Several passages from On Repaying Debts of Gratitude. one of Nichiren's Five Major Works, and a short commentary

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?”

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].

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.”

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.

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.

Who might those be, they who praise and practice the Lotus Sutra today who destroy its heart? I would say, the biggest offenders are the Soka Gakkai and the Nichiren Shoshu

Two recent (potential) life and death experiences

Three weeks ago, I dreamt that I was a quarterback. I fumbled the ball and attempting to get the ball I fell out of bed on my head suffering a concussion, severe laceration and severe dislocation of my 5th cervical vertebrae. For five minutes my left arm was completely dead. I was in the hospital four days with severe (9/10) pain in my neck, not relieved by pain killers. Three days later I was doing a medical marijuana license for a 72 year old patient. He was a retired chiropractor. He told me about his nephew who was "the best chiropractor and acupuncturist in Oklahoma".I saw his nephew a few days later.He had at least 30 patients waiting to be seen. He did a lateral neck xray and we both saw the severe dislocation of the fifth vertebrae which they all missed in the hospital despite having done both a CT scan and MRI of the neck, failing to do a plain lateral x-ray of the cervical spine, the cornerstone of a traumatic injury to the cervical spine. Thanks to gentle and kind chiropractor, I can get some relief from the severe pain in the neck though certain mild and not so mild symptoms persist, thanks to the Gohonzon and Namu Myoho renge kyo, I am neither a quadriplegic nor dead.

Then, this week, my son was visiting from Florida. My best friend, wife and I did a powerful gongyo (Buddhist practice of chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and two of the most important chapters of the Lotus Sutra). After gongyo, my wife was answering a few questions that my friend had about the faith and practice of our Buddhism and then we talked with my son. I went to buy some charcoal for our dinner. I always park with my high beams facing the grill. My wife and son didn't realize that I returned but my friend, out of the blue, got up to help me if needed. He opened the passenger seat car door as I was just about to get out to begin grilling and beneath the grill were two copperheads that I failed to see. My friend however saw them. My son had then come out and my friend asked my son if he had a gun. My son passed my friend his handgun and he shot and he killed the snakes. If my friend had not come out, I would have been bitten and with my kidney failure, here too, I might have died, My friend acted as a Buddhist god, protecting me thanks to our strong gongyo and faith in Namu Myoho renge kyo and the Gohonzon.

I have so many unimaginable, almost miraculous benefits...,

...that it is inconceivable to me that my criticisms of the Soka Gakkai, my faith or practice might be contrary to the Lotus Sutra and the Lord Buddha as preached in the Third, Eighteenth, Nineteeenth Chapters of the Lotus Sutra and the writings of Nichiren on Actual Proof.

No where in the Lotus Sutra or the writings of Nichiren is there ONE MENTION of a Guru. Yet, in Shingon esoterism (a type of Vajrayana Buddhism, a fundamental principle is the principle of the Guru. This is called Yuiga Yoga (Guru Yoga). The Guru in Shingon and Tibetan Buddhism becomes the Fourth Treasure (beyond the normative Three Treasures, examples being the Dalai Lama, Daisaku Ikeda and the High Priest of Nichiren Shoshu). The Treasure of the Guru, the Fourth Treasure, subsumes the other Three Treasures (the Law, the Eternal Buddha and the Lotus Sutra Sangha led by Nichiren).  Daisaku Ikeda, the Guru of SGI and the High Priest of Nichiren Shoshu, the Guru of the Nichiren Shoshu, as the gurus of their respective Schools, they can preach (or write) teachings contrary to the Lotus Sutra and writings of Nichiren which must be accepted by their disciples since as mentioned above, the Fourth Treasure subsumes the other Three Treasures.

To remind those who fail to chant the One Essential Phrase correctly

It IS Namu Myoho Renge kyo, not Nam Myoho renge kyo.

The Importance of the character Mu

Only Namu Myoho renge kyo is correct because Namu Myoho renge kyo is the personal name of the Supreme Law. Neither Nam Myoho renge kyo, Namo Miao Fa Lien Hua Ching, Namas Saddharma pundarika sutra nor Devotion to the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma is the name of the Supreme Law. 

Even were Nichiren to have written the Daimoku in brail, it is written Namu Myoho renge kyo. Nichiren never wrote Nam Myoho renge kyo, not once in thirty years, not on his Gohonzons nor in his writings.

“And when the two characters for Namu are prefixed to Myoho-renge-kyo, or the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, we have the formula Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.” -- The Opening of the Eyes which explains the Gohonzon in terms of the Eternal Original Buddha

"The jewels of this jeweled vehicle are the seven precious substances which adorn the great cart. The seven jewels are precisely the seven orifices in one's head, and these seven orifices are precisely the [seven characters] na-mu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo, the essential Dharma for the Final Dharma Age." -- Mounting This Jeweled Vehicle, They Directly Arrive at the Place of Enlightenment

Nichiren on discarding even a single character of the Lotus Sutra:

"A single character of the Lotus Sutra is like the great earth, which gives rise to all things. A single character is like the great ocean, which contains the water from all rivers. A single character is like the sun and moon, which illuminate all four continents.

“Now the Latter Day of the Law, is the time when the seven characters of Namu Myoho renge kyo-the heart of the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra that Shakyamuni Buddha who had achieved enlightenment in the remote past, along with the bodhisattvas Jogyo, Muhengyo and the others is to propogate-will alone spread throughout the country.” 

"In the first five hundred years of the Former Day of the Law following the Buddha’s passing, only Hinayana teachings spread, while in the next five hundred years, provisional Mahayana teachings spread. The thousand years of the Middle Day of the Law saw the rise of the theoretical teaching. In the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, only the essential teaching spreads, but even so, the theoretical teaching should not be discarded. Nowhere in the entire Lotus Sutra do we find a passage suggesting that we should discard the first fourteen chapters, which comprise the theoretical teaching. When we distinguish between the theoretical and the essential teachings on the basis of the threefold classification of the entire body of the Buddha’s teachings, the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings were to be spread in the Former Day, and the theoretical teaching, in the Middle Day, but the Latter Day is the time to propagate the essential teaching. In the present period the essential teaching is primary, while the theoretical teaching is subordinate. But those who therefore discard the latter, saying it is not the way to enlightenment, and believe only in the former, have not yet understood the doctrine of Nichiren’s true intention. Theirs is a completely distorted view."

"Thus a single word of this Lotus Sutra is as precious as a wish-granting jewel, and a single phrase is the seed of all Buddhas." 

"Again, a single character equals innumerable others, for the validity of the sutra was attested to by the Buddhas of the ten directions. The treasures bestowed by a single wish-granting jewel equal those bestowed by two such jewels or by innumerable jewels. Likewise, each character in the Lotus Sutra is like a single wish-granting jewel, and the innumerable characters of the sutra are like innumerable jewels. The character myō was uttered by two tongues: the tongues of Shakyamuni and Many Treasures. The tongues of these two Buddhas are like an eight-petaled lotus flower, one petal overlapping another, on which rests a jewel, the character of myō.

The jewel of the character myō contains all the benefits that the Thus Come One Shakyamuni received by practicing the six pāramitās in his past existences: the benefits he obtained through the practice of almsgiving by offering his body to a starving tigress and by giving his life in exchange for that of a dove;9 the benefits he obtained when he was King Shrutasoma who kept his word, though it meant his death, in order to observe the precepts;10 the benefits he obtained as an ascetic called Forbearance by enduring the tortures inflicted upon him by King Kāli;11 the benefits he obtained as Prince Earnest Donor and as the ascetic Shōjari, and all his other benefits. We, the people of this evil latter age, have not formed even a single good cause, but [by bestowing upon us the jewel of myō] Shakyamuni has granted us the same benefit as if we ourselves had fulfilled all the practices of the six pāramitās. This precisely accords with his statement “Now this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children.” Bound as we common mortals are by earthly desires, we can instantly attain the same virtues as Shakyamuni Buddha, for we receive all the benefits that he accumulated. The sutra reads, “Hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us.” This means that those who believe in and practice the Lotus Sutra are equal to Shakyamuni Buddha."

"Therefore, a single word from one of these kings can destroy the kingdom or insure order within it. The edicts handed down by rulers represent a type of pure and far-reaching voice. Ten thousand words spoken by ten thousand ordinary subjects cannot equal one word spoken by a king." 

"Similarly, though we gather together all the various sutras, such as the Flower Garland Sutra, the Āgama sutras, the Correct and Equal sutras, the Wisdom, Nirvana, Mahāvairochana, and Meditation sutras, they could never equal even a single character of the Lotus Sutra."

"Shakyamuni Buddha and the written words of the Lotus Sutra are two different things, but their heart is one. Therefore, when you cast your eyes upon the words of the Lotus Sutra, you should consider that you are beholding the living body of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni."

"The characters of this sutra are all without exception living Buddhas of perfect enlightenment. But because we have the eyes of ordinary people, we see them as characters. For instance, hungry spirits perceive the Ganges River as fire, human beings perceive it as water, and heavenly beings perceive it as amrita. Though the water is the same, it appears differently according to one’s karmic reward from the past."

The blind cannot see the characters of this sutra. To the eyes of ordinary people, they look like characters. Persons of the two vehicles perceive them as the void. Bodhisattvas look on them as innumerable doctrines. Buddhas recognize each character as a golden Shakyamuni. This is what is meant by the passage that says, “[If one can uphold this sutra], one will be upholding the Buddha’s body.”1 Those who practice with distorted views, however, are destroying this most precious sutra. You should simply be careful that, without differing thoughts, you single-mindedly aspire to the pure land of Eagle Peak. A passage in the Six Pāramitās Sutra2 says to become the master of your mind rather than let your mind master you. I will explain in detail when I see you.

“Now this Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law I have been speaking of represents the true reason why all Buddhas make their advent in the world and teaches the direct way to the attainment of Buddhahood for all living beings. Shakyamuni Buddha entrusted it to his disciples, Many Treasures Buddha testified to its veracity, and the other Buddhas extended their tongues up to the Brahmā heaven, proclaiming, ‘All that you [Shakyamuni] have expounded is the truth!’ Every single character in this sutra represents the true intention of the Buddhas, and every brushstroke of it is a source of aid to those who repeat the cycle of birth and death. There is not a single word in it that is untrue."

