If you look
online, there are quite a lot of anti-SGI sites, blogs, posts, etc. Most of these are coming from other Nichiren
Buddhist schools, rather than other Buddhist sects or other religions. So, why do they oppose us? How different can our teachings and
philosophy be?
Nichiren warned
one of his followers (and us) “Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra should
beware of and guard themselves against the sutra’s enemies. … If you do not
know your enemies you will be deceived by them.
How I wish I could see you personally and talk to you about these matters
in detail!” (WND-1, p664)
I've looked at aspects of the SGI being a cult before ( http://nichirenbuddhist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/cult-vs-sgi.html and three other posts in May), but here I want to look at doctrinal differences between us and other Nichiren schools.
There will be four posts altogether, and as today
is the day when President Ikeda received his Gohonzon 65 years ago, I decided
to focus the first post on issues of leadership.
(i) Daishonin vs. Shonin
According to Nichikan (the 26th High Priest), the Taiseki-ji priesthood and the SGI, Nichiren
Daishonin was the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law, rather than simply a wise man or shonin (sage/teacher). Other schools refer to him as teacher/sage because Nichiren has said in the Gosho he
is waiting for the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law to reveal himself, but in The Opening of the Eyes, he writes, "I, Nichiren, am sovereign, teacher, and father and mother to all people of Japan", implying he has the same characteristics as the Buddha himself. Maybe it was modesty or a genuine belief that he was just a normal person, but the teachings of the Lotus Sutra may have died out without the advent of Nichiren Daishonin, which implies to me, he was the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law, whose advent was to ensure the teachings of the Lotus Sutra didn't become lost for all eternity.
(ii) Nikko or not Nikko
The
transmission of the Law is another area of concern and while the Nichiren
Shoshu priesthood and Soka Gakkai believe that Nikko Shonin was Nichiren’s
chosen successor, other schools believe Nichiren passed the baton for
propagation to all of the senior priests. The transfer document handing over responsibility to Nikko is thought to be fake because it's not in Nichiren's handwriting, but the originals were stolen and destroyed a long time ago and only copies exist today.
This passing on of the teachings from one person to the next has been a theme in Nichiren Shoshu buddhism to prove the validity and heritage of the High Priests and their teachings, but it's not entirely necessary. Some people may be impressed by this lineage, but as several priests have deviated from the teachings throughout Nichiren Shoshu's history, the actual lineage has been frequently corrupted, and is of less importance than the behaviour of the high priests or accuracy of our spiritual leaders' practice.
Several modern schools follow this philosophy and ignore any of these "old schools" claims to being the true buddhism, in favour of their own founders being the only ones of their day that were practising Nichiren Buddhism correctly and how this correct practice has been handed down to them.
The SGI is also a combination of these as it believes in the heritage of our lineage back to Nichiren Daishonin via the Nikko Shonin line, but saw High Priest Nikken as a slanderer of the Law. Our appeals to the priesthood to return to the true practise were ignored, leading to our excommunication. It now means that we in the SGI are currently carrying the flame of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism until such a time as there is a high priest that returns to the true teaching.
(iii) Who's Next?
There have also been several occasions, similar to the initial handing over to Nikko, where other priests have started their own spin-off schools of Buddhism when they have been ignored as successors and believed the wrong person was chosen. For example, when Nikken became the 67th high priest, the son of the former high priest, who believed he would have been the chosen one, started his own school - Shoshinkai (correct faith association) - when his bid to become the 67th high priest failed. At that time about 200 other Nichiren Shoshu priests that supported him also became Shoshinkai members.
(iv) Mentor/Disciple
In a
previous blog (http://nichirenbuddhist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/mentor-disciple-day.html
) I covered some of the issues concerning the master/disciple relationship and
mentioned that this relationship originates from the Bodhisattvas of the Earth
rising up in the Lotus Sutra to prove their loyalty and devotion to Shakyamuni
to go forth and teach others in accordance with his wishes, but I just wanted
to add some more here.
In the Heritage
of the Ultimate Law of Life (WND-1, p217), Nichiren says that it’s our ties of
karma that have destined us to become his disciple and that according to the
Lotus Sutra we will constantly be reborn in company with our teachers.
From this it
would imply that our ties of karma choose our mentors every time we are reborn.
But how does this karmic tie know who we should choose? Is it Nichinyo (68th
High Priest of Nichiren Shoshu), President Ikeda (of the Soka Gakkai), or the
spiritual leaders of any of the other Nichiren Buddhist schools?
But how can we
decide WHO to follow, when we are warned to “Follow the Law, not the person”? This phrase implies to me that if we are
constantly reborn with our teachers, we must find a teacher to follow, but as
we are supposed to be following the Law, we need to find a teacher who is
following the Law in their daily lives and modelling the wisdom, compassion and
courage of someone who follows the Law. Then, by chanting
"nam-myoho-renge-kyo" we can awaken our Buddhist wisdom and our
karmic ties to "see" the true nature of the many potential mentors
that are out there and make sure we choose the right one.
As SGI members
while we may have many teachers or people who inspire us, the ultimate
mentor/disciple relationship is the one we have with our spiritual leader,
President Ikeda, but we may not all come to accept him as our mentor at the
same time and there is nothing wrong with this.
Basically, the only thing to keep in mind, is that while you may not be
exactly the same as President Ikeda as individuals (with differences in age,
culture, depth of faith and learning, etc.), you are equal as Buddhas and you
are advancing together in faith shoulder to shoulder.
A lot of negativity
towards the SGI comes from this mentor/disciple relationship because of SGI members who indulge in the hero-worship of
President Ikeda, rather than seeing him as a friend in faith or an equal. This hero-worship and deification is not
sought by President Ikeda, and I’m not sure if it’s pressure from leaders or group
mentality thinking, but it creates a very distorted image of a relationship that’s
based on supporting our faith and encouragement.
Returning to “The Heritage of the Law”, the
Daishonin says: “Shakyamuni Buddha who attained enlightenment countless kalpas
ago, the Lotus Sutra that leads all people to Buddhahood, and we ordinary human
beings are in no way different or separate from one another. To chant
Myoho-renge-kyo with this realization is to inherit the ultimate Law of life
and death. This is a matter of the utmost importance for Nichiren's disciples
and lay supporters, and this is what it means to embrace the Lotus Sutra” (WND-1,
p216)
Bearing this paragraph in mind, when members
deify President Ikeda, putting him on a pedestal, they are saying “I am not
equal to President Ikeda” and they are effectively slandering their own Buddha
nature and going against the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin.
Part 2 of this series looking at the difference between the Nichiren Sects concerning chanting and the object of devotion is here: http://nichirenbuddhist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/24-mantra-and-mandala.html
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