Kempon Hokke

you say'Well, I'm not the one who is concerned with the name and form of what everyone else does' then react with 'Hey J YOU said I am not a follower of Nichiren so F.U.! You want hatred I'll certainly show it to you, slandering pig!'

1. read the akimoto gosho to answer your question.
2. by following your incorrect personal interpretation , you have thrust yourself into the lower worlds, especially anger and animality. whatever you want to practice, as i said, is up to you, not me. please don't follow me or my interpretation. believe nothing, and find your own way. remember that all is one, and getting back to the source is the goal of any practice.
gassho
j

I was just about to write an editorial, I Should Be Gleeful That Clown Has Left. The other thing I was conteplating was an ode to Phillip Brett.

Or we may be the kind of practitioners of the Lotus Sutra whose mouths are reciting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo one moment, but Namu Amida Butsu the next. This is like mixing filth with one’s rice, or putting sand or pebbles in it. This is what the Lotus Sutra is warning against when it says, “Desiring only to accept and embrace the sutra of the great vehicle and not accepting a single verse of the other sutras.”1

The learned authorities in the world today suppose that there is no harm in mixing extraneous practices with the practice of the Lotus Sutra, and I, Nichiren, was once of that opinion myself. But the passage from the sutra [that I have just quoted] does not permit such a view. Suppose that a woman who had been the consort of a great king and had become pregnant with his seed should then turn round and marry a man of common stature. In such a case, the seed of the king and the seed of the commoner would become mixed together, and as a result, the aid and assistance of heaven and the protection of the patron deities2 would be withdrawn, and the kingdom would face ruin. The child born from two such fathers would be neither a king nor a commoner, but someone who belongs not to the human realm.

This is one of the most important points in the Lotus Sutra. The doctrine of the sowing of the seed and its maturing and harvesting3 is the very heart and core of the Lotus Sutra. All the Buddhas of the three existences and the ten directions have invariably attained Buddhahood through the seeds represented by the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo. The words Namu Amida Butsu are not the seeds of Buddhahood, nor can the mantras or the five precepts act as such seeds. One must be perfectly clear about this point, because this is the fault referred to as being mixed.

If a vessel is free of these four faults of overturning, leaking, being defiled, and being mixed, then it can be called a perfect vessel. If the embankments around a moat do not leak, then the water will never escape from the moat. And if the mind of faith is perfect, then the water of wisdom, the great impartial wisdom, will never dry up."

Close but no cigar. He is not saying anywhere that one whose primary practice is the Lotus Sutra is forbidden to perform any other practice. You're not going to find it. I think you found the best answer you could have come up with. Original Pure and Perfect Enlightenment may or may not have a door and I may or may not have come to it or passed it but whether it hits me or not's alright with me too.

Foolish Clown! Don't let the door of Original Pure and Perfect Enlightenment hit you on your way out:

"On the other hand, even if one does not commit a single evil deed throughout one’s entire lifetime, and observes the five precepts, the eight precepts, the ten precepts, the ten good precepts, the two hundred and fifty precepts, the five hundred precepts, or countless numbers of precepts; even if one learns all the other sutras by heart, makes offerings to all the other Buddhas and bodhisattvas, and accumulates immeasurable merit, if one but fails to put one’s faith in the Lotus Sutra; or if one has faith in it, but considers that it ranks on the same level as the other sutras and the teachings of the other Buddhas; or if one recognizes its superiority, but constantly engages in other religious disciplines, practicing the Lotus Sutra only from time to time; or if one associates on friendly terms with priests of the Nembutsu, who do not believe in the Lotus Sutra but slander it; or if one thinks that those who insist the Lotus Sutra does not suit the people’s capacity in the latter age are guilty of no fault, then all the merit of the countless good acts one has performed throughout one’s life will suddenly vanish."

Mark

If you come up with anything approaching an answer email me. I'm done being, Mark says, Kempon Hikke's best friend. So long suckers.

Mark of course as usual has failed to show anywhere any where where the gosho says other practices are forbidden. Two braying jackasses!!