"Even if one were to prepare a feast of a hundred flavors, if the single flavor of salt were missing, it would be no feast for a great king. Without salt, even the delicacies of land and sea are tasteless."

“The Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, before which I bow my head, in its single case, with its eight scrolls, twenty-eight chapters, and 69,384 characters, is in each and every one of its characters the true Buddha who preaches the Law for the benefit of living beings.”

"Every single character in this sutra represents the true intention of the Buddhas, and every brushstroke of it is a source of aid to those who repeat the cycle of birth and death. There is not a single word in it that is untrue."

"If one discards one word or even one brushstroke of the sutra, the offense is graver than that of one who kills one’s parents ten million times over, or even of one who sheds the blood of all the Buddhas in the ten directions." 

I can supply dozens more similar passages. 

Were believers to chant together, some chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and others chanting Nam Myoho renge kyo, what a discordant mess it would be. Some chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and others chanting Nam Myoho renge kyo is one of the principle causes of Nichiren faith disunity. One may spout all the theoretical reasons in the world why Nam Myoho renge kyo is equally correct but reality and actuality trumps them all.

Throwing out the character Mu is to throw out a golden Buddha from the heart of the Lotus Sutra. Perhaps the SGI should remove the character Mu from their Gohonzons as they have from Nichiren's writings?

Addendum 1

Nichiren never wrote Nam and despite the argument that the Japanese/Chinese rules of grammar would not support writing Nam, I am sure the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra would have found a way to explain how to divorce the characters from their generally accepted pronunciation were Nam the correct pronunciation. Do you really think that Nichiren wanted some of his disciples to chant Nam and others to chant Namu? The other part of the argument is derived from the fact that Japan's and more generally East Asia's great vowel shift occurred in the 14th century. Therefore, during the time of Nichiren, everyone pronounced every Sino-Japanese character. There will never be unity in the Nichiren community unless both the recitation of the Daimoku and our doctrines are uniform. Nichiren praised Saicho for his attempts at unifying the Buddhist community and he will praise those from Eagle Peak who strive to accomplish same.

Addendum 2 from the Kempon Hokke archives

"NAM" AND "NAMU"

In the 13th Century, Japanese was pronounced as it was written, therefore we can assume that Nichiren chanted "Namu". Since the 3rd Century AD, a large number of Chinese words were incorporated into the Japanese language. These words were pronounced in Japanese approximately as they were in Chinese, but subsequently their pronunciation was modified considerably. In Nichiren's day, however, all syllables were pronounced . In Chinese, "nam mu" is pronounced as two syllables (roughly, "nan woo"). In the Muromachi Period (1333-1528), pronunciation underwent great change. It is only from this time that we can see the dropping of the final "u" in Japanese words.

Coincidentally, in this same time period (1350-1550) there appeared in our own language the "Great Vowel Shift" (so named by the Danish linguist, Otto Jespersen d.1943) wherein pronunciation of the vowels in Middle English were changed dramatically and consonants were dropped (as a sound) in many words, but were retained in spelling. (i.e. "walking" used to be pronounced "wa-l-king", etc.)

Perhaps once Nichiren was dead, Mara wanted to bring chaos into the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra (as he sought to bring chaos into Shakyamuni's teachings, once Shakyamuni had died), so he set up conditions for a worldwide shift in pronunciation, just to lessen the effects of the "good medicine for Mappo" (i.e. the Daimoku), Funny thing is, only Taisekiji adopted the practice of a six-syllable Daimoku. Most other Nichiren sects kept the "nam mu". We are discussing a linguistic point here, but the real reason for chanting "Nam mu myo ho renge kyo" is doctrinal, not linguistic. To remove a kanji from the chant is insane as well as uncalled for.

From the Gosho "REPLY TO OTA KINGO" (4/8/81)

"I, Nichiren, as the leader of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, have indeed inherited these Three Great Secret Laws from the teacher, the Great Enlightened One and World Honored One, face to face, at a time two thousand and some odd years ago in the past. What, I, Nichiren, teach and practice is the exact, true, Three Great Secret Laws of Ji found in the Juryo chapter. The teaching that I propagate has not been altered in the slightest respect, even in form that which I inherited at Eagle Peak."

The fact that so many Taisekeji believers defend "Nam" so blindly is suspicious. The usual response would be,"Namu" is correct, but we chant "Nam", because we have been led to believe that it is the same as "Namu"." Instead, American Taisekiji-ites are rabid about sticking to "Nam", come hell or high water! These same people don't know if Taisekeji is telling the truth or not, since Americans don't know Japanese language. But they actually get into screaming matches over this point, instead of thinking about what might have been the "correct" chant in Nichiren's day, when Japanese was pronounced as it was written.

