Gosho: The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin & The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin.

[Richard]

I hope this subject interests you and that your participation proves fruitful and indeed heartfelt. I look forward to asking questions and if I can in someway answer questions, In Josei Todas Lectures on the Sutra it says:

"There are always four types of people when Buddha expounds his law.
1) Questioners (Hokkishu): Those who ask the Buddha questions, or beg him to teach the
law, thus helping him expound his law. 2) Sympathizers (Tokishu): Those who understand
and become convinced of the Buddha’s teachings. 3) Listeners (Kechienshu): Those who
listen to the teachings of the Buddha and later attain enlightenment. 4) Assistants
(Yogoshu): Those who always follow the Buddha wherever he teaches the law and prove
that his teachings are true.
Sharihotsu and Miroku-Bosatsu (Maitreya-bodhisattva) who asked Shakyamuni Buddha
questions are Questioners and Monju-Bosatsu (Manjusri-bodhisattVa) and Kannon
(Avalokitesvara) who helped Shakyamuni teach the law are Assistants.
Among these four types, Questioners are most important."

My first question is in the Gosho 'The Difficulty of Sustaining Faith" which The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Vol , p. 127. says was written in 1275 and 'The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin' says this

"Background
This short letter is one of thirty-seven still extant writings addressed by Nichiren Daishonin to his faithful disciple Shijō Kingo. Kingo was under great pressure from his lord, Ema, and other fellow warriors to renounce his support for the Daishonin. This letter was written to encourage Kingo and to strengthen his resolve.

Read this Gosho and ask your self could this have been written to someone who has experienced the Tatsunokuchi Persecution at the side of the Daishonin and who has already received a Gohonzon and who started his practice in 1257?

Here is the information on the writings he received from the Daishonin.

Shijō Kingo: ・The Birth of Tsukimaro (188); ・The Origin of the Service for Deceased Ancestors (190); ・The Persecution at Tatsunokuchi (196); ・The Opening of the Eyes (220); ・Earthly Desires Are Enlightenment (317); ・The Pure and Far-Reaching Voice (328); ・Reply to Kyō’ō (412); ・On Rebuking Slander of the Law and Eradicating Sins (435); ・On Recommending This Teaching to Your Lord and Avoiding the Offense of Complicity in Slander (460); ・The Difficulty of Sustaining Faith (471); ・The Royal Palace (488); ・On Omens (644); ・Happiness in This World (681); ・On Consecrating an Image of Shakyamuni Buddha Made by Shijō Kingo (683); ・Propagation by the Wise (752); ・The Eight Winds (794); ・The Letter of Petition from Yorimoto (803); ・A Warning against Begrudging One’s Fief (823); ・The Hero of the World (835); ・The Wonderful Means of Surmounting Obstacles (842); ・The Three Kinds of Treasure (848); ・Unseen Virtue and Visible Reward (907); ・The Two Kinds of Illness (919); ・The Farther the Source, the Longer the Stream (940); ・The Receipt of New Fiefs (945); ・General Stone Tiger (952); ・On Persecutions Befalling the Sage (996); ・The Strategy of the Lotus Sutra (1000); ・The Place of the Cluster of Blessings (1069).

Thank you, Richard

[iainx...@gmail.com]

Thanks Richard, this is indeed an interesting question! It does seem out it place doesn't it?

I've checked NOPPA volumes and cannot find it there.

"My first question is in the Gosho 'The Difficulty of Sustaining Faith" which The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Vol , p. 127. says was written in 1275 and 'The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin' says this"

"Background
This short letter is one of thirty-seven still extant writings addressed by Nichiren Daishonin to his faithful disciple Shijō Kingo. Kingo was under great pressure from his lord, Ema, and other fellow warriors to renounce his support for the Daishonin. This letter was written to encourage Kingo and to strengthen his resolve."

So what are we to make of this? Admittedly, I am missing volume 4 and now the new volume 7 (Followers 2), so perhaps it's there or hasn't yet been translated by NOPPA?. Anyone else have a cross reference for this Gosho? Mark?

What's intriguing is that it's described as "extant", which suggests to me that it's in Nichiren's hand, with his signiture and seal. If so, I'd expect it to be in NOPPA or at least on one of the "authentic" listings...curious...

As for the meat of the question. It's a bit speculative for my liking. I didn't know Shigo Kingo, so don't know what he was like or have enough detail on his circumstances. I think it's really hard to draw reliable conclusions about the authenticity of a document soley on it's content in such circumstances, unless there is a glaring difference in doctrinal assertion (like Nichiren "suggesting" one should embrace Nembutsu - heaven forbid!).

:)

[Richard]

Hello Lain, I am not questioning its authenticity rather the time it was written based on this passage' ""I have been practicing the Lotus Sutra correctly since last year, when you told me that those who embrace this sutra will 'enjoy peace and security in their present existence and good circumstances in future existences.' it seems to be a pre Sado Gosho which would be reasonable to assume it was when Shijo was a relatively new believer.

Richard

[Richard]

Shoji Kingo was the Daishonin's foremost lay believers and well known as was Nanjo Tokimitsu. Here's another question read the Gosho's 'The Eight Winds' and 'Reply to Kyo'o'and their backgrounds and it would seem to me that 'The Eight Winds Gosho' came before 'Reply to Kyo'o' because of the reference of the Gohonzon in both and the content relating to the Gohonzon.

Richard

[kahlei...@gmail.com]

Bumpity bump

[Mark Rogow]

"There are many who hear and receive this Sutra. Though great
difficulties come as if they truly hear and receive, those who 'keep
it in mind and do not forget it'* are few. Receiving is easy; keeping is
difficult. So attaining Buddhahood lies in keeping. The persons who
shall keep this Sutra keep it with the understanding that they shall
encounter difficulties. There is no doubt that they 'then will quickly
obtain the Supreme Buddha Way.'**" (STN -Showa Tehon Group A, definitely authentic v. 1, 894)

Mark

[Richard]

Yes Mark and this is directly in relation to what you have presented here:
"The Flower Garland Sutra states: “Among the various beings of all the different worlds, there are few who seek to practice the vehicle of the voice-hearers. There are still fewer who seek that of the cause-awakened ones, and those who seek the great vehicle are extremely rare. To seek the great vehicle is relatively easy to do, but to believe in the doctrines of this sutra is difficult in the extreme. And how much more difficult it is to uphold this sutra, keep its teachings correctly in mind, practice them as directed, and understand their true meaning." Nichiren 30 The Opening of the Eyes WND Vol I Part Two Pg. 266

Richard

[Mark Rogow]

On Sunday, May 1, 2016 at 7:45:44 PM UTC-5, Richard wrote:
> Hello Lain, I am not questioning its authenticity rather the time it was written based on this passage' ""I have been practicing the Lotus Sutra correctly since last year, when you told me that those who embrace this sutra will 'enjoy peace and security in their present existence and good circumstances in future existences.' it seems to be a pre Sado Gosho which would be reasonable to assume it was when Shijo was a relatively new believer.
>
> Richard

I look at it like this...Nichiren also speaking to Shijo Kingo in 1279 writes,

"...Spur yourself to muster the power of faith. Regard your survival as wondrous. Employ the strategy of the Lotus Sutra before any other. “All others who bear you enmity or malice will likewise be wiped out.”4 These golden words will never prove false. The heart of strategy and swordsmanship derives from the Mystic Law. Have profound faith. A coward cannot have any of his prayers answered."

It is a life long faith and practice.

Mark

[kahlei...@gmail.com]

Thank you for this interesting discussion.

[nyoz...@gmail.com]

Yes mark it is a lifelong practice. But when you have demonstrated and acted upon the Buddha's words 'Single-mindedly yearning to seek the Buddha their lives they do not begrudge" it would hardly seem that Shijo Kingo would be complaining in such a manner. for instance in the Gosho 'Persecution at Tatsunokuchi ' "You accompanied Nichiren, vowing to give your life as a votary of the Lotus Sutra. Your deed is infinitely greater than that of Hung Yen, who tore open his stomach and inserted the liver of his dead lord, Duke Yi, to save him from shame and dishonor. When I reach Eagle Peak, I will first tell how Shijo Kingo, like Nichiren, resolved to die for the Lotus Sutra."
Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin; Vol. I, pp. 13-15.

In relation to this from the Gosho: 'The Difficulty of Sustaining Faith ' "According to Nissho, you said to him, "I have been practicing this sutra correctly since last year, when you told me that those who embrace this sutra will enjoy peace and security in this life and good circumstances in the next. But instead I have been deluged by hardships."

This is not written to a seasoned and proven man of faith but one who is relatively new in faith. So I contend this was written in or about 1258 when Shijo Kingo was new to faith.

Richard

[JazzIs TvRicky]

Tbc

[Chas.]

To make it perfectly clear once more, Ricky, your treason towards Nichiren Daishonin, by promoting the download of internet pirated Gohonzon printouts, using images of Gohonzon stolen by the traitorous priests who betrayed the Daishonin after his death by turning his Buddhism into a statue worshiping cult forcing Shakyamuni into the role of god almighty ... that treason of yours is not cloaked in the slightest by wrapping yourself in Gosho quotes taken from the website of the SGI you hate.

-Chas.

[Katie Higgins]

On Tuesday, August 22, 2017 at 3:15:03 PM UTC-4, Chas. wrote:
> To make it perfectly clear once more, Ricky, your treason towards Nichiren Daishonin, by promoting the download of internet pirated Gohonzon printouts, using images of Gohonzon stolen by the traitorous priests who betrayed the Daishonin after his death by turning his Buddhism into a statue worshiping cult forcing Shakyamuni into the role of god almighty ... that treason of yours is not cloaked in the slightest by wrapping yourself in Gosho quotes taken from the website of the SGI you hate.
>
> -Chas.

Here you are, the poster boy for "in denial" of the bunk you call Buddhism, trash talking Nichiren's Gohonzon and proclaiming AGAIN how ignorant you are regarding Nichiren's teachings on Shakyamuni!

There will be more and more who will become wise to the debacle you claim is "the TRUE teaching"--It is getting easier to lay out both the original teachings and the schemes your Shohsu priests pulled off--Yep! you don't like to admit you cannot even sustain your made up mentor/disciple nonsense without referring to "some" of the priests in the sect you "call" your arch enemy!

I wonder if as many practitioners of Nichiren's Lotus sutra Buddhism have a statue of Shakyamuni as those in Nichiren's time !! Hard for you to remember Nichiren's statue of the Buddha? Oh, that's right you discount the extant original last will and testament of Nichiren.

Lot's of evidence in the public domain Chas-- only your cult tries to control members by "controlling information"!! The rest of us take our freedom seriously.

~Katie

[Chas.]

As usual you have once again committed the fallacy of false association: elevating the fact that he had a statue of Shakyamuni into assuming that he used it as an object of worship. In fact, Nichiren Daishonin declared that the "supreme object of worship in all of Jambudvipa" is the Gohonzon, and that has the profoundly strong implication that you should absolutely not make statues deifying anyone into an object of worship.

________ Slanders of the True Aspect _____________
________ of All Phenomena ________________________

As a Shinto statue-worshiping follower of Nichiren Shu puts his case, by a distorted translation of the Gosho:

|| Since SGI is wrong about the identity and nature of the
|| Eternal Buddha why would you believe it is correct about
|| anything else?
||
|| The entire thrust of the Rissho Ankoku Ron is that the Treasure
|| of the Buddha is Shakyamuni and the Treasure of the Law is
|| Myoho renge kyo (Lotus Sutra).

Sampling just the first few horrible translations of the Gosho that he quotes to "prove" his fictitious points...

|| Nichiren says in "Reply to Lady Nichinyo":
||
|||| "I for the first time reveal, as a banner of the
|||| spread of the Hokkekyo the Great Mandala which even
|||| Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, and so on, and Tendai,
|||| Myoraku, and so on did not reveal. This is not
|||| at all something which I, Nichiren made myself.
|||| It is the Object of Worship which is from the print
|||| block of the Great Muni, the World Honored One
|||| within the Stupa of Taho and the Separate-Body
|||| Buddhas."
||
|| Clearly, the Daishonin inscribed the Gohonzon as taught
|| to him by the Great Muni.

That Nichiren Shu quoted text is a profound forgery and utter uglification of the true text of the Gosho, written to Nichinyo and describing the mandala that he inscribes with his life in sumi ink, here:

From "The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon", WND I, pp. 831-832:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/101#para-1

... How wondrous it is that, around two hundred years and more
... into the Latter Day of the Law, I was the first to reveal
... as the banner of propagation of the Lotus Sutra this great
... mandala that even those such as Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu,
... T'ien-t'ai and Miao-lo were unable to express. This mandala
... is in no way my invention. It is the object of devotion
... that depicts Shakyamuni Buddha, the World-Honored One,
... seated in the treasure tower of Many Treasures Buddha, and
... the Buddhas who were Shakyamuni's emanations as perfectly
... as a print matches its woodblock. Thus the five characters
... of the Lotus Sutra's title are suspended in the center,
... while the four heavenly kings are seated at the four
... corners of the treasure tower. Shakyamuni, Many Treasures,
... and the four leaders of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth are
... side by side at the top. Seated below them are the
... bodhisattvas, including Universal Worthy and Manjushrī, and
... the voice-hearers, including Shāriputra and Maudgalyāyana.
... [Beside them are] the gods of the sun and moon, the devil
... king of the sixth heaven, the dragon king, and an asura. In
... addition, the wisdom kings Immovable and Craving-Filled
... take up their stations to the south and north. The evil and
... treacherous Devadatta and the ignorant dragon king's
... daughter form a group. Not only the Mother of Demon
... Children and the ten demon daughters, who are evil demons
... that sap the lives of people throughout the major world
... system, but also the Sun Goddess, Great Bodhisattva
... Hachiman, and the seven reigns of the heavenly gods and
... five reigns of the earthly gods, who are the guardian
... deities of Japan—all the various great and small gods, that
... is, the main gods, are ranged in rows. How then could the
... remaining subordinate gods be left out? The "Treasure
... Tower" chapter states, "[Shakyamuni Buddha used his
... transcendental powers to] lift all the members of the great
... assembly up into the air."
...
... Without exception, all these Buddhas, bodhisattvas, great
... sages, and, in general, all the various beings of the two
... worlds and the eight groups who appear in the
... "Introduction" chapter of the Lotus Sutra dwell in this
... Gohonzon. Illuminated by the light of the five characters
... of the Mystic Law, they display the dignified attributes
... that they inherently possess. This is the object of devotion.
...
... This is what is meant when the sutra says "the true aspect
... of all phenomena." Miao-lo stated: "The true aspect
... invariably manifests in all phenomena, and all phenomena
... invariably manifest in the ten factors. The ten factors
... invariably manifest in the Ten Worlds, and the Ten Worlds
... invariably manifest in life and its environment." It is
... also stated that the profound principle of the true aspect
... is the originally inherent Myoho-renge-kyo. The Great
... Teacher Dengyō said, "A single moment of life comprising
... the three thousand realms is itself the Buddha of limitless
... joy; this Buddha has forsaken august appearances."
... Therefore, this Gohonzon shall be called the great mandala
... never before known; it did not appear until more than 2,220
... years after the Buddha's passing.

The Nichiren Shu priests who have corrupted this beautiful writing of Nichrien Daishonin will suffer ages in Avichi hell for it, assuredly. They wanted to worship Shakyamuni as a god, because they think so little of themselves and others. They wanted to lose themselves in stupa worship, like the Hinayana followers of the Pali canon.

Worshiping stupa carvings at places like King Ashoka's Great Stupa at Amaravati (now residing in the British Museum) was the original error that led to statue worship, and then abandoning the true teachings and taking up with images of human beings as their object of worship, or worse yet, the imagined images of deities and the Buddhist gods (stolen from Hinduism) in Shinto, which are merely functions of our life as the common mortal who is the true Buddha.

It is simply just a recycled and crappy version of Pantheistic Hindu god worship, but as a distortion of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, it comes with a drastically worse result.

Then he quotes yet another horribly-translated travesty in two corrupted versions:

|||| "Thus it was revealed that Shakyamuni had long been the
|||| Buddha since the eternal past, and it became clear that
|||| various Buddhas in other worlds were all manifestations of
|||| Shakyamuni Buddha..[ ] now, however, as Shakyamuni was
|||| proved to be the Eternal Buddha, those Buddhas in the
|||| Flower Garland Sutra, or Buddhas in the Hodo, Hannya, or
|||| Great Sun Buddha sutras all became subordinates of
|||| Shakyamuni Buddha." (Kaimoku Sho, p. 174, translated by
|||| Kyotsu Hori, 1987)
||
|| Same quote in the MW's:
||
|||| "When Shakyamuni Buddha revealed that he had gained
|||| enlightenment in the far distant past and had since then
|||| been constantly in the world, it became apparent that all
|||| the other Buddhas were emanations of Shakyamuni....but now
|||| it became apparent that Vairocana Buddha of the Kegon Sutra
|||| and various Buddhas of the Hodo, Hannya and Dainichi sutras
|||| are in fact all followers of Shakyamuni Buddha." (MW V.2,
|||| p.149)

Here is the uncorrupted quote from "The Opening of the Eyes", WND I, p. 256:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/30#para-187

... When Shakyamuni Buddha revealed that he had gained
... enlightenment in the far distant past, it became apparent
... that all the other Buddhas were emanations of Shakyamuni.
... When the Buddha preached the earlier sutras and the first
... half, or theoretical teaching, of the Lotus Sutra, the
... other Buddhas were pictured as standing on an equal footing
... with Shakyamuni, after completing their respective
... practices and disciplines. Therefore, the people who take
... one or another of these Buddhas as their object of devotion
... customarily look down on Shakyamuni Buddha. But now it
... becomes apparent that Vairochana Buddha, who is described
... in the Flower Garland Sutra as being seated on a lotus
... pedestal, and the various Buddhas who appear in the sutras
... of the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom periods, such as
... the Mahāvairochana Sutra, are all in fact followers of
... Shakyamuni Buddha.

Supporting the Hindu/Shinto practice of worshiping Shakyamuni as a god is foul thing that Shakyamuni would himself would be the first to decry.

In India after Buddhism had passed into the East, Shakyamuni was added to the Hindu pantheon of gods to the end of enfolding and crushing the life out of the corrupted and diminished practice of Indian Buddhism: to put a coda to it. These distorted practices are born from that purpose. Just before Nichiren Daishonin's time, that corrupted Buddhism was finally wiped out on the Indian subcontinent by Islam, except in Sri Lanka where the Southern Pali Canon distortions persisted.

The Middle Day of the Law's outdated practice of worshiping statues and erecting towers is NOT for the era of Nichiren Daishonin, it is the hollow and ghostly practice of the dead. Nichiren Daishonin's practice of the Latter Day of the Law is to chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to the Gohonzon, and not to the images of any person, Shakyamuni, Nichiren Daishonin or anyone else.

This is made perfectly clear from this passage of the "Immeasurable Meanings Sutra", pp. 12-13. (The Nichiren Shu followers challenge this sutra as provisional, but in fact it is preached during the Lotus Sutra, not once, but twice, and is thus concurrent with the Lotus Sutra, not preached before, or preached after the Lotus Sutra):

The Lotus Sutra: 1 - Introduction, p. 37:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/lsoc/Content/1#para-15

The Lotus Sutra: 1 - Introduction, p. 47:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/lsoc/Content/1#para-279

In the quote that destroys all of the statue worshiping, I have highlighted the key phrase so that it cannot be missed.

Without that teaching the true aspect of all phenomena would be difficult to come to grips with.

From the "Immeasurable Meanings Sutra", pp. 12-13:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/lsoc/Prologue/2#para-8

... "When bodhisattvas have in this manner observed the
... beginning and end of these four aspects and have understood
... them in their entirety, then they will clearly perceive
... that all phenomena, never abiding from one instant to
... the next, are constantly being born anew and passing into
... extinction, and then they will immediately perceive the
... true aspect of birth, abiding, change, and extinction.
...
... "Once they have gained this perception, then they must turn
... to the capacities, natures, and desires of living beings.
... Because such natures and desires are immeasurable in
... variety, the ways of preaching the Law are immeasurable;
... and because the ways of preaching the Law are immeasurable,
>> its meanings are likewise immeasurable. THESE IMMEASURABLE
>> MEANINGS ARE BORN FROM A SINGLE LAW, AND THIS LAW IS
>> WITHOUT ASPECT. WHAT IS WITHOUT ASPECT IS DEVOID OF ASPECT
>> AND DOES NOT TAKE ON ASPECT. NOT TAKING ON ASPECT, BEING
>> WITHOUT ASPECT, IT IS CALLED THE TRUE ASPECT.
...
... "When bodhisattvas mahasattva rest and abide in this
... understanding of the true aspect of all phenomena, then the
... pity and compassion that they put forth will be based on
... clear understanding and not groundless, and they will be
... truly capable of rescuing living beings from the sufferings
... that they undergo. And once they have rescued them from
... suffering, they will preach the Law for them and enable
... living beings to enjoy ease and delight.

In fact, the description of the true aspect of all phenomena as being "devoid of aspect" is what explains the famous passage on negations, quoted by Mr. Toda in The Human Revolution from the first chapter of the "Immeasurable Meanings Sutra", Lotus Sutra, p. 7:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/lsoc/Prologue/1#para-21

... his body neither existing nor not existing,
... neither caused nor conditioned, neither self nor other,
... neither square nor round, neither short nor long,
... neither appearing nor disappearing, neither born nor extinguished,
... neither created nor arising, neither acted nor made,
... neither sitting nor lying down, neither walking nor standing,
... neither moving nor turning, neither idle nor still,
... neither advancing nor retreating, neither in safety nor danger,
... neither right nor wrong, neither gaining nor losing,
... neither that nor this, neither departing nor coming,
... neither blue nor yellow, neither red nor white,
... neither crimson nor purple nor any other sort of color,

Santai or the Three Truths can only be found in the Lotus Sutra, this is one of the glories of the Lotus Sutra. "The truth of non-substantiality, the truth of temporary existence, and the truth of the Middle Way." from the SGI Dictionary:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/T/183

The statues or images of human beings capture the aspect of their temporary existence alone, their impermanence.

I have 'temporary existence', am not permanent and thus will vanish from the world, this is my destiny from birth: to be born is to die, that is the guarantee of the four sufferings: birth, aging, sickness and death.

The electron is a fine physical metaphor for this aspect of the Lotus Sutra.

Like an electron that has both a particle and a wave function, I am also 'non-substantial' and that was true before my birth, during my aging, sickness and after my death. In fact I am dying now, particular cells that were crucial to my function are born and then die all the time. I am ALSO like a wave.

In all those phases of my eternal life I am in the 'Middle Way', the unification of the Three Truths.

Images of living beings are images of their 'temporary existence' alone, and like "the Tripitaka teaching and the connecting teaching do not reveal the truth of the Middle Way and therefore lack the three truths," (from the definition of Santai) ... they do not possess the 'true aspect.'

Both Nam-myoho-Renge-Kyo and the "supreme object of devotion for Jambudvipa", the Gohonzon possesses the "true aspect" in the fact that the first is a sound like no other and the second is an arrangement of characters and does not look like you or me or anyone you know. This is how it can reflect ALL THE LIVING BEINGS, not just here, but everywhere that life has or will develop in the ten directions and the three existences of past, present and future, and every other place and time.

All living beings possess the true aspect and they are all Buddhas, like the characters of an enormous version of the Lotus Sutra. However, not even the images of the Lord of Teachings, Shakyamuni, nor of the Buddha of the Latter Day, Nichiren Daishonin reflect anything other than their impermanent aspect.

Only the Gohonzon reflects the true aspect. It is the supreme object of devotion and all others are pitiful in their aspect, by comparison: why would anyone chant the daimoku, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to any other object of devotion?

From "The True Aspect of All Phenomena", WND I, p. 384:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/40#para-5

... The "Thus Come One" is explained clearly in T'ien-t'ai's
... commentary as follows: "The Thus Come One is a general
... designation for the Buddhas of the ten directions and the
... three existences, for the two Buddhas, the three Buddhas,
>> the true Buddha, and provisional Buddhas." THE "TRUE
>> BUDDHA" HERE MEANS COMMON MORTALS, WHEREAS "PROVISIONAL
>> BUDDHAS" MEANS BUDDHAS. However, because of the difference
... between ordinary people and Buddhas that stems from the
... disparity between delusion and enlightenment, ordinary
... people are unaware that they are endowed with both the
... entity and the functions of the three bodies.

This one statement of Nichiren Daishonin is key:

'The "true Buddha" here means common mortals, whereas "provisional Buddhas" means Buddhas.'

This is a strikingly different connotation of the term "provisional Buddhas" from that listed in the SGI Dictionary:

"provisional Buddha ［迹仏］ (Jpn shakubutsu): Also, transient Buddha. A Buddha who does not reveal his true identity, but assumes a transient status or role in order to save the people. The term is used in contrast with "true Buddha," a Buddha who has revealed his true identity."

In the above Gosho quote Nichiren Daishonin is using the term "provisional Buddha" to mean ALL Buddhas, both BEFORE AND AFTER they reveal their true identity, and that '"true Buddha" in that passage means common mortals'.

He is making a profound and unmistakable distinction here between (1) those who manifest the enlightenment of the Lotus Sutra in their life condition conspicuously and then preach the Law and lead the people in the path of the Lotus Sutra and (2) the common mortals who follow them: that the provisional Buddhas manifesting Myoho-Renge are here for the common people who are the 'true Buddhas.'

The common mortal is the true Buddha, whereas Shakyamuni and Many Treasures in all their manifested glory as inscribed on the Gohonzon, are functions of the entity that is any common mortal enveloped in his or her delusion. Provisional Buddhas then would include Nichiren Daishonin and Sensei, who are here for we deluded mortals struggling on the path of the Lotus Sutra.

That means that if a statue worshiper really wanted to enshrine a more proper image to chant to, it would be the picture of a drunk or a hooker on the street: better that, than just a provisional Buddha who is merely a FUNCTION of that true Buddha, that very human being. Best, no image or visage of any living being to idolize.

This is why we don't chant to images, since images cannot have the true aspect, only the Gohonzon has the true aspect, which means "being without aspect" (from the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra, without which the Lotus Sutra would lack the clear understanding of true aspect, and would therefore be less complete.)

From "The True Aspect of All Phenomena", WND I, p. 384:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/40#para-6

... "All phenomena" in the sutra refers to the Ten Worlds, and
>> the "true aspect," to what they actually are. THE "TRUE
>> ASPECT" IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MYOHO-RENGE-KYO; HENCE ALL
>> PHENOMENA ARE MYOHO-RENGE-KYO. Hell's displaying the form
... of hell is its true aspect. When hell changes into the
... realm of hungry spirits, that is no longer the true form of
... hell. A Buddha displays the form of a Buddha, and a common
... mortal, that of a common mortal. The entities of all
... phenomena are entities of Myoho-renge-kyo. That is the
... meaning of "the true aspect of all phenomena." T'ien-t'ai
... states that the profound principle of the true aspect is
... the originally inherent Myoho-renge-kyo. This
... interpretation identifies the phrase "true aspect" with the
... theoretical teaching and "the originally inherent
... Myoho-renge-kyo" with the essential teaching. You should
... ponder this interpretation deep in your heart.
...

The Daishonin says: 'The "true aspect" is another name for Myoho-renge-kyo; hence all phenomena are Myoho-renge-kyo.'

This is the fruit of the clear understanding of that description of true aspect.

If the true aspect was an image of Shakyamuni, then it could not be Myoho-Renge-Kyo, because Myoho-Renge-Kyo is without aspect: you cannot view it from any point and see an aspect of a person, and from every aspect, or viewpoint, you only can perceive the three thousand worlds in a momentary existence of life.

Thus, all entities and phenomena could not be the true entity of Myoho-Renge-Kyo, without having the aspect of Shakyamuni, were Shakyamuni's visage the true aspect.

All phenomena are the true aspect AND Myoho-Renge-Kyo, precisely because the true aspect means being without the aspect of any specific or particular living entity.


