutra is calling the Lotus Sutra the ultimate. Therefore, when followers of the Nirvana school state that the Nirvana Sutra is superior to the Lotus Sutra, it is the same as calling a retainer a lord or a servant a master.

To read the Nirvana Sutra means to read the Lotus Sutra. For the Nirvana Sutra is like a worthy who rejoices to see another holding his sovereign in esteem even when he himself is treated with contempt. Thus the Nirvana Sutra would despise and regard as its enemy anyone who tried to demote the Lotus Sutra and praise the Nirvana Sutra instead.

With this example in mind, one must understand the following point. If there are likewise those who read the Flower Garland Sutra, the Meditation Sutra, the Mahāvairochana Sutra, or some other sutra, and they do so thinking that the Lotus Sutra is inferior to those sutras, then they are doing violence to the very heart of those sutras. One must also understand the following point. Even though one reads the Lotus Sutra and appears to believe in it, if one thinks that one may also attain the way through any other sutra as well, then one is not really reading the Lotus Sutra.

For example, the Great Teacher Chia-hsiang wrote a work in ten volumes entitled The Treatise on the Profundity of the Lotus Sutra in which he praised the Lotus Sutra. But Miao-lo criticized the work, saying, “There are slanders in it—how can it be regarded as sincere praise?”

Similarly, today, Daisaku Ikeda's novel, The Human Revolution has within slanders of the Lotus Sutra. The most important being, advocating the Shingon principle of Master (mentor) and disciple.

"Chia-hsiang was in fact an offender against the Lotus Sutra. Thus, when he was defeated by T’ien-t’ai and served him, he no longer lectured on the Lotus Sutra. “If I were to lecture on it,” he said, “I could not avoid falling back into the paths of evil.” And for seven years, he made his own body a bridge [for T’ien-t’ai to walk on]."

Unfortunately, Daisaku Ikeda and the dead or dying priests from many of the modern Nichiren sects never repented their sins such as interfaith and their promotion of intermediaries.

"Similarly, the Great Teacher Tz’u-en wrote a work in ten volumes entitled Praising the Profundity of the Lotus Sutra in which he praised the Lotus Sutra, but the Great Teacher Dengyō criticized it, saying, “Though he praises the Lotus Sutra, he destroys its heart.”

Such are the teachings of Daisaku Ikeda, Toda, and Makiguchi, the entire body of Nichiren Shoshu High Priests after the eighth High Priest, Nich-ei and the two Nichiren Shu Chief priests Nissatsu and Nichiki.

"If we consider these examples carefully, we will realize that, among those who read the Lotus Sutra and sing its praises, there are many who are destined for the hell of incessant suffering. Even men like Chia-hsiang and Tz’u-en were actually slanderers of the one vehicle of the Lotus Sutra. And if such can be said of them, it applies even more to men like Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō, who displayed open contempt for the Lotus Sutra.

There are those like the Great Teacher Chia-hsiang, who ceased giving lectures, dispersed the group of disciples that had gathered around him, and even made his body into a bridge for T’ien-t’ai. But in spite of these actions, the offense of his earlier slanders of the Lotus Sutra was not, I expect, so easily wiped out. The crowd of people who despised and abused Bodhisattva Never Disparaging, although they later came to believe in his teachings and became his followers, still carried the burden of their former actions and had to spend a thousand kalpas in the Avīchi hell as a result."

Even though these modern teachers might one day begin (or had begun) to sincerely repent and follow the Lotus Sutra and the Master Nichiren, they too will have to spend a thousand kalpas in the Avici hell as did those who slandered Bodhisattva Never Despise.

"Accordingly, if men like Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō had lectured on the Lotus Sutra, even if they had repented of their errors, they would still have had difficulty making up for their former grave offenses. And of course, as we know, they never had any such change of heart. On the contrary, they completely ignored the Lotus Sutra and spent day and night carrying out the True Word practices and morning and evening preaching the True Word doctrines."

Another several modern day examples of such behavior is: The three presidents of the Soka Gakkai teaching their disciples and believers Shingon Yuiga Yoga faith and practice; and several American Nichiren Shu priests celebrating the opening of a Shingon temple in Seattle. No wonder Seattle is in turmoil.

"The bodhisattvas Vasubandhu and Ashvaghosha were both on the point of cutting out their tongues because of the offense they had committed by adhering to Hinayana doctrines and criticizing Mahayana. Vasubandhu declared that, although the Āgama sutras of the Hinayana were the words of the Buddha, he would not let his tongue utter them even in jest. And Ashvaghosha, as an act of penance, wrote Awakening of Faith in which he refuted the Hinayana teachings.

The Great Teacher Chia-hsiang in time went to the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai and begged for his lectures. In the presence of a hundred or more distinguished Buddhists, he threw himself on the ground, and, with sweat pouring from every part of his body and tears of blood streaming from his eyes, he declared that from then on he would not see his disciples any more and would no longer lecture on the Lotus Sutra. For, as he said, “If I were to go on facing my disciples and lecturing on the Lotus Sutra, they might suppose that I have the ability to understand the sutra correctly, when in fact I do not.”

Chia-hsiang was both older and more eminent than T’ien-t’ai, and yet, in the presence of others, he deliberately put T’ien-t’ai on his back and carried him across a river. Whenever T’ien-t’ai was about to ascend the lecture platform, Chia-hsiang would take him on his back and carry him up to the platform. After T’ien-t’ai’s death, when Chia-hsiang was summoned into the presence of the emperor of the Sui dynasty, he is said to have wept and dragged his feet like a little child whose mother has just died.

When one examines Profundity of the Lotus Sutra by the Great Teacher Chia-hsiang, one finds that it is not the kind of commentary that speaks slanderously of the Lotus Sutra. It merely says that, although the Lotus Sutra and the other Mahayana sutras differ in the profundity of their teachings, they are at heart one and the same. Is this statement perhaps the source of the charge that the work slanders the Law?"

I'm not asking that you (SGI) carry me across the river or up to the lectern but a modicum of deference would go along way to alleviating your slander of me over the years and lessening your karmic retribution.

"Both Ch’eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school and Shan-wu-wei of the True Word school declared that the Lotus Sutra and the Mahāvairochana Sutra reveal the same principle. Therefore, if the Great Teacher Chia-hsiang is to be blamed for the statement I have just referred to, then the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei can hardly escape being blamed as well.

The Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei in his youth was the ruler of a kingdom in central India. But he abdicated the throne and traveled to other lands, where he met two men named Shushō and Shōdai from whom he received instruction in the Lotus Sutra. He built hundreds and thousands of stone stupas, and appeared to be a votary of the Lotus Sutra. Later, however, after he had received instruction in the Mahāvairochana Sutra, he seems to have concluded that the Lotus Sutra is inferior to the Mahāvairochana Sutra. He did not insist on this opinion at first, but came to do so later when he went to China and became a teacher to Emperor Hsüan-tsung of the T’ang dynasty.

Perhaps because he was consumed by jealousy of the T’ien-t’ai school, he died very suddenly and found himself bound with seven cords of iron and dragged by two wardens of hell to the court of Yama, the lord of hell. But he was told that his life span had not reached its conclusion and therefore was sent back to the human world.

While in hell, he suspected that he had been brought before Yama because he had slandered the Lotus Sutra, and he therefore quickly set aside all his True Word mudras, mantras, and methods of concentration, and instead chanted the passage from the Lotus Sutra that begins, “Now this threefold world is all my [Shakyamuni Buddha’s] domain,” whereupon the cords that bound him fell away and he was returned to life.

On another occasion, he was ordered by the imperial court to recite prayers for rain, and rain did in fact suddenly begin to fall, but a huge wind also rose up and did great damage to the country.

Later, when he really did die, his disciples gathered around his deathbed and praised the remarkable way in which he died, but in fact he fell into the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering. You may ask how I know that this is so. I would reply that, if you examine his biography, you will find it stated, “Looking now at Shan-wu-wei’s remains, one can see that they are gradually shrinking, the skin is turning blackish, and the bones are exposed.”

Shan-wu-wei’s disciples perhaps did not realize that this was a sign that after his death he had been reborn in hell, but supposed that it was a manifestation of his virtue. Yet in describing it, the author of the biography exposed Shan-wu-wei’s guilt, recording that after his death his body gradually shrank, the skin turned black, and the bones began to show.

We have the Buddha’s own golden word for it that, if a person’s skin turns black after he dies, it is a sign that he has done something that destined him for hell. What was it, then, that the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei did that would destine him for hell? In his youth he gave up the position of ruler, showing that he had an incomparable determination to seek the way. He traveled about to more than fifty different lands in India in the course of his religious practice, and his unbounded compassion even led him to visit China. The fact that the True Word teachings have been transmitted through India, China, Japan, and the other lands of Jambudvīpa and numerous practitioners ring bells in prayer is due to the merit of this man, is it not? Those who are concerned about their own destiny after death should inquire carefully as to the reason why Shan-wu-wei fell into hell.

Then there was the Tripitaka Master Chin-kang-chih, who was a son of the ruler of a kingdom in southern India. He introduced the Diamond Crown Sutra to China, and his virtue was similar to that of Shan-wu-wei. He and Shan-wu-wei acted as teachers to one another.

The Tripitaka Master Chin-kang-chih received an imperial order to conduct prayers for rain. Within the space of seven days, rain did in fact fall, and the emperor was very pleased. Suddenly, however, a violent wind arose, and the ruler and his ministers, much disillusioned, sent men to drive Chin-kang-chih out of the country, though in the end he managed to remain in China under one pretext or another.

Sometime later, when one of the emperor’s favorite daughters lay dying, he was ordered to pray for her recovery. He selected two seven-year-old girls who served at the court to be substitutes for the dying lady and had piles of firewood lighted all around them so that they burned to death. It was indeed a cruel thing to do. Moreover, the emperor’s daughter failed to return to life.

The Tripitaka Master Pu-k’ung came to China together with Chin-kang-chih. But perhaps because his suspicions were aroused by the happenings I have just mentioned, after Shan-wu-wei and Chin-kang-chih died, he returned to India and studied the True Word doctrines all over again, this time under Nāgabodhi. In the end, he became a convert to the teachings of the T’ien-t’ai school. But although he acknowledged allegiance to these teachings in his heart, he would never do so in his outward actions.

Pu-k’ung, too, was ordered by the emperor to pray for rain, and within three days, rain did in fact fall. The emperor was pleased and dispensed rewards with his own hand. But shortly after, a huge wind descended from the sky, buffeting and damaging the imperial palace and toppling the quarters of the upper noblemen and high ministers until it seemed that not a building would be left standing. The emperor, astounded, issued an imperial command for prayers that the wind be stopped. But though it would stop for a time, it would start blowing again and again, until in the end it blew uninterrupted for a space of several days. Eventually, messengers were dispatched to drive Pu-k’ung out of the country, and then at last the wind subsided.

The evil winds of these three men have become the huge wind of the True Word leaders that blows throughout all of China and Japan. And if that is so, then the great gale that arose on the twelfth day of the fourth month in the eleventh year of Bun’ei (1274) must have been an adverse wind brought about by the Dharma Seal Kaga of the Amida Hall, one of the most learned priests of Tō-ji temple, when he was praying for rain. We must conclude that the evil teachings of Shan-wu-wei, Chin-kang-chih, and Pu-k’ung have been transmitted without the slightest alteration. What a strange coincidence indeed!

Let us turn now to the Great Teacher Kōbō. At the time of the great drought in the second month of the first year of Tenchō (824), the emperor ordered Shubin to pray for rain, and within seven days Shubin was able to make rain fall. But the rain fell only in the capital and did not extend to the countryside.

Kōbō was then ordered to take over the prayers for rain, but seven days passed and there was no sign of it. Another seven days passed and there still were no clouds. After seven more days had passed, the emperor ordered Wake no Matsuna to go and present offerings in Shinsen’en garden, whereupon rain fell from the sky for a period of three days. The Great Teacher Kōbō and his disciples thereupon proceeded to appropriate this rain and claim it as their own, and for more than four hundred years now, it has been known as “Kōbō’s rain.”

The Great Teacher Jikaku said he had a dream in which he shot down the sun. And the Great Teacher Kōbō told a great falsehood, claiming that, in the spring of the ninth year of the Kōnin era (818), when he was praying for an end to the great epidemic, the sun came out in the middle of the night.

Since the kalpa of formation, when the earth took shape, down to the ninth period of decrease in the kalpa of continuance, twenty-nine kalpas have passed by, but in all that time, the sun has never been known to come out at night! As to the Great Teacher Jikaku’s dream of the sun, where in all the five thousand or seven thousand volumes of the Buddhist scriptures or the three thousand or more volumes of the Confucian and Taoist scriptures is it recorded that to dream of shooting the sun is auspicious? The king of the asuras, angered at the deity Shakra, shot an arrow at the sun god, but the arrow came back and struck the king himself in the eye. King Chou of the Yin dynasty used the sun as a target for his arrows, and in the end he was destroyed.

In Japan, in the reign of Emperor Jimmu, the emperor’s elder brother Itsuse no Mikoto engaged in battle with the chieftain of Tomi, and Itsuse no Mikoto was wounded in the hand by an arrow. He said, “I am a descendant of the sun deity. But because I have drawn my bow while facing the sun, I have incurred this punishment from the sun deity.”

In India, King Ajātashatru renounced his earlier mistaken views and became a follower of the Buddha. He returned to his palace and lay down to sleep, but later rose up in alarm and said to his ministers, “I have dreamed that the sun has left the sky and fallen to the earth!” His ministers said, “Perhaps this means the passing away of the Buddha.” Subhadra also had the same kind of dream just before the Buddha passed away.

It would be particularly inauspicious to dream [as Jikaku claims he did] of shooting the sun in Japan, since the supreme deity in Japan is the Sun Goddess, and the name of the country, Japan, means “source of the sun.” In addition, Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, is called Sun Seed because his mother, Lady Māyā, dreamed that she conceived the sun and in time gave birth to this child, the crown prince.

The Great Teacher Jikaku established the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana as the object of devotion on Mount Hiei and rejected Shakyamuni Buddha. He paid honor to the three True Word sutras and acted as an enemy to the Lotus Sutra and its two companion sutras. That was no doubt the reason why he dreamed this dream of shooting the sun.

On the subject of dreams, there is also the case of the priest Shan-tao in China. In his youth he met a priest named Ming-sheng of Mi-chou and received instruction in the Lotus Sutra. Later, however, when he met Tao-ch’o, he threw aside the Lotus Sutra and put all his trust in the Meditation Sutra. He even wrote a commentary on the sutra, which asserted that with the Lotus Sutra, not even one person in a thousand can be saved, whereas the Nembutsu practice insures that ten persons out of ten and a hundred persons out of a hundred will be reborn in the Pure Land. In order to prove his point, he prayed before Amida Buddha to confirm whether or not his views accorded with the Buddha’s intent. His commentary says, “Every night in a dream a priest would appear and tell me what to write,” and “Therefore, this commentary should be regarded with the same respect as the sutra itself.” It also says, “The Teaching on Meditation Sutra should also be revered as though it were a sutra.”

The Lotus Sutra says, “If there are those who hear the Law, then not a one will fail to attain Buddhahood.” But Shan-tao says that not even one in a thousand will be saved. The Lotus Sutra and Shan-tao are as different as fire is from water. Shan-tao says that with the Meditation Sutra ten persons out of ten and a hundred persons out of a hundred will be reborn in the Pure Land. But in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra the Buddha says that in the Meditation Sutra “I have not yet revealed the truth.” The Immeasurable Meanings Sutra and this priest of the Willow Tree are as far apart as heaven and earth.

In view of this, can we really believe that Amida Buddha took the form of a priest and appeared to Shan-tao in dreams to assure him that his commentary represented the truth? Was not Amida among those present when the Lotus Sutra was preached, and did he not extend his tongue along with the other Buddhas and testify to the truth of the sutra? Were his attendants, the bodhisattvas Perceiver of the World’s Sounds and Great Power, not also present when the Lotus Sutra was preached? The answers to these questions are obvious, and in like manner, if we stop to think of it, we can see that Jikaku’s dream was a portent of evil.

Question: The Great Teacher Kōbō in his Secret Key to the Heart Sutra writes: “In the spring of the ninth year of Kōnin, the empire was troubled by a great plague. Thereupon the emperor in person dipped his writing brush in gold, took a piece of dark blue paper in his hand, and wrote out a copy of the Heart Sutra in one roll. I had been appointed by the ruler to lecture on the Heart Sutra. Having compiled my explanations of its meaning, I [was delivering the lecture but] had not yet reached my concluding remarks, when those who had recovered from the plague began to fill the streets of the capital. Moreover, when night came, the sun continued to shine bright and red.

“This was certainly not the result of any virtuous observance of the precepts on the part of an ignorant person like myself, but was due rather to the power of faith manifested by the sovereign as the gold-wheel-turning king. Nevertheless, those who go to pray at the shrines of the gods should recite this commentary of mine. For I was present long ago at Eagle Peak when the Buddha preached the Heart Sutra, and I personally heard him expound its profound doctrines. How, then, could I fail to understand its meaning?”

Again in the work entitled The Annotations on the Peacock Sutra, we read: “After the Great Teacher Kōbō returned from China, he desired to establish the True Word school in Japan, and representatives of all the various schools were summoned to the imperial court. But many of them had doubts about the True Word doctrine of the attaining of Buddhahood in one’s present form. The great teacher thereupon formed his hands in the wisdom mudra and faced south. Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahāvairochana—that is, he reverted to his original form. In this way he demonstrated that the Buddha is present in the individual and that the individual is present in the Buddha, and that one can immediately attain Buddhahood in one’s present form. On that day, all doubts concerning the matter were completely resolved, and from that time the True Word, or Yoga school with its doctrines of secret mandalas was established.” 

On SGI's Guru Yoga [Vajrayana] faith and practice:

President Toda taught in his Lecture on the Sutra:

“With this silent prayer, we express our sincere thanks to the Second High Priest Nikko Shonin, the founder of Head temple Taisekiji. Hossui-shabyo: Hossui is the Law or Buddhism metaphorically compared to clean water. Shabyo means “transfer. Now suppose here are two glasses, one of which is filled with water. The water is transferred from one glass into the other. The quality of the water remains unchanged through this transfer even though the shapes of the glasses may differ. Simililarly, the Hossui of Nichiren Daishonin was handed down from Nikko Shonin to Third High Priest Nichimoku Shonin. However, its geneuine purity was not changed in the least. This solemn tradition has been strictly maintained by the successive high priests of Nichiren Shoshu.

YUIGA YOGA: This means that the life of Nikko Shonin equals that of Nichiren Daishonin. A Gohonzon called the “Tobi” (Flying) Mandala” is enshrined at Butsugenji Temple in Sendai City in Northeast Japan. It was inscribed co-operatively by the Daishonin and His immediate successor Nikko Shonin. This fact evidences what yuiga yoga signifies.” –Josei Toda as quoted in: From “Lectures on the Sutra” Third Edition, 1968 Seikyo Press.

Please note that no where in the Lotus Sutra or the writings of Nichiren Daishonin, can we find the concepts or words, YUIGA YOGA but in Tendai/Shingon esotericism, this is a core principle. Central to Lamanism, an offshoot of Shingon, are the Four Treasures and the most important Treasure is the Treasure of the Guru. The other Three Treasures are subsumed within the Treasure of the Guru. This is known as Guru Yoga. The same goes for the SGI, whether it is implicit or implied. When SGI members or leaders chant Namu Myoho renge kyo, they are revering their Sensei. While they chant Namu Myoho renge kyo with their voices, they chant Namu Sensei in their hearts.

Makiguchi and Toda read the Lotus Sutra according to the distorted teachings of the Taisekaji priests who adopted the two related Zen and Shingon concepts respectively: The Transfer of the Water of the Law; and Yuiga Yoga or the Oneness of living Master and Disciple. The SGI has adopted these distorted Zen and Shingon viewpoints, in contrast to the Lotus Sutra and writings of Nichiren Daishonin which state, “This Sutra”.

More proof of SGI’s transgressions are Daisaku Ikeda’s teachings that mirror those of his deluded Sensei, JoseiToda. Ikeda once taught, “The basis of Nichiren Shoshu is the Lifeblood recieved only by a single person. To faithfully follow the High Priest of the bequethal of the Lifeblood is the correct way for priests and laybelievers. If one is mistaken about this single point, then everything will become insane.” And now he declares, “Following the Three Presidents of the Soka Gakkai is the basis of the Lifeblood of faith”

Doctor Daisaku Ikeda, ironically, was born into a household whose ancestors reside in Mitsugonin, a temple of the Shingon sect. It is a slanderous place which was established in accordance with Shingon formalities.

The Shingon patriarch, the Learned Doctor Shan-wu-wei too, despite his wisdom and strong practice, was mistaken about the teachings of Buddhism. Shan wu-wei was persecuted. Christ too was persecuted and his teachings are far less insidious than Shan-wu-wei’s, Makiguchi’s, or Ikeda’s. Their teachings resemble little the teachings of the Original Buddha Shakyamuni’s [Lotus Sutra] and Nichiren Daishonin’s. Visions and “visionaries”, not firmly grounded in the teachings of the Original Buddha Shakyamuni [Lotus Sutra] and the Daishonin, reside in the realm of delusion.

Nichiren goes on to teach:

"The same work also says: “At this time the students of the other schools all bowed to the opinion of the Great Teacher Kōbō and for the first time received instruction in the True Word doctrines, sought their benefit, and practiced them. Dōshō of the Three Treatises school, Gennin of the Dharma Characteristics school, Dōyū of the Flower Garland school, and Enchō of the Tendai school were all among those who did so.”

In addition, the biography of the Great Teacher Kōbō states: “On the day when he set out by ship from China, he voiced a prayer, saying, ‘If there is a spot that is particularly suitable for the teaching of these doctrines that I have learned, may this three-pronged diamond-pounder land there!’ Then he faced in the direction of Japan and threw the diamond-pounder up into the air. It sailed far away and disappeared among the clouds. In the tenth month, he returned to Japan.”

The same work states: “He journeyed to the foot of Mount Kōya and determined to establish his place of meditation there . . . and later it was discovered that the three-pronged diamond-pounder that he had thrown out over the sea was there on the mountain.”

It is clear from these two or three incidents that the Great Teacher Kōbō was a person of inestimable power and virtue. Since he was a person of such great power, why do you say that one should not believe in his teachings, and that anyone who does so will fall into the Avīchi hell?

Answer: I, too, admire and believe in these various accomplishments of his. There are other men of old who possessed such uncanny powers. But the possession of such power does not indicate whether that person’s understanding of the Buddhist teaching is correct or not. Among the non-Buddhist believers of India there have been men who could pour all the waters of the Ganges River into their ear and keep it there for twelve years, or those who could drink the ocean dry, grasp the sun and moon in their hands, or change the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha into oxen or sheep. But such powers only made them more arrogant than ever and caused them to create further karma to confine themselves in the sufferings of birth and death. It is men like these whom T’ien-t’ai is referring to when he says, “They seek after fame and profit and increase their illusions of thought and desire.”

Daisaku Ikeda's teachings perfectly mirror the evil teachings of these "men of old":

"Seek wealth and fame patiently"-- SGI's false Buddha Daisaku Ikeda

"There is no need to seek impatiently for greatness, fame or wealth. The Earth and Sun do not hurry; they follow their own path at their own pace. If the Earth were to accelerate and complete one rotation in three hours instead of twenty - four, we would be in big trouble! The most important thing in life, too, is to find a sure and certain path and confidently advance along it." -- Daisaku Ikeda

Nichiren's view of fame and profit

"How long does a lifetime last? If one stops to consider, it is like a single night’s lodging at a wayside inn. Should one forget that fact and seek some measure of worldly fame and profit? Though you may gain them, they will be mere prosperity in a dream, a delight scarcely to be prized. You would do better simply to leave such matters to the karma formed in your previous existences." -- Nichiren

Not even some measure of fame and profit!

'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.” -- Nichiren

Daisaku Ikeda's Komeito party comes to mind, Natsuo Yamaguchi preaching Ikeda's doctrines to Shinzo Abe that lead to the violation of the Buddhist Law which is, is in fact, leading to the destruction of the Japanese nation.

"Law-devouring hungry spirits are people who renounce the world and spread Buddhism. They think that if they preach the Law people will respect them, and because of their ambition for fame and profit, they spend their entire present lifetime striving to be thought of as better than others. They neither help other human beings nor have a mind to save their parents. Such people are called Law-devouring hungry spirits, or hungry spirits who use the Buddhist teachings to satisfy their own desires." -- Nichiren

Now, if you wish to attain Buddhahood, you have only to lower the banner of your arrogance, cast aside the staff of your anger, and devote yourself exclusively to the one vehicle of the Lotus Sutra. Worldly fame and profit are mere baubles of your present existence, and arrogance and prejudice are ties that will fetter you in the next one. Ah, you should be ashamed of them! And you should fear them, too!' -- Nichiren

"Never conduct yourself in a shameful manner. Be unmoved by greed, by the desire for fame, or by anger." -- Nichiren

"The reason is this: All people are concerned about their next lifetime, but the priests and nuns, who would appear to ponder more deeply about this than other men and women, in fact set aside the matter of rebirth in the pure land and merely act as guides in helping people get through this present lifetime. Wise persons and sages are also given to insisting that they are correct and superior to others, that they are heirs to the teachings of a certain founder, and that they have legitimate claim to a certain domain. They place great emphasis upon fame and personal gain, and give little thought to any kind of serious search for the way." -- Nichiren

This reminds me of a short SGI experience:

“I met a woman once who had recently quit her fairly-new Nichiren [SGI] practice. When I asked her why, she told me that when she related her expressed desire to penetrate and actualize the Gohonzon, it had been met with suggestions that she would be better off chanting for a television set or a car.”– From newbuddhist.com under search Nichiren

"Hell is a dreadful dwelling of fire, and the realm of hungry spirits is a pitiful place where, driven by starvation, they devour their own children. The realm of asuras consists of strife, and that of animals is to kill or be killed. The hell of the crimson lotus is so called because the intense cold of this hell makes one double over until one’s back splits open and the bloody flesh emerges like a crimson lotus flower. And the hell of the great crimson lotus is even more horrible. When one falls into such an evil place, the fact that one was a ruler or a general means nothing. Tormented by the wardens of hell, one is no different than a monkey on a string. What use are fame and fortune then? Can one still be arrogant and persist in false beliefs?" -- 

"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.” - Nichiren

Instead of Taoists, one could insert "Soka Gakkai", "Nichiren Shoshu", or "Nichiren Shu" and "Daisaku Ikeda, "High Priest Nichinyo", or  "Nichiren Shu priests" in the above passage.

"Nichigen is a sage. He is already unrivaled as a scholar of Buddhism. Yet he has discarded all desire for fame and fortune and become my disciple. He has lived the words in the sutra, “We care nothing for our bodies or lives.” To repay his debts of gratitude to the Buddha, he has taught you and your fellow believers and inspired you, Matsuno, to make these sincere offerings. All this is truly amazing.

The Buddha stated that, in the latter age, monks and nuns with the hearts of dogs would be as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. By this he meant that the priests and nuns of that day would be attached tofame and fortune. Because they wear robes and surplices, they look like ordinary priests and nuns. But in their hearts they wield a sword of distorted views, hastening here and there among their patrons and filling them with countless lies so as to keep them away from other priests or nuns. Thus they strive to keep their patrons to themselves and prevent other priests or nuns from coming near them, like a dog who goes to a house to be fed, but growls and springs to attack the moment another dog approaches. Each and every one of these priests and nuns is certain to fall into the evil paths. Being the scholar that he is, Nichigen must have read this passage in the sutra. His unusual consideration and frequent visits to me and my disciples are deeply appreciated."

To visit Nichiren is reading his writings daily, not the Human revolution not the slanderous commentaries of Daisaku Ikeda, Nichinyo, nor those of the Nichiren Shu priests..

"In your letter you write: “Since I took faith in this sutra [the Lotus], I have continued to recite the ten factors of life and the verse section of the ‘Life Span’ chapter and chant the daimoku without the slightest neglect. But how great is the difference between the blessings received when a sage chants the daimoku and the blessings received when we chant it?” To reply, one is in no way superior to the other. The gold that a fool possesses is no different from the gold that a wise man possesses; a fire made by a fool is the same as a fire made by a wise man.

However, there is a difference if one chants the daimoku while acting against the intent of this sutra..." -- Nichiren

"Later, he [Devadatta] broke his ties with his family and joined the Buddhist Order, but when there were large gatherings of human and heavenly beings, the Buddha would censure him, calling him a fool or one who eats the spit of others. In addition, being a man who cared deeply about fame and personal profit, he envied the attention that was paid to the Buddha. He then began observing the five ascetic practices in an attempt to appear more admirable than the Buddha. He pounded iron to make a thousand-spoked wheel pattern [to imprint on the soles of his feet], gathered together fireflies to form a tuft of white hair between his eyebrows, and committed to memory sixty thousand and eighty thousand jeweled teachings. He erected an ordination platform on Mount Gayāshīrsha and lured many of the Buddha’s disciples over to his side. He smeared poison on his fingernails and thus attempted to poison the feet of the Buddha. He beat the nun Utpalavarnā to death and rolled a huge rock down on the Buddha, injuring the latter on the toe. He was guilty of committing three cardinal sins and, in the end, gathered about him all the evil men of the five regions of India and strove to harm the Buddha and his disciples and lay supporters." -- Devadatta

Today, it is Daisaku Ikeda and the High Priests of Nichiren Shoshu who usurp the  teachings of the Buddha and Nichiren for their own aggrandizement and profit.

"Yet we assume that those who have preceded us in death are wretched, and that we who remain alive are superior. Busy with that task yesterday and this affair today, we are helplessly bound by the five desires of our worldly nature. Unaware that time passes as quickly as a white colt glimpsed through a crack in the wall, ignorant as sheep being led to the slaughter, held hopeless prisoners by our concern for food and clothing, we fall heedlessly into the snares of fame and profit and in the end make our way back to that familiar village in the three evil paths, where we are reborn time after time in the realm of the six paths. What person of feeling could fail to grieve at such a state of affairs, or could fail to be moved to sorrow!" - Nichiren

“They seek after fame and profit and increase their illusions of thought and desire.” - Nichiren

Please see https://markrogow.blogspot.com/search?q=attachments+desires+Aizen

"...But the people in this evil age are so arrogant, prejudiced, and attached to fame and profit that they are afraid that, should they become the disciple of a humble person or try to learn something from him, they will be looked down upon by others." -- Nichiren

I feel that the Soka Gakkai, Nichiren Shoshu, and Nichiren Shu members, fearing that they will be looked down upon, are afraid to follow the humble preacher Nichiren and instead choose the charismatics in their midst. 

"...Devadatta, however, did not command such respect from others, so he began to consider whether there was not some way he could gain worldly fame that would surpass that of the Buddha. He came across five criteria by which he might surpass the Buddha and gain recognition from society..." -- Nichiren

"...Again, it says, “Persons who, because they are greedy for fame and profit, preach from such impure motives, will suffer retribution in this realm.” -- Nichiren

'If one wishes for happiness in one’s next existence, one should renounce one’s desire for fame and fortune and respect the priest who teaches the Lotus Sutra as one would a living Thus Come One, no matter how humble that priest’s station. Thus it is written in the sutra." - Nichiren

Daisaku Ikeda, High Priest Nichinyo, and the leaders and priests of many of the modern Nichiren sects, on the other hand, are destined to hell for altering the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the Supreme votary Nichiren.

"In China the teachers who led the ten schools of Buddhism of northern and southern China did not in their minds truly understand the relative superiority and inferiority of the various Buddhist teachings, and in preaching them, they were confused as to which were of true profundity. Similarly, Chi-tsang of the Three Treatises school, Ch’eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school, and Tz’u-en of the Dharma Characteristics school were confused in their minds and misled in their preaching. Because they were men who were firm in their aspiration for the way, in the end they set aside their own fame and reputation and gave allegiance to the principles expounded by T’ien-t’ai. But whether the power of their repentance was sufficient to free them from the sufferings of birth and death, or whether, their sin of slandering the Law being weighty and their power of repentance slight, they in the end fell into hell like King Ajātashatru or the Scholar Vimalamitra, it is impossible to say." -- Nichiren

I pray that Soka Gakkai, Nichiren Shoshu, Nichiren Shu, Kempon Hokke, Honmon Butsuryu  as well as, all those who chant Nam(u) Myoho renge kyo will one day resolve to develop the same faith and practice as the Master Nichiren

'All the entire sea of karmic impediments

is born from deluded thoughts.

If one wishes to carry out repentance,

sit upright and ponder the true aspect.

Then the host of sins, like frost or dew,

can be wiped out by the sun of wisdom." - Universal Worthy Sutra

The following passage from the writings of Nichiren might well be speaking about the leaders and priests of the various modern day Nichiren sects, particularly Daisaku Ikeda of the Soka Gakkai:

"The sutra passage then continues in this manner: “Or there will be forest-dwelling monks wearing clothing of patched rags and living in retirement, who will claim they are practicing the true way, despising and looking down on all humankind. Greedy for profit and support, they will preach the Law to white-robed laymen and will be respected and revered by the world as though they were arhats who possess the six transcendental powers. These men with evil in their hearts, constantly thinking of worldly affairs, will borrow the name of forest-dwelling monks and take delight in proclaiming our faults, saying things like this: ‘These monks are greedy for profit and support and therefore they preach non-Buddhist doctrines and fabricate their own scriptures todelude the people of the world. Because they hope to gain fame and renown thereby they make distinctions when preaching this sutra.’ Because in the midst of the great assembly they constantly try to defame us, they will address the rulers, high ministers, Brahmans, and householders, as well as the other monks, slandering and speaking evil of us, saying, ‘These are men of perverted views who preach non-Buddhist doctrines!’” The Great Teacher Miao-lo makes the following comment: “Third is a section that exposes the arrogance and presumption of those who pretend to be sages.” This sutra passage and Miao-lo’s comment on it convey the following meaning. In the evil age there will be many monks who equip themselves with the three robes and one begging bowl and live in a deserted and quiet place, conducting themselves like Mahākāshyapa and the other arhats who have acquired the three insights and the six transcendental powers, respected and revered by the lay believers. When they speak one word regarding the doctrine, it seems like a golden word uttered by the Thus Come One himself. These monks will speak slanderously of those who practice the Lotus Sutra, addressing the rulers and high ministers and saying in an attempt to destroy them, “These are men of perverted views and their doctrines are erroneous in nature!”

On Repaying Debts of Gratitude continues:

"The Chinese priest Fa-yün of Kuang-che-ssu temple could make it rain suddenly or cause flowers to bloom immediately, but Miao-lo writes of him, “Though he could bring about a response in this way, his understanding still did not accord with the truth [of the Lotus Sutra].” When the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai read the Lotus Sutra, soft rain began to fall in an instant, and the Great Teacher Dengyō caused sweet rain to fall within the space of three days. However, they did not say that because of such powers their understanding of the truth coincided with that of the Buddha.

Regardless of what unusual powers the Great Teacher Kōbō may have had, he described the Lotus Sutra as a doctrine of childish theory and wrote that Shakyamuni Buddha was still in the region of darkness. Persons of wisdom and understanding should have nothing to do with such writings."

Likewise, we should have nothing to do with the slanderous writings of Ikeda, particularly the Human Revolution and New Human Revolution, which are claimed by SGI to be the Lotus Sutra of the modern age. We must be careful discriminating those lectures by the priests and laymen from the various Nichiren sects; which teachings are in accord with the sutra and teachings of Nichiren and which are not. 

Additionally, we may edify by listening to various lectures from all quarters yet, I maintain, that we should not take these men as our Master, not even the most erudite among them. Nichiren teaches that we should only take the our original teacher, the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni as our teacher and that the Gohonzon is the teacher of all Buddhas throughout the Three Existences. The Lotus Sutra also proclaims "this man" (Nichiren as the our teacher in thji8s Latter Degenerate Age. These lecturers either embrace or are complicit with the the incorrect Nichiren Shu, Soka Gakkai, or Nichiren Shoshu teachings and prolifligate behavious obviate taking them as teachers. For example, their teachings on interfaith, their desire for wealth and fame, their exortations to embrace such provisional teachings as Zen and Shingon and their their self serving teachings on the necessity of an intermediary in order to obtain Supreme and Perfect Enlightenment. Were one to take a teacher, one should take the very best teacher(s) and that is the Eternal Buddha (Gohonzon) and Nichiren Daishonin.

"Say what you may, there are surely doubtful points in the accounts of Kōbō’s powers you have just cited. The text says, “In the spring of the ninth year of Kōnin, the empire was troubled by a great plague.” But spring is ninety days long. On which day of which month of spring did this happen? This is the first doubtful point.

Secondly, was there in fact an outbreak of plague in the ninth year of Kōnin?

Thirdly, the text says, “When night came, the sun continued to shine bright and red.” If it really did so, then this is an occurrence of major importance. During the ninth year of Kōnin, Emperor Saga reigned. But did the court historians of the left and right record any such event?

Even if they had, it would be difficult to believe. During the twenty kalpas of the kalpa of formation and nine kalpas of the kalpa of continuance, a total of twenty-nine kalpas, never once has such a thing occurred. What then is this about the sun appearing in the middle of the night? In all the sacred teachings expounded by the Thus Come One Shakyamuni during his lifetime, there is no mention of any such thing. And in the Three Records and the Five Canons of China, which describe the three sovereigns and five emperors of antiquity, there is no prediction that at some future date the sun will come out in the middle of the night. In the scriptures of Buddhism, we are told that, in the kalpa of decline, two suns, three suns, or even seven suns will appear, but these will appear in the daytime, not at night. And if the sun should appear at night in our own region, the continent of Jambudvīpa in the south, then what about the other three regions of the east, west, and north?

Regardless of what the Buddhist scriptures or the secular works may have to say about such an event, if in fact there were some entry in the daily records of the courtiers, the other families of the capital, or the priests of Mount Hiei saying that in the spring of the ninth year of Kōnin, in such and such a month, on such and such a day, at such and such an hour of the night the sun appeared, then we might perhaps believe it. [But no such record exists.]

Later, the text says, “I was present long ago at Eagle Peak when the Buddha preached the Heart Sutra, and I personally heard him expound its profound doctrines.” This is surely a wild falsehood that is intended to make people have faith in his commentary. If not, are we to believe that at Eagle Peak the Buddha announced that the Lotus Sutra was a piece of childish theory and that the Mahāvairochana Sutra represented the truth, and that Ānanda and Manjushrī were simply mistaken in saying that the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law represents the truth?

As for making it rain, even a woman who was licentious and a priest who was a breaker of the precepts were able by their poems to cause rain to fall. Yet Kōbō prayed for twenty-one days and still it did not rain, so what sort of powers could he have possessed? This is the fourth doubtful point.

On the Peacock Sutra states, “The great teacher [Kōbō] thereupon formed his hands in the wisdom mudra and faced south. Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahāvairochana.” Now in what year of the reign of what ruler did this happen?"

"In China from the time of the Chien-yüan era (140–134 b.c.e.), and in Japan from the time of the Taihō era (701–704), among the records of events kept by priests and the laity, those of important occurrences have always been accompanied by the name of the era in which they took place. With an event as important as that described, why then is there no mention of who the ruler was, who his high ministers were, what the name of the era was, or what day and hour the event took place?"

The passage goes on to list “Dōshō of the Three Treatises school, Gennin of the Dharma Characteristics school, Dōyū of the Flower Garland school, and Enchō of the Tendai school” [as those who learned the True Word doctrines from Kōbō]. Enchō is known posthumously as the Great Teacher Jakkō and was the second chief priest of the Tendai school. Now at that time, why was Gishin, the first chief priest, or the Great Teacher Dengyō, the founder of the school, not invited to be present? Enchō, the second chief priest of the Tendai school, was a disciple of the Great Teacher Dengyō and also became a disciple of the Great Teacher Kōbō. Rather than inviting a disciple or rather than inviting men of the Three Treatises, Dharma Characteristics, and Flower Garland schools, why did Kōbō not invite the two most important men of the Tendai school, Dengyō and Gishin?

Speaking of the time when these men were invited, On the Peacock Sutra states, “From that time the True Word, or Yoga, school with its doctrines of secret mandalas was established.” This would seem to refer to a time when both Dengyō and Gishin were still alive. From the second year of Daido (807), in the reign of Emperor Heizei, until the thirteenth year of Kōnin (822) [when Dengyō died], Kōbō was very active in spreading the True Word doctrines, and during this period both Dengyō and Gishin were still alive. Moreover, Gishin lived on until the tenth year of Tenchō (833). Had Kōbō’s True Word teachings not been spread by that time? The whole matter is very strange.

On the Peacock Sutra was written by Shinzei, a disciple of Kōbō, and therefore it is difficult to trust what it says. Is it likely that a person of such deluded views would have troubled to read the writings of the courtiers, the other important families, or Enchō on which to base his account? One should also check the writings of Dōshō, Gennin, and Dōyū to see if they have anything to say on the matter.

Likewise, there are no independent records of Ikeda's or Nichinyo's remarkable powers outside Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu records. Their accounts are highly unreliable without independent confirmation.

The text says, “Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahāvairochana.” What does it mean by the expression “his mouth opened”? The writer probably intended to write the characters meaning the “area between the eyebrows,” but he mistakenly wrote those for “mouth” instead. Because he wrote a book of fabrications, he quite likely made mistakes of this kind.

The whole passage says: “The great teacher thereupon formed his hands in the wisdom mudra and faced south. Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahāvairochana.”

This reminds me of the specious report by SGI golden boy, Andy Nagashima:

https://markrogow.blogspot.com/2018/12/soka-gakkai-leader-andy-nagashima-is.html

Now in the fifth volume of the Nirvana Sutra we read: “Kāshyapa spoke to the Buddha, saying: ‘World-Honored One, I will no longer depend upon the four ranks of sages. Why is this? Because in the Ghoshila Sutra that the Buddha preached for the sake of Ghoshila, it is said that the devil king in heaven, because he is determined to try to destroy the Buddhist teachings, will turn himself into the likeness of a Buddha. He will have all the thirty-two features and eighty characteristics of a Buddha, will be solemn and imposing in appearance, and a round halo of light will radiate from him ten feet in all directions. His face will be round and full like the moon at its fullest and brightest, and the tuft of white hair in between his eyebrows will be whiter than snow. . . . From his left side will come water, and from his right side will come fire.’”

Again, in the sixth volume of the Nirvana Sutra, it is recorded: “The Buddha announced to Kāshyapa: ‘After I have passed into nirvana . . . this devil king Pāpīyas will in time try to destroy the correct teaching of mine. . . . He will change his form into that of an arhat or a Buddha. The devil king, though still subject to illusion, will assume the form of one who has been freed from illusion, and will try to destroy the correct teaching of mine.’”

"The Great Teacher Kōbō declared that, in comparison to the Flower Garland and Mahāvairochana sutras, the Lotus Sutra was a piece of childish theory. And this same man, we are told, appeared in the form of a Buddha. He must be the devil who, as the Nirvana Sutra states, will change his shape, which is still subject to illusion, into that of a Buddha and attempt to destroy the correct teaching of Shakyamuni.

This “correct teaching” referred to in the Nirvana Sutra is the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, we find later on in the Nirvana Sutra the statement “It has already been a long time since I attained Buddhahood.” The text also says, “[When this sutra was preached . . . the prediction had already been made] in the Lotus Sutra [that the eight thousand voice-hearers would attain Buddhahood].”

Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions declared with regard to the various sutras that the Lotus Sutra represents the truth; the Mahāvairochana and all the other sutras do not represent the truth. Yet the Great Teacher Kōbō appeared in the form of a Buddha and announced that, compared to the Flower Garland and Mahāvairochana sutras, the Lotus Sutra is a piece of childish theory. If the words of the Buddha are true, then Kōbō must be none other than the devil king in heaven, must he not?

Again, the matter of the three-pronged diamond-pounder appears to be particularly suspicious. It would be difficult to believe even if a Chinese [who had not known the circumstances] had come to Japan and happened to dig up the pounder. Surely someone must have been sent earlier to bury it in that particular spot. Since Kōbō was a Japanese, he could have arranged such a thing. There are many such wild and absurd stories associated with his name. Such incidents hardly lend support to the assertion that his teachings accord with the will of the Buddha."

Definitely, Daisaku Ikeda too is (was?) a Papiya or devil king, destroying the teachings contained within the heart of the Sutra, Namu myoho renge kyo.

"Thus the doctrines of the True Word, Zen, and Nembutsu schools spread and prospered in Japan. Eventually, Takahira, the Retired Emperor of Oki who was the eighty-second sovereign, began making efforts to overthrow the acting administrator. Since he was the sovereign, the leader of the nation, people supposed that, even without assistance, it would be as easy as a lion pouncing on a hare, or a hawk seizing a pheasant. Moreover, for a period of several years appeals had been made at Mount Hiei, the temples of Tō-ji and Onjō-ji, and the seven major temples of Nara, as well as to the Sun Goddess, Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, and the deities of Sannō, Kamo, and Kasuga shrines, asking that the emperor’s enemies be subdued, and that the gods lend their aid. Yet when war broke out, the imperial forces were not able to hold out for more than two or three days. In the end, the three retired emperors were exiled to the provinces of Sado, Awa, and Oki, respectively, where their lives came to a close.

Moreover, not only was the prelate of Omuro, who was leading the prayers to subdue the enemies of the court, driven out of Tō-ji temple, but his favorite, the page Setaka, who was as dear to him as his very eyes, was beheaded. Thus, as the Lotus Sutra says, the curses in the end “rebound upon the originator.”

Daisaku Ikeda's curses towards the orthodox disciples, believers, and their Objects of Devotion has returned to the originator, his relics grotesque and brittle and the children of his precious members suffering all manner of death and illness thanks to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the meltdown of the nuclear reactors in Fukushima.

"But this is a trifling matter compared to what is to come. Hereafter, I have no doubt that the officials and the countless common people of Japan will without exception suffer a fate like that of heaps of dry grass to which a torch has been set, or like huge mountains crumbling and valleys being filled up, for our country will be attacked by enemies from abroad.

Since the Soka Gakkai and many of the various so-called Nichiren sects remains enemies of the Buddha, Lotus Sutra, and Nichiren, things will only get worse in Japan and the entire world..

"I, Nichiren, am the only one in the whole country of Japan who understands why these things will happen. But if I speak out, I will be treated as King Chou of the Yin dynasty treated Pi Kan, tearing open his chest; as King Chieh of the Hsia dynasty treated Kuan Lung-feng, cutting off his head; or as King Dammira treated the Venerable Āryasimha, beheading him. I will be banished like the priest Chu Tao-sheng, or branded on the face like the Tripitaka Master Fa-tao."

In the Lotus Sutra it is written, “We care nothing for our bodies or lives but are anxious only for the unsurpassed way.” And the Nirvana Sutra warns, “[It is like a royal envoy who] would rather, even though it costs him his life, in the end conceal none of the words of his ruler.”

Namu Nichiren! Namu Eternal Buddha! Namu Myoho renge kyo!

"If in this present existence I am so fearful for my life that I fail to speak out, then in what future existence will I ever attain Buddhahood? Or in what future existence will I ever be able to bring salvation to my parents and my teacher? With thoughts such as these uppermost in my mind, I decided that I must begin to speak out. And, just as I had expected, I was ousted, I was vilified, I was attacked, and I suffered wounds. Finally, on the twelfth day of the fifth month in the first year of the Kōchō era (1261), the year with the cyclical sign kanoto-tori, having incurred the wrath of the authorities, I was banished to Ito in the province of Izu. Eventually, on the twenty-second day of the second month in the third year of Kōchō, cyclical sign mizunoto-i, I was pardoned and allowed to return."

Nichiren and Shakyamuni Buddha ARE the heroes of this world. In comparison to the Eternal Buddha and Nichiren, Daisaku Ikeda and Nichinyo Shonin are as if rubble to gems or as if jackels to roaring tigers.

