The Importance of Knowing Right From Wrong

It would be much easier if chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo were as simple as a magician invoking abracadabra. Then anyone in any group could chant and get the same result by calling on some magical power in the universe. But it is not so. Although the Law is universal, if we cannot perceive it to be within our own lives, we cannot manifest its power.

Nichiren explains this throughout his writings. One of the most famous is: “Nevertheless, even though you chant and believe in Myoho-renge-kyo, if you think the Law is outside yourself, you are embracing not the Mystic Law but an inferior teaching” (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 3). In chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, he says, “there is a difference if one chants while acting against the intent of the sutra” (WND-1, 756).

A primary focus of Nichiren Daishonin’s life was discerning the correct from the incorrect—true from false views of Buddhist teachings. Nichiren was motivated by his keen understanding that people will suffer if they follow teachings contrary to the ultimate reality underlying all existence. If Buddhist faith were merely belief in inconsequential tales of fantasy, knowing true from false wouldn’t matter. But it does matter.

If our belief undermines our potential, we will fail to bring forth the power to overcome life’s challenges. Upholding people’s right to embrace the religion of their choice does not equate to accepting all teachings as equal.

Nichiren’s overriding concern was to relieve misery. Driven by profound compassion, he established the correct Buddhist teaching and practice for humanity. His is a teaching that regards as paramount the inherent dignity and value of human life. Views that diminish the dignity of life, that devalues life in the name of monetary gain, nationalism or religion itself, are detrimental to people and the society in which they live. They lead people to behave in ways unbecoming to a human being, thus causing suffering. This is the theme of Nichiren’s landmark thesis “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land,” which also propounds that the fundamental Law of life will not only lead to individual happiness but also the peace and security of society.

We can understand Nichiren’s sensibilities by reading his writings. Nichiren strictly admonished Buddhist teachers and schools that misconstrued the Buddha’s teachings and oppressed or weakened the people. A notable exception was the Great Teacher Dengyo (767–822) in Japan, who gained widespread recognition for establishing the Lotus Sutra as the highest of all Buddhist teachings. After Dengyo’s death, however, the doctrine of the Tendai school was eroded by True Word school esotericism. Jikaku became the Tendai school’s third high priest in 854. He preached that the Mahavairochana Sutra was the highest of all Buddhist scriptures, with the Lotus Sutra in second place. The supremacy of the Lotus Sutra, which Dengyo dedicated his entire life to establishing despite many persecutions, was completely ignored by a so-called legitimate successor.

The Tendai school in particular offended Nichiren. He had devoted his life to clarifying the Lotus Sutra as the supreme teaching of Shakyamuni. Based on that sutra, he established the correct Buddhist practice for the Latter Day of the Law.[1] Therefore, his disappointment at the defilement instigated by the Tendai school was great. In referring to the dominant Buddhist schools of his time that he had convincingly discredited—Zen, Pure Land and True Word—Nichiren said this of the Tendai school and Jikaku: “And yet there is something that is more evil than these three teachings, so evil that it is a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, million times more difficult to believe” (WND-1, 569). In other words, to propound distorted teachings without ever knowing the truth is one thing; but to know the truth and still propagate distorted teachings under the guise of truth is another thing altogether; hence, Nichiren’s outrage.

He was also dismayed by the inability of anyone to speak out against what was taking place. He states: “Mount Hiei ought to have been the staunchest opponent to this opinion established in Japan that the True Word teachings are superior to the Lotus Sutra. Yet Jikaku silenced the mouths of the three thousand priests of Mount Hiei and prevented them from speaking out, and as a result, the True Word school was able to have its way. In effect, the Great Teacher Jikaku was the foremost ally of To-ji, the leading temple of the True Word school” (WND-1, 596).

Imagine what his outrage would be at the priests he had chosen as successors who, after his death, proclaimed that they belonged to the Tendai school.[2] Also, how outraged and disappointed Nikko, as Nichiren’s disciple, must have been about the betrayal of the other senior priests—enough so that he wrote about it repeatedly in his later years to alert future generations.

In 1274, Nichiren wrote of his view of erroneous teachings: “Let the audience judge for themselves the seriousness of the offense that derives from following the partial and mistaken doctrines of their school and forsaking the very teaching that all Buddhas of the three existences verified with the words: ‘All that [Shakyamuni has] expounded is the truth!’ Could any thinking person fail to discern which is true and which is false? Then, strictly denounce the teachers of their school.

“How naive are those who cling only to the stump of one sutra without knowing which are superior and which inferior among all the sutras!” (WND-1, 477)

Nichiren tells us that when there is confusion over Buddhist teachings, we should immediately “devote [our] attention to rebuking slander of the correct teaching…. It is, in fact, an important principle of Buddhist practice” (WND-1, 126).

The Soka Gakkai’s firm and unchanging position since the first and second presidents has been to advance in complete accord with the Lotus Sutra and the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin. The Soka Gakkai has strictly followed the Daishonin’s mandate to accomplish kosen-rufu, to “strive in faith and be known as a votary of the Lotus Sutra, and remain my disciple for the rest of your life.” He writes: “If you are of the same mind as Nichiren, you must be a Bodhisattva of the Earth; (WND-1, 385) and “Those who call themselves my disciples and practice the Lotus Sutra should all practice as I do” (WND-1, 978).

Under the leadership of SGI President Daisaku Ikeda, the SGI has spoken out strongly against the distortions of Nichiren Buddhism expounded by the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood. Based on Nichiren’s views of the Tendai school, we can imagine his anger over Nichiren Shoshu’s doctrines of an infallible high priest and that the power of the Gohonzon originates in priestly ritual rather than faith. Just last September, Yudo Maruoka, a Nichiren Shoshu priest, stated: “There are those, such as the members of the Ikeda Soka Gakkai, who now promote falsehoods, claiming that all people inherently possess the capacity of the Buddha of Limitless Joy from the infinite past…. They propound the heretical doctrine of common mortals as Buddhas” (Nichiren Shoshu Monthly, September 2005, p. 8).

That common mortals are Buddhas is a fundamental tenet of Nichiren Buddhism. Nichiren states this on numerous occasions in his writings. For example, he writes: “Bound as we common mortals are by earthly desires, we can instantly attain the same virtues as Shakyamuni Buddha, for we receive all the benefits that he accumulated. The sutra reads, ‘Hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us.’ This means that those who believe in and practice the Lotus Sutra are equal to Shakyamuni Buddha” (WND-1, 323).

Nichikan, the great restorer of Nichiren Buddhism of the early eighteenth century, whom the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood claims to follow, also confirms the view that by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with confidence in our innate Buddha nature, we can reveal our innate Buddhahood exactly as Nichiren did. In this regard, Nichikan writes: “When we accept and believe in this Gohonzon and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we ourselves become the object of devotion of three thousand realms in a single moment of life—that is, the sage Nichiren” (Nichikan shonin mondanshu [Commentaries of High Priest Nichikan], p. 548).

This is why the SGI way of practice is crucial. We must never lose the spirit of faith established by the three founding presidents Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Josei Toda and Daisaku Ikeda and followed by millions of SGI members around the world.

—By Dave Baldschun

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