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March 25, 2003 -- No. 174 |
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The Justice Chronicle, provided
by Soka Gakkai International-USA, is a free monthly e-mail
in support of the Soka Spirit movement. Soka Spirit is
the SGI's educational effort to create value and deepen
our understanding of Nichiren Buddhism through increased
awareness of issues surrounding the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood
and the spiritual foundation of the SGI movement.
1) NEWS
DISTRICT COURT REJECTS ASAKI LIBEL SUIT
On March 10, the Tokyo District Court dismissed a libel suit filed against the Soka Gakkai by Daito Asaki, the husband of the late Higashi Murayama City assemblywoman Akiyo Asaki; their daughter, Naoko; and Assemblyman Hozumi Yano.
The plaintiffs charged that their reputation had been defamed when the Soka Gakkai youth's biweekly newspaper, Soka Shimpo, published an article on a Tokyo public prosecutor's office report that concluded Mrs. Asaki's death was a suicide. District Court judge Takashi Otake ruled that the public prosecutor had not violated any law by publicizing the results of his investigation, while the Soka Gakkai had substantial reason to believe that it was reporting the facts in the Soka Shimpo article.
Assemblywoman Asaki jumped to her death in July 1995, and subsequent police and public prosecutor's office reports concluded that it was a suicide. See Justice Chronicle 158 for more details on this ruling.
2) FROM THE WISDOM OF THE LOTUS SUTRA
This excerpt is from SGI President Ikeda's collection of dialogues with Katsuji Saito, Takanori Endo and Haruo Suda entitled, The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra. The following excerpt is from volume 3, part 2, on the Devadatta chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Devadatta was a follower of Shakyamuni, thought to be his half-brother, who started his own order.
THE BUDDHA TURNED DEVADATTA INTO A GOOD FRIEND
Endo: I'd like to turn to the outline of the Devadatta chapter. Shakyamuni begins by explaining his karmic relationship from the past with Devadatta. Shakyamuni relates that he had once been the king of a great country, and that he had carried out a bodhisattva practice and devoted himself to the well-being of the people, expending his life and using his wealth without hesitation on their behalf.
Saito: He must have been a great ruler. The basic spirit of governing is compassion. In fact, it is essentially bodhisattva practice.
Endo: But the king was still not satisfied and continued searching for the Law of the Great Vehicle that could lead all people to happiness. He sought a philosophy that would make it possible to bring people true peace and tranquillity. An outstanding leader seeks a great philosophy for the people.
Suda: The sutra says that he abandoned his throne in search of such a philosophy. This is the exact opposite of the befuddled leaders we often see who try to control the minds of the people and use religion to maintain their power and protect their interests.
Endo: In response to the king's seeking spirit, a seer named Asita came forth. The seer told the king that if he practiced as instructed, then he, the seer, would expound the Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Law for him. The king rejoiced and earnestly went to work serving the seer, drawing water for him, collecting firewood and performing other chores. Although he continued this practice for a thousand years, he did not become fatigued in either body or mind because in his heart he sought the Mystic Law. As a result, the king eventually attained Buddhahood.
The curious thing about this story is that although it emphasizes that the king undertook extraordinarily difficult practice in service of the seer, termed millennial service, it does not make it entirely clear whether or at what point he was taught the Lotus Sutra.
Ikeda: On this point, Nichiren Daishonin explains in the Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings that the king carried out no actions apart from these in order to receive the transmission of the Law (see Gosho Zenshu, p. 745). In other words, the Lotus Sutra is transmitted through everyday practice, through strenuous action. The Mystic Law manifests in a heart that thoroughly seeks the Mystic Law.
Our practice of chanting daimoku for the happiness of ourselves and others is itself the practice of receiving, upholding and transmitting the Mystic Law.
In the present age, carrying out millennial service means exerting oneself body and mind for kosen-rufu.
Endo: After relating this episode from his past, Shakyamuni reveals that the seer who had served as his mentor was in fact Devadatta.
Further, Shakyamuni attributes the fact of his own enlightenment along with his ability to broadly lead people to happiness to the role Devadatta played in his life as a good friend. He also predicts that, because of these past causes and conditions, after immeasurable kalpas have passed, Devadatta will become a Buddha called Heavenly King Thus Come One.
Saito: For Shakyamuni at the time, Devadatta was an evil friend. He tried to kill Shakyamuni; disrupted the unity of Shakyamuni's followers, creating a schism in the Buddhist order, and had a follower of Shakyamuni (the nun Utpalavarna) beaten to death.
Shakyamuni reveals that in a past life this man of great evil had been a good friend. Good and evil are thus completely reversed. More to the point, Shakyamuni explains that, incredible as it might seem, in the past Devadatta had also been his teacher. In terms of common sense, the notion that a villain like Devadatta could have been the teacher of the Buddha is unthinkable.
Suda: The line in the Devadatta chapter where Shakyamuni explains his attaining Buddhahood, The fact that I have attained impartial and correct enlightenment and can save living beings on a broad scale is all due to Devadatta, who was a good friend (The Lotus Sutra, p. 184), seems to offer a clue. In other words, had it not been for Devadatta, even Shakyamuni could not have become a Buddha.
Seven in a series.
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