________ Slanders of the eternal Buddha __________

Once again, that quote from ARBN:

||| "A Nichiren Buddhist priest that I recently met in Japan
||| said that there were around 50 Nikko sects and SGI and
||| Nichiren Shoshu are only 2 of them and there around 500
||| Nichiren Shu sects. I reckon he'd be right by the amount
||| of temples I visited. Some of the Nichiren Shu and Nikko
||| temples had Nichiren placed directly in front of the
||| Gohonzon. The deity's in the temple grounds and inside
||| their temples of the Pure land, Shingon, Shinto and Zen are
||| the same as the deity's we have in our Gohonzons but in 3D
||| up to about 20m in Height ..."

It is unimaginable that people could read the Gosho quote down below and still not understand what Nichiren Daishonin states clearly: the original Buddha is named Myoho-Renge, and not named Shakyamuni, Nichiren Daishonin, anyone or anything else.

The treachery of the Five Senior Priests who founded Nichiren Shu and converted Nichiren Daishonin's practice of Buddhism into a syncretic Shinto statue-worshiping deist faith has now led to this treasonous view by a denizen of ARBN:

||| I have considered the recipients of Nichiren's writings to
||| be a key factor, or rather, an important element regarding
||| the *meaning* conveyed. Nichiren wrote about the Gohonzon
||| to disciples and lay followers whom he had taught for
||| almost two decades; all of whom grasped the doctrines
||| Nichiren himself established for propagating
||| Myoho-renge-kyo in this latter age.
|||
||| Do you, Chas, accept and believe the preceding 18 years of
||| Nichiren's teachings , written to these disciples and lay
||| followers? In those writings I find and provide passages
||| here, to establish that Nichiren himself taught the primacy
||| of the daimoku as " a complete explanation" of the Lotus
||| Sutra, and Shakyamuni as the true, eternal Buddha. Since
||| you have dismissed the basic understanding ALL recipients
||| of Nichiren's writings most certainly had, how can you make
||| any determinations about the *meaning* expressed in the
||| Gosho?

First, let's hear what Nichiren Daishonin says on the subject.

From "The Entity of the Mystic Law", p. 420:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47#para-30

... Question: The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai has explained that
... the term Myoho-renge is used in two different senses, one
... meaning the entity of Myoho-renge and the other being
... figurative in meaning. What are these two kinds of renge,
... or lotus?
...
... Answer: The figurative renge, or lotus, is explained in
... detail in the three metaphors of the lotus blossom
... enfolding the seed, the lotus blossom opening to reveal the
... seed inside, and the lotus blossom falling and the
... seed ripening, so one should refer to them. The lotus that
... is the entity of Myoho-renge is explained in the seventh
... volume of The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra as
>> follows: "RENGE, OR LOTUS, IS NOT A SYMBOL; IT IS THE
>> ACTUAL NAME OF THE ENTITY. For example, at the beginning
... of the kalpa of continuance, the various things in the
... world had no names. The sage observed the principles that
... govern them and on that basis made up names for them." He
... also writes: "Now the name renge is not intended as a
... symbol for anything. It is the teaching expounded in the
... Lotus Sutra. The teaching expounded in the Lotus Sutra is
... pure and undefiled and explains the subtleties of cause
... and effect. Therefore, it is called renge, or lotus. This
... name designates the true entity that the meditation based
... on the Lotus Sutra reveals, and is not a metaphor or
... figurative term."

Note the line, Myoho-Renge is "the actual name of the entity," the Entity of the Mystic Law.

"The entity" of the Mystic Law, BTW, is the original Buddha, the Buddha of Limitless Joy, the Buddha of Beginningless Time, the eternal Buddha, the Buddha of the original state, or the true Buddha: these are all the same.

However, "the entity" is clearly not named Shakyamuni Buddha NOR Nichiren Daishonin, in spite of their profound roles in manifesting the enlightenement of the Lotus Sutra, preaching the Lotus Sutra and leading the Kosen Rufu endeavour to spread it widely.

Myoho-Renge is the entity of eternal enlightenment, not named after someone who practiced Brahmanism (Shakyamuni) or Amida Buddhism (Nichiren Daishonin) earlier in their life. These are real people, who emerge from the impurities of the Saha World and attain enlightenment through the Lotus Sutra alone, and no other practice (in fact, in spite of other grievous slanders of the Law.)

We all manifest Myoho-Renge when we chant the daimoku: when we give voice to the eternal truth of the Law. However, all common mortals are two, but not two, both deluded and enlightened: we are the true Buddha.

Myoho-Renge is always pure and true, never off the mark from beginning to end. This is why we don't worship human beings or statues manifesting their visage or the aspect of their impermanence: we would not want to repeat their errors.

One of the errors that neither Shakyamuni nor Nichiren Daishonin are known for is the error of the kind of preening arrogance that would be in any way comfortable with being worshiped like a Hindu god, and certainly not as God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth in some traditionally deifying sense.

Shakyamuni and Nichiren Daishonin must suffer greatly at the slanders of sincere followers misled by the corrupted priests of Nichiren Shu and the Nikko sects as described at the top quote regarding statue worship of them: being hoisted up and placed in front of the Gohonzon.

According to the Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings: the Lotus Sutra in the Parable of the Phantom City chapter identifies the eternal Buddha (the Buddha of Limitless Joy, AKA the Buddha of Beginningless Time) as the grandfather of Shakyamuni, who as one of the sixteen princes, was the son of Great Universal Wisdom Excellence Thus Come One, who was the son of "the grandfather".

http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ott/PART-1/7#para-15

>> The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings says: IN
>> THIS PASSAGE WE LEARN ABOUT THE BUDDHA OF THE ORIGINAL
>> STATE [THAT IS, THE BUDDHA OF LIMITLESS JOY]. "GRANDFATHER"
>> IS ANOTHER NAME FOR THE DHARMA-REALM. The first three of
... the ten factors listed in the "Expedient Means" chapter,
... the factors of appearance, nature, and entity, are referred
... to as "grandfather." Outside of these three factors, there
... is no wheel-turning sage king.
...
... The word "wheel-turning" refers to the phases of birth,
... abiding, change, and extinction. The words "sage king"
... refer to the element of the mind. These three factors,
... appearance, nature, and entity, are the father and mother
... of all the Buddhas of the three existences of past,
... present, and future.
...
... Now, when Nichiren and his followers chant
... Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, they are acting as father and mother
... of the Buddhas of the three existences, as their
... grandfather, the wheel-turning sage king.

The followers of the 5 Senior Priests of Nichiren Shu consider the Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings to ALSO BE FAKED (because its view of Buddhism would disallow statue worship and funeral Buddhism), but once again, the Gosho in many places AND THE CORE OF THE LOTUS SUTRA ITSELF, confirms this view.

That passage refers to this one, the one and only reference to "the grandfather", where his son, who is the father of 16th son Shakyamuni, Great Universal Wisdom Excellence, attains enlightenment when "the Law of the buddhas finally appeared before him". This from the mouth of Shakyamuni Buddha, himself:

The Parable of the Phantom City, LS-7, pp 156-157:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/lsoc/Content/7#para-35

... "Now, monks, THE BUDDHA GREAT UNIVERSAL WISDOM EXCELLENCE
... PASSED TEN SMALL KALPAS BEFORE THE LAW OF THE BUDDHAS
... FINALLY APPEARED BEFORE HIM AND HE ATTAINED SUPREME
... PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT. Before this buddha left the
... householder's life, he had sixteen sons, the first of whom
... was named Wisdom Accumulated. These sons each had various
... kinds of rare objects and toys of one kind or another, but
... when they heard that their father had attained supreme
... perfect enlightenment, they all threw aside their rare
... objects and went to where the buddha was. Their mothers,
... weeping, followed after them.
...
... "Their grandfather, who was a wheel-turning sage king,
... along with a hundred chief ministers, as well as a
... hundred, thousand, ten thousand, million of his subjects,
... all together surrounded the sons and followed them to the
... place of enlightenment, all wishing to draw close to the
... thus come one Great Universal Wisdom Excellence, to offer
... alms, pay honor, venerate, and praise him. When they
... arrived, they bowed before his feet, touching their heads
... to the ground.

Since the "grandfather" was the father of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence, who was the father of the 16th son who later became Shakyamuni Buddha, and because the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence attained enlightenment prior to Shakyamuni, this is evidence from the one and only earliest timeline from the Lotus Sutra, that Shakyamuni Buddha was NOT the name of the Buddha of the original state.

In fact, anyone attaining enlightenment on any timeline for the first time cannot be named as the Buddha of the original state, who is enlightened from beginningless time, which is off the end of every timeline and not actually part of any history.

The "grandfather" is anonymous in the Lotus Sutra. The "grandfather" has no time associated with his enlightenment, or assignment of any progenitor and Nichiren Daishonin assigns him as primogenitor in that passage from the Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, as the first: the "Buddha of the original state."

Aside from that, who knows, I don't. As far as I can tell, the eternal Buddha has no other person identified as such in the Lotus Sutra. Shakyamuni attained enlightenment after his father Great Universal Wisdom Excellence and unnamed grandfather with no date for his attainment of the enlightenment.

At any rate, who was first hardly matters, unless you want to worship a statue or image of the first enlightened one. I certainly don't want to worship or pray to any statues of anyone.

I am satisfied that the Buddha leading the army of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth is Nichiren Daishonin, also known as Jogyo Superior Practices. He is the mentor whose Gosho I have made my mentor, because our general, Ikeda Sensei asked me too. I practice as Nichiren Daishonin says and only that way. I worship no person and images of any person.