They are like fundamentalist Christians, when they are told that their bible is radically altered from the texts of Christianity, as they existed in 1st Century Palestine. The doctrine of Nichiren is that the Daimoku is seven Chinese characters, (and at that time, the Chinese pronunciation would be seven syllables, no omissions), the object of worship is the gohonzon (which is basically the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the "ceremony in the air", revealing the original eternal Shakyamuni Buddha's life and land.. There is no doctrine of a "Dai-Gohonzon" housed at Taisekeji.....ALL of Nichiren's gohonzons were the supreme mandala. The Taisekeji mandala isn't even in Nichiren's handwriting!

It's an obvious forgery. The "Kaidan" is still a mystery (that's Nichiren's 3rd "Great Secret Law".) It's certainly not and never was the "Sho Hondo", which was a sprawling replica of the 1964 Olympic Games auditorium in Tokyo.

Dropping the "mu" character in the Daimoku of Taisekeji seems to have made the other deceptions (so-called "Dai-Gohonzon", Sho-hondo, many forged texts and documents, etc.) so easy to accept. Any one who chants "Nam Mu" eventually starts questioning Taisekeji doctrine, almost as if the full Daimoku awakens them from the hypnotic spell of Taisekiji. Weird, isn't it? But it holds true, under the "actual proof" criteria. If you chant "Nam Mu", you awaken from the Taisekeji "dream". That's the "doctrinal" mystery. How can one simple change make so much difference? Yet it does. Perhaps it's as if you call out for "Bob Smith", but he only answers to "Robert Smith", so he never hears you calling him, because he doesn't respond to "Bob", never. Some imposter named "Bob" might even respond to the "abbreviated" call, who knows? After all, it's a fake Honzon, posing as an authentic Nichiren Gohonzon at Taisekeji. To perpetrate that kind of deception, the author must have been capable of great cunning and treachery. The real author may be the King Devil himself, who can assume the form of a "golden buddha", as Shakyamuni warned.

When they hear the true teachings they cover their eyes and ears.

"If the questioner says that in the end, good and evil are inseparable, incorrect and correct are one, and asks why you insist upon making distinctions of good and evil when such distinctions go against the basic intent of the doctrine set forth in the Lotus Sutra:

Reply by asking whether T’ien-t’ai’s appearance in the world was for the purpose of putting an end to evil, or for the purpose of encouraging evil.

Ask where, in the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra, there is any passage that exhorts one to do evil deeds." -Dialogues for Quick Victory

"The teachings of the Tendai Lotus school use these doctrinal classifications to reveal the original intentions of the various Buddhas. If one is ignorant of these doctrinal classifications and yet tries to discuss the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, then [as the Great Teacher Dengyō has said] “Though one praises the Lotus Sutra, one on the contrary kills its very heart,” that is, one destroys the intent of the Lotus." - Questions and Answers on the Various Schools

Here Nichiren is talking about Tientai's Five Periods and Eight Teachings. Since 95+ % of SGI have no clue of the significance of the Five Periods and Eight Teachings when they discuss the teachings they destroy the intent of the Lotus Sutra.

"No one can escape death once born as a human being, so why do you not practice in preparation for the next life? When I observe what people are doing, I realize that, although they profess faith in the Lotus Sutra and clasp its scrolls, they act against the intent of the sutra and are thereby doomed to the evil paths. To illustrate, a person has five internal organs,1 but should even one of them become diseased, it will infect all the others, and eventually the person will die. The Great Teacher Dengyō states that though they praise the Lotus Sutra they destroy its heart.2 He means that, even if people embrace, read, and praise the Lotus Sutra, if they betray its intent, they will be destroying not only Shakyamuni Buddha but all the Buddhas in the ten directions. " - Letter to Nikke

SGI Mentor/disciple is to betray the intent of the Sutra.

The Tendai Lotus school is known as the Buddha-founded school, having been established by Shakyamuni Buddha himself. The True Word school p.868was the invention of ordinary persons, and its scholars and teachers of later times were the ones who began to use the term school to describe themselves. However, they ascribed the founding of their school to the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana and Bodhisattva Maitreya. Nevertheless, only the single school devoted to the Lotus Sutra conforms to the true intent of Shakyamuni Buddha." - Letter to Shomitsu-bo

Please note since our school was founded by Shakyamuni Buddha that is one reason why Nichiren revered him. SGI ignores Shakyamuni Buddha thus depreciating him. Very slanderous.

Nichiren Daishonin considered Tientai's organization of sutras crucial because it enables people to focus on what is profound in Buddhist doctrine and to avoid the error of embracing partial truths derived from lesser teachings.

"As for the time of its propagation, the Lotus Sutra spreads during the latter age, when the Buddha’s Law is about to perish. As for what capacity of persons it is suited to, it can save even those who commit the five cardinal sins, or who slander the correct teaching. Therefore, you must be guided by the intent of [the Lotus Sutra, which is] the immediate attainment of enlightenment, and never give yourself up to the mistaken views that stem from doubts or attachments."- Questions and Answers on Embracimg the Lotus Sutra.

SGI and their Sensei teaches that attachments are good, Black is white and white is black in SGI because they chant Nam Myoho renge kyo instead of Namu Myoho renge kyo and disregard their father, Shakyamuni Buddha.

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

SGI goes against the Sutra in so many ways: Money collecting activities; interfaith activities; mentor disciple; wrong Three Treasures and Three Great Secret Laws; wromg Gohonzon; slander of others who chant Namu Myoho renge kyo; lame study of the novel, the Human Rsvolution; not to mention;

(1) arrogance, (2) negligence (regarding study), (3) wrong views of the self, (4) shallow understanding, (5) attachment to earthly desires, (6) not understanding, (7) not believing, (8) scowling with knitted brows, (9) harboring doubts, (10) slandering, (11) despising, (12) hating, (13) envying, and (14) bearing grudges.’”

"The power of karmic rewards extends to all of the Ten Worlds, even to the realm of Buddhahood. Even though one might go around killing people throughout the provinces of Japan and China, if one does not commit any of the five cardinal sins or does not slander the Law, one will not fall into the hell of incessant suffering. Yet one must go through other evil paths for a period of numerous years. Even if one observes ten thousand precepts and performs ten thousand good deeds, if one does so with a mind only half intent, one cannot be reborn in any heaven of the world of form. To be born a king in the Brahmā heaven of that world, one must add the spirit of compassion to one’s karma that is laden with outflows and draws one to the world of humanity. The poor woman in the sutra passage was reborn in the Brahmā heaven because of her concern for her child. Her case is different from the nature of causality that is commonly known. Chang-an offers two interpretations of it, but in the end it is nothing other than the loving kindness with which the woman cares for her child that makes the difference. Her concern concentrates on one thing just like the Buddhist practice of concentration. She thinks of nothing but her child, which is similar to Buddhist compassion. That must be why, although she created no other causes to bring it about, she was reborn in the Brahmā heaven." - The Opening of the Eyes

SGI members all have minds half intent on goodness, failing to take the teachings of Nichiren to heart and unwilling to ponder ALL of his teachings while taking to heart the teachings of Daisaku Ikeda rather than Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin. When they hear the true teachings they cover their eyes and ears.

A request to all the SGI members and their supporters who castigate me.

Chant a few bars of Forever Sensei and read a few passages of the New Human Revolution. You will feel better.

Unknown wrote in response to post, "Nichiren quotes Tientai on those who merely meditate without doctrinal study"

At that time the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Medicine King and the Bodhisattva- Mahasattva Great Eloquence, with their retinue of twenty thousand bodhisattvas, all in the presence of the Buddha, made this vow, saying: "Be pleased, World-honored One, to be without anxiety! After the extinction of the Buddha we will keep, read, recite, and preach this sutra. In the evil age to come living beings will decrease in good qualities, while they will increase in utter arrogance [and] in covetousness of gain and honors, [and will] develop their evil qualities and be far removed from emancipation. Though it may be difficult to teach and convert them, we, arousing our utmost patience, will read and recite this sutra, keep, preach, and copy it, pay every kind of homage to it, and spare not our body and life."

All reactions:4You, Jayme Boughner, Larry Holman and 1 other

Response: "In the evil age to come living beings will decrease in good qualities, while they will increase in utter arrogance [and] in covetousness of gain and honors, [and will] develop their evil qualities and be far removed from emancipation."

This refers to the deceased or dying SGI mentor and his disciples who desire much and are arrogant about their attainments.

Incredible species dieoff post Fukushima Nuclear meltdowns,

 

Nichiren quotes Tientai on those who merely meditate without doctrinal study

"The seventh volume of On “Great Concentration and Insight” states: “‘Priests who concentrate on the written word’ refers to men who gain no inner insight or understanding through meditation, but concern themselves only with characteristics of the doctrine. ‘Zen masters who concentrate on practice’ refers to men who do not learn how to attain the truth and the corresponding wisdom, but fix their minds on the mere techniques of breath control. Theirs is the kind of [non-Buddhist] meditation that fundamentally still retains outflows. ‘Some Zen masters give all their attention to meditation alone’ means that, for the sake of discussion, T’ien-t’ai gives them a certain degree of recognition, but from a stricter viewpoint they lack both insight and understanding. The Zen men in the world today value only meditation [as the way to realize the truth] and have no familiarity with doctrinal teachings. In relying upon meditation alone, they interpret the sutras in their own way. They put together the eight errors and the eight winds, and talk about the Buddha as being sixteen feet in height. They lump together the five components and the three poisons, and call them the eight errors. They equate the six sense organs with the six transcendental powers, and the four elements with the four noble truths. To interpret the sutras in such an arbitrary manner is to be guilty of the greatest falsehood. Such nonsense is not even worth discussing.” - The Opening of the Eyes

Nichiren on Sangha or "Buddhist Order" by Lain

 https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren/-inspxaiLT4

Sangha - Before Chas get too carried away... 

Chas argues that leaders (rather than correct faith) hold a sangha together. 

He also claims I'm setting up my own sangha. And of course, Chas loves the notion that disrupting the sangha is one of the big no, no's in Buddhism (well unless it's his organisation, his leaders and his erroneous teachers who are doing the disrupting, in which case it's OK). He uses this theme a lot in his attempts to frighten and scare SGI members who might be reading this forum, into compliance. Rather like his current SGI masters he uses the same tactic. 

But before Chas gets carried away with his new word, "sangha", lets just pause to reflect on whether it's use by Chas and his SGI masters in this way, is correct in terms of Nichiren's teaching. And also, consider the use by WND Translators and Gosho committee of the term "Buddhist Order", which is used as an alternative for sangha 

First the latter "Buddhist Order".  In the Major Writings Series, which SGI used up until just after it's excommunication, in the On Repaying Debts of Gratitude, the phrase "treasure of the priesthood" is used. 

In the new translation (WND), "priesthood" was replaced by "Buddhist Order", suggesting that SGI WND translation commitee saw an equivalence between the term "Priesthood" and the phrase "Buddhist Order". 

In this latter Gosho, "What It Means to Slander the Law", the term "Buddhist Order" is again used. In the NOPPA translation, this term is also used and later in that passage, "samgha" (sangha) is used as an alternative term for Buddhist Order. 

But this is what Nichiren tells us about sangha (buddhist order)... 

"As to the causes that condemn one to this hell, it may be said that those who commit any of the five cardinal sins will fall into this hell. The five cardinal sins are killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, causing a Buddha to shed blood, and causing disharmony among the members of the Buddhist Order. In our present age, however, since there is no Buddha now living, it is impossible to cause a Buddha to shed blood. Likewise, since there is no Buddhist Order, it is impossible to cause disharmony among its members."  

He goes on to say... 

(Ibid) 

"Thus the only offenses possible are those of killing one’s father or killing one’s mother. And since the laws of the sovereign are so strict in their prohibition of the killing of a parent, it is rare to find anyone who commits such an offense. Hence in our present age, one would expect that very few people would fall into the Avīchi hell." 

"However, there are offenses that are similar in gravity to the five cardinal sins. There are many persons who burn the wooden or painted images of Buddhas or Buddhist halls and pagodas, who appropriate the lands donated to such Buddhist images, who hack down or burn the stupas, or who kill wise men. Such persons will fall into the sixteen separate places that are attached to the Avīchi hell. Thus we may be certain that many of those living in the world today will fall into these sixteen separate places, and those who slander the Law will also fall into this hell." 

He is explicit. "Disrupting the Buddhist Order is not possible in this age", at least according to Nichiren. 

The point of this Gosho, is to focus on the offenses that will cause one to fall into Avinci Hell, that of slandering the True Law Dharma. It's all about faith. 

So disrupting the mind of faith, leading believers down an erroneous path away from Gohonzon and a belief in the power of faith in the Daimoku alone as the only way to attain Buddhahood, is a grave offense. Disrupting the Buddhist Order per se, is not, especially since Nichiren states that this offense is impossible in the Latter Day. 

Nichiren clearly spoke out and challenged all the Buddhist sects of his time. He left his teacher and his school and went against their doctrines. The disciples and believers of Nichiren, predominantly ex Soka Gakkai members who claim that the SGI teachings have fallen into error and confusion, can also NOT be accused of breaking the disunity of the Buddhist order, since there is no Buddhist order.

But he didn't and wasn't able to because it was impossible to commit that sin in this age. And the same is equally true today with the SGI and its members, well, according to Nichiren. 

What is a sin is slandering the true Law?

It is not OK to teach people that there is a transmission through the "mystic bond of mentor-disciple" and that if one does "follow the way of mentor-disciple one cannot attain Buddhahood." Entry is through faith in the Lotus Sutra alone and the attainment of Buddhahood through embracing and sustaining faith in the Daimoku. So says Nichiren.

To teach otherwise as the SGI and it's leaders do, to teach that embracing and sustaining faith alone is insufficient, is a direct slander to the True Law, totally inconsistent with Nichiren's teaching.

That is what your "Mentor" is teaching Chas. One of the supposed "three eternal mentors for kosen rufu" is teaching that faith in the daimoku alone is insufficient to attain Buddhahood. That is the faith that SGI is now spreading around the globe. 

Nichiren goes on... 

Ibid 

"Question: I understand now that the sin of slandering the Law is even graver than the five cardinal sins. But just what does it mean to slander the Law?" 

Answer: The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che in his commentary on the Brahmā Net Sutra says, “‘To slander’ means to turn against.” Thus one who turns against the Law is slandering the Law. Vasubandhu in his Treatise on the Buddha Nature says, “To hate a thing is to turn against it.” The meaning of this passage is that one who hates the Law and causes others to reject it is slandering the Law." 

Do you not hate the Law with you words and actions when you teach that embracing and sustaining faith alone is insufficient to inherit the Law? 

Do you not hate the Law, when you falsely assert that the only way to attain Buddhahood is by following the way of mentor-disciple? 

Do you not hate the Law, when you promote an unclear teaching based on unclear and ill defined labelling, which you know is unnecessary and is confusing (as a means to further your organisation and promote your brand), and which results in people turning thier backs on the very clear and very simple principle that entry is through faith alone and that this is all they is need to attain Buddhahood? 

If I'm to fall into Avinci Hell, it won't be because I didn't follow your "Mentor" Chas, or follow current SGI teaching, it will be solely because I didn't have enough faith in the Law or was unable to sustain that faith. 

