From: kish@titania.rutgers.edu (Kish)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra
Date: 18 Aug 92 19:45:17 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

+      I tried to write about the *experience* of Buddhism in a simple, plain-
+speaking manner.  The "concentrated" mind of which you speak results from the
+chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and does not occur by chance or haphazardly
+nor, in my experience (prior to chanting I had tried Zen, Kudalini and Hatha
+yoga, Vedic and Tantric studies, macrobiotics, Quaker meditation, etc.), from
+other pursuits.  Indeed, I had concluded prior to chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
+that Buddhism did not work and did not relate to daily life or the world 
+today.

	If Nicheren practices work for you, great - thats you.  If Zen, 
Tantra, etc. all failed to work for you - well, that's you too !  Had you
stayed with any of these "inferior vehicles" long enough, I think your opinion 
of them might be more positive.

+      The teachings of Shingon, Nembutsu, Zen, and Ritsu teach Dharma accord-
+ing to the people's capacity rather than the Dharma itself revealed only, by 
+Shakyamuni's own words, in the Lotus Sutra.  These sects do not base their 
+teachings on the Lotus Sutra.  The Lotus Sutra also states:  "One who refuses 
+to take faith in this sutra and instead slanders it immediately destroys the 
+seeds for becoming a Buddha in this world....After they die, they will fall
+into the Avichi Hell."  (LS, Ch. 3)

So what ?  Since when is the transmission of Buddha mind accomplished by a
particular reading of a "special" text ?  I guess oral transmission from 
teacher to student is completely irrelevant ?  Or maybe just "provisional" ...
	Your whole post is strangely reminiscent of the mind of a 
fundamentalist Christian who claims that the Bible is the word of God because 
"it says so right there in the Bible".  It was dissatisfaction with logic 
like this that led me to Buddhism !  

A passage from one of your many Nicheren quotes ...
+
+I borrowed from Nichiren 
+("Questions and Answers on Embracing the Lotus Sutra," MW 5, p. 18-9):
+"The Muryogi Sutra says:  '[Because people differ in their natures and 
+desires,] I expounded the Law in various ways.  Expounding the Law in various 
+ways, I made use of the power of expedient means.  But in these more than 
+forty years, I have not yet revealed the truth.'  Hearing this pronounce-
+ment, Bodhisattva Daishogon and the other eighty thousand bodhisattvas replied
+in unison, voicing their understanding that '[If one cannot hear of this
+sutra...,] in the end he will never attain supreme enlightenment, even after
+the lapse of countless, limitless, inconceivable asogi kalpas.'  The point of
+this passage is to make clear that, no matter how much one may aspire to the
+Buddha Way by calling upon the name of Amida Buddha or by embracing the
+teachings of the Zen sect--relying on the sutras of the Kegon, Agon, Hodo and
+Hannya periods preached by the Buddha during the previous forty years and
+more--he will never succeed in attaining supreme enlightenment, even though a
+countless, limitless, inconceivable number of asogi kalpas should pass....
+[The Lotus Sutra] says...'There is the Dharma of only one vehicle.  There are
+not two, nor are there three.'...It also says, 'One who refuses to take faith
+in this sutra and instead slanders it immediately destroys the seeds for be-
+coming a Buddha in this world.'"
+

There doesn't seem to be any actual textual argument, at least within the 
excerpt you provide above, which supports Nicheren's readings of these two 
sutra passages, i.e., that Zen and Nembutsu are inferior vehicles. To "take 
faith in this sutra" might actually be completely different from chanting 
"Nam-myoho-renge-kyo".  Perhaps to "take faith in this sutra" is sitting 
shikan-taza.  I don't necessarily see a problem, although Nicheren and you 
both seem to insist on a divisive and closed minded reading.  In Nicheren's 
case, I think the desire for political advantage is a very likely motivation 
for this kind of reading.  In your case, I think your strong faith in Nicheren 
is preventing you from seeing other points of view.

-Bill
-- 

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