Reverend Tono
Reverend Tono was a young priest in New York City, who joined the "Shoshinkai" priests in 1979-1984 and was expelled on account of this. Priests were supposed to stay out of Religious politics and toe the party line or be silent. He was expelled for doing independent "Oko's," questioning Nikken's succession, and criticized the doctrines and practices of the Gakkai. These are only the kind of behavior that Nichiren would have expected in the face of "slander of the Dharma," but the people involved weren't interested in listening to criticisms or willing to make any changes based on the words of a junior level priest.
Tono came here as a disciple of Nittatsu Shonin. Later when Nikken assumed the mantle of High Priest, and insisted on him being quiet, he questioned his accession. Nikken had received the "water of the Law" from Nittatsu's death-bed, and couldn't prove that he had done so legitimately. There were other reasons to question Nikken's heritage, but just questioning it was enough to get these priests expelled. Criticizing the Gakkai was not what did it. Still, he recounts how two Gakkai YMD delivered his "papers" of expulsion, and I remember how happy and thankful the leaders were when he was defrocked. I personally don't see how this could have been a happy occassion. (A Happy occassion is when there is a genuine resolution of issues). At the time I was told how "evil" he was, and how he had started out sincerely (with minor criticisms) and how those had gradually snow-balled into onshitsu(slander). Those minor criticisms were important to him, and the "major slander" turned out to be questioning the lineage of the High Priest, which turned out to merit some questioning.
Tono did do us American's a favor. Partly due to his expulsion (since priests were forbidden to do so before 1991 in this country -- outside of "Oko's" on very general subjects). He was the first Nichiren Shoshu priest who was willing to teach Nichiren Shoshu doctrines in depth and in English. I have preserved one of his Oko's (and will probably keep two of them). Most of these were informative, though some of them were very critical of the Gakkai. In retrospect, some of the things he criticized have been changed. You can also learn a lot about the issues of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism by reading between the lines of this Oko that I'm putting this link to: tonoko.html
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