The Three Powerful Enemies and I

Definition

Nichiren, defined these three kinds of powerful enemies:

Ignorant Layfolk who would attack Votaries. Evil persons who would pretend to be sages and mislead people. And evil persons who would actually be sages but whom would look down on others and teach erroneous teachings out of contempt for the abilities of believers.²

Table of Contents

Related Essays:
1. The three Powerful Enemies as Universal Forces
2. The Three Powerful Enemies, what they are and what they aren't.
3. The Source of the Three powerful enemies: Enemy Within
Inside pages:
4. Definition
5. Table of Contents
6. Introduction
7. The Three Powerful Enemies Essay
8. Kaimoku sho
9. Sansho Shima
10. Fundamental Darkness
11. Experience with the "split"
12. Dharma Warriors
13. Holy Effrontery
14. Conclusion about the nature of the Three powerful enemies
15. Our own Culpability
16. What are they really?
17. First of the three powerful enemies
18. Second of the Enemies
19. Third of the Enemies
20. History in Operation
21. The antidote is "One Great Truth"
22. Final Conclusion
23. Footnotes
24. Back to Index

Introduction

The founder of our school, Nichiren Daishonin, never shied away from controversy or from difficult questions. He was someone who clearly and simply proclaimed the truth, and it was for that that he was vilified. By pointing out the errors of the teachers of most of the schools of Japanese Buddhism in his day, he invited persecution. He knew this before he even started preaching.He says in the Kaimoku Sho:³

"I, Nichiren, am the only person in all Japan who understands this. But if I utter so much as a word concerning it, then parents, brothers and teachers will surely censure me and the ruler of the nation will take steps against me. On the other hand, I am fully aware that if I do not speak out, I will be lacking in compassion. I have considered which course to take in the light of the teachings of the Lotus and Nirvana sutras. If I remain silent, I may escape persecutions in this lifetime, but in my next life I will most certainly fall into the hell of incessant suffering. If I speak out, I am fully aware that I will have to contend with the three obstacles and four devils. But of these two courses, surely the latter is the one to choose"⁴

Being willing to stand up for the truth and face up to the consequences of taking such a stand made him stand out from the crowd. He had faith in the timeless and boundless truth of the Lotus Sutra. As he says in the Kaimoku Sho:

"When it comes to understanding the Lotus Sutra, I have only a minute fraction of the vast ability that T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo possessed. But as regards my ability to endure persecution and the wealth of my compassion for others, I believe they would hold me in awe [As a votary of the Lotus Sutra]. "⁵

When Nichiren Shoshu and the Soka Gakkai were one organization I read the Gosho and figured that someday we might find ourselves attacked by Christians or Moslems. I read the warnings about the Sansho Shima⁶ and the Three powerful enemies and wondered from where they would come from when they showed up. I was sure that, by definition, they were an outside force that would "appear" almost magically (or diabolically), when the organization had made sufficient progress to "attract" the attention of the "King Devil."⁷

Kaimoku sho

In the "Kaimoku Sho" Nichiren refers to the three powerful enemies by quoting from the Kanji (Admonition to Embrace the Lotus Sutra) Chapter of the Lotus Sutra quoting these verses

From the Kaimoku sho:

"There will be many ignorant people

Who will curse and speak ill of us

And will attack us with swords and staves,

But we will endure all these things.

In that evil age there will be monks

With perverse wisdom and hearts that are fawning and crooked

Who will suppose they have attained what they have not attained,

Being proud and boastful in heart.

Or there will be forest-dwelling monks

Wearing clothing of patched rags and living in retirement,

Who will claim they are practicing the true way,

Despising and looking down on all humankind.

Greedy for profit and support,

They will preach the Law to white-robed laymen

And will be respected and revered by the world

As though they were Arhats who possess the six transcendental powers.

These men with evil in their hearts,

Constantly thinking of worldly affairs,

Will borrow the name of forest-dwelling monks

And take delight in proclaiming our faults"

(Quotation in full is cited in Kaimoku Sho vol. II) ⁸

He then went on to say:

"If it were not for the priests of the Nembutsu, Zen and Ritsu sects of our present age, then the World-Honored One would have been a teller of great untruths. "⁹

He clearly regarded the rise of the three powerful enemies as a sign that the True Law was present and being spread. He also warned that in the future, whenever votaries appear the Three Powerful Enemies would appear to oppose them.

Thus I was prepared for the "rise of the three powerful enemies." I figured one day I might face persecutions and troubles on behalf of Buddhism. The thought filled me with noble feelings and allowed me to raise my head high. I pictured the battle as like that of a great warrior on horse-back, or standing silhouetted against the moon on a mountain top. If only it were so easy!

I wondered if I would see the Three Powerful Enemies in my Lifetime. I expected maybe trouble from Christians or Moslems, but the Zen, Shingon, and Jodo sects have no real power in the USA for all of their popularity. They are as easy to refute as Christianity is in this day and age. Some said that the "Three Powerful Enemies" might come from other Nichiren Sects, and that made some sense. They taught that these sects were the only ones who could distort Nichiren's message.

Sansho Shima

In studying the Gosho, we studied about "fundamental darkness." We learned all about the "Fourteen Slanders"¹⁰ but we were told that as long as we were practicing sincerely only the last four applied to us. We learned about the "Sansho Shima"¹¹ in our study classes. Often we did so in the context of studying Gosho such as Letter to the Brothers:

In the "Letter to the Brothers" Nichiren says about Sansho Shima (the Four Obstacles)¹²

"The devil of fundamental darkness can even enter the life of a bodhisattva who has reached the highest stage of practice and prevent him from attaining the Lotus Sutra's ultimate blessing--Buddhahood itself. Thus he can easily obstruct those in any lower stage of practice. The Devil of the Sixth Heaven¹³ enters the lives of a man's wife and children and deludes him. He also possesses the sovereign in order to threaten the votary of the Lotus Sutra, or causes parents to hinder the faith of devoted children."¹⁴

Later (in the same Gosho) he defines the Sansho Shima as follows:

The three obstacles in this quotation are bonno-sho, go-sho and ho-sho.

1. Bonno-sho are the obstacles to one's practice which arise from greed, anger, stupidity and the like;
2. go-sho are the obstacles posed by one's wife or children,
3. and hosho are the hindrances caused by one's sovereign or parents.

Of the four devils, the functions of the Devil of the Sixth Heaven are of this last kind. In Japan today, is there anyone who has actually encountered the three obstacles and four devils? Yet many people claim they have mastered the "Great Contemplation and Insight (Maka Shikan).¹⁵

Fundamental Darkness

The other concept I came into contact with during my studies was that of "Fundamental Darkness." Obviously Nichiren felt that the Sansho Shima and the "Three Powerful Enemies were the work of "Fundamental Darkness." Fundamental darkness, delusion, "maya", all are teachings of the diabolical power of the delusory nature of this world. It is sometimes personified, but it really is more of a "anti-" force than a deifiable (or demonic) entity. Fundamental darkness is that force of negatoriness, nastiness, mean-ness, and pettiness, that holds us back from enlightenment and happiness. Nichiren says in one of his Gosho:, Reply to Sairenbo¹⁶

"When I look at the situation in Japan, I find that the Devil of the Sixth Heaven has entered into the bodies of people of wisdom, transforming correct teachers into heretical teachers, and good teachers into bad teachers. This is what the sutra means when it says, 'Evil demons will take possession of others.'"

Experience with the "split"

Still, despite the warnings, I was surprised when I heard of troubles between the priests of Nichiren Shoshu and the Myozenji Temple and the DC Kaikan. I studied the materials presented by the Gakkai and those provided by the Temple. I sought out the opinions of various people. I sought opinions from both "camps" and came to the provisional opinion that the Gakkai was right to take Issue with Nichiren Shoshu for "firing" President Ikeda from his position of "Daikoto" without good reason. I later found out they had plenty of reasons, though I still don't think any of them were that good. I decided to stay provisionally with the Gakkai. The reasons that Nikken Shonin advanced seemed petty and those of a man who is thin skinned and concerned about his status.

I continued with the Gakkai, but I can't say I was enthusiastic about the Gakkai's response to this issue. There were many who seemed happy that the Gakkai had broken with Nichiren Shoshu. They were sure that the Nichiren Shoshu were the evil and corrupt priests mentioned by Nichiren's references to the Three Powerful enemies. They were sure that the priesthood in general was the second of the powerful enemies and that Nikken himself was the third of these demonic forces. They really took things personally.

But I was disturbed. Until the very last second the Gakkai had pushed the very doctrines they were now repudiating, and had admonished all of us to support the priests as in this quote from Letter to Niike:¹⁷

"Shakyamuni Buddha is not among us now, so you must respect the person with enlightened wisdom as you would the Buddha himself. If you sincerely follow him, your blessings will be bountiful. If one wishes for happiness in his next existence, he should renounce his desire for fame and fortune and respect the priest who teaches the Lotus Sutra as a living Buddha, no matter how humble that priest's station. Thus it is written in the sutra."

The very doctrines that were cited as reasons for punishing the Gakkai were the very same notions that the Gakkai had supported since at least the Days of Josei Toda. If those doctrines were incorrect than the Gakkai needed to do some explaining and Zange. I could see the importance of admonishing the priests. But I couldn't see where they were particularly evil or much more mistaken than we ourselves had been. Yes the Temple needed to be admonished with and to change it's mistaken Doctrines, yet the foundation for that evil had been planted by us in the Gakkai. Had we not gone along with the same priests we were now (finally) criticizing? For several years I allowed myself to be distracted by other interests and the needs of family and career. I studied the issues and teachings of Buddhism on my own, and looked carefully at Nichiren's teachings by reading the Gosho directly. I was helped, as around that time, good translations were finally appearing of the Gosho. I began to learn that my prior understanding of Buddhism had been simplistic and dogmatic. I was pleased to see the break with Nichiren Shoshu, because I saw it as a chance to finally get into what Nichiren actually said, as opposed to what the dogmatic teachings of Nichiren Shoshu had said he said.

Dharma Warrior

But then I encountered the issue actively again through the Internet.

Talking to people on the internet, I realized that the Gakkai was being attacked unfairly, and that it was being defended poorly. So I "weighed in" with my big mouth and began seeking to defend the Gakkai. I figured, this "battle" was obviously the work of the "Three Powerful Enemies" and these evil looking people (mostly Hokkeko members) were a manifestation of them. The trouble was that people (on all sides) were distorting and misrepresenting the issues and not just the Hokkeko. The Hokkeko members were clearly presenting a distorted version of Buddhism. And worse they were quoting, left and right, President Ikeda and other former leaders, in doing so. I spent a lot of time explaining the distinctions between what had been said by President Ikeda in the past and what he was saying now. I admonished Nichiren Shoshu for it's evident errors in reinterpreting the Gosho. The Hokkeko members I debated with behaved very badly but some of the Gakkai members were worst. Nichiren had said (In the Gosho "Teaching practice and proof"):

When in public debate, although the teachings that you advocate are perfectly consistent with the truth, you should never on that account be impolite or abusive, or display a conceited attitude. Such conduct would be disgraceful. Order your thoughts, words and actions carefully and be prudent when you meet with others in debate.¹⁸

Nichiren Shoshu had indeed distorted Nichiren's teachings by putting words in his mouth he never said, but so had my Gakkai taught those teachings as transmitted from them. For instance, you never find him claiming directly he is the "true buddha" and Shakyamuni is "provisional." Even where it appears he is doing so he is making the distinction between the teachings of Mahayana and "hinayana" (between "origin and trace"/superior and lesser) and not putting himself in Shakyamuni's place. He was genuinely humble both in his language and his manners. If he saw himself as a "true Buddha" it was not for being a superman, but for his superior efforts to practice as the Buddha taught. I tried to explain that no one should be arguing with the lines "he said this but he meant that" unless they had good evidence that those opinions were really so. But unfortunately my fellow Gakkai members weren't so much interested in arguing about erroneous ideas or in correcting them as in demonizing each other.

Many of the people, who claimed to be on "my" side, seemed more interested in fanning the flames of discord, than in really dealing with the mistakes and errors in Nichiren Shoshu Doctrine. Their argument with the authority of the High Priest to "fire" President Ikeda from his position as head of all the Nichiren Shoshu Lay organizations (Dai-Koto) seemed to be from the feeling that Nikken should have supported President Ikeda no matter how he treated him and that President Ikeda could do no wrong. Rather than honestly debating the truth, they were more interested in Nikken's pecuniary faults and pecadillos. Rather than rooting out the logical and doctrinal errors that I believe would be behind any manifestation of the crime of "slander of the Dharma." They only took issue with Nikken's claim to be the representative of the Daishonin in this day. It seems that many of them did indeed hero-worship their "Sensei" This was the allegation of the Hokkeko, and we hotly denied it. They rejected the authority of the high priest, only because Sensei was telling them to do so. This despite the fact that President Ikeda was advocating reforms of the Gakkai and that Gakkai members follow the Dharma and delve deep into Buddhism to become people of capability.

Thus, as I admonished the Temple, I was undercut and embarrassed by the behavior of some of my co-religionists. I couldn't defend stories that members had met and shadowed the priests at airports, or that a scuffle had occured between a group of priesthood supporters and Gakkai members who insisted on loudly accosting him at the airport (Ken Burchell). I could write a poem about "Ken Burchell's atsuhara." but while it was a comedic occurance, it really wasn't the kind of thing that people would want to be laughing about. It is a crying shame that anyone would end up in the courts due to a scuffle at an airport. But then, feelings were high. I heard this story and said "well that was past." But it wasn't just past, it was also prologue. A staffer in the Chicago area advocated disrupting a meeting in that area, and recently people are still focusing attention on Myosenji Temple in my area. The rhetoric has actually gotten worse since I wrote this essay the first time.

I also found out details of authoritarian behavior of some of the prior leaders of SGI, of how members with AIDS in the San Francisco area were shunned and given guidance to stay away from meetings by the "leader" there, Sam Kudamatsu. I learned the full story of the events of 1973-1979 and of the late 80's and how our own beloved Leader "Mr. Williams" was eventually deposed and President Ikeda himself called him "evil" in a public rebuke. I also learned about former leaders of the Gakkai who had turned on the organization, such as the infamous Lawyer "Yamazaki" Some of these stories were sickening. The outright turncoats were obvious manifestations of fundamental darkness, but so were the "parasites within." Indeed the Gosho had said that the three powerful enemies were the function of "parasites within." Most people were looking in the wood for worms to root out. I wondered if it could be the "rot" itself that we needed to fight?

I heard all sorts of stories, some of which I could verify, of behaviors that violated civil or criminal law -- expecially in Japan. While I was seeking to defend the organization, others were pulling strings to get information to "prove" that the priests were corrupt or that Nikken himself had been arrested way back in 1963. They were so bent on this that they wound up in court as Nikken and the other priests found where they had violated the law, or sought to defend themselves that way. They took a photograph of Nikken in an expensive restaurant and altered it to make him look like he was alone with Geishas. They took another restaurant photo (with Gakkai leaders!) and made that out to be a photo of him living it up with cha-cha girls. In their defense, the tabloids were doing the same thing to both sides. An ex-member named Nobuhira was accusing President Ikeda of harrassment, and lurid stories were being propagated in the "tabloid press" at every stage of this "battle". Ex Gakkai members published their memoirs about the "evil Gakkai" and ex priests published their memoirs about the hazing of acolytes or the personal peccadillos of senior priests.

SGI lost a lawsuit based on the fact that they had altered the above photographs to make the priests look worse than they did anyway. NST lost a lawsuit trying to say that Nikken hadn't done anything shameful back in 1963. Poor Hiroe Clow's story of having to rescue Nikken Abe from being arrested back in 1963, had sparked 10 years of lawsuits and countersuits that continued after her death from cancer. In the end it didn't matter who was right and wrong, what matters is that the acrimony was personal and didn't seem much tied to Buddhist principles at all! Eventually I bowed out of that war.

No matter what was said Hokkeko members were certain that President Ikeda was the third of the "Three Powerful enemies" and that it was I who was evil. When the priests started talking about the disrepair of the Sho Hondo building, the Hokkeko members started dutifully blaming the Gakkai for this state of affairs. And Gakkai members were certain that Nikken was the third of the three powerful enemies and that all measures had to be taken to "defeat the evil Nikken Sect." At the time I logged onto the internet, there were some in the Hokkeko who had the same lack of regard for the truth that some in the Gakkai had. Later, the Hokkeko, realizing they were better off sticking to the facts, have been more clever. However, there were people on "both sides" who would take words out of context, alter and rewrite what people said, look for bad things to happen and then say that those bad things happened because of the "slander of the Dharma" of their opponants. There were suits and countersuits over land, temples, and allegations made in print. Nichiren Shoshu was alleged to have misused cemetaries, and both sides had women who claimed to have been abused by the other side. >

Holy Effrontery

The Jesuits have an evil concept called "Holy Effrontery" in which anything goes if it defends their cause. This idea has entered the minds of society in general as the idea that "ends justify means". Yet anyone who really understands Buddhism knows that ends never justify means, because ends are means. That is, it is one thing to kill to protect others from being harmed, but even that noble reason requires the killer to pay a price for his murder. There is never a reason to lie that holds water. In fact most lies are the worst form of dishonorable behavior and an act of contempt. Sooner or later all lies are revealed and bad actions even for good causes always have bad effects. Good ones may counterbalance the bad effects, but it is rare that it happens that way. In many ways lies are worse than killing, because with murder one is only killing one person, but with lies one is killing or maiming many in a never ending chain of causation.

I found out that we had been hearing lies to "protect us" from the truth, and that made me very sad.

Since I had always trusted both Ikeda and the Priesthood to provide truthful teachings, my independent study had been limited to the practical wisdom contained in the Gosho and various other materials that I could get fairly easily through the Soka Gakkai. I began to restudy the Temple issue with a fresh view. At length I had to go back to basics. I have asked myself once again Who are the three powerful Enemies? With all my study and training I have come to conclusions that won't be liked by those whose fiery warlike natures lead them to want to do battle to defeat the enemy with polemics and propaganda. Yet the truth is found in the Gosho, if one reads with a seeking mind and fresh eyes. It is also apparent to anyone who observes modern society. It was Pogo who said it best "We have met the Enemy and They is Us."

Conclusion about the nature of the Three Powerful enemies:

The three powerful enemies are not simply the "Nikken Sect." While Nikken himself is certainly playing part of the role and is not "innocent". Neither are any of us! The priests of Nichiren Shoshu are certainly teaching erroneous things. All of them at times, and some of them all the time, are acting the role of the second and third of the powerful enemies. If it were as simple as that then "crushing the Nikken Sect" would be all we have to do to restore harmony and create Kosenrufu. If it were that simple than "chanting to close all the Temples" might be a valid goal. If it were that simple then there would be nothing for us to ponder, self reflect on, or apologize for. But it's not that simple and the simple-minded approach to the question only is going to doom both Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu, and possibly the world we live in.

Shared Culpability

The truth is that we in the Gakkai had once supported the doctrines that we now repudiate. Of the heritage of the Law, the transmission to a single person, and the transmission face to face. They had supported the notion that Gohonzon only worked when they were from Nichiren Shoshu and that the High Priests. We had bolstered the concept of the special heritage and helped unify the various Fuji Temples behind Taisekiji by teaching the righteousness of the heritage of the Law and the specific transmission and helping the Fuji School "reign in" independently minded priests. We had supported the notion that the Lineage of Taisekiji had been uninterrupted and that each High Priest had received this "Kechimyaku" and had fully and correctly supported the teachings of Nichiren. In supporting the Priests they had been teaching the doctrine of unity of priest and laity and that we needed priests for study and for preserving the law. Taisekiji's boast to be the only correct lineage from Nichiren would be a joke had not the Gakkai supported it. One of the reasons that senior Gakkai people were so angry was that they knew this was true. So if the Nichiren Shoshu is a manifestation of the three powerful enemies, then so were we.

We did so, some of us in ignorance, but some of us knowing full well that some or parts of all of these teachings were either distortions of Nichiren's teachings or in some cases possible outright lies. So either the original beliefs were distortions or their refutations are. Thus either their current position or their former position had been utterly cynical. To claim that they were "protecting the members" is utter nonsense.

The Temple issue is as much the error of the Sokagakkai as it is of the Temple! In appearance it looks as if we had participated in the Big Lie! And since appearance is the most important of the 10 aspects, I cannot help but conclude that the Devil of the Sixth Heaven had been attacking us also. Nikken's change of heart was only the immediate cause of all the trouble; erroneous doctrines were the real cause. I don't need to go into the reasons that these various doctrines are erroneous because that is a whole other essay. It is also true that most of these are all more distortions of valid propositions than necessarily outright lies, but the facts remain facts.

I searched in the Gosho and came up with the answer to the question. Even before I saw the depth of the problem, I wrote a poem The Cathedral Falls" about the destruction of the Sho Hondo. In that poem I wrote "While the King Devil Laughs with delight" referring to the True Enemy. The Three powerful enemies are but the manifestation of the "Gampon No Mumyo" or Fundamental Darkness that rules this world, the real Devil, the King Devil of the Sixth heaven.

When I read this Gosho at a "Save the Sho Hondo" Rally, I was asked to remove some passages by some of my friends because they seemed to equate the Gakkai and the Temple. At the time, sure of the righteousness of the Gakkai's cause, I did so from the draft that I read on a fine lasts summer day (1998) to my fellow Gakkai members. But that one passage I left in there, because it is really the heart of the matter. The High Priest was inflamed by what he saw as the arrogance of the Gakkai to believe that the Sho Hondo could be the actual edifice at the time of Kosenrufu. Yet it was an equally faithless attitude "To simply await the time" without fearlessly and tirelessly seeking to bring it about. To simply "await the time", is to have a parasitical view of True Buddhist Practice. But we are all familiar with this history so I won't go into detail. In the end the High Priest came up with a nice name for his replacement for the Sho-Hondo. He called it the "Hoanden" and implied that at the time of Kosenrufu it might be renamed. I wish someone had thought of this back in 1973.

In debating with Hokkeko members and other Nichiren believers during free time on the Internet. We have discussed and debated various issues with the various sects. All of these sects are filled with former Gakkai members. Some former Gakkai members practice by themselves, many more have received the Gohonzon and stopped practicing entirely. These other groups include people who were Gakkai members and who left. Some are now overt enemies, however many more were Gakkai members and now know longer believe that the Gakkai is the correct Sangha of Nichiren's disciples. That anyone could have developed this view is a real shame on us. Nichiren says that Sansho Shima will arise when we start practicing True Buddhism and these Sansho Shima and three powerful enemies have driven many people away from Buddhism, but are these people I debate with, necessarily evil? Were they the Sansho Shima? Or were people like myself and my fellow members acting as "Enemies of Buddhism;" when we acted foolishly, with shallow understanding, or relying on persons rather than law? This is a really important question, and one we need to ask ourselves.

At first I was convinced that the "evil priests" might well be the manifestation of the Three Powerful enemies, but over time I realized that there were major holes in my own arguments. I was right, but there was more to the story than that. My friend and colleague Greg Martin makes the case for the Gakkai that the Nikken Abe, Chief Priest of Nichiren Shoshu, is the "third of the powerful enemies" but I have to critique his essay because it's polemic is not really a fair presentation of the issues but is indeed a polemic. See this link:

http://www.sokaspirit.com/f_wrestlinghtm.htm, Greg's essay and My Critique of his essay.

What are they Really?

What are the three powerful enemies really? Who are the three powerful enemies? And how do we really fight them successfully?"

The Three powerful enemies are summarized in the Reply to Sairenbo as follows:

"When I look at the situation in Japan, I find that the Devil of the Sixth Heaven has entered into the bodies of people of wisdom, transforming correct teachers into heretical teachers, and good teachers into bad teachers. This is what the sutra means when it says, "Evil demons will take possession of others."⁹

Nichiren continuously talks of how the "King Devil" attacked him and then -- failing (because he had "Taken Such Care"¹⁰-- went after others. People dismiss this as him being humble, but that is not the case. For him to have defeated the King Devil is an accomplishment that is noteworthy. Nichiren Says in the Kaimoku Sho "Shakyamuni wrested the world from the King Devil."¹¹ This world is already the province of the King Devil, that is it is already ruled by attachment, greed, malice, envy. Most important it is ruled by illusions that prevent people from knowing true happiness or seeing that this world indeed is the Buddha's land. Nichiren compares the World of Enlightenment to the world of people who cannot see or are asleep. When we open our eyes or awaken to the truth we reveal the "Shakyamuni within our own mind". When we fight evil in all it's forms we are really fighting the King Devil and we have to fight within ourselves.

First Powerful Enemy:

When Gakkai members "lie to protect others", distort the truth, think that Ikeda is the True Buddha and that they are somehow inferior to him, or otherwise distort the teachings of Buddhism, they are acting as "ignorant believers". When they argue without facts, call on folks to "destroy the evil Nikken Sect" or otherwise let anger get the best of them, they are not acting as a Good king chastising evil persons, but as "Ignorant persons who will speak ill of us." Because most of the Hokkeko members are practicing the Lotus Sutra, and while their doctrines are incorrect and their master is fulfilling the role of the third powerful enemy, they are not to be spoken ill of -- simply refuted. When they or we attack one another, we are a melee of devils -- not Bodhisattvas of the Earth -- for the time that we "forget our promise"¹². Nichiren gives advice to the people of Atsuhara "to never don Armor"(except in self defense)¹³..

To castigate the Nichiren Shoshu (called by many SGI members the "Nikken Sect") in unfounded or outraged terms is to become for that moment the first of the powerful enemies. And the proof of this is the extreme disharmony that has set in our own sect because of doing so. We have lost more members trying to "refute" the Hokkeko, here in the USA than we have gained by winning back Hokkeko members with logic. That is why the current guidance has been to "warmly embrace, warmly encourage" these people when we meet them. It is their Karma, but not necessarily their fault, that they cling to doctrines we once loudly and narrowly proclaimed ourselves. Defeating evil means just that, but we cannot become evil in the process. When the Temple calls on the Government to punish the Gakkai, or makes unfounded accusations, it is our duty to refute the accusations and defeat the evil, but it is even more our duty to really chant to reveal our own Bodhisattva Ideal. Thus we must avoid becoming the first of the Powerful Enemies.

Second Powerful enemy

The second of the powerful enemies are "monks with perverse wisdom and hearts that are fawning and crooked who will suppose they have attained what they have not attained, being proud and boastful in heart." The key here is that they

"suppose to have attained what they have not attained".

The evil of a person is composed of two parts, what they think they are, and how they are actually received. Nichiren says (In the Kaimoku Sho, commenting on the verses):

"The eighth volume of the Hokke mongu ki comments follows: "In this passage, three types of arrogance are cited. First there is a section that exposes persons of mistaken views. This represents the arrogance and presumption of lay persons. Next there is a section that exposes the arrogance and presumption of certain members of the Buddhist clergy. Third is a section that exposes the arrogance and presumption of those who pretend to be sages. Of these three types of arrogance, the first can be endured. The second is more formidable than the first, and the third is the most formidable of all. This is because the second is harder to recognize for what it really is, and the third is even harder to recognize."¹⁴

First, we have to understand a few things. In the Daishonin's day there was no such thing as full time lay teachers. A full time practitioner, by taking vows and "leaving the familly" almost by definition became a monk. We can say that in a general sense all who teach within the Gakkai are like monks without precepts, and since we all received the Diamond precept, we are not really exempt from the roles of the second and third of the powerful enemies simply because we aren't formally priests. Just as the Gakkai now has people who perform marriages, we have to warn about and be wary of those who fulfil the roles of monks or leaders. Monks received Alms in return for teaching, or taught in return for alms, if the Gakkai pays folks they are in a functional sense monks. Even if they are not paid, they are fulfilling some of the roles that priests fulfilled in the Daishonin's day. There was never such a rigid divide between clergy and lay as there is now in the Daishonin's day. When Toki Jonin felt that evil monks were abusing their rights in running the Temple he was founding, he took the Tonsure and ran it himself. Nyudo were frequently lay folks who wished to devote more time to practice.

The second of the three powerful enemies are thus monks who "pretend to have attained what they have not" in order to extract alms, gain fame, or simply make a living. The key to whether they are good priests or bad priests is in whether they live as Buddhists or whether they slander the Lotus Sutra. If they use the Lotus Sutra to attain fame and profit then they are "stalking like cats". They may pretend to praise the Lotus Sutra but they "destroy it's intent" by using it to acquire personal wealth rather than to enable others to achieve happiness. These kinds of priests are easy to see from outside, but they are earning their alms by teaching the convenient doctrines they propagate. They have absolutely no discrimination between their own greed and their role as teachers. In the category of the second of the Three Powerful enemies are people Like Ryuzobo who used his position to amass wealth. Another example is the second founder of the Zen school, Richard Baker, in San Francisco, who used his powerful position to embroil himself in a scandal involving his school of Zen Buddhism.¹⁸ And we must guard against becoming this powerful enemy ourselves. Those who would gain wealth through their positions in the Gakkai or through the faith of the members should ponder if this is not their role as well. The cause of them to slander the Lotus Sutra was their own greed, desire for position, fear of exposure, and the idea that other ideas would make them more popular.

In the realm of appearance, the Gakkai owns properties and is a wealthy organization, yet its finances have not been published regularly except in places where that are required. I don't even know if I truly own even one penny of SGI-USA or not. And the rumors that Hiromasu Ikeda is being groomed to be the Next SGI president are disturbing. I would hope that no one, in fact, is acting as the second of the powerful enemies within our organization. In the realm of appearance, Ikeda is regularly slandered as having made his wealth off of faith publications and as living well because of the donations of loyal Gakkai members. The Gakkai could easily refute this slander by publishing its finances and by Ikeda clarifying his wealth and the succession of the Gakkai. It looks very strange that we condemn the High Priests for all being in the same family and for taking advantage of member’s contributions while there is the appearance that anyone in the Gakkai is doing the same thing. It is also true that for all the paper independence of the various organizations, finances and control are not public and SGI USA is run from Japan.

As long as the Gakkai is not slandering the Lotus Sutra directly this is a matter that hinges mostly on whether the wealth is illicitly gotten or used badly. It's not a big deal to become wealthy if ones motives are pure, yet once again from the point of view of appearance, that is continuously alleged. When there is incessant talk about "Value Creation Philosophy", dialogues with world leaders, and when these dialogues are not conducted in a spirit of Shakubuku (Buddhist Deconstruction of erroneous doctrines), these things all give the appearance that Ikeda is not praising the Lotus Sutra, but talking about everything but.

When people claim that they can discard the Lotus Sutra for the Gosho and then the Gosho for a hagiography of President Ikeda, they are in fact slandering the intelligence of the members and the Lotus Sutra. Would such people not then be "people who look down on others?" I'm not saying that there is something wrong with the Human Revolution, or with studying it. These things should all "smile on one another". This situation is not entirely Ikeda's fault. His dialogues and activities on the world stage are part of the way of diplomacy and what the organization considers good public relations. He is constantly praising the Lotus Sutra.

Still it is something to consider. It looks like "fawning" and "crooked" wisdom to even talk to people like Chou En Lai or Castro without rebuking their participation in the evils of their regimes. To praise the repressive China of this day just does not seem to be in the spirit of Nichiren Daishonin. I am told that in private Ikeda is very frank, but I am talking of appearance here. Our enemies hold up a distorted mirror, but without such a mirror we could never see our own faces. Nichiren says this about Kobo Daishi in the Kaimoku Sho. Had he had enemies as we do, he might not have gotten away with brazen lies and slander of the Lotus Sutra.

The Third of the Three Powerful Enemies

The Third of the Powerful enemies are "those who appear to be sages." But in fact have hearts that despise and look down on others. If a teacher is arrogant he after a time comes to "despise and look down on all mankind". When before World War II, the Japanese Nichiren members believed that spreading the teachings meant conquering he world and imposing Japanese ways on the world, priests of that ilk were acting as evil priests. When Honen taught the pure land teachings it was because he didn't think that layfolk had capacity for "attaining Buddhahood in Ones Present Form" through the practice of the Lotus Sutra. He thus substituted a panacea for a medicine. Folks seeking enlightenment in the next life were given a counterfeit Buddhism that was based on "slander of the Lotus Sutra".

This kind of slander is based on the notion that a person comes to think that they are in fact better than others are. It was this arrogance that Shakyamuni challenged when he preached that persons of Shomon and Engaku cannot reach enlightenment. And it is this kind of slander that Nichiren refuted with his story of Suri and Handoku. The Suri's and Handoku's of this world need only embrace the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra and they can acquire a life condition equal to that of any other practitioner. That doesn't mean that they will ever have the theoretical knowledge of someone with more capacity, but it does mean that they are uniquely valuable individuals. I have spent time among mildly to severely retarded people and these people deserve respect, often they are courageous and wonderful human beings whom have surmounted great obstacles due to their physical limitations. Knowing this one should never disparage them and one should certainly never disparage "ordinary" people.

History of Three Powerful Enemies in operation:

The entire key to the mangled history of Nichiren Buddhism has been this third of the powerful enemies. Because looking for it outside themselves, priest and sage time after time has not recognized it within themselves. Thus whatever heritage Minobu had, when Nikko left it was lost, and whatever heritage was inherited by the disciples of Nikko, when they fought among themselves (when Kitayama Honmonji and Nakayama Honmonji fought, when Nichimoku's disciples fought), that heritage was lost. It is more than symbolic that the transfer documents that Nichiren Shoshu relies on are either copies or forgeries depending on whether you believe that they were in the treasures that were stolen from one Honmonji Temple by troops acting on behalf of the other one. They behaved exactly like the evil monks of Mt Hiei as described in the Ho'on Sho:

"The third chief priest, Jikaku, at first acted like a disciple of the Great Teacher Dengyo. But after he went to China at the age of forty, though he continued to call himself a disciple of Dengyo and went through the motions of carrying on Dengyo's line, he taught a kind of Buddhism that was wholly unworthy of a true disciple of Dengyo. Only in the matter of the precepts for perfect and immediate enlightenment established by Dengyo did he conduct himself like a true disciple

"He was like a bat, for a bat resembles a bird yet is not a bird, and resembles a mouse yet is not a mouse. Or he was like an owl or a hakei beast. He ate his father the Lotus Sutra, and devoured his mother, those who embrace the Lotus Sutra. When he dreamed that he shot down the sun, it must have been a portent of these crimes. And it must be because of these acts that, after his death, no grave was set aside for him."

I also found an almost Identical quote in the untranslated Gosho "On Debating other Sects" [Homon Mosarubekiyo-no Koto] which was written to Sanmibo shortly before he turned on Nichiren at Atsuhara. In that Gosho Nichiren says:

"If a mouse becomes a bat, it is neither mouse nor bird. You are neither a country priest nor a Kyoto Priest and I think you are going the way of Shofu-bo.[Who had turned on the Daishonin Earlier].

Obviously, if membership in an organization were the guarantee of anything, then Nichiren wouldn't have felt so compelled to admonish Sanmibo in the way he did. Poor Sanmiko died during the Atsuhara Persecutions. That we should have conflict in this day and age tells me that we are too much like Nichiren says the disciples of Kobo and Jikaku were:

"The temple Onjo-ji, representing Chisho's branch of the Tendai sect, fought incessantly with the temple Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei, which represented Jikaku's branch of the sect, the two going at each other like so many asuras and evil dragons. First Onjo-ji would be burned down, then the buildings on Mount Hiei. As a result, the image of Bodhisattva Miroku that had been the special object of worship of Chisho was burned, and the special object of worship of Jikaku, as well as the great lecture hall on Mount Hiei, were likewise burned. The monks of the two temples must have felt as though they had fallen into the hell of incessant suffering while they were still in this world. Only the Main Hall on Mount Hiei remained standing."."¹⁷

After this passage Nichiren Goes on to describe Kobo's lineage "not being what it should be" (similar fighting). He then goes on to use the famous line:

"You can pile up dung and burn it but it will only give off the fragrance of dung."¹⁸

By fighting over the lineage, they proved that neither of them had kept the lineage. This was because in each case the founders of their respective lineages went against the Buddhist Law and rather than supporting the current central figure with a sense of Itai Doshin, while promoting and encouraging the abilities and capacities of other capable disciples, they each assumed that they were "sages" who deserved the lineage (by virtue of this that or the other excuse) and instead "took delight in pointing out" the faults of each other. The King devil thus entered the hearts of all of them at one point or another, and for the time that they were fighting they weren't even qualified to call themselves disciples of Nichiren much less inheritors of any lineage!

