Post by ChrisPost by Reginald CarpenterGood day, everyone! Re. "Sundevil" posting on 12/19/05, 9:11pm CST+1.
Rev. Abe's excommunication of Mr. Ikeda, and then the Sokagakkai, seemed
to have a lot more to do with their attitude to him, than with the
myriads of doctrinal distortions that preceded his term and continued,
throughout it. (That, and the Ode to Joy.) As an outside observer, it
appeared to me that Soka Gakkai was free to do and expound whatever they
wanted, so long as they paid lip service to Rev. Abe. It was only when
they began to openly criticize and belittle him that the trouble began.
******************************************************
I think any honest observer not in deep denial would agree with this
summary.
Chris
Once again this sounds right to me as Nichiren Shoshu beleivers started to
view SGI in the light of the critics made more than 10 years before by the
Shoshinkai, only because Abe Nikken started to be attacked in person by
Ikeda.
@lex
Former Los Angeles
Priest Speaks Out:
An Interview With Chief Priest Gun'ei Kudo
The following is an interview with Chief Priest Gun'ei Kudo, the former
chief priest of Myoho-ji temple in Los Angeles and current chief priest of
Choei-ji temple in Tokyo. In this interview, which appeared in the Feb. 19
issue of Soka Shimpo, Mr. Kudo explains why seven priests, including
himself, sent their 'Letter of Remonstration' to High Priest Nikken (see the
Feb. 10 issue of The SGI-USA Newsletter).
On Feb. 3, 1992, seven Nichiren Shoshu priests announced that they had
officially left Nichiren Shoshu. The seven priests include: Gun'ei Kudo;
Shojun Ohashi, chief priest of Daisho-ji temple in Wakayama; Kodo Yoshikawa,
chief priest of Kenbutsu-ji temple in Kyoto; Takudo Ikeda, chief priest of
Seyu-ji temple in Shiga; Yubin Kushioka, chief priest of Noken-ji temple in
Aichi; Yushin Yoshikawa, chief priest of Zenko-ji temple in Nagano; and Yuho
Miyagawa, assistant priest of Choei-ji temple in Tokyo. They took this
action in hopes that Nichiren Shoshu will restore the original spirit of
Nichiren Daishonin and Nikko Shonin. Later, Yugu Nanta, chief priest of
Koryu-ji temple in Hokkaido, followed their example with his own departure
from Nichiren Shoshu on Feb. 8. (Editor's Note: Throughout this interview,
Mr. Kudo uses the Japanese term Sensei when referring to SGI President
Ikeda, signifying his deep respect.)
Soka Shimpo: We understand that you and the other seven priests were
surprised when High Priest Nikken began to criticize the Soka Gakkai at the
end of 1990.
Kudo: True. It seemed to us as though the high priest had changed
personalities; from the time he became high priest in 1979 up to that point,
he had been praising the Soka Gakkai. However, closer observation reveals
that the high priest's underlying attitude has remained unchanged over the
years. In other words, he has inherently been dominated by an elitist,
who's-senior-and-who's-junior consciousness. You may also describe it as an
abnormal thirst for authority and power. While he favors those who obey and
kowtow to him, he despises those who even quietly voice slightly differing
opinions. His anachronistic view of the priesthood's alleged superiority,
which is widely known today, compels him to insist that priests should
always be considered superior to lay believers. This is why he overreacts
whenever the Gakkai attempts to express an opinion, claiming that the Gakkai
is trying to control Nichiren Shoshu. On the other hand, when people are
obedient to him, he commends them as loyal believers.
Soka Shimpo: You have known High Priest Nikken since 1955 when you were an
acolyte at Jonsen-ji temple in Tokyo, which is near Hongyo-ji temple where
he was chief priest. What do you remember about him?
Kudo: He was well known in Nichiren Shoshu for his hot temper, which often
resulted in violent outbursts toward acolytes. In fact, acolytes were
frightened on him because he would often hit them. He never hit me, however;
I knew that if he did I would hit him back. In short, he only hit those who
didn't seem to have the guts to retaliate. I think he is a coward.
Soka Shimpo: The second president , Josei Toda, once scolded a youthful
priest Abe (now High Priest Nikken). Do you recall that?
Kudo: Yes. I did not witness it, but I have heard of the incident. In his
article, titled 'On the Occasion of Toda Sensei's Passing,' in the May 1958
issue of Dai-Nichiren, High Priest Nikken writes: "Perhaps because of my
negative karma, or maybe because of the 'baseness of the priest's nature,'
which Toda Sensei always rebuked and which I must have had in me, I
inadvertently built a wall in my heart around 1949 to ward him off. In those
days, my attitude did not fully comply with the spirit of Toda Sensei, who
was well versed in the 'round teachings' of the Lotus Sutra and very strict
about the mastery of the Way.' The 'baseness of the priest's nature' is well
said. it seems to me that Toda Sensei was long aware of Mr. Abe's innate
contempt of the laity and his biased opinion that the priesthood is superior
to lay believers.
Soka Shimpo: Recently, Nikken contended that President Toda told the 65th
high priest, Nichijun Shonin, at Myoden-ji temple in Okayama City in August
1956, "In the future, if the Soka Gakkai grows big and starts pressuring
Nichiren Shoshu, please order that it be disbanded." What is your reaction?
Kudo: How could President Toda have said such a thing? I don't believe it.
An important statement like that would have been officially recorded, but
there is no such record. If someone within Nichiren Shoshu knew about his
alleged statement by President Toda, it would have been brought out in the
late 1970s during the earlier dispute between Nichiren Shoshu and the Soka
Gakkai. It is indeed strange that the priesthood suddenly produced this
obviously fabricated story. One month after I became a priest in November
1956, I was chosen from among several acolytes to attend High Priest
Nichijun. Because of that opportunity, I was present at almost every meeting
he had with President Toda. However, I never heard these alleged words or
anything along similar lines. It's only natural that I never heard such a
remark between Nichijun Shonin and President Toda, because their
relationship was filled with mutual trust and profound compassion. Even
today, when I recall their relationship, I feel an upsurge of deep emotions
in my heart. They set a great example of harmony between priesthood and
laity.
Soka Shimpo: High Priest Nikken writes many more fabrications in an article
he recently contributed to a Japanese monthly magazine, Bungei Shunju.
Kudo: Essentially, the high priest does not understand the true nature of
the Soka Gakkai. I believe he has hardly read the Seikyo Simbun or any other
Gakkai publications. On top of that, his unconscionable staff keeps feeding
him anti-Gakkai information, which he uses out of context. Therefore, his
criticism often does not make sense. He degenerates Ikeda Sensei's guidance
without a proper grasp of the context in which it was given. He uses Ikeda
Sensei's own words to criticize him for criticism's sake. A typical example
is his criticism of Sensei's guidance at the 1964 Student Division Meeting.
High Priest Nikken contends that Ikeda Sensei belittled the significance of
the High Sanctuary of True Buddhism in that guidance. But when you read the
entirety of that guidance and consider that, in those days, the concept of a
high sanctuary was attacked by many people in society, you can see that
Ikeda Sensei was stressing the importance of the process of achieving
kosen-rufu. In this respect, the high priest's criticism of Ikeda Sensei is
pointless. Because the tone of his complaint sounded familiar to me, I did
some research and found exactly the same criticism in a book published in
1979 by a former leader who stopped practicing Buddhism (taiten) and is now
against the Soka Gakkai. The high priest will use anything to defame the
image of Ikeda Sensei. He denies everything that commends Sensei. He is so
deeply jealous of Sensei that we could say he is sick.
Soka Shimpo: The 'Demand for Apology' was sent by the priesthood to the
honorary president last March. Would you say it was the result of Nikken's
jealousy?
Kudo: The contents of that document are so flimsy. Even the way it came
about was pretty strange. If it was seeking an apology from a believer, then
the Administrative Office should have simply issued it under its own
recognizance. Instead, Nichiren Shoshu authorities forced this document upon
each parish and insisted that each priest sign it. Thus each parish sent the
same document to the honorary president. Consequently, executive priests
such as Executive Officer Hayase, General Administrator Fujimoto and other
officers of the Administrative Office signed their names only on the
document issued from the parish to which they belong. Obviously, the
Administrative Office is attempting to avoid responsibility for this matter
and, at the same time, check the attitude of each priest at every local
temple.
Soka Shimpo: You, Mr. Ohashi and others refused to endorse this 'Demand for
Apology,' didn't you?
Kudo: Ikeda Sensei has not done anything wrong in view of Buddhism, yet
Nichiren Shoshu, without any proof of wrongdoing, asserted he had committed
the great sin of attempting to destroy the Three Treasures. What an awful
document that 'Demand for Apology' was! Unconvinced of the validity of this
document, Mr. Ohashi and I visited the head temple on March 5 last year to
meet with the high priest in his reception room. We asked that he lose no
time in talking directly with Ikeda Sensei. However, for some reason, he
hated the idea of meeting or talking with him. He repeatedly insisted,
"Ikeda must apologize to me."
Soka Shimpo: Did he say anything else at that time?
Kudo: We asked him several questions for two-and-a-half hours. One question
was about Operation C. The high priest clearly said: "I know it. C stands
for C-U-T. Yes, it means to cut off the head of that bastard." He also said,
"But I did not write this scheme myself." It seemed to us that he did not
want us to look any deeper into that subject. Then he added, to defend
himself: "Ikeda criticizes Nichiren Shoshu too much at the Soka Gakkai
Headquarters building. Some priests have heard this." When I heard the high
priest say this, I immediately thought to myself, "Oh, no! Again?" During
the previous dispute between the Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu in the late
1970s, many groundless stories and slander of Ikeda Sensei flew around in
Nichiren Shoshu. Because of this, anti-Gakkai sentiments were intentionally
created among the executive priests. This time, too, criticism and slander
of the Gakkai was aired within Nichiren Shoshu purely for the sake of
criticism and slander, not for any constructive purpose. I became convinced
of this when I heard that remark by the high priest. When I heard about the
contents of Operation C, I felt the past conspiracy of Masatomo Yamazaki had
abruptly reappeared after the passage of many years. As a matter of fact,
when you read Operation C, anyone who experienced the earlier dispute can
readily believe that Yamazaki injected his wicked wisdom into this document.
The high priest himself refuted Yamazaki 10 years ago, but now he has
accepted him. There is no doubt that the current issue is the result of a
dark scheme to control the Soka Gakkai. In other words, Nichiren Shoshu
intentionally caused the current dispute. Later in October, I requested that
the executive priests clarify the existence of Operation C at my parish
gathering. I belong to the second parish of Tokyo, to which all the bureau
chiefs of the Administrative Office belong. Our gathering takes on the tone
of a meeting of the Administrative Office. General Affairs Bureau Chief
Hayase, Study Department Chief Ohmura, overseas Bureau Chief Ohbayashi and
Public Relations Bureau Chief Akimoto all insisted that they had no prior
knowledge of Operation C. I was shocked at this answer. When I asked them if
they had ever seen the document of Operation C, they excused themselves by
saying, "We saw it in a weekly magazine." Then I asked, if the existence of
Operation C is revealed, how would they, as the authorities of the
Administrative Office, take responsibility. They neither committed
themselves to take responsibility nor denied it. They only repeated the "We
just don't know about it." I felt as if I were dealing with indiscreet kids.
Our discussion went nowhere.
Soka Shimpo: What other points did you bring up during your meeting with the
high priest on March 5?
Kudo: We also requested that he clarify his lecture on the Sho-Hondo, part
of which he later corrected. We put many old issues of Dai-Nichiren and
other reference materials on the table during our audience. We pointed out
that even before Ikeda Sensei's 1968 statement, Nittatsu Shonin and many
other priests clearly stated that the Sho-Hondo would be the High Sanctuary
of True Buddhism. The high priest, first groaning slightly and then tapping
his head, began to murmur. As a matter of fact, he always goes through these
motions when he knows he is wrong. However, he never admits when he is
wrong. As we expected, he just repeated excuses like, "I did not prepare for
my speech on that occasion," and "I did not plan to make that kind of
remark." He aimlessly repeated vague explanations, which did not address the
essence of the matter. I deeply felt he admitted in his heart that he had
made a mistake.
Soka Shimpo: Would you say that his character compels him to feel superior
to everyone else?
Kudo: During our audience with him, he consistently called Honorary
President Ikeda 'that bastard' or 'that clown." Also, at times, he
contemptuously called him 'Daisaku-kun' (kun, in this particular case, is a
word added to indicate superiority). When I called him Ikeda Sensei, the
high priest shouted angrily at me, "Why do you call him Ikeda Sensei? Just
call him Ikeda." He can keep his cool when we talk about the Gakkai, but
when our talk refers to the honorary president, his emotions pour out. When
I replied, "General Affairs Bureau Chief Hayase also uses such expressions
as Ikeda Sensei or Akiya Sensei," the high priest responded, "What you mean
by calling him Sensei and what the General Affairs Bureau chief means are
different." You can see how two-faced the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood is. For
many years, their attitude toward the Gakkai appeared all right on the
surface, but deep in their hearts they despised it.
Soka Shimpo: Is it true that the high priest's view of the honorary
president and the priesthood's distorted view of the Soka Gakkai constitute
the roots of the current issues?
Kudo: Yes. I think that, in the final analysis, the moment the high priest
believed Ikeda Sensei was wrong, his distortion in faith took place. The
Gakkai alleges that his warped notion of Ikeda Sensei caused him to
misinterpret the Gosho. Because the high priest reads the Gosho form this
biased viewpoint, he misuses all the golden words and phrases of the Gosho
to defame the honorary president and entrap the Soka Gakkai. The priesthood
uses the Gosho 'Shonin Gohenji' (Reply to Various People) to claim that it
is superior to laity, and it uses 'The Four Debts of Gratitude' to insist
that the high priest is the center of the Treasure of the Priest. It was
inevitable that the priesthood would have to justify their contention that
Ikeda Sensei represents evil. In addition, the high priest compared the
honorary president to Hakiri Sanenaga, a grave slanderer, and began to
praise Hakiri more than the honorary president. This is an ultimate example
of how he has altered historical facts, as well as the teachings of Nichiren
Shoshu.
Soka Shimpo: What about the high priest's distorted views of the Soka
Gakkai?
Kudo: In discussing this issue, first I would like to point out that
Buddhism stresses the importance of the 'time'; more specifically, what kind
of time we live in now. The important thing is to put the age in which we
now live into correct perspective. In an article titled "On the Occasion of
the 704th Anniversary of the Establishment of True Buddhism," published on
New Years Day, 1956, Nichijun Shonin writes, "It seems to me that future
historians will define the first 700 years of Nichiren Shoshu as an age in
which the priesthood protected the Law, after which it becomes an age of the
propagation of the Law for kosen-rufu (by the Soka Gakkai)." It was the Soka
Gakkai that stood up to realize the mandate of the Daishonin at a time when
conditions in post-war Japanese society were ripe for the promotion of
kosen-rufu. In fact, the Gakkai has successfully created a dynamic flow of
Buddhist propagation throughout Japan and the world. That is why the Gakkai
is called the organization of kosen-rufu that lives up to the Buddha's will
and mandate. Shallow people who do not understand the significance of the
Soka Gakkai in view of the history of Buddhism boast that the priesthood is
superior to the Gakkai just because of their role of authority. Such a
claim, whether it is made by the high priest or somebody else, cannot be
tolerated.
Soka Shimpo: After all, the current priesthood does not understand Buddhism
itself.
Kudo: The Daishonin's Buddhism cannot exist apart from the goals of
kosen-rufu and the people's happiness. The Soka Gakkai has been actualizing
these objectives. Priests must be aware of this. However, the priesthood,
disregarding this fact, stubbornly tries to protect its conventional
traditions. It is only natural that those people who are attached only to
the past and do not look either at the present or to the future will become
obstacles in the progress of kosen-rufu. It stands to reason that the Soka
Gakkai, which aims towards kosen-rufu and gazes at the future and the world,
contends that the current priesthood performs only a devilish function.
Also, it can be said, as long as it functions negatively for kosen-rufu, the
current Nichiren Shoshu is useless for Buddhism. In short, it is a
misinterpretation for the priesthood to say that the Gakkai's organization
was built in post-war time based upon the 700-year-old tradition of Nichiren
Shoshu.
In general, the traditions that the priesthood emphasizes are the remains of
formalities that formed as a result of its deviation from the Daishonin's
Buddhism. To regard such traditions as Buddhism itself is an illusion and is
beneficial only to the priesthood. The Gakkai has not been swayed by such
falsehood. Returning to the days of Nichiren Daishonin in terms of faith
under the excellent leadership of the successive presidents of the Soka
Gakkai, the Gakkai has established pure faith, making the Gohonzon the
foundation and basing ourselves on the Gosho. The Nichiren Shoshu priesthood
accepted the Shinto talisman during the war allegedly to protect the sect
for the sake of the Law. Without being influenced by the priesthood's
compromise with the military government, the Soka Gakkai proceeded to live
up to the Daishonin's spirit and persisted in its resolute belief that it
would never condone slanderous actions. The history of the Soka Gakkai is
ready to construct the fortress of humanism and happiness on the solid
foundation that has been built on Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. Though
incapable, I am determined to fight wholeheartedly from now on against those
evil priests of the current Nichiren Shoshu who are jealous of, despise, and
intend to destroy the Gakkai's castle of happiness.