Refuting Katie Higgins Once Again +^

[Chas.]

Refuting Katie Higgins Once Again +

On Saturday, October 21, 2017 at 9:33:02 AM UTC-7, Katie Higgins wrote:
> You discard the Eternal Buddha and are wrong headed about the daimoku -/
>
> Why do you persist in your claim to Nichiren's teachings ?

There you go again, Katie Higgins, putting words in my mouth that never came out of them. I have discarded Shakyamuni's various PRACTICES, and have retained his highest TEACHINGS: the Lotus Sutra, accompanying sutras and the Nirvana Sutra, his last will and testament. It is Nichiren Daishonin's PRACTICE of Lotus Sutra Buddhism that I embrace, the nuanced position that you have neglected to embrace in your Hindu statue-worshiping of a deified Shakyamuni as God Almighty Jehovah or Jesus Christ: I haven't figured out which.

Both Nichiren Daishonin and Shakyamuni Buddha have refuted your statue-worshiping cult of idolatry in Nichiren Shu.

1. Shakyamuni stated in the Lotus Sutra that he had 15 older brothers, a father and a grandfather all preaching the Lotus Sutra before him and concurrent with him. He also stated that his closest followers, the Dragon King's Daughter and even Devadatta would preach it like he did after him.

Therefore he is one in a series of Thus Come One and not in any way different. If your distorted interpretations of Nichiren Daishonin's Gosho can so easily be refuted by the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren Daishonin would NEVER, EVER HOLD SUCH VIEWS.

Katie refuted.

2. Nichiren NEVER, EVER ONE TIME states that worshiping the statues of Shakyamuni is his practice, instead, in the Gosho he declared that the Gohonzon is "the supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvipa."

Katie refuted.

-Chas.
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On Tuesday, October 31, 2017 at 6:43:26 PM UTC-7, Katie Higgins wrote:
> FYI - Chas - no mention by me that "worshipping " a statue is Shakyamuni is correct practice based on Nichiren's teachings.
>
> Enjoy some solo time in your rabbit hole -/ maybe you will make sense when or if you return to reality //
>
> ~ Katie

You are not writing the truth, but you did once, here:

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren/f4PcKAHqBd4/3dc9Lj0ACQAJ

||.. "You make yourself an enemy of the Lotus Sutra by
||.. slandering the true aspect via your worship of statues. "
||
|| BREAKING NEWS-- I don't worship statues !!
||
|| I have one statue, 6 inches in height of Shakyamuni Buddha
|| below my Nichiren Gohonzon.
||
..
.. It's in front of your Butsudan. From the viewpoint of the
.. Gohonzon, you are making it [at least] an equal.

I repeat: Nichiren NEVER, EVER ONE TIME states that worshiping the statues of Shakyamuni is his practice, instead, in the Gosho he declared that the Gohonzon is "the supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvipa."

Katie refuted again.

-Chas.
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On Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 1:02:24 AM UTC-7, Katie Higgins wrote:
> Vice Director of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy ; Senior Research Fellow of IoP; professor of Soka University , HIROSHI KAN'NO- has written several articles on the Lotus Sutra that contradict SGI shill, Chas' long winded discourses on Nichiren's teachings - here on arbn.
>
> One in particular , "The Reception of the Lotus Sutra in Japan " is particularly instructive re: Nichiren's concept of the 'one Buddha vehicle' and Nichiren's concept of 'the Eternal Buddha from the remotest past '.
>
> Kanno talks about Nichiren's view that Sakyamuni dominates the world , first noting that it is based on the third chapter of the Lotus Sutra, "Simile and Parable".
>
> " But now this threefold world is all my domain, and all living beings in it are all my children . Now this place is beset by many pains and trials. I am the only person who can rescue and protect others."
>
> Kanno also writes : " In Nichiren's writings, we can easily comprehend Nichiren's fervent faith I Sakyamuni of the remotest past."
>
> Are Hiroshi Kanno 's credentials close enough to home for Chas?— or does Chas believe SGI members $$ is used to employ a " traitor " in their most prestigious institutions ?
>
> Maybe Chas would like to explain how it is that his SGI doctrines are so far afield from the writings of their most educated Buddhist scholars ?
>
> Just skimming the surface of the prolific writings of a contemporary Gakkai affiliated Buddhist Scholar -/ surely Chas has heard of Hiroshi Kanno 😊
>
> ~ Katie

I would defer to Nichiren Daishonin's views over those of the the good professor, Kan'no.

1. Nichiren Daishonin declared that the Gohonzon is "the supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvipa" [1] and not statues of Shakyamuni Buddha. On the Gohonzon, Shakyamuni is prominent on the top row, but not more prominent than Many Treasures/Taho or the Four Bodhisattvas (meaning us, the Bodhisattvas of the Earth.) However, vastly more prominent on the Gohonzon is Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, which centrally dominates everything else, and Nichiren's name at the bottom as the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law, who is the one chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and manifesting the critical moment of the ceremony of the air, where the Bodhisattvas of the Earth make their Kosen Rufu vow. This is all proved by inspection of the Gohonzon.

[1]
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/40#para-16

2. Nichiren Daishonin declared that the "actual name of the entity" is "Myoho-Renge" [2], stating that name no less than sixteen times in that Gosho. This means that the "actual name" of the entity IS NOT Shakyamuni Buddha (and that we should not chant Nam-Shakyamuni-Butsu like the Nembutsu do), and that the actual name of the entity IS NOT Nichiren Daishonin (and that we should not chant Nam-Nichiren-Butsu, either,) nor ANY OTHER NAME BUT "Myoho-Renge" (which is why we chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo as our primary practice.)

[2]
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47#para-31

3. The good professor's views are furthermore in conflict with the Lotus Sutra, where Shakyamuni Buddha himself declares that he had 15 older brothers and a father and grandfather doing exactly as he did before and concurrently with him [3, 4] and that all of his prominent disciples are predicted to do exactly as he does later, as well as the Dragon King's Daughter and his worst enemy, Devadatta (too many references to cite.) Nichiren Daishonin would never, ever hold or voice a view that was so easily refuted by Shakyamuni Buddha in so many places in the Lotus Sutra itself, the Buddha's highest teaching. Nikko Shonin and Nichimoku Shonin would have immediately pointed out his error in a pointed question, and that's the meaning of true loyalty of the disciple towards the mentor, as Nichiren Daishonin demonstrated with Dōzen-bō.

[3]
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/lsoc/Content/7#para-35
[4]
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/lsoc/Content/7#para-282

Katie refuted by Nichiren Daishonin once again.

-Chas.
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On Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 10:38:38 AM UTC-7, Katie Higgins wrote:

[snip]

>
> Apparently Chas cannot fathom what a scholar who reads ALL of Nichiren writings can teach us !!
>
> Professor Kanno refutes you, Chas-- if you have an anise with his work, you should refute him directly!
>
> ~Katie

My response to him and you printed publicly above, like Martin Luther's reply to the pope on the Cathedral door, is sufficient. I don't expect a response from him, because my arguments are irrefutable.

-Chas.
___________________________________________________________

> Let's first establish the identity and credentials of Hiroshi Kanno:
>
> http://www.iop.or.jp/About-SrResearchFellows.html
>
> Now, for those who are interested in the degree of divergence from the work of SGI affiliated Buddhist scholar and the hobo doctrines Chas propagates here, I suggest you note Professor Kanno's credentials and read his SGI sanctioned publications.
>
> Your Gakkai sanctioned professor has read Nichiren's writings, Chas. If you cannot refute him directly, why not just inform your senior leaders of your "concerns" about the publication of articles paid for with members' $$, that totally REFUTE SGI-USA doctrines?
>
> Or maybe the senior leadership of SGI-USA should be made aware that you are demeaning the Vice Director of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, founded by the SGI !!
>
> The SGI academic in question can defend, himself, Chas.
>
> ~Katie

I demean no one by correcting their error. If you think I need reporting to the SGI, please follow your instincts.

Your fallacious arguments regarding the lofty position and laurels laid upon the academics that I correct is not new. John Locke refuted that fallacy (known as "argument from authority", also called an "appeal to authority", or the "argumentum ad verecundiam" - wikipedia) in general in 1690:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay_Concerning_Human_Understanding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority

Nichiren Daishonin, quoting Shakyamuni Buddha from the Nirvana Sutra makes the case against that line of reasoning in a profoundly eternal way:

From "The Opening of the Eyes", WND I, p. 263:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/30#para-237

... I must observe sadly that, although it would be simple
... enough to point out the error of the views propounded by
... these men, if I did so, the people of today would not even
... look in my direction. They would go on in their erroneous
... ways and, in the end, would slander me to the ruler of the
... country and put my life in jeopardy. NEVERTHELESS, OUR
... MERCIFUL FATHER SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA, WHEN HE FACED HIS END IN
... THE GROVE OF SAL TREES, STATED AS HIS DYING INSTRUCTIONS
... THAT WE ARE TO "RELY ON THE LAW AND NOT UPON PERSONS." "NOT
... RELYING UPON PERSONS" MEANS THAT WHEN PERSONS OF THE FIRST,
... SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH RANKS PREACH, EVEN THOUGH THEY
... ARE BODHISATTVAS SUCH AS UNIVERSAL WORTHY AND MANJUSHRĪ WHO
... HAVE ATTAINED THE STAGE OF NEAR-PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT, IF
... THEY DO NOT PREACH WITH THE SUTRA IN HAND, THEN THEY ARE
... NOT TO BE ACCEPTED.