That life condition of anger or animality automatically disqualifies people from leadership during the time that they manifest it because it taints their thoughts and thus distorts their relationships with others and their thinking. What a Shame!! What a Shame!! Because unlike Kobo Daishi, each of them had enemies who were also practicing the Lotus Sutra, and so while they took delight in pointing out each others faults, they were also admonishing each other. For the time that they slandered one another, they were slandering the Lotus Sutra. To the extent that they listened to each other they may have been actually helping each other transform himself from an egoistic person to a true Votary of the Lotus Sutra. I only hope that in the end each of them got past their slander, and achieved enlightenment anyway. In each of these lineage’s enough erroneous interpretations entered that they need to prove their lineage all over again. That is why "later persons" had to come along and reform or teach them.

Nichikan Shonin was such a person for Nichiren Shoshu. The Gakkai has been such a group for Nichiren's teachings as a whole.

The antidote is "One Great Truth"

So the third powerful enemy is more powerful and subtle than one first thinks!! It is the power of fundamental darkness. That causes otherwise sage persons to become evil teachers or to fight over secular matters thinking they are Buddhism. We should fight over secular matters confident that we are acting as true Buddhists not assuming that we are better than our enemies, but that our enemies are really our best friends and that the way to defeat the common enemy is to stand together. I'll quote from "On Itai Doshin:"

"I have received the white winter robe and the thick-quilted one, as well as one kan of coins, through the offices of Hoki-bo. Hoki-bo and Sado-bo and the believers at Atsuhara, united in their courageous faith, proved the true strength of itai doshin.

If itai doshin (many in body, one in mind) prevails among the people, they will achieve all their goals, whereas in dotai ishin (one in body, different in mind), they can achieve nothing remarkable. The more than three thousand volumes of Confucianism and Taoist literature are filled with examples. King Chou of Yin led 700,000 soldiers into battle against King Wu of Chou and his 800 men. Yet King Chou's army lost because of disunity while King Wu's men defeated him because of perfect unity. Even an individual at cross-purposes with himself is certain to end in failure. Yet a hundred or even a thousand people can definitely attain their goal if they are of one mind. Though numerous, the Japanese will find it difficult to accomplish anything, because they are divided in spirit. On the contrary, I believe that although Nichiren and his followers are few in number, because they act in itai doshin, they will accomplish their great mission of propagating the Lotus Sutra. Many raging fires are quenched by a single shower of rain, and many evil forces are vanquished by a single great truth. Nichiren and his followers are proving this."¹⁹

The Key is spiritual unity. Though we were together with Nichiren Shoshu, at some time we lost our "spiritual unity". That unity is expressed in this passage from the Shoji Ichidaiji Kechimyaku Sho as follows:

All disciples and believers of Nichiren should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with one mind (itai doshin), transcending all differences among themselves to become as inseparable as fish and the water in which they swim. This spiritual bond is the basis for the universal transmission of the ultimate law of life and death. Herein lies the true goal of Nichiren's propagation. When you are so united, even the great hope for kosen-rufu can be fulfilled without fail. But if any of Nichiren's disciples should disrupt the unity of itai doshin, he will destroy his own castle from within."²⁰

This admonishment isn’t just aimed at me, Nichiren also says that there are some whom "seem like Icchantika but are in fact Votaries". The deciding factor for Nichiren was that we need to ‘embrace the Lotus Sutra". When we do so with the spirit of "transcending all differences" to become as inseparable as fish and the water in which they swim, then we are living as Nichiren taught us. "When you are united". This is an admonition, "When you are disunited" even if you are of the same named sect, or even the same person, you really aren’t at the ceremony of the air preaching or receiving the Lotus Sutra. When you are united you can truly yell the "Lion’s roar" and be one as fish are with their water. The fish are transient beings; the water is the "Law" or Universe in which they swim.

Transcending differences requires the way of honest debate and dialogue "discarding the provisional" and seeking the more profound. In the Letter to the priests of Seichoji named "ON Flowers and Seeds" he enjoins the two priests there to discuss their differences²¹. In the Kaimoku Sho, Nichiren talks about how for a time the 6 sects of Japan were really one sect. They never took down the signs at the gates of their temples, but they took down for a time their erroneous teachings and acknowledged the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra. In short they became "disciples of Chihi". In a similar manner the Minobu School before World War Two was far more erroneous than it is now. The Gakkai has taught it the value of the Gohonzon, and while they still defend the perfidy of Minbu Niko, Nichiren Shu now teaches the primacy of the Gohonzon(though they still use statues as well). The Gakkai has made them our disciples.

In many ways we have already won the first stage of Kosenrufu. I doubt that any Nichiren Sect will get away with teaching purely erroneous doctrines. We could not know that some of our own doctrines needed revision until we had other eyes to look at them. That is one real reason we should welcome "enemies" and divide them into two categories. Those who are teaching purely erroneous teachings, and those who look skeptically on our own teachings. Both of them help us teach by giving us something to compare our teachings to. We should rejoice in having to fight the three powerful enemies because it means that the world is taking an interest in true Buddhism.

Conclusion

President Harding at the onset of the Teapot Dome Scandal said:

"My enemies I can deal with. But it is my friends, my God Damned Friends who keep me pacing the floor at nights"²³.

The perpetrators of this scandal blamed the Courts for their downfall, but it really was only their own greed. We blame others for the conflict within our own organizations at our own risk.

By Chris Holte.