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June 16, 2000
Back to the Basics: Righteous
Anger
By Ted Morino
Editor In Chief
Nichiren Daishonin was very interested in the various
forms of evil that he witnessed in 13th-century Japan.
What concerned him most were evil doctrines—evil
in the sense that they led people away from the correct
path to happiness and enlightenment. He was relentless
in pointing out the roots of evil that he saw in teachings
that disguised themselves as legitimate Buddhism.
In “Letter to Akimoto,” he states: “I,
Nichiren, one man alone, declare that the recitation of
the name of Amida Buddha is an action that leads to rebirth
in the hell of incessant suffering, that the Zen school
is the invention of the heavenly devil, that the True
Word school is an evil doctrine that will destroy the
country, and that the Precepts school and the observers
of the precepts are traitors to the nation” (The
Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 1016). Behind such
harsh words is the righteous anger that arose from his
compassion for people and his desire for peace.
Anger, of course, can lead to either good or bad. In last
week?s “Back to the Basics,” Sacramento Region
Leader Geoff Rohde addressed the negative aspect of anger.
I want to address the other aspect: Anger can be an expression
of the greatest compassion.
The Lotus Sutra urges us to better our community and land
through awakening compassion for others in our lives.
Nichiren Daishonin?s sense of justice originates from
this compassion, the bedrock of Buddhism.
Compassion leads to anger at evil. To put it another way,
if we cannot get angry at evil, our compassion is weak.
It is as if we do not care that people are being deceived.
A philosopher once stated to the effect that “once
we have become humanistic, what we need to do is develop
anger toward that which is evil.”
In recent guidance, SGI President Ikeda encourages us
to “get really angry at evil. The person who can
do so is truly human.” I see in his strictness his
ceaseless indignation at the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood?s
callousness, which has been in evidence in recent years.
President Ikeda?s message is that Buddhism lives in our
strength to point out what is wrong, to lead people away
from misery and to guide ourselves and others to what
is correct. Righteous anger can lead people to happiness.
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