Continuing, another challenge from a follower of the Nichiren Shu icchantikas/issendai:

||| You, Chas, claim to be practicing Nichiren's teachings- do
||| you not? Then please explain why you cannot believe
||| thousands of passages written in Nichiren's own hand, such
||| as:
|||
||| "Now, when the Eternal Buddha has revealed in the essential
||| section of the Lotus Sutra, this world of endurance
||| (Saha-world) became the Eternal Pure Land, indestructible
||| even by the three calamities of conflagration, flooding,
||| and strong winds, which are said to destroy the world. It
||| transcends the four periods of cosmic change: the kalpa of
||| construction, continuance, destruction and emptiness.
||| Sakaymuni Buddha, the Lord-preacher of this pure and, has
||| never died in the past, nor will He be born in the future.
||| He exists forever throughout the past present and future.
||| All those who receive His GUIDANCE are one with the Eternal
||| Buddha." - Nichiren, "The True Object of Worship".
|||
||| Now, you are interpreting the Lotus Sutra- in an effort to
||| support your SGIkeda's claim that Nichiren, not Shakyamuni
||| is the True, Original Buddha!! By doing this you are also
||| dismissing Nichiren's own statements referencing his
||| identity as the Buddha's envoy, the only one who can
||| understand the "entity of the Lotus"--So, YOU, Chas claim
||| to be --what? the envoy of the Buddha you have demoted?? Or
||| are you just a parrot for SGIkeda's lies??
|||
||| To summarize, I practice Nichiren's Lotus Sutra Buddhism. I
||| regard Nichiren as the ONE teacher for this latter age. I
||| believe the words Nichiren has used to describe himself,
||| Shakyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sutra--Since, you, Chas do
||| not produce evidence for your assertions from Nichiren's
||| own hand, you are not qualified to call yourself a follower
||| of Nichiren-- in fact, you have clearly shown yourself to
||| be a follower of Ikeda, whose errors have been exposed here
||| and elsewhere , whilst your Top leaders refuse to engage in
||| public debate to settle the matters you continue to parrot
||| here!!

This is yet another bad translation of the Gosho, by corrupted statue-worshiping priests of Nichiren Shu. Note the absence of the term "Eternal Buddha" in the correct translation below, that phrase having been doctored by Nichiren Shu slandering priests in their corrupted translation.

Shakyamuni was of course manifesting Myoho-Renge, his true self and at the highest condition of human existence when he was preaching the Juryo chapter.

But his name was Shakyamuni, not Myoho-Renge, which is "the actual name of the entity" according to Nichiren Daishonin.

From "The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind Established in the Fifth Five-Hundred-Year Period after the Thus Come One's Passing -Nichiren, the shramana of Japan", WND I, p. 366 ... once again, noting the total absence of calling Shakyamuni the "eternal Buddha":
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/39#para-70

... First, at his place of enlightenment, Shakyamuni Buddha
... [preached the Flower Garland Sutra in which he] revealed
... the Lotus Treasury World. In the following fifty years,
... until he entered nirvana in the grove of sal trees,
... Shakyamuni preached about the lands of the various Buddhas,
... such as the Lotus Treasury World and the Land of Secret
... Solemnity [in the Secret Solemnity Sutra], revealed the
... three kinds of lands when he three times purified countless
... lands [in the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra], and
... revealed the four kinds of lands according to the four
... different views [in the Nirvana Sutra]. These lands—the
... Land of Transition, the Land of Actual Reward, and the Land
... of Tranquil Light; the Land of Peace and Sustenance, the
... Pure Emerald World, the Land of Secret Solemnity, and the
... lands of all the other Buddhas—are transient lands that
... change in the course of the kalpas of formation,
... [continuance, decline, and disintegration]. The Buddhas of
... these lands had been magically conjured by Shakyamuni
... Buddha, and when the lord of teachings entered nirvana, all
... these Buddhas likewise entered extinction. In the same way,
... their lands also vanished.
...
... The sahā world Shakyamuni Buddha revealed in the "Life
... Span" chapter is the eternal pure land, impervious to the
... three calamities and to the cycle of the four kalpas. The
... Buddha neither has entered into extinction in the past nor
... will be born in the future. And the same is true of his
... disciples. This means that their lives are perfectly
... endowed with the three thousand worlds, that is, with the
... three realms of existence. The Buddha did not reveal this
... truth in the theoretical teaching, or the first fourteen
... chapters, of the Lotus Sutra because the time was not right
... and the people's capacity was not yet developed.
...
... Shakyamuni Buddha did not transmit the five characters of
... Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the heart of the essential teaching of
... the Lotus Sutra, even to the bodhisattvas Manjushrī and
... Medicine King, let alone to any lesser disciples. He
... summoned from beneath the earth the great bodhisattvas as
... numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds and, as
... he preached the eight chapters, transferred it solely to
... them.

Finally, a piece of logic related to time itself, and that logic is irrefutable.

Beginningless time is before any finite point in the past on the timeline, such as when Shakyamuni attained enlightenment. From the Lotus Sutra, chapter 16, starting with the critical phrase "Ga hon gyo bosatsu do":
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/lsoc/Content/16#para-14

... originally I practiced the bodhisattva way,
... and the life span that I acquired then has
... yet to come to an end but will last twice
... the number of years that have already passed.

A finite time in the past, which is half the time of a future point, can not possibly be the locus known as "beginningless time", which is off the timeline. The eternal Buddha's enlightened life crosses before, during and after every point on the timeline, which is why the adjective "eternal" is applied.

Shakyamuni, in his complete honesty, declared that he attained enlightenment under another Buddha and implicitly therefore that Shakyamuni is not the name of the eternal Buddha, as the Nichiren Shu and it's plausibly deniable legion of SGI attackers erroneously believe. You cannot deny what the Lotus Sutra says, Shakyamuni is not the name of the eternal Buddha, anymore than anyone's impermanent name is. That name is Myoho-Renge.


________ Slanders of the common mortal ___________
________ as the true Buddha ______________________

Let's revisit that ARBN quote from the follower of the Nichiren Shu traitorous founders, the Five Senior Priests who converted Nichiren Daishonin's practice of Buddhism into a syncretic Shinto statue-worshiping of Shakyamuni as God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth:

||| I have considered the recipients of Nichiren's writings to
||| be a key factor, or rather, an important element regarding
||| the *meaning* conveyed. Nichiren wrote about the Gohonzon
||| to disciples and lay followers whom he had taught for
||| almost two decades; all of whom grasped the doctrines
||| Nichiren himself established for propagating
||| Myoho-renge-kyo in this latter age.
|||
||| Do you, Chas, accept and believe the preceding 18 years of
||| Nichiren's teachings , written to these disciples and lay
||| followers? In those writings I find and provide passages
||| here, to establish that Nichiren himself taught the primacy
||| of the daimoku as " a complete explanation" of the Lotus
||| Sutra, and Shakyamuni as the true, eternal Buddha. Since
||| you have dismissed the basic understanding ALL recipients
||| of Nichiren's writings most certainly had, how can you make
||| any determinations about the *meaning* expressed in the
||| Gosho?

There are many pillars upholding the difference of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism of the Lotus Sutra from all other Buddhisms, which are then clearly distortions of the Buddha's teachings and intent.

It's also abundantly true that all of Nichiren Daishonin's pillars stand together in perfect logical harmony, without the tiniest weak point in the structure. All of the deviant variants of Buddhism are like horrid collapsing lopsided structures in comparison. They are tents and hastily erected shacks that do not survive even the slight breeze. Let's start with the notion of manifesting Buddhahood in an instant:

From "Wu-lung and I-lung", WND I, p. 1099 (most relevant part highlighted):

http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/162#para-1

... Myoho-renge-kyo is likened to the lotus. The great māndāra
... flower in heaven and the cherry blossom in the human world
... are both celebrated flowers, but the Buddha chose neither
... to compare to the Lotus Sutra. Of all the flowers, he
... selected the lotus blossom to symbolize the Lotus Sutra.
... There is a reason for this. Some plants first flower and
... then produce fruit, while in others fruit comes forth
... before flowers. Some bear only one flower but much fruit,
... others send forth many flowers but only one fruit, and
>> still others produce fruit without flowering. THUS THERE
>> ARE ALL MANNER OF PLANTS, BUT THE LOTUS IS THE ONLY ONE
>> THAT BEARS FLOWERS AND FRUIT SIMULTANEOUSLY. THE BENEFIT OF
>> ALL THE OTHER SUTRAS IS UNCERTAIN, BECAUSE THEY TEACH THAT
>> ONE MUST FIRST MAKE GOOD CAUSES AND ONLY THEN CAN ONE
>> BECOME A BUDDHA AT SOME LATER TIME. WITH REGARD TO THE
>> LOTUS SUTRA, WHEN ONE'S HAND TAKES IT UP, THAT HAND
>> IMMEDIATELY ATTAINS BUDDHAHOOD, AND WHEN ONE'S MOUTH CHANTS
>> IT, THAT MOUTH IS ITSELF A BUDDHA, AS, FOR EXAMPLE, THE
>> MOON IS REFLECTED IN THE WATER THE MOMENT IT APPEARS FROM
>> BEHIND THE EASTERN MOUNTAINS, OR AS A SOUND AND ITS ECHO
>> ARISE SIMULTANEOUSLY. IT IS FOR THIS REASON THAT THE SUTRA
>> STATES, "IF THERE ARE THOSE WHO HEAR THE LAW, THEN NOT A
>> ONE WILL FAIL TO ATTAIN BUDDHAHOOD." THIS PASSAGE MEANS
>> THAT, IF THERE ARE A HUNDRED OR A THOUSAND PEOPLE WHO
>> UPHOLD THIS SUTRA, WITHOUT A SINGLE EXCEPTION ALL ONE
>> HUNDRED OR ONE THOUSAND OF THEM WILL BECOME BUDDHAS.

The piece to focus on here is:

"The benefit of all the other sutras is uncertain, because they teach that one must first make good causes and only then can one become a Buddha at some later time. With regard to the Lotus Sutra, when one's hand takes it up, that hand immediately attains Buddhahood, and when one's mouth chants it, that mouth is itself a Buddha"

The only conceivable way that one can attain Buddhahood simultaneously with chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, is if one is already a Buddha, and one only needs to chant the daimoku to manifest that pre-existing and inherited Buddhahood.

As argued clearly in the previous 2nd section on slanders of the true aspect of all phenomena, (1.) the common mortal is the true Buddha and provisional Buddhas are a function of the true Buddha (common mortal), and (2.) all phenomena are the true aspect AND Myoho-Renge-Kyo, precisely because the true aspect means without having the aspect of any specific or particular entity, but is inclusive of all entities.

The view that the provisional Buddhas who appear to save we common mortals are THE Buddha, and that we ARE NOT, is a slander of the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Day of the Law and it arises from confusing inconspicuous benefit with enlightenment.

Here is Nichiren Daishonin's explanation of the differences in the teachings, and which view the Lotus Sutra takes.

From "The Unanimous Declaration by the Buddhas", WND II, p. 859:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-2/Content/315#para-185

>> WHEN ONE TURNS TO THE PERFECT TEACHING, however, and sees
... that all phenomena are perfectly fused together, full and
... perfect like the moon on the fifteenth night of the month,
... free of all insufficiency, and when one understands them to
>> the fullest, THEN THERE IS NO MORE JUDGING THEM AS GOOD OR
>> BAD, NO MORE CHOOSING ON THE BASIS OF WHAT IS TIMELY, NO
>> MORE NEED TO SEEK OUT A QUIET SETTING, NO MORE QUESTION OF
>> WHICH PERSONS ARE ELIGIBLE. When one understands that all
... phenomena whatsoever are manifestations of the Buddhist
... Law, then one has fully comprehended the nature of the
... things of the phenomenal realm. Then even if one follows a
... path that is not the way, one will still be fulfilling
... the Buddha way.
...
>> HEAVEN, EARTH, WATER, FIRE, AND WIND ARE THE FIVE WISDOM
>> THUS COME ONES. THEY RESIDE WITHIN THE BODY AND MIND OF ALL
>> LIVING BEINGS AND ARE NEVER SEPARATED FROM THEM EVEN FOR AN
>> INSTANT. THEREFORE WORLDLY AFFAIRS AND AFFAIRS RELATING TO
>> ENLIGHTENMENT BLEND TOGETHER IN HARMONY WITHIN THE MIND OF
>> THE INDIVIDUAL; OUTSIDE OF THE MIND, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO
>> OTHER THING THAT EXISTS. THEREFORE, WHEN ONE HEARS THIS
>> TRUTH, ONE CAN AT THAT POINT IMMEDIATELY ATTAIN THE GOAL OF
>> BUDDHAHOOD WITHOUT A MOMENT'S DELAY, FOR IT IS A PRINCIPLE
>> OF THE UTMOST PROFUNDITY.

To confuse inconspicuous benefit with enlightenment is a slander of the Lotus Sutra, and will cause one to fall into the evil paths.

Inconspicuous benefit grows slowly as one practices, like a great tree.

Being the true Buddha is the heritage of the Law, received from your parents at birth in the form of the three bodies of the Buddha, establishing your true identity as Myoho-Renge, the Entity of the Mystic Law.

You have always been and will always be the true Buddha: to be a living being is to be the true Buddha.

What in heaven's name is so difficult to understand about the common mortal being the true Buddha? It has nothing at all to do with the "original enlightenment" of corrupted Tendai traitors, who just want to sit on their ass and do nothing.

SGI members accept that the enlightenment they attain upon chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to the Gohonzon means that they have to walk that talk: the characteristics of a Buddha are the characteristics of a Bodhisattva bent on doing Kosen Rufu. Law -> Wisdom -> Action, and the action of shakubuku speaks the loudest: shakubuku manifests your Buddhahood most clearly.

All living beings are Buddhas, endowed with the three Bodies of the Buddha received from their parents.

From "On the Treasure Tower," WND I, pp. 299-300:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/31#para-3
.. YOU, YOURSELF, ARE A THUS COME ONE WHO IS ORIGINALLY
.. ENLIGHTENED AND ENDOWED WITH THE THREE BODIES. You should
.. chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with this conviction. Then the
.. place where you chant daimoku will become the dwelling
.. place of the treasure tower.

He says it plainly right there: "You, yourself, ARE A THUS COME ONE WHO IS ORIGINALLY ENLIGHTENED AND ENDOWED WITH THE THREE BODIES." Nichiren Daishonin is not just being a cheerleader for Abutsu-bo here, he really means it.

From "Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man," WND I, p. 131:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/13#para-202
.. THE BUDDHA NATURE THAT ALL THESE BEINGS POSSESS IS CALLED
.. BY THE NAME MYOHO-RENGE-KYO. THEREFORE, IF YOU RECITE THESE
.. WORDS OF THE DAIMOKU ONCE, THEN THE BUDDHA NATURE OF ALL
.. LIVING BEINGS WILL BE SUMMONED AND GATHER AROUND YOU. AT
.. THAT TIME THE THREE BODIES OF THE DHARMA NATURE WITHIN
.. YOU—THE DHARMA BODY, THE REWARD BODY, AND THE MANIFESTED
.. BODY—WILL BE DRAWN FORTH AND BECOME MANIFEST. THIS IS
.. CALLED ATTAINING BUDDHAHOOD. To illustrate, when a caged
.. bird sings, the many birds flying in the sky all gather
.. around it at once; seeing this, the bird in the cage
.. strives to get out.”

And there he says it again, very clearly, no interpretation required. "... if you recite the words of the daimoku once ... This is called attaining Buddhahood."

From "The Unanimous Declaration by the Buddhas of the Three Existences regarding the Classification of the Teachings and Which Are to Be Abandoned and Which Upheld," WND II, pp. 847-848:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-2/Content/315#para-105
.. THE SENTIENT BEINGS AND THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE TEN WORLDS
.. ARE THE BUDDHA OF THE DHARMA BODY, ONE WHO POSSESSES THE
.. VIRTUE OF THE THREE BODIES IN A SINGLE ENTITY. Once one has
.. understood this, one will fully realize that all phenomena
.. are the Buddhist Law. This is known as the stage of hearing
.. the name and words of the truth. FROM THE STAGE OF HEARING
.. THE NAME AND WORDS OF THE TRUTH ONE PROCEEDS DIRECTLY TO
.. THE ATTAINMENT OF BUDDHAHOOD IN ONE’S PRESENT FORM. Thus
.. in the teaching of perfect and immediate enlightenment
.. there are no successive stages of practice.

Note the phrase: "From the stage of HEARING THE NAME AND WORDS OF THE TRUTH one proceeds directly to the ATTAINMENT OF BUDDHAHOOD IN ONE’S PRESENT FORM."

From hearing the daimoku -> directly to attaining Buddhahood.

Then he says: "Thus in the teaching of perfect and immediate enlightenment THERE ARE NO SUCCESSIVE STAGES OF PRACTICE."

Thus, there are no extra practices needed to attain Buddhahood.

Enlightenment or Buddhahood is attained by hearing or chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo for the very first time. In that moment you are a participant in the ceremony in the air.

From "The Entity of the Mystic Law," WND I, p. 429:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47#para-89

.. Therefore, we understand that, once the “Life Span”
.. chapter of the essential teaching had been revealed, ALL
.. THOSE IN THE ASSEMBLY ON EAGLE PEAK BECAME ENLIGHTENED TO
.. THE LOTUS OF THE ENTITY. Those of the two vehicles, the
.. icchantikas, or persons of incorrigible disbelief, and
.. the determinate groups, as well as women and evil men,
.. ALL GAINED AN AWAKENING TO THE LOTUS OF THE ETERNAL BUDDHA.

All living beings are Buddhas, and they all attain Buddhahood/enlightenment in the ceremony in the air, which you participate in, upon any contact with the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra.

From "Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man," WND I, p. 133:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/13#para-217

.. “It is the same way with the practitioners of the Lotus
.. Sutra. THOUGH THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES OF
.. BUDDHISM AND MAY NOT KNOW THAT THEY ARE SUFFERING FROM
.. DELUSION, IF ONLY THEY HAVE FAITH, THEN WITHOUT A DOUBT
.. THEY WILL BE ABLE TO FREE THEMSELVES simultaneously from
.. the illnesses of the three categories of illusion—illusions
.. of thought and desire, illusions innumerable as particles
.. of dust and sand, and illusions about the true nature of
.. existence. THEY WILL REACH THE LANDS OF ACTUAL REWARD AND
.. TRANQUIL LIGHT, AND CAUSE THE THREE BODIES OF A THUS COME
.. ONE THAT THEY INHERENTLY POSSESS TO SHINE.

In Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo IS EQUAL TO FAITH, chanting it and even hearing it is attaining enlightenment and manifesting your inherent Buddhahood.

From "The Teaching, Practice, and Proof," WND I, p. 470:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/57#para-20
.. People may well wonder what this revelation means. Explain
.. that it teaches that COMMON PEOPLE LIKE OURSELVES, who have
.. been submerged in the sufferings of birth and death since
.. time without beginning and who never so much as dreamed of
.. reaching the shore of enlightenment, BECOME THE THUS COME
.. ONES WHO ARE ORIGINALLY ENLIGHTENED AND ENDOWED WITH THE
.. THREE BODIES.

And that means through the revelation (hearing the daimoku, chanting it) of the Lotus Sutra itself, we common people become the Thus Come Ones (plural,) not through some Bodhisattva path. We perform as Bodhisattvas, BECAUSE WE HAVE ATTAINED BUDDHAHOOD THROUGH CHANTING NAM_MYOHO_RENGE_KYO TO THE GOHONZON.

From "The One Essential Phrase," WND I, p. 922:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/121#para-1
.. SINCE THE LOTUS SUTRA DEFINES OUR BODY AS THE DHARMA BODY
.. OF A THUS COME ONE, OUR MIND AS THE REWARD BODY OF A THUS
.. COME ONE, AND OUR ACTIONS AS THE MANIFESTED BODY OF A THUS
.. COME ONE, ALL WHO UPHOLD AND BELIEVE IN EVEN A SINGLE
.. PHRASE OR VERSE OF THIS SUTRA WILL BE ENDOWED WITH THE
.. BENEFITS OF THESE THREE BODIES. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is only
.. one phrase or verse, but it is no ordinary phrase, for it
.. is the essence of the entire sutra. YOU ASKED WHETHER ONE
.. CAN ATTAIN BUDDHAHOOD ONLY BY CHANTING NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO,
.. AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF ALL. THIS IS THE
.. HEART OF THE ENTIRE SUTRA AND THE SUBSTANCE OF ITS EIGHT
.. VOLUMES.

Just by chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, we can attain Buddhahood. He doesn't say how long we have to chant, because it happens immediately.

From "The Entity of the Mystic Law," WND I, p. 420:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47#para-29
.. IN ESSENCE, THE ENTITY OF MYOHO-RENGE-KYO IS THE PHYSICAL
.. BODY THAT THE DISCIPLES AND FOLLOWERS OF NICHIREN WHO
.. BELIEVE IN THE LOTUS SUTRA RECEIVED FROM THEIR FATHERS AND
.. MOTHERS AT BIRTH. Such persons, WHO HONESTLY DISCARD
.. EXPEDIENT MEANS, PUT FAITH IN THE LOTUS SUTRA ALONE, AND
.. CHANT NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO, WILL TRANSFORM THE THREE PATHS
.. OF EARTHLY DESIRES, KARMA, AND SUFFERING INTO THE THREE
.. VIRTUES OF THE DHARMA BODY, WISDOM, AND EMANCIPATION. The
.. threefold contemplation and the three truths will
.. immediately become manifest in their minds, and the place
.. where they live will become the Land of Eternally Tranquil
.. Light. The Buddha who is the entity of Myoho-renge-kyo, of
.. the “Life Span” chapter of the essential teaching, who is
.. both inhabiting subject and inhabited realm, life and
.. environment, body and mind, entity and function, THE BUDDHA
.. ETERNALLY ENDOWED WITH THE THREE BODIES—HE IS TO BE FOUND
.. IN THE DISCIPLES AND LAY BELIEVERS OF NICHIREN.

Notice the qualifying phrase:

"Such persons, WHO HONESTLY DISCARD EXPEDIENT MEANS, put faith in the Lotus Sutra alone, and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, will transform the three paths of earthly desires, karma, and suffering into the three virtues of the Dharma body, wisdom, and emancipation."

You have to "honestly discard expediant means" to gain the benefits of the three bodies: you can't worship statues, practice the four dictums (Zen, Nembutsu, Tantric/True Word, Shakyamuni's provisional precepts), join with Shinto, or chant to pirated printouts of Gohonzon stolen by traitorous, thieving, murderous priests of Nichiren Shu, who betrayed Nichiren Daishonin by distorting his Buddhism into a statue-worshiping Shinto cult forcing Shakyamuni into the role of God Almighty, which he would have rejected as utterly narcissistic. That slander of complicity cancels your benefits of the three bodies.

From "The Doctrine of Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of Life," WND II, p. 87:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-2/Content/180#para-43
.. THIS MYOHO-RENGE-KYO IS A TERM DESIGNATING THE ESSENTIAL
.. NATURE OF OUR MINDS, OR, MORE GENERALLY SPEAKING, THE
.. ESSENTIAL NATURE OF THE MINDS OF ALL LIVING BEINGS, THE
.. EIGHT-PETALED WHITE LOTUS BLOSSOM. THE WORDS OF THE BUDDHA
.. HIMSELF TEACH US THIS. From time without beginning until
.. the present, these bodies of ours have transmigrated
.. through the realm of birth and death, in a state of
.. delusion as to the essential nature of the mind that is
.. within these bodies. BUT NOW THAT WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED THE
.. LOTUS SUTRA AND CHANT THE DAIMOKU THAT REPRESENTS THE THUS
.. COME ONE OF ORIGINAL ENLIGHTENMENT, WHO POSSESSES THE THREE
.. BODIES IN A SINGLE BODY, THE THUS COME ONE BECOMES
.. MANIFEST. In our present existence we achieve the inner
.. realization and attainment of Buddhahood that is known as
.. the attainment of Buddhahood in our present form.

Once again, he states it clearly and without any amount of chanting or time passage: our Buddhahood "becomes manifest" at the point when we "have encountered the Lotus Sutra and chanted the daimoku."

You have always been and will always be the true Buddha: to be a living being is to be the true Buddha. More detail on this in the 7th section below on Gradualism.


________ Slanders of the Gohonzon ________________

In an exchange with a follower of the errant 5 Senior Priests of Nichiren Shu on ARBN:

||||.. "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.
||||
|||| Nichiren kept a statue of Shakyamuni and he instructed at
|||| least tree of his disciples on consecrating their statues
|||| of Shakyamuni which they had fashioned themselves!! Three
|||| Goshos describe the meaning of having an image of
|||| Shakyamuni-- and all have been references and presented as
|||| responses to accusations like this one posted by Chas,
|||| months ago.
||||
|||| Chas, you either cannot read, or simply prefers to blast
|||| your own warped notions as though they were facts. Saw a
|||| lot of that during the presidential campaign --
..
.. It's in front of your Butsudan. From the viewpoint of the
.. Gohonzon, you are making it [at least] an equal.

This is all straightforward and clear from the reading of the supreme teaching and the Gosho.

From "The True Aspect of All Phenomena", WND I, p. 384:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/40#para-7

>> Although not worthy of the honor, I, NICHIREN, WAS
>> NEVERTHELESS THE FIRST TO SPREAD THE MYSTIC LAW ENTRUSTED
>> TO BODHISATTVA SUPERIOR PRACTICES FOR PROPAGATION IN THE
>> LATTER DAY OF THE LAW. I WAS ALSO THE FIRST, THOUGH ONLY
>> BODHISATTVA SUPERIOR PRACTICES IS SO EMPOWERED, TO INSCRIBE
>> [THE OBJECT OF DEVOTION as] the embodiment of Shakyamuni
... Buddha from the remote past as revealed in the "Life Span"
... chapter of the essential teaching, of Many Treasures Buddha
... who appeared when the "Treasure Tower" chapter of the
... theoretical teaching was preached, and of the Bodhisattvas
... of the Earth who arrived with the "Emerging from the Earth"
... chapter. Though people may hate me, they cannot possibly
... alter the fact of my enlightenment.

Nichiren Daishonin enscribed all of those onto the Gohonzon. NOT onto an image of Shakyamuni. Shakyamuni could not reveal the daimoku at the heart of the Lotus Sutra, not inscribe the Gohonzon, according to Nichiren Daishonin, who did both.

Continuing in that passage:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/40#para-8

... Therefore, to have exiled me, Nichiren, to this remote
>> island is, I believe, AN OFFENSE THAT CAN NEVER BE
>> EXPIATED, EVEN WITH THE PASSING OF COUNTLESS KALPAS. A
>> PASSAGE FROM THE "SIMILE AND PARABLE" CHAPTER READS, "IF I
>> WERE TO DESCRIBE THE PUNISHMENTS [THAT FALL ON PERSONS WHO
>> SLANDER THIS SUTRA], I COULD EXHAUST A KALPA AND NEVER COME
>> TO THE END." On the other hand, not even the wisdom of the
... Buddha can fathom the blessings that one will obtain by
... giving alms to Nichiren and by becoming his disciple and
>> lay supporter. THE SUTRA READS, "[THE BENEFITS HE GAINS
>> THEREBY WILL BE SUCH THAT] EVEN THE BUDDHA WISDOM COULD
>> NEVER FINISH CALCULATING THEIR EXTENT."

Hence, slanderers, who deny the very intent of this sutra, which is its heart, commit:

"an offense that can never be expiated, even with the passing of countless kalpas."

However, there is hope EVEN FOR THEM, because:

'The sutra reads, "[The benefits he gains thereby will be such that] even the Buddha wisdom could never finish calculating their extent."'

Continuing in that passage:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/40#para-9

>> NICHIREN ALONE TOOK THE LEAD IN CARRYING OUT THE TASK OF
>> THE BODHISATTVAS OF THE EARTH. HE MAY EVEN BE ONE OF THEM.
>> IF NICHIREN IS TO BE COUNTED AMONG THE BODHISATTVAS OF THE
>> EARTH, THEN SO MUST HIS DISCIPLES AND LAY SUPPORTERS. The
... sutra states: "If one [of these good men or good women in
>> the time after I have passed into extinction] IS ABLE TO
>> SECRETLY EXPOUND THE LOTUS SUTRA TO ONE PERSON, EVEN ONE
>> PHRASE OF IT, THEN YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT HE OR SHE IS THE
>> ENVOY OF THE THUS COME ONE. HE HAS BEEN DISPATCHED BY THE
>> THUS COME ONE AND CARRIES OUT THE THUS COME ONE'S WORK."
... Who else but us can this possibly refer to?

In Nichiren's role as "taking the lead" of the task of Kosen Rufu, he established the Gohonzon as THE supreme object of devotion:

And at the end of the "The True Aspect of All Phenomena", WND I, p. 386:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/40#para-16

... In this letter, I have written my most important teachings.
... Grasp their meaning firmly, and make them a part of your
>> life. Believe in the Gohonzon, THE SUPREME OBJECT OF
>> DEVOTION IN ALL OF JAMBUDVĪPA. Be sure to strengthen your
... faith, and receive the protection of Shakyamuni, Many
... Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions. Exert
... yourself in the two ways of practice and study. Without
... practice and study, there can be no Buddhism. You must not
... only persevere yourself; you must also teach others. Both
... practice and study arise from faith. Teach others to the
... best of your ability, even if it is only a single sentence
... or phrase. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
...
...................................... With my deep respect,
...
................................................... Nichiren
...
...
........... The seventeenth day of the fifth month

So, placing ANY OTHER object of devotion in front of, beside, on the same altar with, or frankly, anywhere in the room or building housing the Gohonzon, which is the "supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvipa", would be slandering the Gohonzon by conflating the two as equal, or even near equal in worthiness of your devotion, or even within the same realm of equality.

And in my view, placed anywhere "in all of Jambudvipa" along with the Gohonzon is a slander of the Gohonzon. That is simply taking the Daishonin at his word.

Continuing the exchange with the very same follower of the errant 5 Senior Priests of Nichiren Shu on ARBN, out comes the ultimate result of the slanderous view taken above in the earlier exchange:

||| So it was about 18 years between nichuren's establishing
||| Namu-myoho-renge-kyo as the ESSENTIAL practice of the Lotus
||| sutra for this latter age AND the first Honzon masala
||| inscribed by nichiren for a priest who was imprisoned for
||| not recanting his faith in Nichiren's teachings. The first
||| Gohonzon was inscribed on the eve of Nichiren's exile to
||| Sado--right?
|||
||| If you read and study the letters Nichiren wrote from
||| 1271-1282 you will not find a single teaching that claims
||| ONLY with Gohonzon can one attain Buddhahood. What you
||| would also find is that Nichiren was selective bestowing
||| Gohonzon-- it seems that right from the start Nichiren
||| emphasized FAITH alone as the main criteria for bestowing
||| Gohonzon. Now, if you check out what Nichiren taught those
||| who received Gohonzon directly from him, you would also
||| find that he focuses exclusively on the single mind of
||| faith in the Lotus Sutra, the essential phrase and
||| essential practice and that HE is acting as Shakyamuni's
||| disciple, propagating the correct teaching for us in this
||| latter age.
|||
||| Speaking only for myself, I believe that generally
||| speaking, YES, the Gohonzon represents the supreme OBJECt
||| of worship, but SPECIFICALLY it is FAITH in
||| Myoho-renge-kyo, dedicating one's life with single minded
||| focus on the Lotus Sutra itself that is the practice for
||| attaining Buddhahood. --

If that were simply true, then the 20 years that Nichiren Daishonin spent after April 28, 1253, when he first chanted the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, in seeking and trying to inscribe the Gohonzon, bestow it upon his followers and finally declaring it as the "supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvipa" in this Gosho letter in 1273 ... these efforts of those years were superfluities, an unneeded expenditure of the time and effort of the leader of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth in the mission of Kosen Rufu. That would make Nichiren Daishonin an extraordinary and unmatched wastrel of the precious resources and continuing efforts of Kosen Rufu. Can anyone believing this incredible lie actually consider themselves a follower of Nichiren Daishonin?

-Chas.

[JazzIs TvRicky]

Look for yourself👀

https://dharmawheel.net/viewforum.php?f=59&sid=031d9ecf54d040670fb2cb1501193a41

This Debate is being studied all over the 🌎 it never stoops turning the Wheel of The Law!

We have accomplished something never before revealed by anyone who professes faith in Nichiren's Teachings!

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Sincerity Richard A Votary of The Gohonzon of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

[Noel]

It's headed towards an all time record for replies and views. You also have made a good point in the past that Nichiren was opposed to destroying religious objects. Don't know if that has been raised

[Katie Higgins]

Chas and Noel - YOUR. Words not mine.
YOUR subjectively informed conclusions are outrageous when stated as " fact".

You may not know the difference between reverence and " worship " or "object of devotion" and counterfeit scrolls -- and that may suit your own personal meager requirements for your own practice -- BUT , you look like pompous eack jobs making your perceptions the standard for assigning depricating labels to followers of Nichiren .

Just to clarify for readers 😊

~ Katie

[Chas.]

In response to this posting sequence:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren/JQ_6o-mVgm4/krOkEo9CAQAJ

On Wednesday, August 23, 2017 at 3:18:15 AM UTC-7, Katie Higgins wrote:
> The only character trait that is pertinent to debating and discussing Nichiren's teachings and the Lotus Sutra is sincerity -- sincere concern for the truth - sincere effort to discover the truth -- in the spirit of Nichiren himself .
>
> The truth regarding your laxity in study and penchant for personal attacks is well documented here -- and on EP.
>
> ~ Katie

That is absolute crap. Nichiren Daishonin himself was diligent in reading ALL OF THE BUDDHIST CANON across the biggest libraries in Japan, before forming his practice of the Lotus Sutra.

He did not exclude, like you, half of the true writings and true teachings out-of-hand, simply because they disagreed with his early views, or the view of errant, traitorous priests.

Sincerity is necessary, but insufficient.

You also need diligence, intellectual honesty (of which neither Mark Rogow, nor Katie Higgins possesses a jot,) persistence, and finally, you need to follow the mentor and disciple principle: this is because no one has all of the knowledge, certainly not someone who excludes half of the true teachings and writings, and who follows false priests of Nichiren Shu who have betrayed Nichiren Daishonin, the founding mentor of Nichiren Buddhism.

You have deified Shakyamuni and kicked Nichiren Daishonin to the curb in doing so, and hatred of Nichiren guarantees erroneous views of Nichiren Buddhism.

To put it simply: you cannot correctly perceive the Law or the Gohonzon while you are kissing the feet of a statue of your falsely deified Shakyamuni as God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

-Chas.

[Katie Higgins]

Says you 😁

[Chas.]

On Thursday, August 24, 2017 at 11:37:49 AM UTC-7, Katie Higgins wrote:
> Says you 😁

Redundantly, yes.

-Chas.

[Katie Higgins]

Difference being , I have provided referenced readers can examine for themselves - and have described methods for properlly discerning real from fake/. Well known methods that academic minded people are familiar with -/ And those who follow Nichiren know to be crucial aspects for discerning the Buddha's teachings and understanding the means by which you corrupt them !

You buried these posts very quickly with the help of manic zealot Ricky -/ they will return with other informative essays for those who are seeking -/

~ Katie

[Chas.]

Your methods are improper and unscientific.

Actually, the documents YOU perceive as authentic and all Fuji School and other documents should be tested by the two rigorous scientific methods listed below, not only (1) to see their true dates of origin, but also (2) to see if they have been abridged.

I AM NOT satisfied with your expert analysis or any historical chain of evidence handling through the corrupted hands of Nichiren Shu priests, who are not above the adulteration practices of other Shinto priests.

1. I only accept AMS isotopic dating by multiple independent scientists that all agree is incredibly accurate, by separating several naturally occurring isotopes (Beryllium-10, Chlorine-36, Aluminum-26, Manganese-54 and Carbon-14):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerator_mass_spectrometry

2. I only accept the kind of advanced imaging examination that revealed Archimedes Palimpsest written on parchment, although scrubbed and written over many centuries ago:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes_Palimpsest

Science, Katie Higgins, not spooky methods of corrupt priests, are the only acceptable methods of authentication by top museums around the world: and that is because so much money is at stake in the art and antiquities trade.

In our case adulteration of documents to change and distort the views of Nichiren Daishonin is also and issue, and that is why the Shinto priests of Nichiren Shu cannot be trusted as an authority or for translation. Only the methods #2 can reveal what is true or what is false in a document properly dated by methods #1.

Science is the only acceptable metric.

-Chas.

[Chas.]

On Saturday, August 26, 2017 at 7:47:53 AM UTC-7, Katie Higgins wrote:

> You buried these posts very quickly with the help of manic zealot Ricky -/ they will return with other informative essays for those who are seeking -/
>
> ~ Katie

That is the nature of this busy forum, whose protocol is USENET and predates the Internet baxk in the Arpanet days by quite a stretch of time. It is not constructed for the purpose of message stability, that is what the later web was created for. You are posting in the wrong place. Stop whining.

-Chas.

[Katie Higgins]

Your theories on authenticating the documents in question would not produce much evidence - thorough grasp of languages, culture, historical background - " personal writing style "- are needed-- This research has been documented Chas / methods and findings are available to thr public !

Can you really be so stupid ?

~ Katie