"After that, I became more determined than ever to attain enlightenment and continued to speak out. Accordingly, the difficulties I encountered became increasingly severe, like great waves that rise up in a gale. I experienced with my own body the kind of attacks with sticks and staves that Bodhisattva Never Disparaging suffered in ancient times. It would seem that even the persecutions suffered by the monk Realization of Virtue in the latter age after the passing of the Buddha Joy Increasing could not compare to my trials. Nowhere in all the sixty-six provinces and the two offshore islands of Japan, not for a day, not for an hour, could I find a place to rest in safety.

Namu Myoho renge kyo Nichiren! Namu Myoho renge kyo The Martyr Nikkyo! Namu Myoho renge kyo The Pot headed Saint Nisshin Shonin! Namu Myoho renge kyo the Atsuhara martyrs, Namu myoho renge kyo Nichiju Shonin, Namu myoho renge kyo the Six Senior Priests. Namu Myoho renge kyo Toki Jonin and all those who have correctly preserved and correctly transmitted the teachings.

"Even sages who persevere in their practice as earnestly as did Rāhula in ancient times, strictly observing all the two hundred and fifty precepts, or men who are as wise as Pūrna, speak evil of Nichiren when they encounter him. Even worthies who are as honest and upright as the court officials Wei Cheng and Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, when they see Nichiren, forsake reason and treat him unjustly."

SGI members say many similar things about me. Just today SGI leader Bob Campion stated: "you are not a very nice person.". At least he didn't curse me like many of his fellow believers!

"How much more so is this the case with the ordinary people of the day! They behave like dogs who have seen a monkey, or hunters in pursuit of a deer. Throughout the whole of Japan, there is not a single person who says, “Perhaps this man has some reason for his behavior.” 

Namu Nichiren!

"But that is only to be expected. For whenever I come upon a person who recites the Nembutsu, I tell him that those who believe in the Nembutsu will fall into the hell of incessant suffering. Whenever I come upon a person who honors the True Word teachings, I tell him that True Word is an evil doctrine that will destroy the nation. And to the ruler of the nation, who honors the Zen school, I declare that Zen is the invention of the heavenly devil."

Nichiren told it like it is and I do my best to do the same. Today, i offer my deepest gratitude and affection for the Master Nichiren. I suggest you do the same.

"Since I willingly bring these troubles upon myself, when others vilify me, I do not rebuke them. Even if I wanted to rebuke them, there are too many of them. And even when they strike me, I feel no pain, for I have been prepared for their blows from the very beginning."

May I be as courageous as the lion Nichiren when the time comes.

"And so I went about with ever increasing vigor and ever less concern for my safety, trying to persuade others to change their ways. As a result, several hundred Zen priests, several thousand Nembutsu believers, and even more True Word teachers went to the magistrate or the men of powerful families, or to their wives or their widows who were lay nuns, and filled their ears with endless slanders concerning me.'

"Finally, all were convinced that I was the gravest offender in the entire nation, for it was said that in my capacity as a priest I was saying prayers and spells for the destruction of Japan, and that I had reported that the late lay priests of Saimyō-ji and Gokuraku-ji had fallen into the hell of incessant suffering. Those widows who were lay nuns insisted that investigation was unnecessary; rather, I should have my head cut off at once, and my disciples should likewise be beheaded or exiled to distant lands or placed in confinement. So infuriated were they that their demands for punishment were immediately carried out.

On the night of the twelfth day of the ninth month in the eighth year of Bun’ei (1271), cyclical sign kanoto-hitsuji, I was to have been beheaded at Tatsunokuchi in the province of Sagami. But for some reason the execution was postponed, and that night I was taken to a place called Echi. On the night of the thirteenth day, people made a great uproar, saying I had been pardoned. But, again for reasons that are unclear, I was ordered into exile in the province of Sado."

I suggest any of you who are reading this and my commentary never befriend me lest you suffer the same fate as Nichiren. Please however, remember the golden words of Nichiren, "However many times I were to repeat the cycle of birth and death, no life could be as fortunate as this. [If not for these troubles,] I might have remained in the three or four evil paths. But now, to my great joy, I am sure to sever the cycle of the sufferings of birth and death, and attain the fruit of Buddhahood."

While people speculated from one day to the next if I would be beheaded, I passed four years on Sado. Then on the fourteenth day of the second month in the eleventh year of Bun’ei, cyclical sign kinoe-inu, I was pardoned. On the twenty-sixth day of the third month of the same year, I returned to Kamakura, and on the eighth day of the fourth month I met with Hei no Saemon-no-jō. I reported on various matters and informed him that the Mongols would certainly invade Japan within that year. Then on the twelfth day of the fifth month, I left Kamakura and came to this mountain where I am now living.

All these things I have done solely to repay the debt I owe to my parents, the debt I owe to my teacher, the debt I owe to the three treasures of Buddhism, and the debt I owe to my country. For their sake I have been willing to destroy my body and to give up my life, though as it turns out, I have not been put to death after all."

And it appears, despite my illness of body and mind, that I am not quite ready for the roaring tiger of death. However, when it comes, i am certain that I will be rapidly ferried to Eagle Peak by the Eternal Buddha and Nichiren. I will refresh for round two of my fight with the powers that be, both secular and religious. I am certain that I will be a man of great influence to forcefully spread the Three Great Secret Laws for the sake of the sick children of this Latter Degenerate Age..

"If a worthy man makes three attempts to warn the rulers of the nation and they still refuse to heed his advice, then he should retire to a mountain forest. This has been the custom from ages past, and I have accordingly followed it."

I have two more warnings to make to the rulers, leaders, monks, gurus, and priests of this corrupt, ugly, and brutal world: I will never stop remonstrating the Soka Gakkai, Nichiren Shoshu, Nichiren Shu, Honmon Butsuryu Shu, the others phonies who claim for themselves "Nichiren Buddhist" but who hardly practice and teach as the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren; and I will never stop remonstrating the Muslims, Christians, Brahmans, and Jews who indiscriminately kill in the name of their sordid religions.

"But there are certain doubts that trouble me. The Venerable Maudgalyāyana attempted to save his mother, Shōdai-nyo, but he could not do so, and she remained in the realm of hungry spirits. The monk Sunakshatra was a son of the World-Honored One of Great Enlightenment, and yet he fell into the Avīchi hell. Thus, although one may exert one’s full effort to save others, it is very difficult to save them from the karmic retribution that they have brought upon themselves."

Nichiren concludes in another writing that since "...The Venerable Maudgalyāyana (eventually) put his faith in the Lotus Sutra which is the greatest good there is, and thus not only did he himself attain Buddhahood, but his father and mother did so as well. And, amazing as it may seem, all the fathers and mothers of the preceding seven generations and the seven generations that followed, indeed, of countless lifetimes before and after, were able to become Buddhas. In addition, all their sons, their wives or husbands, their retainers, supporters, and countless other persons not only were enabled to escape from the three evil paths, but all attained the first stage of security and then Buddhahood, the stage of perfect enlightenment. - On Offerings for Deceased Ancestors