Guidance from Sixty-eighth\nHigh Priest Nichinyo Shonin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On the Occasion of the December<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n K\u014dsen-rufu Sh\u014ddai Ceremony<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n December 2, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Reception Hall, Head Temple Taisekiji<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On this occasion of the December K\u014dsen-rufu\nSh\u014ddai Ceremony, the last K\u014dsen-rufu Sh\u014ddai Ceremony of the year, conducted\nhere today at the Head Temple, I would like to express my heartfelt\nappreciation to the large number of participants in attendance. We have only a few weeks remaining in the final\nmonth of this year, \u201cThe Year of Action.\u201d I imagine that the members of each chapter,\nbased on unity between the priesthood and laity, are exerting themselves in their\npractice, aiming toward the achievement of this year\u2019s shakubuku goals, as well\nas our goal to achieve a membership of 800,000 Hokkeko believers by 2021, when we\nwill be commemorating the 800th Anniversary of the advent of our Founder,\nNichiren Daishonin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Daishonin teaches the following in the\nGosho, Attaining Enlightenment at the Initial Stage of Faith through the Lotus\nSutra<\/em> (Hokke shoshin\nj\u014dbutsu-sh\u014d):<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though\nthey are destined to fall into hell, if they hear the Lotus Sutra, which\nenables people to attain Buddhahood, this [encounter] will sow the seed of\n[Buddhahood] into their lives, and they eventually will attain enlightenment\nwithout fail. Therefore, Tiantai and\nMiaole follow this notion and expound in their commentaries that they should\ntirelessly teach the Lotus Sutra. It is\nlike those who falter and fall to the ground and who are able to use that very\nground to push themselves up to stand again. In the same way, even if they descend into\nhell, they will rise again before long and attain Buddhahood. The people in the world today have turned\ntheir backs on the Lotus Sutra and, for that offense, they will undoubtedly fall\ninto hell. Therefore, in any case, one\nshould strongly teach and make people listen to the teachings of the Lotus\nSutra. Those who follow and take faith\nin it will be able to attain enlightenment, and even those who slander it will\nlikewise attain Buddhahood in the end through the poison-drum relationship. In any case, the seed of Buddhahood can be\nfound nowhere other than the Lotus Sutra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Gosho<\/em>, p. 1316)<\/p>\n\n\n\n This Gosho\npassage is the Daishonin\u2019s answer to the question: \u201cWould it be better to\npreach the teachings of Nembutsu, which conform to the people\u2019s capacity, and\nmake them awaken to Buddhism, rather than to strongly teach and make people\nlisten to the Lotus Sutra, which does not suit their capacity, and cause them\nto slander it and fall into the evil paths?\u201d The Daishonin expounds that even if one should\nfall into hell [as a result of slandering the Lotus Sutra], if one hears the\nLotus Sutra, which enables one to attain Buddhahood, this [encounter] will sow\nthe seed of [Buddhahood] into one\u2019s heart, and one eventually will attain\nenlightenment without fail. Thus, we\nshould strongly teach the Lotus Sutra, even if those to whom we preach do not\nbelieve in it. Both the Great Teachers Tiantai\nand Miaole instruct that one should strongly teach and make people listen to the\nteachings of the Lotus Sutra based on this belief. It is like those who trip and fall to the\nground and who are able to use that very ground to push themselves up to stand\nagain. In the same way, even if they\ndescend into hell once, they will promptly rise again and attain Buddhahood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Gosho, The\nDoctrine of Ichinen Sanzen <\/em>(Ichinen sanzen h\u014dmon)\nthe Daishonin states as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When\none chants Myoho-Renge-Kyo, the Buddhahood inherent in one\u2019s life will be\nmanifested. Those who have the\nopportunity to hear it will be able to eradicate their negative karma that has\nbeen accumulating for infinite asamkhya <\/em>kalpas. Those [who hear Myoho-Renge-Kyo] and rejoice\nfor even a single life-moment, will attain Buddhahood in their present form. Even if they hear it but do not believe in it,\nthis constitutes the sowing of the seed of Buddhahood. Thus, the sown seed will become mature and\nenable one to attain Buddhahood without fail. (Gosho<\/em>, p. 109)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this Gosho passage, the Daishonin refers\nto the principle of faith and practice based on a single moment of rejoicing. At the same time, he shows the benefit of a\nreverse relationship. Even those who do\nnot take faith in Myoho-Renge-Kyo and oppose it, can attain enlightenment\nwithout fail through hearing it. This is\nbecause hearing the Lotus Sutra will create the sowing of the seed of\nBuddhahood into their lives. This sown\nseed will become mature and enable them to attain Buddhahood without fail. In particular, now in the Latter Day of the\nLaw, those without the seed of Buddhahood undoubtedly will fall into hell. This\nis because, even though they do not directly slander the Lotus Sutra, they\nbelieve in heretical teachings that go against the Lotus Sutra. Thus, whether they know it or not, they are\ncommitting the offense of slandering the Lotus Sutra, and this definitely will\nlead them to fall into hell. In any\ncase, we should strongly teach people the Lotus Sutra. It is certain that those who follow and take\nfaith in it will be able to attain enlightenment, and even those who slander it\nwill likewise attain Buddhahood in the end through their poison-drum\nrelationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA poison-drum relationship\u201d indicates\nthat when a drum smeared with poison is beaten, all those who hear the sound of\nthe drum will instantly die, whether they wish to hear it or not. In other\nwords, by teaching the Lotus Sutra to the people who slander the true Law, we\ncan make them encounter the Lotus Sutra, which is the cause for attaining\nBuddhahood. This is referred to as a\nreverse relationship. Not only those with\na positive relationship, but those with a reverse relationship also will be\nsaved without fail, through forming a relationship with the true Law by\nlistening to Myoho-Renge-Kyo of the sowing of the seed of the true cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore,\nthe Daishonin teaches the following in the Gosho, On Discerning Cause and Effect in the Ten Worlds <\/em>(Jipp\u014dkai my\u014d inga-sh\u014d):<\/p>\n\n\n\n Due\nto the offense of greed and theft, one will fall into the world of hunger. Even\nordinary people can easily understand this. Even good people, who are not greedy and do\nnot commit other sins, will fall into the world of hunger if they commit\nslanders, or if they unknowingly come to believe in slanderous teachings by\nclosely associating with slanderers. Only\na man of wisdom understands this. We certainly must be fearful. (Gosho<\/em>, p. 208)<\/p>\n\n\n\n We occasionally commit the same offense of\nslandering the Law by becoming friendly with those who slander. Before we know it, we are influenced by them. In order to avoid this, it is essential for us\nto strongly teach and make others listen to the Lotus Sutra. This is because by refuting slanders we will be\nable to walk the Buddhist path of attaining Buddhahood, without committing the\nsame offense of slandering the true Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For both those with a positive\nrelationship and reverse relationship, the seed of Buddhahood is none other\nthan the Lotus Sutra. If the people in\nthe world, because of their ignorance, claim that one can attain enlightenment\nby believing in the provisional pre-Lotus Sutra teachings, then why did the\nBuddha, by strongly teaching the Lotus Sutra, expound that both those who\nslander it and those who take faith in it will receive benefits? The Daishonin teaches that those who have\nfaith to pursue the Buddha\u2019s teaching must deeply understand this. Here, what is referred to as the \u201cLotus Sutra\u201d\nnow in the Latter Day of the Law is Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo of the meaning hidden\nin the depths of the Life Span chapter, the core of the Lotus Sutra. Thus, the\nDaishonin teaches the following in the Gosho, The\nTrue Object of Worship <\/em>(Kanjin no\nhonzon-sh\u014d):<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\npractices that Shakyamuni carried out and the virtues he consequently acquired\nare all contained in the five characters of Myoho-Renge-Kyo. If we embrace these characters, the same\nvirtues that Shakyamuni gained will naturally be bestowed upon us. (Gosho<\/em>, p. 653)<\/p>\n\n\n\n He further teaches in the Gosho, Questions\nand Answers between a Sage and a Foolish Man <\/em>(Sh\u014dgu\nmond\u014d-sh\u014d) as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the single practice of taking faith in\nMyoho-Renge-Kyo, there are no benefits that will not\nbe drawn to you, and there are no benefits that will fail to come, and no good causes that will fail to be\naccumulated. (Gosho<\/em>, p. 408)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, Nichiren Shoshu is\npowerfully moving forward, with unity between the priesthood and laity, as we\naim toward our goal\u2014to achieve a membership of 800,000\nHokkeko believers by 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this time, we have only a few weeks\nremaining until the end of this year. I\nsincerely wish that you will unite and conduct shakubuku in high spirits, based\non the benefits and joy from chanting Daimoku, so that you will achieve this\nyear\u2019s shakubuku goals without fail. I\nhope that your efforts will be witnessed by our Founder Nichiren Daishonin, and\nthat you then will accomplish the attainment of Buddhahood in this lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Guidance from Sixty-eighth High Priest Nichinyo Shonin On the Occasion of the December K\u014dsen-rufu Sh\u014ddai Ceremony December 2, 2018 Reception Hall, Head Temple Taisekiji On this occasion of the December K\u014dsen-rufu Sh\u014ddai Ceremony, the last K\u014dsen-rufu Sh\u014ddai Ceremony of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guidance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1284,"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions\/1284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.senmyozanhokkejitemple.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}