My thoughts about what I felt were the most important and pivotal actions in Nichiren's life that has influenced his effects that have confused his intent, and made it easy for parasites and evil men to confuse other people.
To really look at Nichiren, you cannot be a member of any of his sects, because then you are influenced, or have a leaning disposition towards one way of thinking. I have already talked in other posts about how Nichiren as a young priest studied many Buddhist Sutra's in confusion, to figure out why there were so many sects. We all learned that. In is revelation, he saw the "Eternal Sakyamuni was the Buddha that transferred his merits to the Bodhisattva of the Earth".
He became convinced that in the Lotus Sutra, it says that if people cannot understand the concept of Ichinin Sanzen, then Buddha would hang the 5 jewels around their body, and took it as his duty to have people chant the words, Myo Ho Renge Kyo, and he added Nam Mu, the formula Na Mu Myoho Renge Kyo.
At the moment, when Nichiren saw himself as Jogyo, the leader of the Bodhisattvas. Right there and then, he should have torn off his priest rob, and started his mission. Being a priest had nothing to do with being Jogyo. There is nothing in the Lotus Sutra that said he had to be a priest. Now, people confuse the two.
They confuse religion and Nichiren, they confuse Nichiren being a priest and his role as Jogyo. They think Nichiren was a Priest so they need a Priest. In reality, and in truth, Nichiren was spreading the law of the Lotus Sutra, not a Religion, not a Priesthood. And now, people do not have the common sense, or intelligence to separate the two.
If Nichiren had been a sushi chef, and saw the truth in the Lotus Sutra, would everyone want to be a sushi chef? Would the Soka Gakkai be the Sushi Gakkai? Would one of the practices be to eat raw fish in the morning and evening?
After Elvis Presley died, everyone wanted to put on a jumpsuit and be Elvis, and even now you can find Elvis imitators. They try to imitate Elvis, they sing his songs, they try to improve his songs, they sing modern songs his style, they try new things, they mix his style with other styles, and women in the audience who have never seen Elvis like the imitators and are like parasites eating off the life of Elvis, taking women, handing them scarves, making lots of money. Those of us that knew Elvis, or saw Elvis, have no desire to see the impersonators. There is only one Elvis.
All the priests in all the Nichiren sects are Nichiren impersonators. Why would anyone want to be a priest, unless they want power over people? I visited Minobu in 2000 and they were having a ceremony, and priests were asking $1,000 to pray for people, so I set up a booth and had my friend write in Japanese that I would pray with anyone for free so they could save their money. I was asked to leave after 20 minutes, but later went to see the former High Priest, we ate, the rest is confidential. All Priests are Buddha impersonators, this is Mappo, all Buddhist practice has no power, there are no priests, and there are no sects.
Again, My words may sound harsh, but that is just the way I write.
Maltz
Posted by chogenki at April 6, 2008 10:06 PMBefore they threw your booth out did anyone take you up on your offer of praying for free? I'm thinking the confidential part was that the High Priest admitted that your prayers would be just as powerful but they needed the money.
ch
Thanks Bruce. This was an awesome comparison and example of what it means to be an impersonator priest. Very nice.
Posted by: Boonie at April 9, 2008 11:31 PMActually, it was not so bad, I was not that disrespectful. While I have no respect for religion, or ritual, I have tremendous respect for all the people that were there, including the people who thought they were priests, and I did what I did not to be an ass, or to cause a scene, but to make a subtle point. Although I don't believe in prayer, but if a person prays for something, and a priest prays for something, its the same prayer! The person who thinks he is a priest doesn't have a closer connection to Buddha or Nichiren or special powers just because they wer a robe, shaved head, etc. Anyway, in my little corner, a few Americans came over that were there, and then some of my friends that were Japanese and a few priests, but that is all. Unfortunately, this just added to my resume that I built legitamately with the help of Senchu Murano and a few other close friends, and flamed the rumors of McCormick, Petry and the Priests that didn't like me. If we were all the same it would be a boring world.
Thanks for your Question Clown,
Maltz