I have repeatedly drawn attention to the priority that Nichiren set. 1) Sutra, 2) latter commentators. 

Nichiren tells us that this priority should always be used. He also tells us that it is unacceptable to use latter commentary when the meaning of the Sutra is clear and that if there is a conflict between commentary and Sutra, the commentary should be rejected and the Sutra accepted. 

Applying this principle to Nichiren's own work, is it acceptable to publish lectures amd guidance when Nichiren's meaning is clear? For sure, bringing in relevant context, for example when the writing's timeline and relationship to other related Gosho or main themes is unclear. That is helpful, so long as it's aim is to elucidate understanding, if necessary and if accurate . 

Inventing an "SGI Teaching" of "mentor-disciple" and reinterpreting the Gosho to support the new "sutra" you have invented is not. 

Make no mistake, SGI leaders, its study department and its "Mentor" concept is all tertiary commentary on Nichiren's Gosho and the Sutra. 

The priority is clear, Sutra, Nichiren's commentary, and lastly, anyone else. 

Current SGI mentor-disciple teaching, its lectures and guidance, it value creation pedagogy, it's Human Revolution, it's supposed Buddhist Philosophy are collectively, the SGI's "sutra" or teaching. 

As far as these accord with Nichiren's teaching and to the extent they lead to correct faith and do not block the path to correct faith, they are to be judged good/ bad, erroneous/accurate. 

What is not appropriate is that SGI's provisional teachings are used to refute the True Law. When this occurs, one has slandered the True Law. 

As Nichiren puts it... 

Ibid 

"If we consider this fact, then we can see that, although one may simply be following the teachings of the sutra that one believes in, if one attempts to use that sutra to refute a sutra that is superior to it, then one will be slandering the Law. And if this is the case, then those persons who put their faith in provisional Mahayana sutras such as the Meditation Sutra and the Flower Garland Sutra, though they may carry out the practices prescribed in the text of the sutra, if they fail to set aside such sutras and put their faith in the sutras that are superior to them, or if they dare to assert that their own sutras are superior, then they will in effect be slandering the Law. Thus, for example, though one may understand the teachings as they are taught in the Meditation and the other sutras, if a sutra appears that refutes those teachings and yet one fails to accept that sutra, then one is slandering theLaw. The principle here is the same as in the case of the Hinayana sutras discussed above." 

Does SGI "...dare to assert that their own sutras are superior..."? 

If they do, "then they will in effect be slandering the Law." 

By accepting, promoting and defending a teaching and fallacious intellectual framework, that states, "if one forgets the way of mentor-disciple one cannot attain Buddhahood", they dare to suggest that faith in the Daimoku alone is insufficient for the attainment of Buddhahood. 

You assert the superiority of SGI's sutra over the Lotus Sutra and use the teaching of the former to refute the latter. That is direct slander, no good can come of it, for you, for the SGI, for it's leaders, for it's mentors or for it's members or it's supporters. 

SGI published that "it alone is responsible for its teachings and how it teaches. 

Can you understand the problem, the confusion SGI is creating by mislabeling the teachings? Rather, it should be directing it's members back to Gosho and set a clear and consistent priority between it's guidance and Gosho. This would ensure that its members always understand the latter is superior and encouraging them to reject and challenge erroneous guidance. 

It can change its tack, focussing less on its leaders and the supposed glories and achivements if Daisaku Ikeda and discouraging tendencies towards idealisation and idolotry of this man. 

This stance, by the way, is entirely consistent with gus teaching on this matter. He argues repeatedly that the tendency to idolise, idealise and mythologise spiritual leaders is chatacteristic if false religions, The results of doing this is that people end up existing to serve the religion rather than the religion existing to serve the people. 

Given Daisaku Ikeda's utterances in this natter, it should be quite a simple matter for the SGI to make this change and actively work against it's members developing this unhealthy and counter productive ideation of Daisaku Ikeda. 

That strategy will protect the SGI and it's members while censurinf any corrupt leaders (which would be beneficial to the organisation and it's members). 

One doesn't want corruption in such an organisation. The SGI's power and wealth make it a very attractive target for people who have a veneer in promoting a correct understanding of Nichiren's Buddhism, with little care for its members and every care for using the organisation for their own selfish gain. These people will fight and typically they will do so using guile. The defense against such tactics? Clarity, openess, transparency, challenge and accountability. 

The question is, has the SGI for all it's rhetoric about religion in the 21st Century and Buddhist Humanism, built an organisation that reflects enlightened values in its structure, culture, and care for past members? Gratitude for the many who built it, past and present and enlightened conduct towards those it disagrees with, and an openness to outside scrutiny? 

I leave others to consider how much say they had in the decision to change the prayers. How much say they have in the building of yet another Culture Centre for an organisation that has had a drop of 40% in it's global membership, from 20 million to 12 million since 1988 and at a time when the world, it's leaders and corporations should be doing everything possible to reduce carbon emissions, pollution and environmental impact in an effort to mitigate the risks to future generations. Is investing money and organisational focus the best way to do this? Has that debate even been started by the SGI leaders? 

