Mentor-Disciple Dialogue #5

This is the penultimate part of this series of dialogues about the mentor-disciple relationship between A MEMBER (AM) who represents the doubts and concerns I’ve had about the mentor-disciple relationship over the years, and a DISTRICT LEADER (DL) who represents my understanding of the mentor-disciple relationship today.

The previous four parts of this dialogue can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4

SPREADING FAR AND WIDE

AM:     But what about the other Nichiren Buddhism schools in Japan?  They’ve continued to spread their teachings, haven’t they?

DL:       Kosen-rufu specifically refers to Shakyamuni’s intention in the Lotus Sutra to “single-mindedly propagate this Law abroad, causing its benefits to spread far and wide.” (Watson, LSOC, p319), but these benefits are only possible when you have a mentor that lives his life “with the Lotus Sutra in his hand” (WND-1, p263). 

AM:     But don’t the Nichiren Shoshu high priest and the SGI mentor both have the same spirit of kosen-rufu with the Lotus Sutra in hand?

DL:       You would think so, but many of the official “schools” of Nichiren Buddhism didn’t require, or encourage, followers to perform gongyo or daimoku, but offered these as services you could pay the priesthood to do for you.  The priests’ focus was on bringing in money through services rather than sharing the Law with others. 

Within the Soka Gakkai, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (the first President) embraced Nichiren Buddhism and wanted members to learn gongyo and regularly do their own prayers and chanting.  Through this, members started to actually feel the change within them and the power of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo coursing through their lives, giving rise to their stand-alone spirit and selfless dedication to kosen-rufu.  

The Buddhist schools that encouraged their followers to let the priests do their gongyo and daimoku in exchange for money, may have gained financially, but their followers were prone to inactivity and only saw their practice as rituals or ceremonies, rather than an essential part of their daily life.

AM:     You explained to me once before that Nichiren talks about “the lion’s roar” being the preaching of the Lotus Sutra and the preaching of the Mystic Law, and President Ikeda said a disciple that “fails to roar the lion’s roar is not a true disciple.” (The World of Nichiren Daishonin’s Writings: Volume 1, p301)   So were the followers of these other schools not sharing their faith with others?

DL:       It’s difficult to know exactly, but according to statistics taken from Kiyoaki Murata’s “Japan’s New Buddhism”, in 1939, Nichiren Shoshu only had 45,332 members and 52 priests supported by 75 temples, compared to the other Nichiren schools in Japan, which had 2,074,530 members, 4,451 priests and 4,962 temples (p71). 

So it would appear that Nichiren Shoshu’s efforts for kosen-rufu were not uppermost in their teachings, especially when compared to many of the other Nichiren Buddhist schools at that time.   Where was Nichiren’s spirit?   Where were Shakyamuni’s bodhisattvas?   What were the Nichiren Shoshu priests actually doing during these 650 years after the death of Nichiren?

AM:     Those are interesting questions, but how does it relate to the mentor-disciple relationship?  Haven’t we gone off topic by talking about kosen-rufu?

DL:       Not really.  If we compare the growth of Nichiren Shoshu with the growth of the Soka Gakkai, we can see that each president has build on their predecessor’s efforts to ensure that an organisation of a handful of members in 1945 became over 750,000 members thirteen years later, and is over 12 million members worldwide today. 

THIS is the power of the oneness of the mentor-disciple relationship.   President Ikeda explains “An army of a hundred sheep led by a lion will defeat an army of a hundred lions led by a sheep” (The World of Nichiren Daishonin’s Writings: Volume 1, p287) and these statistics show that with weak leaders and no shared commitment, the mentor (in this case the Nichiren Shoshu high priest) becomes nothing more than an object of respect or a figurehead for a dying practice – an army of a hundred sheep led by a sheep. 

This confirms President Ikeda’s belief that “The mentor-disciple relationship is necessary in order to correctly practise the Law and ensure its transmission. … Towards that end, a teacher who correctly practices the Law is vital.”  (The World of Nichiren Daishonin’s Writings: Volume 1, p225)