Underlying the schism between Nichiren Shoshu (see temple.html) and the Sokagakkai were a number of issues found within both groups.
On the side of Nichiren Shoshu were issues dating back to its origins as part of the Fuji School of Nichirenism. Over the centuries, partly as a reflection of its very isolation and relative weakness, it had developed a number of unique doctrines, such as its interpretation of the Kechimyaku or its doctrine of the "True Buddha" and unique interpretations of its uniqueness and purpose. For more on this visit: nstissue.html or the other embedded links. These doctrines were founded on oral traditions and thus often had only the slimest of "literal" justification usually from the writings of its own high priests, Apocryphal and at the very least disputed Gosho.
If the Nichiren Shoshu parent group had doctrinal errors and even internal deviations from the already somewhat oral based traditions of its school, then the Gakkai was in even more trouble. As Hokkeko stallwarts were want to point out, the Gakkai had been the staunch supporters of the priesthood -- at least publicly -- of the "heritage of the Law" of the high priest Nikken. And so could hardly claim to be sacrosanct and pure unless they were willing to completely critique that heritage. They tried with a book called the "Untold History of the Fuji School but their heritage as a laygroup of Nichiren Shoshu believers who had for years been avid defenders of Fuji School traditions such as the High Priests authority and the Dai-Gohonzon made a full honest accounting of the issues problematic for them. Therefore they chose the path of least resistance. The debate between Nichiren Shoshu and the Sokagakkai turned into the modern equivalent of a Tabloid war. Expecially in Japan, where the Gakkai had political power and political enemies through its long-standing "special relationship" with the Komeito.
- For more about issues related to Sokagakkai specifically visit these pages:
- sgissue.html,IRGissues.html,and reform.html
Up until 1991 the two groups had feigned great respect for each other (prior.html). When they talked about "evil priests" for example, they always said "Shoshinkai Priests" or blamed evil "traitors" such as "Yamazaki." For instance I have a document I received in the 1980's related to the Reverend Kando Tono, see Correct Faith (scan of cover here: correctfaith.html, in which the High Priests Nittatsu and Nikken's guidance was cited repeatedly and the ousting of priest Tono was justified based on his stubborn and "ha-wagoso" behavior. This notion of wagoso is inimical to real harmony, because once it is broken it seems Japanese pull out the Samurai Swords. And that is what happened in 1991.
In 1991 the parties to the the two organizations started publicly feuding in 1991 in a very ugly war of words. The resulting split called the "Temple Issue" by SGI, and the Sokagakkai Issue by NST quickly escalated into a personal war of words. Both groups seem to have felt betrayed by the other. They leveled charges and countercharges, and accusations of "slander of the Dharma" and "deviations" at one another. The Gakkai seized the initiative here in the stage with slick volumes of translations of lurid "first hand" tales of abuse and misbehavior by priests. No longer were the only "evil priests" the Shoshinkai. But now the "evil priests" were the second and third of the "three powerful enemies." Both Sokagakkai and the priests, were making it a personal thing. They make me think of the passages from the "Ho'on Sho" where Nichiren starts talking about the conflict between the two main Tendai Lineages and the two main Shingon Lineages -- (See "deceit.html). See temple.html for more on the other issues. You may want to stop reading now. This page is devoted to the personal "dung." I still find it painful as I rewrite this page some two or three years after I first posted it.
When President Ikeda gave his 35th Anniversary speech in 1990 the priesthood began taking one action after another to seek to end their relationship with the Gakkai and "retrieve" as many members as they could. Even so, people like me didn't know what was going on until months later. The first Communiques I saw on the matter were terse and not very instructive. I had to spend part of a summer commuting back and forth between Myozenji Temple and the DC Kaikon in order to find out what was going on. The priests told me they were reacting to a speech that they had received a tape and transcript of from an unauthorized recording of "Thirtyfifth anniversary" meeting of the Sokagakkai's leadership. I received a copy of their complaint with the pages highlighted. According to the priests President Ikeda had said some very rude words.
Of course, If I had known more about the psychology of the people involved I wouldn't have been surprised. The seeds for this nasty fight were planted in 1979 and in 1951. (See prior.html and ogasawara.html)
When I asked the Gakkai about what was going on, I got volumes of information on the priests and what they felt. For example one of the more concise texts was this one confirming_our_path.pdf. While these materials seemed slightly more informative, looking back and having cooberated the information in them, these works, and the later production "The Untold Story of the Fuji School" were not only not objective but had occassional howlers of "factual discrepancies." I couldn't know that at the time and much of the material was a surprise to me (See temple.html for more on this). In the initial volleys it seemed that President Akiya of the Sokagakkai spoke for the organization of the Gakkai. He was the official head of the Gakkai and speaking on its behalf. Yet on behalf of the NST they had the previously hardly heard of Nichijun Fujimoto speaking for the priests. This turned out to be a sort of Japanese Organizational diplomacy as the NST didn't buy it that Akiya spoke for himself.
We had been shielded from the earlier fights, and we were shielded from President Ikeda's opinions for several years. It wasn't until 1994 and even now that some of his statements from that time were translated. Both the High Priest and President Ikeda were actually sharing barbs. But both claimed they were just "defending the law" and "refuting incorrect notions." You can see President Ikeda's feelings in this essay:
- revdawn.htm
The Gakkai had a powerful PR organization, many members and fanatically devoted leaders, and was used to a triumphalist positivism that puts a "winner" spin on all it's words and activities. They also were used to unquestioning obedience and defense of the Organization. The moment the issues started, the Youth division flooded their publications with sometimes lurid stories of priest misbehavior and abuse. Supposedly they were spontaneous outpourings, but the priests knew that they never would do anything without the "guidance" of President Ikeda so that just made them all the more determined to press on with their attacks on Ikeda, which made Gakkai Stalwarts all the more determined to 'defend him' even at the cost of their moral integrity. The Priests were offended by these stories and also somewhat surprised because up until then the Gakkai had been effusive and fawning in their praise of the priests. Confining their attacks to hypothetical priests usually labeled as "Shoshinkai priests" when labelled at all. The negativity was all the more jarring because it came with such a self-righteous tone. Even priests who might have supported an effort to go after corrupt priests were offended by the effort, and only a few priests actually (initially) joined the "Domei Priests." And of course none of the Shoshinkai priests shed a tear at the goings on. They had concluded way back in the seventies that both organizations were off kilter.
From 1990 to 1991 things went downhill fast. In 1990 the two groups were celebrating together, by 1991 they were thoroughly at war. The priests (led by Nichijun Fujimoto led a series of attacks and counterattacks that culminated in the excommunications of President Ikeda. The priests sent a letter of inquiry, they fired "honorary" President Ikeda and Fifth President Akiya from their position as head of the Hokkeko, and they began revising their rules for going on Tozan, for practicing with Nichiren Shoshu, and for slandering the priesthood.
On the one hand, some priests had always NST treated the Gakkai and it's leaders with disdain, (others hadn't and felt caught in the middle, some left, some went independent, and others are secretly waiting for things to change). Some priests had treated SGI leaders as if they were stupid and ignorant. In late 1990, early 1991, the tenor of the complaints was primarilly focused on the "rudeness" of the way that the Gakkai had taken off it's kid gloves and was openly criticizing the priests. This can be seen in the speeches and words, from early on in the split. For example Nichijun Fujimoto wrote in a letter to SGI that:
"It is only natural that there is an original distinction between priesthood and laity in accord with the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism...If lay believers speak as if they are equal to priests, they lack courtesy and propriety and will destroy the order between priesthood and laity." (Nichijun fujimoto, General Administrator of Nichiren Shoshu, letter dated January 12, 1991)."
and
"To talk about the priesthood and laity with a sense of equality manifests great conceit. In fact, it corresponds to the five cardinal sins -- to destroy the unity of Buddhist Practitioners."
The Priesthood didn't want to excommunicate the layfolks, but they did want to seperate them from Ikeda. It was a nearly impossible task.
The priests taught that SGI Gohonzon were no longer authorized by the High Priest and so were no longer "eye-opened" and that membership in the SGI was a ticket to the Hell of incessent suffering. They taught that one had to be connected to the High Priest through the general priests or one could not reach enlightenment.
- See nstissue.html or Sgi Issue for more. You can also visit these "warring websites if you don't believe me:
- http://www.gakkaionline.net/NST-Truth/
- http://www.cebunet.com/sgi/
There were SGI members who felt the same way about Nichiren Shoshu. And expecially Priest Nikken. President Ikeda said at one point that
"Today if you should visit Taiseki-ji, rather than benefit, you will receive the rebuke of Nichiren Daishonin. The effect you receive will be negative....However, making offerings to Nikken in order to see the Dai-Gohonzon is to approve of and support Nikken's slander..."(see page 23 of the "Confirming our path in faith" temple handout).
Similar comments still come from leaders or priests in both camps, and these fueled each of the counterparts to continue to slander. Old issues that had appeared to have been resolved in the 1970's came up to haunt the fight. And Nikken laid out the theory that the Sho Hondo issues that had divided them and caused controversy and the expulsion of former members (Shoshinkai and Myoshinko -- See Tanaka article.) was the fault of Ikeda's arrogance. The Gakkai rebutted this with an insistance that those ideas about the eventual role of the Sho-Hondo were also Nittatsu's ideas. Eventually Nikken came up with excuses and destroyed Sho Hondo and replaced it with a new building called the Hoanden.
Both groups made their justification in Nichiren's admonishments not to support slanderers of the Dharma(fuje-fuse) as embodied in the 26 admonitions written by Nikko Shonin. The trouble is that, there is a line beyond which rebuking slander of the Dharma becomes slander of the Dharma, and at times members and leaders of both groups have crossed that line.
The priests were arrogant and judgemental in their response to Ikeda's criticisms and the Gakkai's demands that they also reflect on their behavior and reform. On the other hand, some in the Gakkai also acted in a stupid and ignorant manner. When I tried to refute allegations from the Hokkeko, I found out some of these allegations were not lies. This meant that some of the people who claimed to be allies in the "war" on injustice and slander, were actually participating in it themselves. These people, rather than admitting and changing their tactics and trategy, made excuses for themselves based on fears of what the Hokkeko members were doing or trying to do. Some of the leadership of the Gakkai, and NST, treated the conflict with NST as if it were a secular war (or a religious crusade) and not as if it were an exercise in "Shakubuku". Members tried to keep tabs on priest and Hokkeko leaders movements, attendance at temples, and to take actions to "filter" their activities to "protect" members from their influence. In some cases these activities left a paper trail which the Hokkeko members exploited or which fed their rumor mill. Examples of these activities were captured in incidents such as one incident in which a Hokkeko leader (Ken Burchell) found himself in an altercation with some leaders at an airport, or incidents where members found themselves being shadowed or spied on.
When I heard these allegations, I tried to defend the Gakkai against them, but when I investigated, to my surprise, I found that some of the incidents (though not all of them) had really occured (though not always the way they were reported. Ken Burchell had really been involved in an altercation with some Gakkai members who claimed to want to talk to the priest he was "shielding" (they later did). Members of the Gakkai really were paying attention to (spying on) and keeping statistics on the doings of Nichiren Shoshu. An acquaintance of mine stayed with Nichiren Shoshu for several years, quietly, and reported on their activities regularly. What he did was pretty harmless, but you should have seen how angry the Temple members were when they found out he was reporting on them! I'm not sure where it really was our business to "spy" on Nichiren Shoshu. It seems to me that the effort wasn't worth the cost -- but no one asked me. The result of this was that both groups attracted and exhibited symptoms of paranoia towards each other.
The conflict was pursued by SGI-Corporate and NST as if it were World War III. Each has leaked documents to the press/tabloids like the "Kitano memo", or "Operation C", that look very much like the strategy sessions of generals of an army. NST had held meetings about it's strategy, as far as 13 years in advance (as can be seen in the portion of the Kawabe memo published by them), Both sides seem to have developed and carried out strategies with the kind of thinking reminiscent of war room generals and not at all consistant with the behavior of religious leaders. There are "dark figures" like the former Gakkai leader "Yamazaki" who is alleged to have instigated incidents back in the 1970's that forced President Ikeda to resign as he recounts in his Stormy April essay. Many in the Gakkai is sure that Nichiren Shoshu is plotting to destroy them, and seem to be openly chanting to close down Nichiren Shoshu in return. The Locus for this conflict is between Shinomoyama Japan where the Gakkai has it's headquarters and Fujinomiya city where Taisekiji sits. Indeed as a result of the conflict the Gakkai changed the name of its formal affiliation from the Nichiren Sho-shu to the Nichiren Sekai-shu. The Priesthood got what they wanted.
The best ally both sides have had in their personal war with one another, has been their opponants.
This "war" has been most heated in the Japanese Tabloids, which have had fun with the Gakkai since before it's split with the Temples, and have a cynical attitude towards both Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu and so are only happy to publish anything sensational or sleazy. Indeed it is the Japanese members who push this battle around the world, and our debt of gratitude and relative ignorance causes us to believe whichever of the partisans we happen to be closest to. The result is that there have been fist-fights, broken cameras, and other insane confrontations all over the world. And you'll hear both groups sounding very paranoid. Expecially the Japanese members.
Tabloid style reports about the High Priest were reported in the press from a former housekeeper. A former acolyte, "Goto" was arrested for bad behavior. Former acolytes left Nichiren Shoshu alleging child abuse and hazing. Both Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu traded accusations of womanizing behavior and misuse of funds. Both the Gakkai have made allegations (through leaks) that the other guys were waging a war by proxy through the Japanese Tabloids and people like Isao Dan, whom already had reasons to be "anti-Gakkai." Indeed, the Priests could count on powerful allies in the form of the Liberal Democratic Party, which later apologized for it's part in the "Tabloid Wars" in Japan and the Gakkai could count on the priests to provide ammunition for their efforts to distance their members from the priesthood.
- For more see:
- Hiroe Clow, for example.
The priests seem to have become involved in the Tabloids around 1990, and the Gakkai responded by releasing long buried tales of priesthood perfidy and malfeasance. There is an allegation (backed up by circumstantial evidence) that just before the excommunication, High Priest Nikken met with a columnist named Isao Dan (For more on this follow this link:Link to page on Operation C. The purpose was to start "Operation C" (C-Sakusan). The idea was that the priests didn't need to sully themselves by directly being involved in the Tabloid campaign against the Gakkai. People like Isao Dan had made a living off of championing the political and religious enemies of the Gakkai. The Temple only needed to share information with them and they would do the rest. President Ikeda and the Gakkai had already been accused, in the past of various indiscretions and "deviations". The Gakkai had even apologized for these "deviations" and that information was used against them. Indeed they trotted out each apology to try to discredit the Gakkai. The result is that the "War" in Japan has been very public and very much in the press, and very much a war.
The priests could count on powerful allies, including the Liberal Democratic Party itself, which later admitted it had bankrolled a number of accusations and tabloid reports. Among these were allegations that President Ikeda had engaged in extramarital relations (The person's name "Nobuhira" and the charges had to do with his wife) and similar things. Later, the gakkai won a suit about this accusation. It's owner had wanted to blackmail the Gakkai and had been frustrated.
On the other hand, the Gakkai had it's greatest ally in the priests themselves. Way back in 1963 Nikken alledgedly solicited prostitutes in what was later to be known as the "Cloe Incident". In 1991 the youth division happily reported her experience, Nikken denied it, and lawsuits and countersuits went on for the next 10+ years. Other incidents occured in Japan, such as a famous fight between Reverend Nikken Abe's Son and some reporters, in which he wielded a Fan to destroy a photographers camera. This was caught on film. Incidents where priests misbehaved were gleefully reported to the press, and likewise incidents about Gakkai members were treated as proof of the "perfidy" of each camp of opponants.
In Japan, probably the nastiest part of this has been the purposeful "erasure" of all traces of Gakkai donations within NST. This has ensured that few of us would ever want to return to NST in the event of a reconciliation, at least while the current High Priest is alive. In 1996, Nikken and the other priests even petitioned the Government to have the Gakkai's status as a religious corporation removed (see incorporation.html) which is a serious matter in Japan, where Freedom of Religion is a new thing. Probably the most personal act was the destruction of the Sho-Hondo and the replacement of a number of Head Temple Structures, donated by the Gakkai. See shohondod.html For more on this. He is currently planning to build a "Hoanden" to take it's place. Indeed he did so. Its a nice building.
The troubles in Japan have a direct effect on things in the US in many ways. For instance, if you visit the pages IRG issues, and reform, you see my story of how a few rather naive members thought to promote reform within SGI-USA and the roadblocks we came up with. Well in Japan, after the Aum Shin-ryo incident, the Government decided to push through some rather harmless (at least if your organization is up and up) reforms. This page says:
When the Aum Shinri-kyo cult was found to be involved in the Tokyo subway gas attack in March 1995, public sentiments towards the 1951 Law changed. This was a golden opportunity for the LDP to push through a revision of the law, and the LDP used the issue to engage in Soka bashing.
Basically, the revised law requires a nationally religious body to register with the Ministry of Education instead of a local authority; to submit financial reports, and to allow its members to question its activities. Before the amendment, Soka was the only one out of the five largest religious bodies in Japan which did not release its financial accounts to the public on a voluntarily basis.
Soka objected to the amendment, and its daily, the Seikyo Shimbun (circ. 5.5 million), devoted significant pages each day between September and December 1995 to voice its denunciation. Among the reasons given, Soka argued that by revising the law, the Government was imposing unity of the church and state as had happened during the War. It argued that to place religious bodies under state control was to violate human rights and curb religious freedom. Soka also said that there was no necessity to open its financial books because it already had a stringent internal audit policy. It claimed that the members' right to question its activities would be subject to abuse.
- Source:
- http://www.caic.org.au/eastern/soka/hirano.htm
Of course, the Sokagakkai was right to worry about "state control" but they were also miscasting the meaning of the law. This of course was the idea. The LDP proposed the law to rile the Sokagakkai and they succeeded. The Sokagakkai was already upset due to efforts to force it to reincorporate, since its old corporation ahd been as a "Kai" of the Nichiren Shoshu and it could hardly expect to remain a group of Nichiren Shoshu believers while struggling with the head of that sect. The organization used this paranoia to instill fear in the membership and oppose this law. Which could not possibly have inflicted any actual damage on the organization -- other than possibly exposing anyone within who is not on the up and up.
In the USA the "war" has mostly taken the form of continual allegations of nastiness, "refutations", calls for daimoku campaigns, spying and ocassional incidents of apparent harrassment, on both sides. Those who are partisan on these issues tend to seize on anything negative about the Gakkai and talk about it incessently, often distorting the information to suit their feelings. Conversely others focus on the evils of NST, one likening an NST temple to a crack house. Others talking about "forever struggles." It's kind of sad. All this is the operation of fundamental darkness. The worst of the battles occur on the internet. This war has become a civil war. At first it seemed it was just a "war" between the "old men" of Nichiren Shoshu and the Gakkai, but we now see emerging young people who are obsessed with "refuting" and "rebuking" "slander of the law" as taught by the Japanese members. The result is that it sometimes pits family member against family member, and this "warlike" interpretation of Nichiren's teachings severely distorts them. See victorious America group for an example of how the leaders are using this "war" to try to "rule" the Gakkai in an authoritarian manner. Indeed "Soka Spirit" has been used to push out more reasonable and gentle leaders and replace them with people who would toe the line. The first casualty of this effort was Mr. Williams, who was removed from power in the name of "reform" and because he hadn't produced shakubuku results sufficient for the Japanese. The people who have replaced him were mostly sent here in the 70's operating under the principle of the "capable few." Prior to the "split" SGI-USA was known as NSA, and sometimes had problems with authoritarianism and dogmatism, but was led by people who were exemplary, spirited, and had deep faith in Buddhism. Their personal characteristics and faith more than made up for any organizational defects.
In Ghana, Joseph Asomani had taken the lead for propagation around the area of Accra (the Capitol) and had converted a number of his native Ashanti people to True Buddhism. Their motto is one of my favorites "More chanting". In 1989 allegations were made about sexual improprieties and aimed at him. He was married to a Japanese Woman who was also a top local leader. When that relationship went sour, his relationship with the Gakkai also went sour. The central organization didn't seem to care that he was the central figure and not his wife. So when the two began to feud they sided with his wife and a few otehrs who had grudges (legitimate or not) with him. Whether the allegations were true or not SGI removed him from his position and replaced him with a Japanese Leader without bothering to hold a proper inquiry or involve the general membership in the decision. This caused a split within the Ghanian community as two camps formed over the legitimacy of this action. This occured before the split with Nichiren Shoshu and so for a while these Ghanian members were basically without support from either Nichiren Shoshu or Sokagakkai.
References:
- Joseph Asomani seemed to me the ideal Gakkai leader, and yet this member, purportedly also from Ghana has this page about him Allegations.
- has a nice picture of Joseph Asomani. One day I'll scan the picture I have of my friend Thomas Samoah's visit to him in happier days.
- Anthony Elmore details his opinions on the matter at this page: http://www.proudblackbuddhist.org/sgiracism/page3.htm
- Some details on the relationship involved: http://members.aol.com/abayaa/africa/ghchap-5.htm
- Details of the allegations
When the "split" between Nichiren Shoshu and the Gakkai occurred the people behind Joseph Asomani naturally sided with the Temple. Before the split the Temple had refused to help them. These people finally had some allies. An opposition group was created that seems to have been based around imported Japanese "Leaders" and his ex-wife. This fight was later expressed when Nichiren Shoshu built a temple on property whose ownership was disputed by some SGI members. The SGI had Government support in Ghana. But Joseph Asomani had converted nearly his entire Ashanti clan. They were loyal to him. This conflict affected me personally because I count as a friend a man who considered Joseph Asomani his mentor and had been converted at the same time as he was by the same Japanese member. He is still important to them, but he is no longer their "fearless leader" but I doubt he ever wanted to be, he just wanted Kosenrufu of Africa. I'm not so sure the motivations of his opponants are so pure.
The upshot is that with SGI's hamhanded politics, there is a thriving Hokkekyo organization in Ghana that has faced challenges together and will probably always remember how the SGI treated it and it's leaders. There are also SGI Ghana members and a far quieter community Center for them. See this page:http://www.proudblackbuddhist.org/Ghana_Temple_2/Page_1x.html For photos of one of their recent meetings.
Ghana now has at least two official Nichiren organization. Both must struggle to define themselves as Nichiren communitues in an African context. From what I've seen neither has destroyed the other. The Nichiren Shoshu members are still going strong and apparantly so are the Gakkai ones.
In Argentina, a speech by a visiting priest, that used Mother Theresa as an example of "Jihi Ma"[mercy devil], was leaked to the Argentine Press, probably by an SGI member, but could also have been the response of someone Catholic in the audience, Argentina is avery Catholic Country. Even if there are controversies about Mother Teresa's actual saintedness most Catholics would have a right to be offended by someone using her as the example of this sort of thing. The result was that Nichiren Shoshu was banned from the country. The SGI members in Argentina were very loyal to President Ikeda from the beginnings of the split, and someone I know tells me that there were even fist fights between them and people loyal to Nichiren Shoshu early on. SGI has a very elegant facility in Buenos Aires. See jihima.html for more on this.
In Brazil Nichiren Shoshu was given a Temple donated by Gakkai members. Once the split ocurred, that property came to be in dispute. They could have kept that Temple in the face of a legal challenge, if only the priests would have remained on it's grounds. Nikken Abe's Son was in charge of that Temple. He travelled to Japan and left an Acolyte behind. That Acolyte left the Temple. It is now a community Center of the Gakkai. Recently SGI announced plans to tear down this building and replace it with a large cultural Center.http://www.en.sokagakkai.or.jp/html1/news1/headlines1/02feb17-23_1.html#020218B
In Europe, there were a number of controversies. Evidently there were no temples at the time of the Split in Europe, and Nichiren Shoshu, belatedly wanted to change that. In order to establish Hokkeko organizations they sent several priests to travel in Europe and visit interested members. The Gakkai responded by sending Vice President Kitano to Europe. He toured the country and sought to "mobilize resistence to the Nikken Sect in a memo that fell into the hands of Nichiren Shoshu, named the "kitano memo." This information was later used to publicly tar the SGI. This kind of strategy wasn't an aberration however, but is illustrative of the "war" mentality as shown by SGI- corporate in "resisting" Nichiren Shoshu. Since Nichiren Shoshu had made the avowed aim of "crushing" the Gakkai, it was appropriate to resist such aims. I'm not sure it is appropriate to do so in this fashion. Jim Celer tries to defend this memo, and so my link is to that page. kitanomem.html. More recently, a leader seeking to consolidate power in himself in Itally created some controversy by replacing older and established local leaders with younger leaders loyal to himself. This has nothing to do with the Temple issue, but shows that these conflicts are symptomatic of a much broader malaise of leadership "fiefs" and an attitude that treats leadership in the Gakkai as if it were feudal.
In Britain, Richard Causton established a good attitude towards the Dharma, so that most members were insulated from leadership problems or efforts to treat Ikeda as if he were sacrosanct. Mr. Causton's relationship with Ikeda was a genuine mentor/disciple one and he was free to run things as he felt was right. Since his death, the organization has been taken over by the same kind of leadership that we see in other countries, and the result is that people have been becoming "independent", joining some of the rival Nichiren Sects, or joining the Hokkeko. Some members were offended by the erasing of Richard Caustons imprint on the organization following his death, and by first the encouragement of a "Reassessment" of the organization, and then the squashing of efforts to do so.
Itally was often a hotbed of opposition to Nichiren Shoshu. Apparently both Japanese and American ties to Italians had resulted in the formation of an organization that was fairly well established by 1991. At any rate, there were a few incidents with Nichiren Shoshu there, including one where a visiting priest was photographed in a compromising situation, but Italy was spared the kind of internal fighting that occured in Spain, until Mr. Kaneda decided to make a few internal changes. According to reports from Claudio Michelli (A disgruntled Itallian member). The fight there seems to have little to do with Nichiren Shoshu directly. Instead "fighting" Nichiren Shoshu has been an excuse to ease out older indiginous or non Japanese members and replace them with "loyalists," loyal ostensibly to President Ikeda but actually loyal to themselves as "direct disciples" of Ikeda. Among other things they cracked down on the older members and started replacing them with younger people.
The way this works is that leaders would say totally outrageous things. For instance, a member from Central Europe reports to me that; M. Hasagawa (the leader for all Europe) alleges that:
"the Nikken version of the gohonzon has no power to give benefit at all since our 'excommunication'", and that that "the flow of benefit was stopped" for those who kept their Nikken Gohonzon.All this as insistance that people trade in their Nikken gohonzon for Nichikan Gohoonzon. And all of it patent nonsense since even as late as 1992 the Gakkai was teaching that "A gohonzon is a gohonzon is a gohonzon. Your faith is what makes the difference" {Dick Causton, among others}. This sort of outrageous lying offends long time members who know better and aren't expecting this sort of behavior from "leaders" whom they had reason to believe had deep faith and the support of President Ikeda himself. This sort of lie seems to be directed towards raising money from people making "donations" to trade in their old Gohonzon or towards enforcing some sort of strange loyalty test on members by using orwellian language. It seems that it "sparked off a wave of ordinary members (spurred on by various leaders) into doing a witch-hunt against those members who did not change and resulted in a deeply twisted idea of what a gohonzon is." According to my correspondent. More recently the Gakkai leadership has taken President Ikeda's suggestion for people doing a simplified Gongyo (A and C) as an order to be imposed on members, with the result that members all over the world (not just Itally) have become confused and many of them up in arms with the idea. The reason for the difficult "full practice" is that there is a benefit from such "assiduous practice" and it is a kind of discipline that is good for people who do it.
In any case, there seems to be a pattern of "leaders" using their purported ties and loyalty to President Ikeda in order to feather their own beds and positions. Such people are not "true disciples. They take his suggestions and turn them into dogma or orders for "campaigns." And the result is that they are causing chaos world wide. See this post to irgdaimoku number 17996. For more. Recently I heard from another member (this one from Switzerland) who corrobrates Claudio's story with one of his own about what these so called "leaders" are doing to his country and the members there. It seems to be a pattern of disenfranchising local leadership and pushing faith in "person" over Dharma and common sense.
After 10 years I'm tired of hearing the same stuff. I understand that incorrect teachings will take time to be refuted. But I don't see much translation of effort from negativity directed at the Nichiren Shoshu to actual changes and truthful positions. To this day A great and encouraging speech will sometimes end in the admonition to "defeat the evil Nikken Sect" or some other such craziness. It was strange that people could talk about ending world conflict while calling each other "the one great devil", but that was all based on "mirror" misinterpretations of the Gosho and the Sutra. Correcting these distortions of Buddhism is why I've created this website. It is indeed true that mistaken religions are the source of misery for this world, but one doesn't correct other people's religions without first correcting ones own mistakes. And no one has a "lineage" a-priori.
Both the Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu have the classically nearsighted and narrow minded view that heresy within their own groups is more evil even than beliefs that are wildly opposed to Buddhism. Thus the Gakkai engages in conflict resolution and dialogue with almost everybody but Nichiren Buddhists. And NST insists that it's views of Buddhism are the only correct ones, despite acknowledging the Oral Nature of many of their teachings. For instance, Mr. Wada gave this guidance:
"The temple issue won't end suddenly. It is important that each member of SGI-USA truly understand its essential nature, and take it as an opportunity to deepen our faith in and understanding of Nichiren Daishonin¡¦s Buddhism. Just using emotional statements against the priesthood will not help solve this issue at all. What counts is our steady effort to further awaken ourselves and others to the profound significance of this issue.wadatalks.htmI believe that this sort of guidance is itself a misunderstanding of the issues. SGI leaders themselves have to struggle with the same sorts of intolerance, angry nature, or authoritarianism, that resulted in the very "personal" battle between SGI and NST that has occured. I agree with him that the "temple issue" is important to study, but I see it as a case history of how not to propagate and explain Nichiren's teachings to the world and how lies can torpedo even the best of intentions.
If there are fanatically angry Gakkai members, there are also fanatically angry "anti-Gakkai" members. These people, include some who spend a lot of time on the Internet, and have tried every means possible to pursue a war in the name of refuting the "evil" Gakkai. They are a discredit to their sect everybit as much as the fanatics who have turned President Ikeda into a true Buddha and act as if President Ikeda were their father, mother, sovereign, and only authority for what is true and good. For a look at them, visit the alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren on any day of the week. At one time there were people from the Gakkai just as bad (or worse) with anonymous monikers such as Kachiyuke" or similar. These people seemed more interested in the scatological or ethical peccadillos of Priest or Gakkai leaders than the truth or falsity of the important issues or doctrines between the groups.
In the USA some Hokkeko members, initially led by Craig Bratcher and John Ayers, began translating these various materials. Soon a Brittish Hokkeko member, Paul Muntz joined them. John Ayers created a website called the "Clearinghouse" which the Gakkai "countered" with a website called "clearing up the clearinghouse." John's site recently came down, but Craig put up a site "SG-Eye" to replace it. Many of the battles were "fought" on news-groups such as alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren. Nichiren Shoshu members and Gakkai members have "duked it out" with a mutual suspicion and paranoia that has often seemed almost comical to outsiders. Most of the more angry Hokkeko members are ex-Gakkai members who have learned to distrust and fear the Gakkai. Both sides tend to take absolutist or fundamentalist stands without really thinking clearly about the full logic of their positions. To this day some Hokkeko members seem to "live" on ARBN as if they don't have anything better to do. The Gakkai members have pretty much given up trying to outspam masters of spam such as Craig Bratcher, who is infamous among the Gakkai. Likewise some Gakkai members put up nasty anonymous sites. Examples:
- see: http://www.ibiblio.org/usenet-i/groups-html/alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren.html
- http://groups.google.com/groups?q=alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren&btnG=Search&meta=site%3Dgroups).
- alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren
- AOl:http://members.aol.com/masataisei/shoshu/booboo.htm">http://members.aol.com/masataisei/shoshu/booboo.htm
In 1990 President Ikeda gave guidance on how to make our organization better. This guidance was aimed at dealing with the sort of things that made us vulnerable to the words and recruitments of the priests in the first place. SGI has a ways to go before it becomes the kind of organization that will be competant to propagate true Buddhism. Largely because the reforms advocated in those guidances have been set aside in favor of efforts to push respect for President Ikeda and to deal with Nichiren Shoshu. For more on that follow this link: IRGissues.html or visit: the IRG webpage at www.daimoku.com.
Similarilly, the "war" with SGI has caused Nichiren Shoshu to "set in stone" doctrines that were formerly traditional, oral, and that should instead be subject to revision or even refutation. The traditions of Nichiren Shoshu (and I believe all the Nichiren groups) are valuable. They are a heritage to be respected. The value of the "Community" and of Buddhism rests in the notion of "Sangha" which is not a group of people all marching in lockstep, but people waking up to the "one great truth" of the Lotus Sutra teaching and faith in
Nam Myoho Renge kyo
For a list of events and their timeline it might not hurt to follow this URL: to my "split" page. For the priests views on the excommunication of the Gakkai you can visit this page: expel.html For the paper I helped write about this subject, and submitted to the SGI headquarters, please visit this link: http://daimoku.com/IRG-TIpaper.html
For many Gakkai members the issues are about things that they had learned from Nichiren Shoshu, such as the uniqueness and necessity of worshipping the wooden Dai-Gohonzon, the Kechimyaku of faith versus the Kechimyaku of the Law, or issues of whether to follow the high priest, Ikeda, or Nichiren himself. The Gakkai had firmly sought to affirm the authenticity of the Dai-Gohonzon and of Nichiren Shoshu's lineage, right up to the time when the feud broke into the open. For that reason many members felt that the Dai-Gohonzon belongs to them and that the priests have somehow "Hijacked" it from them. They also felt very betrayed by the priests for not backing their efforts for "Kosenrufu" of the World.
The higher the position in the organization, the more likely it was that the person was indoctrinated with the now contradictory but once believable twin notions that President Ikeda was their mentor and that the true lineage is only found in Nichiren Shoshu. For that reason the "split" caused deep cognitive dissonance in most of us. I've handled it by studying the issues and coming up with what I've put on this website. Others have handled it differently, some joining the Temple, some fighting for the Gakkai, and others fighting "against" the Gakkai.
Unfortunately as I hear reports of what is happening world wide and within our own country, I suspect that for the Japanese Leaders there is also another motive at work. That motive is the one that comes from the "Three poisons" of anger, greed, and stupidity. These people are using the "Temple Issue" as a hammer to beat the organization into their own image and control it. "True Disciples" are vying with one another to display the most loyalty to the cause and to prove that they are the most fawning and mendacious soldiers in the battle to destroy Nichiren Shoshu. Such people think they are battling Nikken but they are really battling to destroy their own organization from within.
- Note the highlighted names above are mostly links to other websites on this page.
- Return to main index | Return to Index More Sources
More links:
- Gosho Study | Illuminated Gosho Passages
- Gakkai links
- Jim Celers "Bone" site
- clearingup the clearing house site
- link that tries to refute Craig's allegations:http://www.sokaspirit.com/thetrut.htm mostly from the below "sgi-eye" link.
- This is a link to many other
- Web links detailing the Gakkai's arguments with Nichiren Shoshu
- Non Gakkai links:
- http://news.sg-eye.com/ The Hokkeko's web page that tries to defend themselves against Gakkai allegations and make their own.
- This page is more objective and still desturbing
- http://www.caic.org.au/eastern/soka/hirano.htm
- This site is (always) under construction if you'd like to add something or contribute something please
- Email me at: [email protected]