Hey J YOU said I am not a follower of Nichiren so F.U.! You want hatred I'll certainly show it to you, slandering pig!

"Women who put their faith in the Lotus Sutra should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo sixty thousand, a hundred thousand, or even ten million times a day, and after that, if they still have some time to spare, they may now and then murmur to themselves the name of Amida or one of the other Buddhas."

"There is doubt that we should not read the provisional teaching because of my sentence in the 'True Object of Worship'. This is a wrong view. As a result, I sometimes wrote that you must discard the provisional gate. The provisional gate [I referred to] is not the provisional teaching [of the Hoben chapter] we now read. I refuted the provisional teaching of the Mt. Hiei Tendai sect as a teaching whose time is past. If you practice according to T'ien-t'ai and Dengyo in the Latter Day of the Law, it is like using last year's calendar." (Gosho Zenshu, p. 972)

This is hardly a rousing endorsement of other practices. If you want to now and then pass a few minutes meditating after you have chanted the Daimoku for several hours, and if you still have time, I don't think Nichiren Daishonin would have criticize you.

"The jewel of the character myo contains all the benefits that the Thus Come One Shakyamuni received by practicing the six paramitas in his past existences: the benefits he obtained through the practice of almsgiving by offering his body to a starving tigress and by giving his life in exchange for that of a dove; the benefits he obtained when he was King Shrutasoma who kept his word, though it meant his death, in order to observe the precepts; the benefits he obtained as an ascetic called Forbearance by enduring the tortures inflicted upon him by King Kali; the benefits he obtained as Prince Earnest Donor and as the ascetic Shojari, and all his other benefits. We, the people of this evil latter age, have not formed even a single good cause, but [by bestowing upon us the jewel of myo] Shakyamuni has granted us the same benefit as if we ourselves had fulfilled all the practices of the six paramitas. This precisely accords with his statement “Now this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children.” 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."

Supreme and Perfect Enlightenment is Namu Myoho renge kyo. What is the use of searching for Namu Myoho renge kyo once one already has found it. I find it strange that one would seek that which one has already found. All the merits and virtues of the Buddha are contained within the Daimoku. Nichiren writes:

"To illustrate, a father and mother unite in conjugal harmony to give birth to a child. No one can dispute that the child is the flesh and blood of its parents. A calf begotten by an ox king will become an ox king; it will never become a lion king. A cub sired by a lion king will become a lion king; it will never become a human king or heavenly king. Now the votaries of the Lotus Sutra are the children of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, as the sutra states, “The living beings in it are all my children.” It is not difficult for them to become kings of the Law just as Shakyamuni Buddha did.

Unfilial children, however, are not allowed to succeed their parents. King Yao had an heir named Tan Chu, and King Shun had a prince named Shang Chün. As both sons were lacking in filial piety, they were disowned by their respective fathers and demoted to the rank of commoners. Ch’ung-hua and Yü were the children of commoners, but both were extremely filial. Hearing of this, King Yao and King Shun summoned Ch’ung-hua and Yü, and abdicated their thrones to them. Commoners became royalty in a day. Just as a commoner can become a king in this present life, so can an ordinary person become a Buddha instantly. This is the heart of the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life.

How, then, can we obtain this benefit?? Should we peel off our skins as the ascetic Aspiration for the Law did, follow the boy Snow Mountains’ example and offer our bodies to a demon, or emulate Bodhisattva Medicine King in burning our arms? As the Great Teacher Chang-an stated, “You should let your choices be fitting and never adhere solely to one or the other.” The practice we should perform in order to master the correct teaching and attain Buddhahood depends upon the times. If there were no paper in Japan, then you should peel off your skin. If the Lotus Sutra had not yet been introduced to our country and a single demon were to appear who knew it, then you should offer your body to him. If there were no oil available in our country, then you should burn your arms. But of what use is it to peel off our skin when the country has an abundant supply of heavy paper?"

Chapter 17 of the Lotus Sutra, as well,teaches merits and virtuous practices of the Eternal Buddha since time immemorial, all the meditations, precepts, forbearances, donations, assiduities, and wisdom, are contained in Myoho renge kyo. Either you believe this with your whole heart [a disciple and believer of Nichiren], or you don't [seeking within the other Sutras and practices of the Six Paramitas for the merits and virtues of the Buddha]. One who believes that strong faith in myoho renge kyo is itself Supreme and Perfect Enlightenment is a disciple and believer of Nichiren Daishonin.

"People can attain enlightenment in two ways: by meeting the Buddha and hearing the Lotus Sutra, or by believing in the sutra even though they do not meet the Buddha. Even before the advent of the Buddha, some Brahmans in India realized the correct view of life through the four Vedas. In China before the arrival of Buddhism, some realized the correct view through Taoism and Confucianism. Many bodhisattvas and ordinary people, endowed with keen faculties, perceived [even before they heard the Lotus Sutra] that Shakyamuni had planted the seeds of Buddhahood within them in the days of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence or in the far more distant past [when he attained his original enlightenment]. They understood this by hearing the Mahayana sutras of the Flower Garland, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods. They were like the pratyekabuddhas [who could perceive the impermanence of life] at the sight of scattering blossoms or falling leaves. These, then, are the type of people who gained the way through teachings other than the Lotus Sutra.

But many who neither received the seeds of Buddhahood nor formed ties with the Buddha in past existences cling to Hinayana or provisional Mahayana teachings, and even if they are fortunate enough to encounter the Lotus Sutra, they cannot advance beyond their Hinayana or provisional Mahayana views. They are convinced that their own views are correct, and as a result they place the Lotus Sutra on the same level as the Hinayana sutras or [the provisional Mahayana sutras such as] the Flower Garland and the Mahavairochana. Some even regard the Lotus Sutra as subordinate to these. The Buddhist teachers who preach such views of the Lotus Sutra are inferior to the worthies and sages of Confucianism and Brahmanism. But let us set this matter aside for the moment."

clown, again you put words in my mouth - who mentioned hell, etc. find it in the gosho yourself mixing other practices with this is like mixing excrement with rice. why are you so confrontational?
drop the hate and BE HERE NOW
gassho
j

The Lotus Sutra states: “If one of these good men or good women in the time after I have passed into extinction is able to secretly expound the Lotus Sutra to one person, even one phrase of it, then you should know that he or she is the envoy of the Thus Come One. He has been dispatched by the Thus Come One and carries out the Thus Come One’s work.”

Nichiren said that those who chanted the name of Amida were destined for hell so I think he particularly disliked that, but still he told one woman that she could still chant the name of Amida but should spend most of her time chanting Daimoku. He told another woman not to worry that her husband mixed Daimoku and Nembutsu. He did tell others to stop chanting nembutsu but obviously there was no hard and fast rule that to practice one had to give up all other practices.
Not that this pertains to me personally, I don't have any other practice some how you have the idea that I do because I refuse to accept your judgement about who is going to hell and who is infested with demons. I just like to point out to judgemental people that they don't know what they are talking about. So to anyone who says you can't follow Nichiren and be engaged in anything else I say prove it. Otherwise it is slander. I don't think you can prove it nor do I think you have the character to admit you are wrong. So to hell with all of you and enjoy a long long stay.

And another thing, you ask me to write a veritable tome on the entire teachings of Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra and then you will turn around and slander me and the Kempon Hokke with invective or bring up my mother. I am not willing to do it Clown. You are not ready nor are you worthy. It is right there before your eyes. Get your lazy butt up and find out those answers for yourself and see if what I'm telling you is true or false. Just like your nonsense yesterday, regarding the SGI members discussion, what I tell you is the reality. Even what I tell you about being brainwashed. I don't care that you were in the army. Ikeda's techniques are more powerful and more subtle. They have made you into a venom spewing mosnster incapable of seeing reality as it is.

I understand well now one of your problems. You are brainwashed, having become like a wittle baby, you are content to eat what your mommy Ikeda feeds you, no seeking spirit to really find out what the Lotus Suta and Nichiren has to say and too lazy to find out for yourself. Being satisfied with the poisoned food Ikeda has fed you, you lie prostrate on the ground of slander.

