Kempon Hokke

A Few Recent Letters From New Kempon Hokke Members

WE HAVE GIVEN OUT QUITE A FEW SUTRA'S AND HAD A FEW TALKS WITH SOME SGI MEMBERS THAT WE KNOW. I HAVE A FEW PEOPLE DOING THE ESSENTIAL SERVICES AND I HOPE THEY WILL CONTINUE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. WE HAVE HAD SOME THAT DON'T WANT TO TALK WITH US ANYMORE. I THINK THEIR LEADERS HAVE GOTTEN TO THEM IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. ITS DISCOURAGING TO SEE HOW CO-DEPENDENT AND BRAINWASHED THESE SGI MEMBERS ARE. I FIND THAT MOST SGI MEMBERS OR LEADERS DON'T REALLY KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS BUDDHISM AND WHATS WORSE IS THAT THEY DON'T SEEK TRUE ANSWERS. I'VE PRETTY MUCH ALWAYS THOUGHT THE GAKKAI WAS SIDEWAYS EVEN EARLY ON BUT NOW THEY ARE A THOUSAND MILES WORSE. I ALSO FIND PEOPLE ARE RESISTANT TO ANYONE SAYING " THIS IS THE ONE TRUE WAY" . MOST SGI GENERAL MEMBERS MIX ALL KINDS OF STUFF WITH THEIR BUDDHIST PRACTICE. I THINK THEY DON'T EVEN LIKE NICHIREN FOR BEING SO DIRECT, SO THEY SAY "HIS WAS A DIFFERENT TIME". THEY WANT THE EASY WAY AND ARE SUSPICIOUS OF KHS. THE GAKKAI IS TRULY POISONOUS. I PRAY EACH DAY FOR THEIR EYES TO OPEN . I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO. I HOPE THE GUARDIANS OF THE LOTUS WILL PUNISH THEM SEVERELY SO THEY CAN WAKE UP. I DON'T WISH THEM HARM BUT I AM VERY CONCERNED ABOUT THIS BUDDHISM. XXXX AND I ARE PLANNING TO HAVE MEETINGS SOON AT MY HOUSE. EVEN IF ITS JUST THE TWO OF US WE WILL MOVE FORWARD AND TRY TO TEACH THE TRUE DOCTRINE.

My name is YYYY. I was recommended to you by XXXX as someone who is very knowledgeable about the changes and growth of Buddhist practice in the United States through the practice of Kempon Hokke Buddhism.

I had started my practice with SGI in 19XX and had heard of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo 13 years prior to that but was not aware of a formal organization or the existence of the Gohonzon. It was like wandering alone in the desert but every once in a while I would get benefits and probably more than that. Then SGI welcomed me to the organization and introduced me to Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. I've learned a lot about the practice and how it benefited my life. I gained a lot of friends in the organization and at the same time I introduced a lot of new members of which I am grateful. Throughout that time I also had lots of questions from which I felt uncomfortable about actions in the organization that were not just and compassionate. In the more recent years, I came to see them as more political and controlling rather than spiritual in nature. Without saying anymore, I was driven by some of the actions to back away from the organization and reassess my original reason for beginning this practice.

I've been searching for quite a few years and for the last year and a half I decided I would practice on my own. I had become very ill with XX flare up that I hadn't experienced in years. This is one of the reasons why I started my practice and that's when I chanted seriously to the Gohonzon for guidance. Shortly after that I received a call from XXXx and he told me about Kempon Hokke Buddhism. He was kind enough to loan me some materials and the book "The Tradition of Nichiren Doctrine" by Rev. Tetsujo Kubota. I am much better now since I started chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo seriously. I started reading, studying and crying, so many of the answers were coming from all those years of questions I had. And now I know I am a follower of Shakamuni and Nichiren Daishonin. I feel the veil has been taken off my face and I have evolved.

Please direct me to the correct material for study and to help others learn the true way. I am already practicing "The Essential Services". I would like to get more reading materials to educate myself and share with others which I am able to pay for the cost of such.

I look forward to your response and friendship.

こんにちは。 My name is MMMM. I hope you are doing well!

I'm writing because I have been practicing Nichiren Buddhism, through Kempon Hokke, for just under three months. I really enjoy the practice and I am very satisfied with the doctrines of the Lotus Sutra specifically, as well as the authentic writings of Nichiren Shonin, compared to the provisional (Pure Land and Ch'an/Zen) teachings I was following before. I have been doing the daily essential services of the Kempon Hokke and chanting daimoku and feel like I have gained something I never had before. Since I have been practicing and am very confident that I will remain following the Lotus Sutra for the rest of my life, I was wondering if it would be possible to receive a Kempon Hokke Gohonzon. I have never had a gohonzon before, so I do not have a previous one to trade in at all. Out of all of the gohonzons inscribed by Nichiren, my favorite is the Gohonzon for the Transmission of the Dharma, which is the one featured on the front page of your website. I have heard that is also the Gohonzon that Kempon Hokke distributes?

In any case, if you would be able to send any information concerning how I would be able to receive such a Gohonzon, that would be highly appreciated. どもありがとうございます。

南無妙法蓮華経

Hello. My name is CCCC and I live and work in London, UK. I decided to write to you after reading a book called 'The tradition of nichiren doctrine by reverent tetsujo kubota translated by Hamilton Graham Lamont after which I had a very intense spiritual experience whilst chanting Daimoku this morning. My story is very unusual in some way and in some others it is not. Like many people in 19XX I was introduced to Nichiren and Daimoku by Soka Gakkai in Rome where I was born and lived until 19XX. I chanted the soka way until I moved to London where I started to feel unease about a lot of things. Whilst reading the writings of Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra I realised that the Soka Gakkai totally rejected an important aspect of Nichiren's doctrine. That is Shakyamuni Buddha of the Juryo chapter as father, teacher and sovereign of all. In addition after realising that Nichiren never spoke of a super gohonzon and that his doctrine was in antithesis with the whole idea of a super mandala for all since the gohonzon should be found first and foremost in our mortal flesh I also started researching about the so called ita mandara and found evidence of a fraud. All started to make new sense. I wanted to continue reciting Daimoku and have faith so I contacted an organization called Rissho Kosei Kai where I was at first relieved to be leaving the Soka Gakkai behind me.

After a while I realised that Rissho Kosei Kai could not be called a Nichiren school. They do not consider Nichiren their founder but only an important person in Buddhism plus they seemed to get too much closer to other schools like for example the Vatican itself which I thought of as an absurdity since the catholic church and its teaching should be rebuked not encouraged or supported. I did leave them too and tried recite Daimoku with Nichiren Shu unti I noticed that they too are too much of a broad school. They seem to mix other practices with the Daimoku and the recitation of the Juryo, the rest of the Honmon section and the Hoben. They spend a lot of time doing auxiliary practices and seem to be a little mixed up with regards to the true teaching of Nichiren Daishonin. So I left them and although disillusioned continued to recite Daimoku and hope that one day I would meet the right school.

One day a friend introduced me to Honmon Butsuryushu which in theory seemed to be ok at the beginning but then I realised that the daily service was taken up by performing lots of prayers dedicated to the teachings, Nichiren and their founder and this prevented the main practices to be performed. A lay person above all does not have a long time during the day for prayer and must stick to the primary practice. There is no point in saying we follow Nichiren if we do not practice as he did. Nichiren said first the Daimoku then the hoben and Juryo chapters and then if you have time recite the rest of the sutra and not the other way round. I did not feel in the right school either and really depressed I left them too but still continue to recite daimoku and hoben and juryo. I was without a buddhsit sangha in a way but did not give up. I knew that one day I would find it.

I started a new life and continue to work and recite Daimoku as Nichiren said. I felt it was somehow the evidence that as the Lotus Sutra says the Buddha is our father, teacher, and sovereign and as long as one leads a life in accordance with his teachings one can still gain enlightenment and honor the three treasures. Whilst in the hospital I had a very strong religious experience during one of my surgeries during which a golden figure of Shakyamuni appeared to me above my operating bed and although he did not speak I felt his love and compassion embracing me and I knew that I was protected and would be ok.

In 2008 I returned to XXXX and found myself alone and with no faith companions around me so unfortunately when I met Soka Gakkai I started to recite with them again. Needless to say very soon I found myself totally out of place and unhappy about my practice. Soka Gakkai worship Ikeda, denies Shakyamuni Buddha, and even its own doctrines since after the split from Taiseki-ji they have not even clarified their 'new' relationship' with the ita mandara. So I felt I had to leave them again. I still chant in front of the Nichikan Mandala (which I read SGI even modified...Is it true?) and last night after reading Rev Kubota book I started reciting Daimoku slowly and pronouncing the seven characters again like our teacher Nichiren used to and had a profound religious experience again. I felt at peace and safe and happy just to exist and be lucky enough to have been able to study and go thorugh all these experiences and felt that Kempon Hokke's teachings were exactly those of Nichiren Daishonin. I did some internet research and found this email contacts and hope that this email will get to you. I tried to find H. G. Lamont's contact but I could not. I wanted to know if you could let me have a booklet of your daily practice and maybe put me in touch with someone of Kempon Hokke faith and wanted to ask you some advice on the Gohonzon I have and what to do. In the meantime I have decided to put a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha in front of the Nichikan SGI Gohonzon that I chant to and that I had received in 2008 to repent of the wrong teaching and return to the Eternal Buddha of the Juryo chapter and to Nichiren's true teaching.

Thank you for reading my letter and may the eternal Buddha embrace you in His rays of wisdom.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo