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5. A Chief Priest Speaks Out:
'Letter to High Priest Nikken,' by Yuren Fujita |
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Nichiren Daishonin states
in his “Letter to Lord Ohta and Others”: “If
I, Nichiren, do not say this, fearing how society will
react, I will become an enemy of Buddhism. Chang-an remonstrates
with Buddhist scholars of future generations: ‘One
who destroys or brings confusion to the Buddha’s
teachings is betraying them. If one befriends another
person but lacks the mercy to correct him, one is in fact
his enemy. But one who reprimands and corrects an offender
is a voice-hearer who defends the Buddha’s teachings,
a true disciple of the Buddha. One who rids the offender
of evil is acting as his parent. Those who reproach offenders
are disciples of the Buddha. But those who do not oust
offenders are betraying the Buddha’s teachings.’
Since I have taken these words of Chang-an to heart, I
will stake my life on scrutinizing this matter”
(Gosho Zenshu, p. 1003).
Ever since I became a priest at age 31 in 1986, I have
been part of the lower ranks of the Daishonin’s
disciples. Over the years, I have devoted myself to praying
for the achievement of the great desire of kosen-rufu
and spreading the Law to the best of my ability, although
I am a man meager in virtue and heavy with defilement.
However, knowing and hearing of scores of evil doings
by Chief Administrator Nikken Abe [the high priest is
also the chief administrator], I have gradually developed
a suspicion I cannot ignore about where the correct Law
and teaching really exist.
And it was revealed last month that Chief Administrator
Nikken Abe, appallingly, had once asserted his belief
that the Dai-Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary of True Buddhism
is a forgery. This incident inspired me to directly reproach
the evil of Chief Administrator Abe and the current sect.
The following is part of my personal feelings, as Zencho-ji
now departs from the Nikken sect.
I was astonished at the report in the Association Newsletter
of the Association of the Priests Concerned About Nichiren
Shoshu and Devoted To Protecting the Law that Chief Administrator
Nikken once asserted that the Dai-Gohonzon is a forgery.
According to this publication, the chief administrator’s
outrageous opinion was recorded in a memo taken by Reverend
Jitoku Kawabe, chief priest of Nissho-ji temple, after
he met with Chief Administrator Nikken. The memo discloses
the astounding fact that Chief Administrator Nikken had
handwriting analysis done on the Dai-Gohonzon using various
methods and came to the conclusion that it is counterfeit.
Needless to say, the Dai-Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary
of True Buddhism, inscribed on Oct. 12, 1279, fulfilled
the purpose of the advent of the Daishonin, the founder
of this Buddhism. It should be the basis of faith of Taiseki-ji,
the head temple.
Concerning the supremacy of the Dai-Gohonzon of the High
Sanctuary of True Buddhism, Nikko Shonin, the Daishonin’s
successor, calls it the “Dai-Gohonzon of 1279 endowed
upon myself, Nikko” (“The Transfer Document
from Nikko to Nichimoku”).
The 26th high priest Nichikan, also states, “The
Dai-Gohonzon of 1279, or the Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary
of True Buddhism, is the ultimate Gohonzon of all. Its
inscription signifies the ultimate of all reasons for
the founder’s advent. It is the supreme basis of
the Three Great Secret Laws. Therefore, it is the true
object of devotion for all humanity in the whole world”
(“Exegesis on ‘The True Object of Worship’”).
However, Chief Administrator Nikken asserted that this
supreme Dai-Gohonzon is counterfeit. This is a totally
erroneous view — a view deeply connected with the
tarnished legacy of the five senior priests who betrayed
the Daishonin after his death. No high priest has ever
committed such grave slander in the history of Nichiren
Shoshu.
I can’t fathom the depth of anger on the part of
the Daishonin and Nikko Shonin in this regard.
Yet no explanation has come from Chief Administrator Nikken
about this, despite how significant this matter is. If
the report in Association News is false and groundless,
the chief administrator himself should present clear proof
of the report’s falsity and thereby clear up any
doubt within the sect. The fact that he can’t provide
a convincing explanation means that Chief Administrator
Nikken tacitly admits the righteousness of the Association
News report.
I thus have become convinced that the justice of the Daishonin
and the pure current of faith no longer exist in the sect
led by Chief Administrator Nikken. Now that this is the
case, I will follow Nikko Shonin’s admonition to
“not follow even the high priest if he goes against
the Buddha’s Law and propounds his own views”
(GZ, 1618).
It is my duty as a Nichiren Shoshu priest to take the
erroneous teachings of Chief Administrator Nikken severely
to task. This is the fundamental reason why I have resolved
to leave the sect.
I cannot forget what happened in the twilight one evening
last April: Chief Administrator Nikken suddenly carried
out his plan to transfer the Dai-Gohonzon from the Grand
Main Temple just as a thief does his business in the night.
I was told that even many senior priests of the head temple
had not been informed of the transfer ahead of time. We,
many chief priests of local temples, just could not believe
it.
This action is no longer such a mystery, now that we know
Chief Administrator Nikken once asserted that the Dai-Gohonzon
of the High Sanctuary of True Buddhism is counterfeit.
In other words, he has been slighting the Dai-Gohonzon
in his heart all these years. He has all along been opposed
to the Daishonin’s correct teachings. This has now
been clearly proven.
In the final analysis, he has no seeking mind and no faith.
In the first place, it was a grave slander and denial
of his mentor that Chief Administrator Nikken destroyed
the Grand Main Temple, which the former high priest, Nittatsu,
once declared “the great edifice that should be
the High Sanctuary of Homon-ji temple at the time of kosen-rufu.”
Also, I have been questioning whether Chief Administrator
Nikken legitimately inherited the heritage of Buddhism
from the former high priest. Now, learning of his denigration
of the Dai-Gohonzon, his grave slander of his mentor and
his arrogance, my doubt about the purity of his lineage
has changed into a conviction that the lifeblood of Buddhism
is not pulsating in his life at all.
Chief Administrator Nikken is applying incredible pressure
on the priests and lay believers of his sect toward the
accomplishment of a pilgrimage of 300,000 participants
and the construction of the Hoando temple in 2002. Toward
this, he hopes to collect $150 million from local temples
and temple members over the next three years.
The idea of the Hoando temple came out of Chief Administrator
Nikken’s desire to enshrine the Dai-Gohonzon there.
Now that it is clear that he denies the legitimacy of
the Dai-Gohonzon, on what basis can he proceed to gather
such a colossal amount of money from priests and lay believers?
Many people in the sect must be questioning the validity
of his cause.
Meanwhile, on July 26, I was summoned to appear at Josen-ji
temple in Tokyo. What awaited me was a unilateral attack
on me by the sect’s General Affairs Chief Gikan
Hayase and its vice chief, Shinsho Abe [Nikken’s
son].
Then, on Aug. 6, both of them visited my Zencho-ji temple
and again denounced my supporters and me. This incident
proved Mr. Shinsho Abe’s authoritarianism and abnormality,
as well as the Nikken sect’s violent, discriminatory
nature that has been frowned upon by many in the sect.
This incident was a crystallization for me of the distortion
and stagnation that I have been sensing in the sect, ever
since I became a priest of Nichiren Shoshu.
After graduating from the Science Department of Kyushu
University, I worked in the business world. At that time,
a great desire to become a priest and contribute to the
happiness of all humanity arose within me.
For me, someone who had experienced how things are in
society, the reality of Nichiren Shoshu was shockingly
anachronistic. The seven years I spent at the head temple
constituted the gloomiest period of my life. What I witnessed
there was daily violence, the bullying of juniors by seniors,
discrimination based on family relations, discrimination
against those of us who joined the priesthood later in
life by younger priests who were born into priests’
families, etc. It all proved the irrationality of the
society of the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood.
The sect’s manipulative nature came to the surface
when Chief Administrator Nikken abruptly dismissed Soka
Gakkai Honorary President Daisaku Ikeda from the position
of the head of all Nichiren Shoshu lay organizations at
the end of 1990 and excommunicated 10 million SGI members
toward the close of 1991.
In those days, I was just an acolyte, and I felt strong
indignation at the sect’s irrational behavior against
the SGI members — especially against Honorary President
Ikeda, who had been the most instrumental person in enhancing
Nichiren Shoshu.
Though disillusioned at the plight of the sect, I am still
determined to create harmonious unity between the priesthood
and laity some day. I am deeply resolved to be a priest
who is pure in faith, like a lotus blossoming out of a
muddy pond, in the same spirit of the Daishonin and Nikko
Shonin.
Ten years have passed since the temple issue began. As
exemplified by the recent disclosure of Chief Administrator
Nikken’s questioning of the legitimacy of the Dai-
Gohonzon, his slanderous acts have now reached the point
where they cannot be corrected from within the priesthood.
Thinking people naturally wonder what has happened to
this sect to bring it to this point. While the Gakkai
continues to grow constantly as it promotes the Daishonin’s
mandate of world kosen-rufu, the Nikken sect has been
rolling down the slope of self-destruction. When we look
at the conspicuous contrast between the two, it is easy
to tell where the Daishonin’s correct teachings
now reside. Obviously, the sect has distorted the Daishonin’s
teachings.
I hereby take action to secede from the sect and to strongly
question the responsibility of Chief Administrator Nikken,
who has put the sect on the brink of destruction. I thus
demand that he resign immediately. I vow to fight the
evil of the current Nichiren Shoshu, aiming toward the
day of Nikken’s resignation.
To Nikken Abe, Nichiren Shoshu Chief Administrator From
Yuren Fujita, Chief Priest of Zencho-ji
August 20, 1999
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(Previously published, World
Tribune, Sept. 10, 1999)
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