Your quote doesn't address the questioin I never said he said everything is equal (I don't know if anyone has ever said that) I said show me the list of things from the Gosho I'm forbidden to do as a follower of Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra.
Mark I'm not surprised you can't give an answer as usual you don't even understand the question or the subject matter. I was thinking "J" mighgt be able to answer. It's not my homework. If you want to pontificate about who is and who isn't a follower just back it up, otherwise you're just a narrow minded crank who really should shut up.
So I think if you don't find a citation then you both owe me an apology or suffer the fate of those who slander a votary. Which I've heard is no light offense.

Do you really think we will spend so much time doing your homework for you? Read again Chapter's two and three of the Lotus Sutra and then On Rebuking Slander of the Law and Eradicating Sins and On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land

"To ignore the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra and assert that other sutras stand on a par with it is to commit the worst possible slander of the Law, a major offense of the utmost gravity." -- Nichiren

You can not be both a Universal Universalist and a votary of the Lotus Sutra, period. Since you are not a votary, preach how stupid are some of Nichiren Daishonin's teachings, and by extension, how stupid was he, you will not escape severe retribution for your slanders. Never say we didn't warn you. At least you have little influence. The real danger is the Soka Gakkai that breeds men like you.

J,
"if you claim to follow the teachings of Nichiren, then that comes with the understanding that you follow the Lotus Sutra, and exclusively chant the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, which is Namu Myoho...,and discard other practices. if you do other than this,(include other practices) it's not following the teachings of Nichiren, so why claim to be a follower of Nichiren? the gosho clearly states this."

It clearly states this where? Where in the Gosho does it say that you can not practice the Lotus Sutra along side other teachings? Not something that says that other practices will not lead to enlightenment but that other practices are forbidden to the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra. I've never seen it so show it to me.

Mark,
I'm not sure which slander you're refering to unless you consider it slander to say you don't believe anything just because so and so said it but maybe you mean something else.
Hey I have an idea instead of telling me to go read something why don't you skip to the point.
And if I say I'm a follower of Nichiren there's nothing you and any army could do about it.

So if anybody can produce for me the list of things they think I'm forbidden to do from the Gosho I shall be both happy and surprised.

Clown, you are in wrong on two accounts, you slander the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutrs and the most important message of the Lotus Sutra is not that all beings have the potential of Buddhahood. It is the Lifespan of the Tathagata. Read the Opening of the Eyes.

j has every reason in the world to assert that you are not a follower of Nichiren nor are the other members of the Soka Gakkai. We find it offensive that the SGI states they follow Nichiren Daishonin while altering his teachings, selectively adopting some of his teachings while discarding the rest, slandering the Kempon Hokke, and breeding men and women who slander Nichiren Daishonin, the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra.

'Nichiren .....that I do not understand.'
i don't recall saying,or posting any of that,nor did
i mean to infer the same- i only stated what the doctrine of Nichiren states--whatever one practices,how they practice it, and what they believe is entirely up to them. i have no desire to argue with anyone about the tenets of their practice. my point was that by definition, the practice of Nichirens form of Buddhism is made up of the aforementioned practices.
gassho
j

J,
Nichiren doesn't stand for any kind of freedom.
If you don't want to consider me a follower of Nichiren because I don't follow every stupid narrow minded thing that he said, fine.
I consider the Three Great Secret laws to be the sum and substance and I follow that.
So if you want to say that someone who chants Daimoku to the Gohonzon and studies the Gosho and the Lotus Sutra is not a follower of Nichiren because I don't tell everyone who practices anything different from me that they are going to hell that's your perogative, but I'm free to pay you no mind whatsoever and consider you someone who can't judge what is important and what is foolishness. It's just that simple. You think I must live by your standard and that is your mistake.
The whole idea of the Lotus Sutra is that all beings have the potential of Buddhahood so how you figure threatening non-believers with hell fits into that I do not understand.

if you claim to follow the teachings of Nichiren, then that comes with the understanding that you follow the Lotus Sutra, and exclusively chant the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, which is Namu Myoho...,and discard other practices. if you do other than this,(include other practices) it's not following the teachings of Nichiren, so why claim to be a follower of Nichiren? the gosho clearly states this.
gassho
j

Original. That's Nichiren's and my "sin filled shtick". Lucky for us:

"The attainment of Buddhahood or non-attainment of Buddhahood by the evil people of the Latter Age does not depend upon the lightness or gravity of their sins but is just according to their belief or unbelief in this Sutra" (Hakii Saburo dono gohenji, STN, v. 1, 749). : "This Object of Worship is also contained in the two characters, 'faithful (believing) mind ' (shinjin); 'by faith you are able to enter' refers to this. The disciples and lay donors of Nichiren by believing undividedly in 'forthrightly abandoning expedience' and 'not receiving even one verse of other sutras' shall enter into the Jeweled Stupa of this Object of Worship" (Nichinyo gozen gohenji, STN, v. 2, 1376).

"CL, nearly every one of your comments reveal your misunderstanding of Buddhism and the irony of your convoluted thoughts."

The pot calling the kettle black. Mr. Rogow you have no understanding of buddhism and that is evident every time you say someting. You are someone who should definitely stick to cutting and pasting, although you screw that up as well.

Kempon Hokke is not for freedom of religion it's for telling people they are going to hell and that their gohonzon's are demon filled, freedom of religion is the furthest thing from their minds. Mark Rogow doesn't understand what freedom of thought means to him it's just a nice sounding claim.

CL:

It's an easy cause thing for me to do, standing up to ignorance and intolerance and your bigotry, yet it's a vast effect in the scheme of things. You will not forget this Mark.

You'll go your whole lifespan holding incorrect beliefs and thoughts about something and not even know it. You don't experience much at all, do you?

Mark:

You flatter your brainwashed unenlightened self. You are always good for a laugh. Don't ever change.

Mark,

It's an easy cause thing for me to do, standing up to ignorance and intolerance and your bigotry, yet it's a vast effect in the scheme of things. You will not forget this Mark.

You'll go your whole lifespan holding incorrect beliefs and thoughts about something and not even know it. You don't experience much at all, do you?

For someone who bores you, you sure spend a lot of time with me. I think you secretly live for my approval. Good luck.

Just shut up and produce the translated lectures of your hero-priest Honda Nissho and the sermons of Fighter Pilot Reverend Tsuchiya.

You bore me.

CL, nearly every one of your comments reveal your misunderstanding of Buddhism and the irony of your convoluted thoughts. I would say that is both mystic and cause and effect:

"You are the bogeyman and the bogeyman is you."

"The Gohonzon knows and you should know.'

More SGI cult "bull baiting" and fear tactics revealing once again what they and you are.

"there is complete freedom of thought, speech, and action in the Kempon Hokke"

This is a strawman statement. Of course there is. If you live in a free nation, you can say that about any volunteer lay , faith-based organization.

What you really mean to say is that inside of you there is a little fascist priest who scolds you when you are naughty. This is just inside of you.

You are the bogeyman and the bogeyman is you.

What is different about the Kempon Hokkeshu is that it is literally plagued with the guilt of it's own lineage. It can never grow very large or take pride in itself or even have a decent looking website because of the strong ties it has to the Imperial Government of pre-WWII and during WWII Japan.

So, of course it's "membership", if there actually is any membership at all, will use the obstruction and nervous hiding of this fact about it's history as a battering ram against all other sects and religions. It's quite dumb actually. Of course, they can become brazen about their shame much like Scientologists.

It doesn't work, Mr. Rogow, it simply doesn't work that way. The Gohonzon knows and you should know.

end

We'll see.

I don't think so Clown, as there is complete freedom of thought, speech, and action in the Kempon Hokke. Noone follows persons rather than the Law. Were someone to follow me rather than the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha, and Nichiren Daishonin, they would be excommunicated.

Don't feel bad Mark I'm sure one day due to your efforts the anti-cult movement will take notice of your practically non-existant sect.