What follows is an excerpt from the following article of my Rissho Ankoku Ron Commentary:
The Buddha's Criteria for Evaluating Teachings
In that article I review the Buddha's rebuke to Mara that he would not pass away until he knew that his disciples (both monastic and householder) could uphold the true Dharma and correct those who misrepresented it, the Buddha's instruction to check claims about his teachings with what he actually taught in his discourses (sutras) and monastic rules (vinaya), and the Buddha's teachings to the Kalama's to not accept speculations, second-hand testimony, or arguments from authority but to only follow that which they themselves could verify as healthy and wholesome. I then relate these teachings of the Buddha from the Pali Canon with Nichiren's appeal to the three proofs of doctrinal testimony, reason, and actuality for judging whether or not a claim is authentically expressing Buddha Dharma. Here is the the excerpt:
Putting together this guidance from the Buddha for evaluating whether any teaching is in accord with the Dharma we come up with the “three proofs.” The first “proof” is that a teaching must be accord with what the Buddha taught. The second is that a teaching must be reasonable and in accord with what we know about our own lives. The third is that a teaching must actually lead away from harm and suffering and lead to welfare and happiness. Nichiren often cited these “three proofs” as a criteria for ensuring that what is claimed to be a Buddhist teaching is actually so. For instance, in the San Sanzo Kiu no Koto (Concerning the Prayer Services for Rain by Three Tripitika Masters):
Practicing Buddhism, I, Nichiren, believe that it is important to use reason and scriptural proof in order to distinguish the true teaching from false ones or to compare the superiority among the sutras. Furthermore, it is more important to have actual proof (actual happening as a proof) in addition to reason and scriptural proof. (WNS: D3, p. 205)
Nichiren applied the three proofs to the teachings of Honen and others who he felt had departed from the true intention of Shakyamuni Buddha. Previously it was mentioned how Nichiren used the four standards found in the Nirvana Sutra for judging the relative profundity of Buddhist teachings.
“Rely on the Dharma and not upon persons;
rely on the meaning and not upon the words;
rely on wisdom and not upon discriminative thinking;
rely on sutras that are final and definitive and not upon those which are not final and definitive.”
Between the three proofs and the four standards, Nichiren believed that the Buddha fully intended for his followers to double check any and all teachings and to scrutinize them carefully and to accept nothing out of blind belief or merely because it was taught by an honored teacher or because something has become customary or traditional. The true spirit of Buddhism is a spirit of seeking the truth rather than complacence and blind belief.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei