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Subject: Why Soka Gakkai Was Expelled From Nichiren Shoshu, Part 2
From: [email protected] (Craig Bratcher)
Date: 1998/07/30
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren
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The First Guidance Meeting for the Regional
Representatives and Vice-Representatives of Hokkeko
By Rev. Nichijun Fujimoto,
General Administrator of Nichiren Shoshu
Daibyakuho, 9/1/94
Three Part Series on the History Leading to the Split
between the SGI and Nichiren Shoshu.
Part Two
Three Conditions for the Incorporation of the Soka Gakkai
The Soka Gakkai, initially called the Soka-Kyoiku-Gakkai
[Lit. "Value-creating Educational Society"], was founded in 1930
by its first president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. After World
War II, in 1945, Josei Toda, who would later become the second
president, rebuilt the organization and called it Soka Gakkai.
It commenced its activities as an organization of lay believers of
Nichiren Shoshu. After Mr. Toda assumed his position as the
second president in May of 1951, shakubuku activities increased
by leaps and bounds. In December of that year, the Soka Gakkai
submitted a request to the priesthood, asking to be made a
religious corporation. Some members of the priesthood voiced
serious misgivings about the future in letting the Soka Gakkai
become a religious corporation. In the end, however, the
Gakkai's wish was granted with the following three conditions:
1. The registration at the local temple of each person who converts
to Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism.
2. The strict observation of the doctrines of our denomination.
3. The protection of the Three Treasures of the Buddha, the Law
and the Priesthood.
The Soka Gakkai's request was granted only after it pledged
to uphold these three conditions. Thus, it is clear that the Soka
Gakkai's continued existence as a religious corporation was
premised on the absolute adherence to these three conditions. At
the present time, however, the Soka Gakkai is deceiving its
members by implying that the organization was originally
established as a religious corporation that was independent
of Nichiren Shoshu.
The Significance of Shohondo and the Myoshinko Problem
In 1967, construction of the Shohondo, first proposed by the
Soka Gakkai, was making steady progress towards the
scheduled completion in October of 1972. In 1970, however,
the Myoshinko, one of the lay Hokkeko groups within Nichiren
Shoshu, submitted a letter of protest to the priesthood about
the significance of the Shohondo.
The Myoshinko has since renamed itself the Kenshokai. The
Myoshinko began as a Hokkeko group at Myokoji Temple in
Tokyo. It then moved its activities to Hodoin Temple. After
a conflict there, the Head Temple transferred its registry to
Myoenji Temple in Sumida Ward (in Tokyo). A father and
son pair, Jinbei and Shoei Asai, was at the center of this activity.
They were arrogant and refused to cooperate with people.
As a result, they repeatedly had confrontations with the Hokkeko
organization. It was this Myoshinko group that took issue
with the significance of the Shohondo. The issue was whether or not
the Shohondo should be considered the High Sanctuary referred
to by the Daishonin in his final decree contained in the works,
"On the Three Great Secret Laws (Sandaihiho-sho)" and the
"Document for Entrusting the Law which Nichiren Propagated
Throughout His Life (Nichiren ichigo guho fuzoku sho)."
This topic was hotly debated on several occasions among the
priesthood,the Soka Gakkai and the Myoshinko. In April of
1972, an exhortation on this matter concerning the significance
of the Shohondo was disseminated by Nichiren Shoshu. The
Myoshinko voiced its objection and challenged the Gakkai
to a public confrontation. It responded to communication from the
priesthood by sending such threatening documents as the
"Tragedy of Bloodshed." The Myoshinko further sent similar forceful
letters to the High Priest.
In the end, Nittatsu Shonin risked his life in this absolutely
dreadful situation and met with the Asai father and son. In
September of 1972, shortly before the completion of the
Shohondo, the matter was finally settled, and the opening ceremony
was performed without incident on October 12, 1972.
Ever since the beginning of this problem concerning the
Shohondo, the Myoshinko continued to proclaim that the High
Sanctuary of the Daishonin's final decree must be a national
sanctuary. The priesthood asserted that the title "national
sanctuary" (Kokuritsu Kaidan) did not traditionally exist in
Nichiren Shoshu. It was an expression that the Kokuchukai group
began to use in the Meiji period (1868) and was gradually
adopted by the priesthood as well. Since the title "national
sanctuary" was inappropriate in modern times when the
constitution guaranteed the separation of church and state, the
priesthood officially decided to discontinue its use in 1970
and made an announcement to that end to everyone in Nichiren
Shoshu.
The Myoshinko, however, rejected this official determination
and refused to take heed to the numerous warnings from the
priesthood. As a result, the Myoshinko was dismissed in
August of 1974. Since the Myoshinko even refused to follow this
directive, the central figures, including the Asai pair, were
excommunicated, and those connected with them also lost their
standing as Nichiren Shoshu believers. Thereafter, the
Myoshinko problem evolved into a legal case involving Myoenji
Temple, but it reached an amicable resolution without waiting
for a judgment, since it was a problem concerning religious
doctrines.
Ikeda's Arrogance and the 1977 Incidents
In the Soka Gakkai, after the completion of the Shohondo in 1972,
the inherent arrogance of Ikeda steadily grew worse. Just
a year later, on the occasion of the service commemorating the
first anniversary of the establishment of the Shohondo, he
committed the extreme insolence of publicly reviling Nittatsu
Shonin before a large number of people in the east hallway of the
Shohondo.
In 1974, he forcefully conducted an investigation of the financial
accounts of the Head Temple. Moreover, on the Gohonzon
commemorating the establishment of the Sho hondo, he
demanded that Nittatsu Shonin include a postscript to confirm that the
Shohondo was, indeed, the High Sanctuary referred to by the
Daishonin in his final decree. Numerous such unforgivable
incidents took place and led to the deviation from the correct
teachings and to the slanderous course of events known as the
1977 Incidents.
It was later found that around this time in 1974, the Soka
Gakkai began to plot a secret plan to control the priesthood, or if
that were impossible, to separate from Nichiren Shoshu and
become independent. This was brought to light by the discovery
of such internal documents as the Yamazaki - Yahiro report
and the Hojo report.
Then in 1977, Ikeda himself made numerous comments -
such as those in his "Speech on the Historical View of Buddhism" -
that deviated from the correct doctrines. In addition, he
promoted his erroneous views through his Gakkai leaders. These
resulted in the serious dissension from the correct doctrines,
known as the 1977 Incidents.
The following are examples of his utterances:
The enlightenment attained by President Toda in prison is
the prime point of Soka Buddhism.
The Soka Gakkai is directly connected with the Daishonin,
and therefore, there is no need for the heritage or for the mediation
of personal and doctrinal masters.
The "Human Revolution" is the modern day Gosho.
The temples and the community centers are the same.
Secular people can receive Buddhist offerings.
The Soka Gakkai represents the treasure of the priesthood.
Through such guidances and statements, he seriously deviated
from the correct doctrines, belittled the Heritage of the Law and
denigrated the priesthood and the temples. Moreover, he
even went so far as to engage in unlawful activities such as
summoning priests who were critical of the Gakkai and harrassing
them in a "kangaroo court." Finally, at meetings for the
Hokkeko and the priests, Nittatsu Shonin conducted sermons
denouncing the Soka Gakkai's erroneous perspectives
concerning such matters as the treasure of the priesthood, the
master-disciple relationship and the disparagement of the
temples.
In response to this, in his speech at a service conducted at
Jozenji Temple in Hyuga that December, Ikeda asked to be
forgiven. For the time being, the problem seemed to be allayed.
In February of the following year, 1978, a priests's discussion
meeting on current affairs was held at the Head Temple. After
offering directions on various problems with the Gakkai, Nittatsu
Shonin gave instructions to conduct a survey of the opinions
within Nichiren Shoshu to find out if relations should be maintained
or severed with the Gakkai. The Nichiren Shoshu Bureau
of Religious Affairs immediately commenced this task. Getting
wind of this, Ikeda quickly had an audience with Nittatsu Shonin
and pleaded with him to somehow spare him from severing their
ties. Nittatsu Shonin accepted his apology only on the
condition that the Gakkai would conduct itself in a manner
thoroughly and consistently appropriate for Nichiren Shoshu
believers.
Sham Remorse: "6-30" and "11-7"
Thus, the Gakkai pledged never again to stray from the pure
doctrines and published "The Fundamental Issues of Buddhist
Study," an article which addressed and corrected its erroneous
contentions. This document is known as the "6-30" document.
The Gakkai promised to thoroughly explain the matter to its
members through "The Fundamental Issues of Buddhist Study,"
dated June 30, 1978. It was later learned, however, that far
from a thorough clarification, the Gakkai simply conducted a
superficial explanation. Thereafter, another incident occurred
in which the Gakkai created its own copies of the Gohonzon. In
the end, the Gakkai was allowed to keep the one Gohonzon
originally sanctioned by Nittatsu Shonin but was made to
surrender the seven other unauthorized copies to the Head
Temple. On November 7 of the same year, the Gakkai held a
representative leaders' meeting at the Head Temple. On that
occasion, Ikeda apologized for the 1977 incidents and
Vice-President Tsuji expressed his regrets for making the unofficial
copies of the Gohonzon. This event came to be known as
the "Apology Tozan."
Ikeda's Resignation and the Events to Establish
Harmony Between Priesthood and Laity
The Hokkeko federation remained unconvinced of these
superficial corrections and apologies and, in March of 1979,
recommended the resignation of Daisaku Ikeda from his
post as the chief lay representative (sokoto). As a result, on April 24,
Ikeda resigned from his position as the president of the Soka
Gakkai. Thereafter, on April 26, he relinquished his standing as
the chief lay representative.
Nittatsu Shonin attended the 40th Headquarters General
Meeting of the Soka Gakkai, which was held at the Soka University
gymnasium on May 3, 1979. He gave instructions to proceed
in a direction of harmony and cooperation between priesthood
and laity based on the pledge made by the Soka Gakkai to
faithfully follow the basic tenets as a lay organization of Nichiren
Shoshu and to protect the priesthood. This marked the
conclusion of the 1977 Incidents. Then, after thus bringing matters to a
final resolution, Nittatsu Shonin peacefully entered nirvana on July 22.
Nikken Shonin Assumed the Position of High Priest
and Maintained the Spirit of Cooperation
Nikken Shonin assumed his position as High Priest as soon as
he received the Heritage of the Law from Nittatsu Shonin. He
continued to proceed in the spirit of cooperation between
priesthood and laity established by Nittatsu Shonin. On October 8,
in an internal memo to all senior priests, Nikken Shonin confirmed
the continuation of this policy. He indicated the course to be
followed by both priesthood and laity by calling on the
priests to refrain from criticizing the Gakkai and by instructing the
Gakkai to thoroughly disclose the "6-30" and "11-7"
incidents to its members, so that the organization would never again
repeat its mistakes.
Thereafter, both the priesthood and the Soka Gakkai proceeded
on the path of harmony and cooperation. In April of 1980,
Ikeda published an article in the Seikyo Shimbun titled "My
Thoughts on the Occasion of the Twenty-Third Anniversary of the
Passing of My Honored Teacher." In it he showed a spirit of
devotion by admitting that the deviations in the 1977 incidents
were completely caused by his erroneous statements and expressed
his regret and remorse.
The Shoshinkai Problem and the Various Lawsuits
Within the priesthood, however, there was a group of young
priests who had been criticizing the Soka Gakkai since the time of
Nittatsu Shonin. These priests rallied together with a group of
former Gakkai members who had since become believers
directly connected with the temple. They initially held the First
Convention of Direct Temple Believers at the Head Temple in
August of 1978. Their second convention was held in January
of 1979. Even after Nikken Shonin became High Priest, they
continued on and held their third and fourth meetings in August
of 1979 and January of 1980, respectively. On July 4, 1980,
the same day on which the guidance meeting for senior teacher
priests was held at the Head Temple, a group of activist priests
congregated and formed an organization called the Shoshinkai.
Claiming to conduct a movement to arouse the people to the
correct faith, the priests were showing signs of intensifying their
criticism of the Gakkai. The Nichiren Shoshu Bureau of Religious
Affairs learned of plans for their Fifth Convention of Direct
Temple Believers designed to increasingly heighten their critical
activities. The bureau repeatedly attempted to persuade the
Shoshinkai to cancel such a meeting aimed at criticizing the
Gakkai, in complete defiance of the directions in the internal
guidelines given to the senior priests.
On August 24, however, the Shoshinkai ignored all the advice
and warnings it had received and brazenly held its convention of
direct temple believers at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo where it
fiercely criticized the Gakkai. The priesthood was inevitably
forced to discipline the priests who attended this meeting,
according to the by-laws of Nichiren Shoshu. The disciplinary
procedures were varied according to the degree of involvement
of each of the priests.
Protesting against this disciplinary action, the Shoshinkai brought
the matter before a legal court. In the process, the Shoshinkai
priests made reference to the notes of Masatomo Yamazaki,
an attorney who was formerly a Gakkai member, which were
published in a weekly magazine in December of 1980. Based
on those notes, they implicated that Nikken Shonin's Heritage of
the Law was questionable and presented him with a letter of inquiry.
Since they did not receive a response to this letter, they
deemed that Nikken Shonin did not receive the Heritage of the Law.
Based upon this, they proclaimed that the disciplinary action
performed by someone who was not the High Priest or
superintendent priest was, indeed, invalid. Thus, they refused
to abide by the prescribed action.
Moreover, in the lawsuits, they demanded that the High Priest
agree that he lacked the qualifications for the position of
superintendent priest. In short, they were finally committing the
outrageous act of renouncing the reception of the Heritage of
the Law by Nikken Shonin.
Based upon this course of events, the priesthood took the
appropriate requisite steps and ultimately defrocked all the
Shoshinkai priests. The lawsuits continued, however. In the
case concerning the superintendent priest, last September, the
Supreme Court rejected the demands made by the Shoshinkai
and made an irrevocable judgment in complete favor of the
priesthood. There are two other pending lawsuits: one in which
the Shoshinkai priests, claiming to be staff representing chief
priests, are demanding to have their position confirmed; the
other suit involves a claim made by the priesthood, demanding the
return of the temples illegally occupied by the Shoshinkai. In
both the Superior and Supreme Courts, these two lawsuits are
expected to be dismissed soon, based on the reason that the
problems involve religious affairs in which the courts should not
intervene. Matters are not conclusive as yet with all the temples,
but the present course of affairs will most likely remain
unchanged.
Presently, there are temples that are unlawfully occupied by the
Shoshinkai, but according to the statutes, these temples will be
legally returned to Nichiren Shoshu when the occupants are no
longer present due to death or other circumstances. Thus, this
problem will undoubtedly be resolved gradually in this way.
The 1977 Incidents with the Soka Gakkai had ended, and the
spirit of cooperation fostered by Nittatsu Shonin was maintained
by Nikken Shonin who continued to protect the organization.
Nikken Shonin sincerely believed that the regret and remorse
expressed by the Ikeda Soka Gakkai were genuine. It was
because he trusted Ikeda that he reappointed him to the position of
chief lay representative (sokoto) on January 2, 1984.
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