Since I quoted the Lotus Sutra, the Gosho, and referenced BOTH Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and the Gohonzon in refuting you (and anyone else you might quote to buttress your fallacious reasoning,) I am having "the sutra in hand."

-Chas.
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On Sunday, November 5, 2017 at 12:05:33 PM UTC-8, Katie Higgins wrote:
> Chas cannot refute what he does not read / investigate -/ hot air / no substance- typical arbn hobo
>
> ~ Katie

Katie, you cannot refute the questions you directly ignore. And I will not be deflected from getting direct answers from you on the four questions by any foolish device you might throw my way.

Now once again, my 4 points HAVE NOT BEEN ANSWERED BY YOU:

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren/jeDhDwSGoFE/hob7oeYfBAAJ

And I do not believe they will ever be, since there is no viable construct supporting your distortions of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism of the Lotus Sutra into a dehumanizing deification of Shakyamuni as God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth like Jehovah or as a man-God like Jesus Christ. Statue-worshiping idolatry IS NOT Buddhism, it is an outrageous and insupportable attack on the Lotus Sutra itself.

-1. Nichiren Daishonin's Gosho refutes this idolatry directly ("Myoho-Renge" is "the actual name of the entity".)

-2. The Lotus Sutra refutes this dehumanizing deification directly (In the past, 15 elder brothers, father and grandfather, and in the future his disciples and even Devadatta: all are great Buddhas just like him.)

-3. The Gohonzon refutes this dehumanizing deification directly (the prominence of "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo Nichiren" over all other entities, Nichiren being the common mortal who is chanting and raising the banner of Myoho.)

-4. Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo refutes this dehumanizing deification directly (we chant neither Nam-Shakyamuni-Butsu, nor Nam-Nichiren-Butsu.)

I sincerely do intensely dislike your dishonorable tactic of falsely defending an SGI academic (the SGI which you hate with a bitter and jealous passion.) You and Putin's Internet Research Agency (IRA) operate similarly in your utter intellectual dishonesty. I don't really have a good opinion of the lying Commies, and those who operate similarly.

-Chas.
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On Wednesday, November 8, 2017 at 4:51:37 AM UTC-8, Katie Higgins wrote:
> Your four points have been refuted -
>
> First and foremost Shakyamuni Buddha is the Treasure of the Buddha in Nichiren's doctrine - Nichiren makes this clear in his Major writings .
>
> Evidence has also been presented that shows consensus amongst Buddhist scholars even SGI''s Hiroshi Kanno— Shakyamuni is the Eternal Buddha -
>
> When you are able to accept and believe this. True doctrine of Nichiren's practiced of Shakyamuni's Lotus Sutra , you will embark for the first time on the path of following Nichiren!
>
> Until then , Chas, you are a hobo - confusing snf corrupting what Nichiren himself wrote, taught and lived -/ in truth you would be ashamed of yourself if you hadn't lost your mind to distorted faith —
>
> , Katie

Nah.

As far as Dr. Kanno and others in the SGI holding his views? We are a big tent, holding much diversity in views with a single practice: (1) daimoku and gongyo to the Gohonzon, (2) shakubuku, activities fostering the youth and member care, and (3) study of the true teachings and the Gosho.

There are many statue-worshiping Nichiren Buddhists who think that Shakyamuni is God Almighty and everyone ought to bow down to him and his images, even while they bow down as well to the Gohonzon and put the lie to their views by chanting the actual eternal name of the entity, "Myoho-Renge" (you, for instance.) And some of those believing that Shakyamuni is the next Great Jehovah and synonymous with the Judeo-Christic-Islamic Yahweh-Elohim/Trinity/Allah are SGI members.

Bless their hearts, they will wise up at some point, and so will you. Until that time at least they are inside the tent and not outside the tent pissing in, like you lot.

-Chas.
_________________________________________

Quoting from "The Entity of the Mystic Law", Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 418 ...

The Complete and Final Teaching on Perfect Enlightenment Sutra declares, "The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones."