Before the "split" in 1990, the Gakkai
and Nichiren Shoshu had had other incidents and conflicts. Thus the so-called Temple incident, or as it is renamed now Soka Spirit have a long history, starting as far back as the creation of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai itself under Makiguchi, the founder of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai and Josei Toda, who took it from a nearly vanished organization to the role of a major one. Ikeda, The third President was involved in most of the post world war II incidents. Because of the complexity of the story. It is best to read each article seperately. But here I'm trying to synopsize.
The "genesis" of the split between SGI and Nichiren Shoshu probably reaches back to the time of Nikko Shonin, when Nikko Shonin demonstrated both admirable independent spirit and a severe emphasis on "discipline" in founding the Fuji School. All the Nichiren Schools have demonstrated elements of this tension between "strictness" and "independent spirit." Often new groups formed because one or another founder felt that his rivals were teaching incorrect Buddhism in one way or another. This is called "slander of the Dharma" or "hobo." Nichiren Shoshu was no different from the others in this respect. It was a small "teaching school" or "main temple" with a limited number of branch temples.
Even the conversion of the bookish scholar Tsunesuburu Makiguchi.html and his disciple Toda was not completely a match made in heaven. These two men had a sometimes problematical relationship with Nichiren Shoshu. Nichiren Shoshu, like most groups has factions, and some of those factions were amiable towards a lay group like the future Gakkai and others were hostile. These two men were guided in their religious efforts by an Iconclastic former High Priest named Revered Hori and by a future High Priest Reverend Horigome, to develop a religion based on rational principles, laymen, and faith in the Nichiren Buddhist Dharma -- but with ideas borrowed from Makiguchi's educational theories(Soka) and modern Japanese thinking that seemed "heretical" to more staid and conservative elements of Nichiren Shoshu.
Even more important those "conservative" elements were also jingoistic and xenophobic. Thus prior to World War II, they came into conflict with the ideas of Chigaku Tanaka and The Nichiren Shoshu priest Ogasawara. Tsunesuburu Makiguchi died in Jail.
However, Josei Toda came out of prison even more wedded to Nichiren Shoshu doctrines than before. In prison he first hand experienced the power and magesty of the Lotus Sutra which is the heritage of Nichirenism in general, and the interpretation of that Lotus Sutra (see "lectures on the Sutra") that places Nichiren front and center in the experience of enlightenment. More specifically he realized that original enlightenment truly is a property of the Buddhist experience and had an oceanic experience of "enlightenment" that informed his behavior the rest of his life. He was convinced that the doctrines of Nichiren Shoshu were the correct interpretation of the Lotus Sutra.
Toda never forgot what had happened to his mentor, but he didn't blame it on Nichiren Shoshu as a whole. Rather he saw it as an expression of fundamental darkness, and those who expressed those dark ideas as like a "cancer" or disease within the "Sangha" or body of priests and believers. In the fifties he ended up using his leading youth disciples to way lay and punish this Jimon Ogasawara (see link), the result was that he was almost excommunicated, because strangely Mr. Ogasawara had been accepted back into the priesthood of Nichiren Shoshu without having to apologize for anything. The incident was ugly, and neither side ever forgot it. A young Daisaku Ikeda had been one of the youth leaders involved in this incident, and some members of the clergy never forgot that either.
While the Sokagakkai claimed to have been completely against the war during the period before World War II. (They had been less than tepid towards the war, and that is probably the best anyone can expect from a group that didn't outright asked to be arrested tortured and killed by the WWII Japanese). They had rivals in this Kenshokai and this rivalry took the form of a fight over the name of a new building. The Sho-Hondo which was built to house a treasure of Nichiren Shoshu known as the Dai-Gohonzon. Nittatsu Shonin wanted to reinterpret the admonitions of Nichiren contained in the "Three Great Secret Laws" Gosho to build a Grand ordination platform at the time of Kosenrufu. But his opponants wanted to save that name for the time when the Emperor actually does literally convert. The building was built anyway and so named (See links associated with name Sho-Hondo and Nittatsu). However, the literalism of the MyoShinkai led to their being "excommunicated" and to the Gakkai feeling a great sense of danger during the transmittal ceremony. According to oral accounts the two groups actually engaged each other in physical violence when Myoshinkai members attacked Gakkai members.
In 1979 President Ikeda resigned. Nittatsu Shonin laid out why in one of his speeches see nittatsu1.html, Speach to Danto. Basically it boiled down to him taking responsibility for the behavior of his organization. As Nittatsu then said:
Indeed, in the Gakkai it is being said:
"...We don't recall having said President Ikeda is the Buddha. That would never happen in the Gakkai."
At the time, we in the US were members of a group called NSA. We had been involved in cult-like activities including 6 day a week practice and what was called "street Shakubuku." We were told that we were part of the reason that Ikeda resigned. That might have been true. There is a lot more to be said, so follow the embedded links if it sounds intersting to.
For more on this see the pages on each of the major parties in this.
Nittatsu Shonin died in 1979, during all the controversy and was succeeded by Nikken Shonin. Unfortunately there were legitimacy issues around his succession, and that led to the so called Shoshinkai incidents. The priests who rebelled against Nikken recalled speaches from Nittatsu which supported honesty and forthright remonstration against injustice and oppression. Unfortunately, for them, they were actually only exposing themselves as "nails to be hammered down." They had reason to be distrustful of him. The scuttlebut among them was that he was arrogant and that he had other personal faults (See Seattle Incident and kawabe memo incident for more detail). The Gakkai and NST seemed peaceful for the next ten years. Then a very personal and nasty war of words broke out between them in 1990. See split, and Temple Wars and personal.html for the aftermath.
In retrospect, it appears that both groups had set aside their eventual conflict for a later time when it would be advantageous to them. That is the real reason they waited til the 90's.
- The "Shoshinkai Incident" and it's relevance here
- Background on President Ikeda and his 1979 resignation
- The Seattle Incident and time line related to it
- I've put together a page about the old NSA organization
- This is a page about the sokagakkai
- Following links to each of the principles in this story will also give information:
- President Akiya
- Fujimoto is Nikken's deputy
- Ikeda is the "Honorary President
- Nikken is the head of Nichiren Shoshu
- This is a link to my discussions about doctrinal issues
- After 1990: See split.htmlfor information on what happened after this date. This page is only concerned with events before 1991.