High Priest’s Sermon
On the Occasion of the 1993 New Year’s Gongyo Conducted at the Grand Reception Hall
January 1, 1993
I wish to offer my congratulations to all of you on this New Year’s Day, seven hundred and forty-one years since the establishment of our sect, and seven hundred and three years since the founding of the Head Temple.
I believe that the Three Treasures of our founder the True Buddha are no doubt witness to the great number of people who have come to worship at this New Year’s Gongyo Assemblage.
Almost none of the people who are ensnared within the Soka Gakkai have come to worship today either at the Head Temple or the local temples throughout the country. But even in the middle of such a situation, all of you have gathered to worship in the great sanctuary of the Grand Reception Hall without leaving an inch of standing room. I feel deeply that it is you, who, in this age of rejuvenation of the denomination, have been entrusted by the Buddha to shoulder the mission of protection and worldwide propagation of the True Law. You are true kinsmen of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. With that resolve, I would like everyone to persevere all the more in faith. The Daishonin instructs in Reply to Lord Nanjo:
Hidden within the heart of my mortal flesh, I, Nichiren, possess the ultimate secret Law in-herited from the master Shakyamuni at Eagle Peak. If this is so, my heart is where all Buddhas enter nirvana; my tongue, where they turn the wheel of the Law1; my throat, where they are born; and my mouth, where they attain enlightenment. If the place where I am is the dwelling of the wondrous votary of the Lotus Sutra, how can it be any less sacred than the pure land of Eagle Peak? I will say this: since the Law is supreme, the Person is worthy of reverence; since the Person is worthy of reverence, the Land is sacred.
This ultimate secret Law indicated in the passage, “…the ultimate secret Law inherited…at Eagle Peak” is true the body of the Gohonzon, the fusion of the Person and the Law of the True Cause of Kuon Ganjo, the Gohonzon which is pointed to in the Juryo chapter of the Daishonin’s inner enlightenment2. Concerning the transferral of this Gohonzon, Shakyamuni, as the Buddha of the True Effect, led people who had had a past connection with the seed of Buddhahood. But the Buddhism of the True Effect cannot save people de-luded by the Five Impurities in the Latter Day of the Law. Therefore, Shakyamuni returned once again to the Buddhism of Kuon Ganjo, the Buddhism of the True Cause. He transferred that great Law to Bodhisat-tva Jogye, who is the True Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law, our founder Nichiren Daishonin.
It is clear from the above passage that the Daisho-nin received this great Law as Jogyo, foremost among Muhengyo and the other Bodhisattvas of the Earth. The Daishonin further instructs that his great Law will always be transferred through [the process of bestowal in the Buddhism of Sowing in the Latter Day of the Law. This is exactly as indicated in the passage, “…inherited…at Eagle Peak.”
In the same way that there was a great conversion from the True Effect to the True Cause in the transferral of Buddhism from Shakyamuni to Jogyo, True Bud-dhism was transferred from the Daishonin to the second High Priest Nikko Shonin. Therein lies the lineage for the purpose of leading living beings [to enlightenment) during the ten thousand years of the Latter Day of the Law.
In this way, for seven hundred years, we in Nichi-ren Shoshu have correctly maintained the Daishonin’s great fundamental Law, and have prayed and worked for Kosen-rufu.
Through the resolve of such people as the Soka Gakkai’s first and second presidents, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda, to protect the Law in recent years, there arose the situation where this Great Law was being spread by lay members of the faith.
In the beginning, it seemed as though these people were emotionally motivated by their appreciation of the honor of being allowed to spread this From that stance, Mr. Josei Toda also said that al-this great Law. though it would be all right if the Soka Gakkai were to be lost, Nichiren Shoshu must absolutely not perish.
However, together with the expansion of the Soka Gakkai organization, great arrogance was born, and a truly profane way of thinking spread and revealed itself in various ways. Accordingly, within the Gakkai, their own methods made the Gakkai central to Buddhism. Both the seven hundred year old tradition of the Head Temple and its foundation, the transmission of the lineage of the Law, were forgotten.
Of course, granted that spreading the Daishonin’s great Law tentatively contains tremendous benefit, that benefit becomes terribly disfigured by arrogance, im-mediately taking on the form of slander. Then, far from bringing the attainment of the true Buddhist path, the benefit as Bodhisattvas of the Earth totally vanishes.
On the other hand, the original members of Hokkeko, and particularly those of you gathered here today, who would at any moment throw your lives away in order to protect the Law and persevere for the propagation of the True Law, are the true Bodhisattvas of the Earth. I would therefore like to ask that from now on, all of you be profoundly aware that as true Bodhisattvas of the Earth, you are the ones who are to protect the True Law.
I believe that this is particularly the year of fulfil-ment, when all of you true Bodhisattvas of the Earth, both laymen and priests, will become truly united and advance towards Kosen-rufu.
In 1991, Hokkeko chap ters had been established in only about forty percent of all Nichiren Shoshu local tem ples. But by the end of 1992, however, that figure had risen to more than ninety percent, with the result that within two years, the number of Hokkeko chapters had more than dou bled. This situation should make us further realize that we are poised for the real world-wide propagation of the True Law.
Therefore, for both the protection of the True Law and the sake of Kosen-rufu, I believe that the most fundamental element for the advancement of worldwide propagation by you true Bodhisattvas of the Earth will be each individual’s promise to the Gohonzon to shakubuku at least one other person this year without fail.
With that in mind, I believe that you priests and lay persons must together proclaim this Great Law far and wide, bring true happiness to all living beings, both in Japan and throughout the world, and must set your hearts on the protection and propagation of the True Law.
Secondly, the Soka Gakkai has recently been wag-ing unscrupulous attacks against the denomination and myself by means of fabricated reports and the like. If we ponder this, we are reminded of the twentieth line of verse text in the Kanji chapter of the Lotus Sutra. It is indicated there that those who preserve the True Law of the Lotus Sutra during the Latter Day of the Law will without fail encounter great persecution. In particular, it is expounded that arrogant lay people, because of their ignorance, will denounce the votaries of the Lotus Sutra and attack them with swords and staves.
These ignorant people are those who cannot correctly judge matters with their own wisdom. If they are told something by a person or an organization, no matter how wrong that thing may be, these people are unable to see clearly, so they follow blindly, and then persistently and hatefully vilify those who justly protect the Law. This occurrence was deady predicted in the Lotus Sutra.
At present, both priests and lay members of our denomination, who preserve the True Law, are to-gether being incessantly reviled by the Soka Gakkai, which is utilizing its vast organization to further its own ends. We have made step by step preparations so that this year, we will correct the Soka Gakkai’s logic, show them what is right and wrong, and refute their various errors. Towards that end, we are considering a digni-fied series of actions which will refute their heresy and reveal the truth.
Thirdly, and this is also a very important matter – the priesthood and laity must advance together in the true unity of Juai-dashin. It is essential that we proceed towards the flour-ishing of both the True Law and correct doctrines. This must be done in a spirit where cach of you priest and priest, priest and lay member, lay person and lay person, Hokkeko chapter and Hokkeko chapter deeply understands the other’s point of view and works to help the other. If everyone here will sincerely and unflinchingly actualize “Unity”, which also happens to be this year’s Hokkeko slogan, the True Law will certainly flourish this year. Then, through the Daishonin’s compassionate Law of the great direct path to Buddhahood in this lifetime, great numbers of people will be able to find salvation.
Because we have reached this profoundly significant year, during which we must work for the genuine advancement of the True Law, I will conclude my New Year’s greeting with prayers that none of you forgets the faith with which you came here to worship at the beginning of this New Year. I hope that with that fundamental faith, you will engage yourselves actively both in your Buddhist practice and within society at large. Once again, I offer my warmest congratulations to you.
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1.“Turn the wheel of the Law” means to expound the Law.
2.This signifies the depths of the/urye chapter as mal by the Daishonin from the perspective of his enlightenment as the True Bucklha of Kan Ganjo.
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