In Rissho Ankoku Ron, Nichiren argued that embracing erroneous teachings and slandering the True Law leads to internal strife and external attack. The calamities that result from the three poisons of Greed, Anger and Stupidity naturally play out in a nation so wrongly based. And so with organisations that are likewise wrongly based. SGI is one such organization. Can it find a way back? Part of me hopes so but the other part says that it has gone too far down the wrong path. 

For the life of me I don't understand how the likes of Mr Harada, Mr Wada, Mr Kaneda were able to turn the SGI UK leaders, who were firm and crystal clear about The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin and who had created such a glorious, effective organisation, into gushing, incoherant Ikeda promoters, willing to teach something other than faith in the Daimoku as the sole route to Buddhahood. 

If it wasn't buddhism, it could easily be the plot line from Star Wars as members are turned from the light side to the dark, through trickery and by stoking their anger in a perceived and widely promoted external enemy. 

The result is the same, authoritarinism, tight central control, propaganda and indoctrination of its faithful "storm troopers" and the loss of their individuality for the "greater good" and the glory of their "supreme leader"...lool come back Luke, the SGI needs you... ;) 

Be well :)

More on Radionuclides in the environment by anonymous

 Two Ways Ionizing Radiation Damages DNA - One Minute Medical School - YouTube

There are so many radionuclide and, chemical pollutants in the world now people, will not be able to have normal children in 3 years. There are pfacs in water and radionuclides from multiple sources in the air water and food all over the world. There is even radon, radium, uranium, polonium from fracking, fossil fuel production, gasoline burning, massive wildfires that projected previous fossil fuel residue in ground. Residue in tree roots and tree systems, all over the world.

Idaho national laboratories has 50 old nuclear reactors 5 of which have melted down in the past 70 years. Half million tons of hi level and mixed level nuclear waste. A wildfire at Idaho labs projected 1700 acres of the worst radionuclide waste into the world into the atmosphere in 2018. Same for Santa Susana.

Over the years Idaho national laboratories have put the equivlalents of 100 Fukushima, radionuclide ejaculataions into the environment. The Soviets have dumped 30 old melted reactors into the arctic ocean and several old nuclear submarines there with the UK and USA. Some nuclear reactors exploded there. There are all open air nuke explosions

The nuke accidents in russia, the uk, usa, china, chernobyl, fukushima, pakistan, germany, italy, switzerland, russia, israel, japan south korea, north korea, brazil, africa, india.

Some of them are on the spectrum. Its been proven that nuclear pollution causes autism. Stupid pricks like musk are pronuclear. He brags about feeding his children fukushima applesause.

Isnt it interesting. The most gentically inferior races are from places like Europe, Russia, Japan, Ukraine, North America. That is because these are the places with the most radionuclide pollution. Especially around Fukushima Japan, Chernobyl in Ukraine and Russia, Mayak in Russia, Three Mile Island and downwinder nuke test areas in the USA, Hanford Washington USA. Windscale in the UK, anywhere in France especially with the nasty plutonium separating plant at La Hague

There are millions of tons of uranium waste and uranium enrichment waste all over the world. Radioactive medical waste. It would only take 20 tons of gamma emitting, cobalt 60 to sterilize the entire planet and ensure no children or normal children were ever born.

The damn that the stupid ukainians blewup in their own country contained 37 years of radioactive silt from Chernobyl. One of the nuke waste containers from Zaporizhzhia has already been blown up. If there is a even a limited nuke war in Ukraine, the human race can bend over, and kiss its ass good bye. The Russians have more nuke and hypersonic missiles that outclass any American shit a thousand times over.

https://www.radiofree.org/2023/08/18/the-world-would-be-better-off-without-nato/

Those who say you need belong to a sect/sangha are wrong.

Nichiren teaches: "I, Nichiren, am not the founder of any school, nor am I a latter-day follower of any older school. I am a priest without precepts, neither keeping the precepts nor breaking them. I am an ordinary creature like an ox or a sheep, who is neither particularly wise nor ignorant." - The Blessings of the Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sutra and Nichiren also teach that the votaries of the Lotus Sutra are surrounded by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the universe. Regardless of sect, Nichiren teaches:

“...If there are those who possess differing ideas concerning the three treasures, then truly you should know that these people can no longer hope to take refuge in, or rely upon, the three pure treasures. They will never gain benefit from any of the precepts, and in the end, they will fail to obtain the fruits of the voicehearer, the cause-awakened one, or the bodhisattva.” This passage is clearly referring to [the essential point of ] the “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra..." - The Third Doctrine

In Nichiren Lotus Sutra Buddhism the The Three Treasures or Three Jewels are:

1). The Law

2). Shakyamuni Buddha of the Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra (Eternal Buddha)

3). The Sangha led by Nichiren Daishonin

Therefore the Sangha led by Nichiren Daishonin is a sectless or schooless Sangha. No sect nor school is part of the Nichiren Sangha, least of all any sect or school that fails to follow Nichiren. Please remember that Nichiren Daishonin's goal was to return to PRESECTARIAN Buddhism, a state taught and realized by Shakyamuni Buddha.