Here is another exerpt from my commentary on the Rissho Ankoku Ron. The full chapter can be found here:
Should One Refrain from Arguing Over the Dharma?
In the chapter of the commentary I discuss three parables that are fairly well-known in Buddhist circles (and the first one is thought of as a Sufi story but it originates in the Pali Canon). The three are the Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant wherein several blind men argue over their limited perspective of a snake is; the Parable of the Snake Handler wherein those who know how to utilize the Dharma are like a skillful snake-handler but those who only use it to argue are like an unskillful person who gets bitten when he tries to pick up a snake; and the Parable of the Raft wherein the unskillful person clings to the teachings like a person who carries a raft around after crossing a river. The full parables and their explanations are in the chapter linked above. Here is an exerpt of my comments:
These three parables of the Buddha show that the Buddha did not want people to cling to or argue about one-sided, partial, or biased views. He did not want people to learn the Dharma is a shallow or self-serving way. Nor did he want people to argue about the Dharma instead of putting it into practice. Nor did he want people to turn the Dharma into a set of dogmas to cling to, defend, and fight over. But this does not mean that he did not want people to refrain from correcting false views or correcting those who held even right views wrongly. In an earlier part of this commentary we cited the Buddha’s statements in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta to Mara that he will not pass away until he knows that he has instructed his lay and monastic disciples to competently teach the Dharma so that they “shall be able by means of the Dharma to refute false teachings that have arisen, and teach the Dharma of wondrous effect.” In that spirit, the Buddha taught the parables of the snake and the raft in the context of correcting a monk who held wrong views and was stubbornly misrepresenting the Dharma. In other words, the Buddha was purposely refuting a slanderous view and at the same time teaching the Sangha about the right and wrong way to learn and handle the Dharma. In the parable of the blind men and the elephant he was making the point that Buddhists should not be satisfied with the partial, one-sided, or biased views put forth by those without a clear and direct knowledge of what they are arguing about, but rather should seek out the correct and complete view of the Dharma that the Buddha claimed was a product of direct knowledge and insight.
Nichiren Buddhism, therefore, does agree that one should not cling to partial, one-sided, or biased views, that one should not learn the Dharma in a shallow or self-serving way, and that one should not cling to the teachings dogmatically. At the same time, Nichiren Buddhists do believe that one should take up the True Dharma taught by the Buddha, carefully examine its meaning, and put it into practice in the correct way so as to come to same awakening as the Buddha himself. In this way, false views can be relinquished and right view can prevail and accomplish its purpose.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei