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2. Reformist Priests Protest
High Priests New Year's Message |
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In Jan. 2000, The Association
of Priests for the Reformation of Nichiren Shoshu and
the Association of Youthful Priests Dedicated to the Reformation
of Nichiren Shoshu recently submitted the following Demand
for an Apology to High Priest Nikken Abe. They felt that
High Priest Nikken’s New Year’s message was
insensitive to the victims of the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake
in Japan and the earthquake in Taiwan a year earlier.
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To Mr. Nikken Abe, the high priest of Nichiren
Shoshu:
In your New Year’s message, which was published
in various Nichiren Shoshu publications for the laity
throughout the world, you trampled upon the feelings of
the victims and families of victims of the Hanshin Earthquake
five years ago as well as the Taiwan earthquake last year.
In the message, you stated:
The Daishonin declared that the grave consequence of a
large number of people’s belief in erroneous religions
and false views (negative causes) is the rise of repeated
occurrences of severe catastrophes caused by countless
natural disasters; such as, the great earth trembling
like an enormous dancing wave…. The very proof of
this declaration was seen in the 1995 Great Hanshin Awaji
Earthquake, where thousands of people, including a large
number of Soka Gakkai members, had encountered the great
misfortune of losing their lives. Amidst this catastrophe,
the fact stands out that Nichiren Shoshu priests and the
members of the Hokkeko hardly suffered any fatalities.
Still more, more recently, during last year’s Great
Earthquake in Chutai, central Taiwan, many casualties
were reported, however, not even one single Nichiren Shoshu
believer perished; all Hokkeko members were able to escape
the devastation. In sharp contrast to this, there are
countless negative proofs -- in fact, too numerous to
cite -- of unhappiness and tragedies caused by the slanders
and evil karmas [sic] created by the Soka Gakkai member
who betrayed the Dai-Gohonzon, the heart and core of the
Three Great Secret Laws. [Translated by the Nichiren Shoshu
Temple.]
Jan. 17 this year marked the fifth anniversary of the
Hanshin Earthquake, which struck the densely populated
areas of Osaka and southern Hyogo prefectures, killing
6,432 people and causing the damage and destruction to
approximately 250,000 buildings. Those who survived the
loss of their family members have been doing their utmost
to overcome their sorrow. Yet your message sent around
the world disregards their sentiments. We find your conduct
cruel and intolerable.
On the day this earthquake hit, the Soka Gakkai immediately
set up a disaster relief center and formed an emergency
medical team. Soka Gakkai community centers in the affected
areas opened their doors to the victims. Youth division
members formed a motorcycle unit to assist in transporting
relief goods. Their humanitarian efforts were highly recognized
by many, including overseas media.
On the contrary, how did the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood
respond? The day after the earthquake, the Nichiren Shoshu
Bureau of Religious Affairs issued a notice that stated
in part, Nichiren Shoshu wants to collect donations for
relief efforts, especially to support affected temples
and believers in each area. Put simply, this notice concerns
only Nichiren Shoshu temples and their believers while
disregarding the rest of the affected citizens. Due to
criticism from both within and outside Nichiren Shoshu,
the priesthood issued another notice three days later,
stating, We intend to utilize your donations for our temples
and believers as well as for the general public through
various government agencies. The Nichiren Shoshu Bureau
of Religious Affairs was compelled to amend its initial
response, since the media were then reporting that the
Soka Gakkai had opened its facilities to the public as
evacuation centers, was continuing to send relief goods
to the affected areas and had donated ¥100 million
(around $1 million) to Hyogo Prefecture three days after
the quake.
The circumstances indicate that you were not sincerely
concerned about the earthquake victims nor about the salvation
of the people. Furthermore, in your New Year’s message
this year, you attributed the earthquakes in Japan and
Taiwan to the Soka Gakkai’s slanders and evil karmas
[sic] and showed no sensitivity toward the feelings of
the victims -- conduct utterly unfitting a religious practitioner.
The Nichiren Shoshu branch temples’ response toward
the earthquake victims also reflected your selfishness
and the lack of compassion in the priesthood as a whole.
For example, Mr. Dojun Hasebe, chief priest of Myohon-ji,
a branch temple located in Nada Ward, Kobe City, one of
the hardest hit areas, kept the temple’s gate locked,
making the grounds inaccessible to earthquake victims.
Meanwhile, at the Soka Gakkai’s Nada Culture Center,
located in the vicinity of Myohon-ji, relief efforts were
conducted for the victims around the clock, regardless
of whether or not the victims were Soka Gakkai members.
Other religious organizations made similar humanitarian
efforts.
You as high priest, however, failed to instruct the branch
temple in Kobe to accept evacuees. Nichiren Daishonin,
who founded Nichiren Shoshu, fought for the salvation
of all people. On the contrary, you are devoid of such
altruistic action. You thus disqualify yourself as a high
priest of the Buddhist school named after the Daishonin.
In the Taiwan earthquake, which destroyed close to 80,000
buildings, the SGI of Taiwan also made notable efforts.
The members assisted the government’s relief activities
using 700 motorcycles. A team of doctors and nurses was
dispatched to treat the victims. SGI members who were
lawyers also provided legal services to the victims, assisting
them in their applications for financial aid to rebuild
their damaged houses. Furthermore, SGI youth volunteers
helped earthquake victims clean up rubble, fix furniture
and relocate.
The SGI of Taiwan offered its facility for a local elementary
school as a classroom building. On Oct. 16 last year,
the organization received a certificate of commendation
from the school. The organization also held a benefit
concert for earthquake victims on several occasions and
received a letter of appreciation from the provincial
government. SGI members’ relief efforts were numerous.
The SGI of Taiwan was described by a local TV station
as a model organization for the area’s rebuilding
efforts.
On the contrary, what action did the Nichiren Shoshu priests
in Taiwan take? How much did they contribute? The lack
of the priesthood’s response in Taiwan indicates
that you and Nichiren Shoshu did not learn your lesson
from the previous earthquake in Japan. One may question,
then, how Nichiren Shoshu could criticize the SGI members
in Taiwan in spite of their dedicated efforts. Instead
of recognizing their contributions and expressing condolences
for the victims, you used the occasion to criticize the
Soka Gakkai, thus demeaning the SGI members’ sincere
relief efforts.
In his treatise On Establishing the Correct Teaching for
the Peace of the Land, the Daishonin shares the suffering
of the people who have been plagued by natural disasters,
famines and pestilence. This, we believe, is his spirit
as well as the soul of this Buddhism. In your New Year’s
message, however, empathy for the disaster victims is
hardly felt; your words are instead filled with empty
self-righteousness. Your sermon appears to us as empty
rhetoric.
Your conduct has not only brought shame upon Nichiren
Shoshu but also revealed the ignorance and indolence that
allow you to remain unconcerned after trampling upon the
feelings of the earthquake victims and after broadcasting
your inhumanity to the world. Your behavior cannot be
tolerated.
The Daishonin states, It is an undeniable fact that fire
can at once reduce even a thousand-year-old field of pampas
grass to ashes, and that the merit one has formed over
a hundred years can be destroyed with a single word (The
Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 636).
Your words aimed at the earthquake victims in Japan and
Taiwan amount to a denial of Nichiren Shoshu’s almost
750-year-old history. How much would the founder be outraged
at this?
We -- the members of the Association of Priests for the
Reformation of Nichiren Shoshu and the Association of
Youthful Priests Dedicated to the Reformation of Nichiren
Shoshu -- condemn your inhumane conduct unbefitting of
a Buddhist and hereby demand a retraction of your New
Year’s message as well as your immediate apology
to the earthquake victims in Japan and Taiwan.
Jan. 21, 2000
The Association of Priests for the Reformation of Nichiren
Shoshu The Association of Youthful Priests Dedicated to
the Reformation of Nichiren Shoshu
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(Previously published in The
Justice Chronicle, No. 23, March 2, 2000)
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