Soka Gakkai and Christianity 2 versus the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren

 

Soka Gakkai...That was then this is now...On Christianity

Then from the Shakubuku Kyoten (Bible of Shakubuku or Manual of Forced Conversion) from the 1950's on Christianity. It was edited by Daisaku Ikeda.

THEN:

"Since Christ had a physical body, he must have been heavier than air according to the law of gravity. If a heavy body had arisen into light air, it would be contrary to Archimedes' principles. And if you believe this to be a fact and so break one of the laws of the universe, you will have to deny all rules and laws."

"At first the pure teaching of Christianity consisted only of the Sermon on the Mount. The other 90% of the Bible is no more than the dogmas of the disciples. Let us first inquire into the words of Jesus: 'My Father in Heaven makes his sun rise on the evil as well as on the good. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? You should be as perfect as your Father in heaven.' The word 'perfect' means perfect love, and in Christianity the Crucifixion is regarded as perfect love, the love of redemption. According to the words of Jesus, love is indispensable for the practice of Christianity. You see how much more demanding and full of conditions Christianity is, when you compare this with Buddhism, where you have only one condition: to believe. It shows the difficulty of practice and the inferiority of the teachings of Christianity. In the second place, regarding 'for if you love those who love you, what reward have you?' and 'you must become perfect as your Father in heaven,' we see ideas that are completely in opposition to the law of cause and effect. There is an effect wherever there is a cause. Even if you love those who love you, the effect of your love never fails to come out. Furthermore, you have in your mind both the nature to love and the tendency to abhor - to love alone is therefore not possible, except in words."

"In the third place, their claim that they can atone for the sins of others and expiate the sins committed by themselves as well as others is erroneous. The sins of other people belong to them exclusively and even if you forgive them their sin, it is impossible that their sin thereby will be erased. On the contrary, the very Christians who insist that Jesus was crucified for them for the sake of redemption always commit sin, and confess, and sin again - sin does not at all diminish but increases all over the world."

"In the fourth place the paragraph 'so perfect as the Father in Heaven' is built on the premise that the perfect Father in Heaven exists. There is no explanation of the substance, the nature, and the faculty of this Father in Heaven. There is no cause, by which this Father has been born, and there can be no effect without cause."

Jesus worked miracles. They say that 46 miracles have been put on record. However, posterity could have invented these miracles; they cannot be proven just by the fact that they are written in the Bible. Even nowadays Christians call all sorts of unusual phenomena miracles. It betrays their inferiority that they are ignorant of the reason behind these phenomena."

"Christianity overestimates sin. They talk of original sin, a sin that nobody can escape. Hence they regard all human beings as criminals. A true religion must give strong vitality to man and not reduce him to a criminal."

"God is not the Creator. Living things as well as non-living things of the universe are not given birth by other things, but by themselves. Our life is not given to us by our parents, and is not either given by God or Buddha."

"Jesus died on the Cross. This fact shows that he was defeated by opposition, whatever interpretation posterity may have given to this fact. The great Saint Nichiren shouted to his executor when he was about to be beheaded: "The time is passing. Be quick; cut off my head.' And as soon as he said so, the gods of the universe gave him all the power of their protection, and meteors shot across the heavens. He defeated his opposition. Comparing this vitality with the fate of Jesus we see that Christianity has no power."

NOW:

"Catholics are our older brothers" -- Daisaku Ikeda

World Tribune, May 24, 1993, p. 4 (Ikeda speech of May 3, 1993)"

“Catholics have experienced a history of suffering; they have walked a path of bitter struggle. Viewed in that vein, I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that Catholics are our older brothers.”

Except for Makiguchi, no one from SGI has ever been martyred and, unlike the jesuits and the master Nichiren, Ikeda has hardly lived even a day as a mendicant. He’s lived like a Pope, the rich lifestyle, everyone kissing his hands and feet, the vast Vatican and Soka art treasures bought off the backs of the people donating every bit of their extra money to the Church and Soka.

Ikeda is the lay-Pope of the East and the Soka Gakkai is modeled after Rome [Vatican].

The Catholics are the older brothers of the SGI while other Nichiren Buddhists, our priests, members, and our Lotus Sutra “theology,” are lower than dirt to them.

You know who is actually lower than dirt don’t you? Who are the real betrayers and traitors of the Nichiren faith?

Next time you do gongyo in front of the Nichikan Gohonzon, think about it… On second thought, find a blank wall to chant to, if you really wish to be illumned about this issue. The Nichikan Gohonzon has too much baggage and too too many demons.

Greg Martin SGI-USA study chief says:

"We do not intend to take a refutational approach to Christianity. We see no necessity or value in attempting to undermine a religious tradition that is both widely accepted and demonstrably valuable. At the same time, we cannot avoid the historical evidence of its less noble aspects that have given rise to violent propagation and the Inquisition, and its use as a tool for colonization and subjugation.

Finally, we do not take an exclusivist position - that Nichiren Buddhism is the only vehicle capable of carrying its adherents to the pinnacles of truth and the shores of happiness. While we certainly believe there is only one ultimate reality, we acknowledge that the major religious traditions also seek, and to varying degrees see, this truth as well.

Furthermore, most religious traditions share with Nichiren Buddhism the intention of leading their practitioners to this truth and to the goal of human development and harmonious community. So while we do not claim to be the sole possessors of the truth (Who could possess truth anyway?), what concerns us more is the degree to which a religious tradition is able to deliver on its promises. How many people are actually able to transcend their baser selves and live out the tenets of their creed, becoming people of genuinely worthy character, wise intention, and compassionate behavior? Is a particular religious practice serving as a greater or lesser vehicle in achieving these goals?"

https://markrogow.blogspot.com/2018/06/sgi-interfaith.html

https://markrogow.blogspot.com/2020/08/honor-and-dishonor.html

 The Exclusive Faith and Practice of the Lotus Sutra:

The exclusive faith and practice of the Lotus Sutra in Mappo is a narrow path with one door (Lotus Sutra Chapter 3). If one could become enlightened and create kosen-rufu through, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, the Soka Gakkai, the Pali Cannon, or the Three Vehicles, the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren would have taught the path wide with many doors. Those who assert otherwise are devils to be repudiated.  

Nichiren teaches:

In Tung-ch’un we read: “Question: While the Buddha was in the world, there were many who were resentful and jealous. But in the age after his passing, when someone preaches this [Lotus] sutra, why do so many oppose that person? Answer: It is said that good medicine tastes bitter. This sutra, which is like good medicine, dispels attachments to the five vehicles and establishes the one ultimate principle. It reproaches those in the ranks of ordinary beings and censures those in the ranks of sagehood, denies [provisional] p.241Mahayana and refutes Hinayana. It speaks of the heavenly devils as poisonous insects and calls non-Buddhists demons. It censures those who cling to Hinayana teachings, calling them mean and impoverished, and it dismisses bodhisattvas as beginners in learning. For this reason, heavenly devils hate to listen to it, non-Buddhists find their ears offended, persons of the two vehicles are dumbfounded, and bodhisattvas flee in terror. That is why all these types of people try to make hindrances [for a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra]. The Buddha was not speaking nonsense when he declared that hatred and jealousy would abound.”

The reason the world is in the state it's in, a state of sadness, greed, anger, stupidity, impurity, and prejudice (rather than joy, equanimity, magnanimity, compassion, purity, and empathy), is precisely because of the establishment of mistaken beliefs and inferior teachings that leave the people prostrate on the ground. Unless and until the Lotus Sutra alone flourishes, we will never have a world based on the enlightened life of the Buddha and the Law of Namu myoho renge kyo.

This belief is fundamental to the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin and the forceful practices are the way to Establish the Right Law. Declaring that the Lotus Sutra alone leads to Supreme Enlightenment and all other teachings lead to hell, one is a disciple and believer of Nichiren Daishonin. It is self apparent to the disciples and believers of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin, those with clear minds and those keenly able to correctly observe the world, that it is Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, secular humanism, belief in the sanctity of science, and heretical provisional Buddhism which has brought us to the brink. The elimination of these diseased religions and philosophies will bring about the land of eternal quiescent light.