Chas continues his campaign of slander while ignoring reality
juanjo
His usual twisting a dodging nonsense.
Baloney is indeed what I would call Chas' accusations. Chas has
posted uncounted words here over the past few months, none of which
support his accusations that Nichiren Temple priests [whether Nichiren
Shu, Nichiren Shoshu or other Nichiren sects] participated in the
atrocities described in the book, the Rape of Nanking. When
challenged on this accusation he has now modified it to say that they
"sent chaplains to join it the holocaust actions, just like the other
war criminals", again without any proof of such activity. Now he
wants me to prove otherwise as if I am somehow responsible for
disproving his accusations rather than he proving them with solid
evidence.
It should be noted that I have consistently stated that all the
leaders of the various Buddhist sects in Japan, including the Nichiren
Sects such as the Nichiren Shu supported the Japanese war effort.
Only a very small minority of Buddhists, lay and clergy were brave
enough to stand up against the might of the Japanese government and
oppose the militarist expansion because they were truly pacifists and
believed that the war was wrong. Some of these who opposed the war
were members of the Nichiren Shu, some were Pure Land and others were
members of other sects. But what is truly upsetting to Chas and his
masters is the fact that despite their best efforts to rewrite
history, Makiguchi was not a pacifist and did not oppose the Japanese
government on those grounds. That is why Chas has sought at every
turn to change the subject away from his inability to refute the
evidence presented and instead make other accusations he cannot
substantiate.
All Chas can say and support with any sort of evidence is that the
various leaders of the Nichiren Buddhist sects like those of other
Buddhist and non-Buddhist religious groups issued general statements
in support of the Japanese war effort. No one denies this. But he
also ignores that his idol, Makiguchi did exactly the same. Instead he
claims that the comments made by Makiguchi were mistranslated and
misunderstood. He has no way of knowing that since he does not speak,
read or write Japanese nor has he ever done any actual research on the
subject. He simply has taken the nonsense he has been given by the
Soka Gakkai leadership and twisted even that out of all recognition.
If one goes to the beginning of this series of posts one can easily
see that it is Chas who commenced the series of exchanges between him
and myself with his unsubstantiated attacks on the various Nichiren
Sects including the Nichiren Shu, accusing them of participating in
the Rape of Nanking. The burden is on him to prove these accusations
correct and so far he has not done so.
Nobody in Particular
> On Feb 21, 2:26 pm, Disbanking Zen Stories <p2q1r0s...@aol.com>
> wrote:
>
> His usual twisting a dodging nonsense.
>
<snip>
You mean, you actually read his garbage?
Buddhism's aim is to reduce suffering, your own and others'.
Chas' aim is to increase suffering, his own and others'.
The way to not increase suffering is to ignore his toxic slime.
juanjo
The true tragedy of Chas' repeated attempts to raise issues regarding
the alleged pacifism of the founders of the Soka Gakkai during World
War II is his inability to address actual facts. Instead he relies on
regurgitated agit-prop from his organization, the Soka Gakkai. He
also deliberately mis-attributes authorship of material in that he
quotes material as my own when in fact it is not. It is material I
have quoted from. Most troubling is that neither Chas nor the
voluminous material he quotes from actually address the material
presented but rather attempt to overwhelm the reader with massive
volumes of material which speaks all around the subject or misquotes
and misinterprets the material resented. This is the classic straw
man argument in which one ignores the actual points presented and
instead invents another false issue and "rebuts" it instead.
Rather than actually address the simple fact that his own sensei as
well as two of the Soka Gakkai's own tame "scholars" disagree with
Chas, he chooses to post the same nonsense again and again. This is
regrettable and shows actual proof of the bankrupt spirit that infuses
the so called "Buddhist" practice of the Soka Gakkai which is nothing
more than a personality cult centered on an old, dying Japanese man
known for shameless self promotion and his actions in beating up
Buddhist priests in his youth.
The Soka Gakkai has worked long and hard to rewrite history and erase
reality. It is regrettable that they do so but it is not all that
unusual. Consider how many people in France for example, claimed to
be members of the resistance after the war had ended when actual
historical fact shows that the resistance movement in that country was
small. Further in Japan itself there is a great deal of ambiguity
about the wear and there has been severe criticism of the Japanese for
their attempts to rewrite matters and paint them as different from
what they actually were in popular media as well as in school texts
used in that country.
Chas has twisted all matter of claptrap together to make a case where
none exists. Most of his "writing" is taken verbatim from SGI spin
by its tame “scholars". The reality is that there is no indication
whatsoever that Makiguchi was a pacifist and there is sufficient
evidence that he was not. While Chas, as his handlers, place great
emphasis on statement made by Makiguchi, pre-1935, they ignore both
history and the records of the time period. The most damning part of
that portion they ignore is Makiguchi's own statements post-1935 as
well as the records of the Imperial Government including the very
charges made against Makaguchi, i.e. slandering the Imperial
Talisman.
For example an excerpt from a statement made by Makiguchi after the
start of the Pacific War [which is how the Japanese termed their war
of aggression against the United States, Great Britain and some other
countries] clearly shows he had no actual opposition to the war
itself:
"Sacrifice your own skin to slash the opponent's flesh. Surrender
your own flesh to saw off the opponent's bone.' With their faithful
implementation of this well-known Japanese fencing (kendo) strategy
into actual practice during the war, the Japanese military is able to
achieve her glorious, ever-victorious invincibility in the Sino-Japan
conflict and in the Pacific war, and thus, easing the minds of the
Japanese people. This [strategy of sacrifice] should be held as an
ideal
lifestyle for those remaining on the home front and should be applied
in every aspect of our daily life."
From: Makiguchi’s "The Instruction Manual Summarizing the Experiments
and
Testimonials of Life based on the Philosophy of Value of the Supreme
Goodness."
Chas of course has no idea what any of the actual facts are as he
neither reads nor understands Japanese. He has never seen a single
document nor done any independent research in the matter. All he is
doing is repeating the spin created by his organization. He
excoriates Dr. Victoria, who is an actual scholar. Dr. Victoria does
read and speak Japanese. He does publish in peer reviewed journals
and does not take money from any group to write apologia for them. But
let's not quibble about Dr. Victoria's credentials.
Instead let us focus on the actual published materials put forth by
the Soka Gakkai for public consumption as opposed to what they pump
out for internal distribution. First consider what is written in a
2008 edition of Tricycle
Magazine in a supposed "interview" with Daiseku Ikeda. I say
“supposed interview” as it is simply a cobbled together series of
questions posed via e-mail and responded to by the Soka Gakkai, hardly
what I would call a real interview. However Ikeda is quoted as saying
in the article:
"During World War II, however, they found themselves facing
persecutions when they resisted the currents of Japanese militarist
fascism and criticized the state’s use of Shinto to spiritually unite
the Japanese people behind the war effort. They were arrested and
imprisoned as a result."
In addition the article, which was approved by the SGI leadership and
presumably Ikeda himself states:
"Makiguchi was arrested under the Peace Preservation Act in 1943 by
the Japanese government for refusing to consolidate with other
Buddhist sects under the banner of State Shinto, effectively
challenging the authority of the military government. He died in
prison a year later."
Note that Ikeda does not go on the record with anything about
Makiguchi opposing the actual war. In fact he cannot make such a
claim because there are
comments on the record by Makiguchi supporting the war but stating
that the war effort is doomed to failure if the Imperial Government
did not discard provisional teachings such as Zen and Shingon and
embrace Nichiren Buddhism. It was Makiguchi's Rissho Ankoku-ron
moment and there is little doubt that he saw it as exactly as that.
So Chas' own sensei is rebutting Chas’ position.
If that is not enough then let us consider another scholar, a favorite
of the Soka Gakkai in fact:
"Thus, Makiguchi and Toda defied the government and went to prison
not
necessarily for anti-war beliefs, which the Soka Gakkai preaches
today, but because it was against their deeply felt religious
principles to adopt Shinto practices or to merge with another
religious sect, even if it had Nichiren connections. While Makiguchi
may have indeed made the pro-Emperor statements that Victoria alleges,
his overall thinking and demeanor was certainly not pro-militarist.
The evidence simply does not support Victoria's argument."
A Critical Analysis of Brian Victoria's Perspectives on Modern
Japanese
Buddhist History by Daniel A. Metraux
So Professor Metraux disputes Professor Victoria's position that
Makiguchi was in fact pro-militarist [without citing any actual
evidence and ignoring Makiguchi’s own statements]. Prof. Metraux does
agree with the position put forward by Prof. Victoria, namely that
Makiguchi and Toda went to prison for what they were charged with -
lesse majesty NOT for any actual anti-war beliefs or positions.
Professor Metraux also admits that Makiguchi made the pro-Emperor
statements that Professor Victoria quotes although he disagrees on the
import of those statements. So Professor Metraux also rebuts Chas’
stated position.
Yet another of the Soka Gakkai’s tame scholars was paid to put forth
an opinion attacking Dr. Victoria’s position. However, if one
carefully reads the comments made by Koichi Miyata in his critique of
Prof. Victoria he affirms Dr. Victoria’s position:
"To enable more systematic repression of religious movements, the
military government revised the Peace Preservation Law in 1939 to
provide for punishment of religious groups found to be committing
blasphemy against the Ise shrine. This shows the military government
viewed religious movements that rejected the authority of the emperor
as the last remaining impediments to rallying the nation behind its
war policies. It was against this political and social backdrop that
Makiguchi came to criticize the religious policy of the military
regime. His arrest under the Peace Preservation Law shows that the
regime judged his actions a hindrance to their conduct of the war.
Thus, Makiguchi directly opposed the militarist ideology of imperial
fascism for its religious policies, and because this opposition
constituted an impediment to conduct of the war by the military
regime, there is no doubt that he was persecuted for implicitly anti-
war activities."
Now Miyata is guilty of sloppy logic here. I have no doubt that the
Imperial Government wished to stifle any opposition to its
expansionist, militaristic policies, including any opposition from the
religious institutions of Japan. The record is clear that the
Japanese Government came down hard on dissenting views to its
policies. This includes those who would not go along with the system
that the government was instituting, namely of blind obedience to the
government policies. Makiguchi did indeed threaten this blind
obedience because he asserted that the state policy regarding the
supremacy of the Imperial Talisman over the Buddha was wrong. And
equally important, that the prosecution of the war would fail unless
the government undertook to fulfill the
admonishments of the Rissho Ankoku-ron prior to such an effort. Thus
Makiguchi's direct criticism of the religious policy of the Imperial
Japanese Government did not arise out of any basis of pacifism but
rather out of something completely different. Miyata’s claim that
this criticism of the supremacy of State Shinto, as well as the
supremacy of Nichiren Buddhism over all other forms of Buddhism made
Makiguchi “implicitly” a pacifist absurd. Makiguchi is not saying
that the war is wrong under any circumstances. He is saying that it
will fail unless the government suppresses other forms of Buddhism and
acknowledges the supremacy of Nichiren Buddhism over all other forms
of religious practice including other forms of Buddhism and state
Shinto.
Now I have suggested a position somewhat simpler and quite obvious to
anyone who actually pays attention to what is being said and what is
not being said by either Prof. Metraux or the Soka Gakkai's scholar,
Koichi Miyata. The assertion is made that Prof Victoria is taking
statements out of context to make Makiguchi into a supporter of the
military government and its view of the emperor. That is irrelevant to
my point and further the statements of Metraux and Miyata do not
really support the position put forth by the Soka Gakkai in their
attacks on Dr. Victoria. However this is not the argument I made.
Let's review shall we?
SGI Myth 1: The SGI is the only Buddhist group who stood up to the
Japanese government during WWII and opposed the war on pacifist
grounds.
SGI Fact 1: The SGI as it is formed now did not exist prior to WWII.
However its founders, Makaguchi and Toda were not pacifists, in fact,
they were far from it. There are speeches in existence in which they
affirm their loyalty to the Japanese government and the war. However,
they did remonstrate against the imposition of the Imperial Talisman
as an object of reverence, as well as, in their interpretation of
Rissho Ankoku-ron, urged the Japanese Government to suppress all other
Buddhist sects and force everyone to convert to Nichiren Buddhism.
They were imprisoned for the crime of lese majeste, for their
disrespect of the Imperial Talisman not because they were pacifists.
President Ikeda admits this as does Professor Metraux, in an article
he was paid to write by the Soka Gakkai.
The “Makiguchi and Toda were the only pacifists” claim made by the SGI
adds insult to the injury endured by thousands of Buddhists in Japan
who did demonstrate against the war and who were abandoned by the
leaderships of their respective sects. Many of those people were
imprisoned and executed. Others such as Nichidatsu Fujii were sent
into exile.
My position is simpler than Prof. Victoria's. Both Makiguchi and Toda
affirmed their loyalty to the Emperor and there are no statements made
by either of them which show any actual opposition to the war effort.
However they did oppose the prosecution of the war effort based upon
Imperial Shinto. Based upon their interpretation of the Rissho Ankoku-
ron, any effort by the Japanese Government to prosecute that war was
doomed to failure unless the Japanese nation was immediately converted
to Nichiren Buddhism and all heretical sects suppressed. Their
criticism of the supremacy of State Shinto over Nichiren Buddhism was
similarly a cause of alarm among the far right government who viewed
any opposition to any policy it promulgated as dangerous. Thus they
were imprisoned for lese mageste, specifically their criticism of the
government’s doctrinal position of the supremacy of the worship of the
Emperor over the Buddha.
I have no doubt that the Imperial Government wished to stifle any
opposition to its expansionist, militaristic policies, including any
opposition from the religious institutions of Japan. The record is
clear that the Japanese Government came down hard on dissenting views
to its policies. This includes acting against pacifists of which
there were some, both religious and otherwise. It also includes those
who would not go along with the system that the government was
instituting, namely of blind obedience to the government policies.
Makiguchi did
indeed threaten this blind obedience because he asserted that the
state policy regarding the supremacy of the Imperial Talisman over the
Buddha was wrong. And equally important, that the prosecution of the
war would fail unless the government undertook to fulfill the
admonishments of the Rissho Ankoku-ron prior to such an effort. Thus
Makiguchi's direct criticism of the religious policy of the Imperial
Japanese Government did not arise out of any basis of pacifism but
rather out of something completely different. The Japanese Government
was quite pathological when it came to their requirement that all the
people of Japan must be in absolute support of the government’s
policy. Any nail head sticking up was most certainly going to be
hammered down.
Makiguchi was such a nail head. Makiguchi wanted the Imperial
Government to suppress all other forms of Buddhism and accept Nichiren
Buddhism as the only form of state accepted Buddhism. His position
was that if they failed to do so the war effort was doomed to
failure. This was a position that the Imperial Japanese Government
was unwilling to tolerate and hence his imprisonment along with that
of Toda.
Chas in his hurry to smear Prof. Victoria has leapt to conclusions and
not bothered to read what was written. This is typical of Chas and
actually in his defense, it really is not his fault. He is simply
regurgitating the nonsense he has been given as speaking points by the
Soka Gakkai leadership he has labored so diligently on behalf of in
spreading their positions on the web. For him this is a holy mission
and one in which is he is completely involved and frankly moiré than a
little obsessed.
However the level of incompetence among the Soka Gakkai leadership is
such that they attempt to “disprove” Professor Victoria’s statements
by having their
own paid “scholars” issue rebuttals which are not rebuttals of the
main issue raised by Dr. Victoria, namely that Makiguchi was a
pacifist and opposed the Japanese war effort on that basis. They throw
out all sorts of comments concerning the use by Dr. Victoria of
pre-1935 commentary of Makiguchi while ignoring the reiteration of
these comment as well as others similar to them by Makiguchi after the
Japanese aggression in China had reached full pitch and the start of
hostilities by the Japanese against the United States, Great Britain
and Holland among others. On top of this their attacks on Dr.
Victoria are not relevant to my position which does not rely on Dr.
Victoria but rather on the simple fact that their own sources as well
as the historical sources do not support their position.
SGI Myth 2: The SGI has always held fast to its principles and never
compromised them.
SGI Fact 2: The examples of the SGI violating its own principles are
in fact too numerous to detail. But one which is relevant to Chas'
regular rants is the claim
that they have held fast to Nikko's admonitions while the Nichiren
Shoshu has not. In particular they chastise the Nichiren Shoshu for
sending priests for education at Rissho University which is operated
by the Nichiren Shu. Apparently they have forgotten that SGI members
have also attended that
university, some with the approval of their own governing body in
Japan.
Of even greater amusement however are two other events. Shortly after
the split
between the SGI and the Nichiren Shoshu in the early 1990's the SGI
approached the Nichiren Shu with an offer. They would affiliate as a
lay organization within the Nichiren Shu and pay for all overseas
missionary work, of course with the Soka Gakkai administering all
overseas propagation. The Nichiren Shu, having seen what the SGI had
been doing to the NST, politely and firmly declined the offer. The
second incident occurred when the SGI approached the Nichiren Shu and
offered one million US dollars for a Nichiren authored Mandala. This
offer was also rejected.
SGI Myth 3: The SGI loves democracy
SGI Fact 3: In fact the SGI while making lip service about democracy
has been adamant about stamping out any attempts by its membership to
adopt democratic principles in its own governance. Leaders within the
SGI are appointed by the higher ups and serve at their pleasure with
no accountability to the rank and file.
In fact when SGI members became aware on the web that in the Nichiren
Shu, the lay organizations did have elected leaders, the SGI through
proxies such as the Rubys and others made posts belittling that fact.
Similarly the SGI has refused to allow any rank and file movement
towards actual financial accountability, keeping its finances a
closely held secret. Members have no
knowledge of what happens to their money once it is donated nor are
they allowed a say in how it is to be spent. Periodically this is
justified by claims that the local SGI chapters are not financially
independent and must depend on Japan for financial contributions.
However this bags the question. How does anyone know this and if in
fact it is true then how much comes from local sources and how much
comes from overseas? Further how is the local administration using
this money? The truth is that no one knows and no one is going to
know so long as the Soka Gakkai can keep a tight lid on its ship of
state.
This is vastly different from say Nichiren Order of North America, the
Nichiren Shu lay organization in the USA, which regularly provides
information to its members as to what funds have been taken in and how
they have been spent,
including a say at the local level as to how they should be spent.
Similarly the local sanghas as well as the national governing
structure of the Nichiren Order of North America is democratically
elected and its governing organs conduct open meetings in which any
member in good standing is welcome to attend and speak.
cmk
>
> read more »
Wow you really made a very LONG post I won't read!
cmk
juanjo
Sorry there aren't any pictures like you are accustomed to looking at
in your books.