Rev. Shoshin Kawabe
January 10, 1993

Good morning. Today's Oko is the first of the year. I admire you for attending the Oko in order to show your gratitude to Nichiren Daishonin in spite of the cold weather.

Today I would like to talk about the orthodoxy in faith and returning to the basics of our practice. As you know, Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism is a religion which "admonishes slander." According to Nichiren Shoshu, this is called "Haja-Kensho" (The refutation of heterodox or erroneous views, and the elucidation of right views or teaching).

What did Nichiren Daishonin consider slander?

1. Believing in another religion or practicing one
2. Destroying the three treasures
3. Not believing in Buddhism and not practicing it
4. Destroying the unity of priesthood and laity

When one first accepts True Buddhism, one must abandon all other religions from the very beginning because all causes of unhappiness actually come from wrong religious teachings. It is a source of evil to believe in and follow a mistaken idea. Most countries guarantee by law "religious liberty of the liberty". It is a good law. However, we must consider its remifications carefully. When a person has complete freedom to choose his own religion, that person also bears the responsibility for choosing the correct religion from those that will eventually make him suffer.

If all religions were equally good, no one would ever become unhappy. But in fact, many people have become unhappy by placing their faith in the wrong religion. I will illustrate my point. There was the terribly sad Jim Jones incident several years ago. People believed in his religion so much and practiced so obediently, that they wound up as slaves in the jungle with no possiblilty of escape from a madman. The Middle and Near Eastern countries have had a continual history of religious war through the ages. Too many people have been killed. And for some, it doesn't matter that they kill other people. They believe that they gain benefit by killing others to protect their religion. Those things come from religion ideas that are fundamentally wrong. These things are realities of our world.

There is a belief called Shinto from ancient times in my country, Japan. Before World War II, the Japanese government relied on Shinto and the Emperor was set up as a God. Many people were brain washed by the national government. The government commanded "All people of Japan must die for the Emperor-God". As a result, several million people including the military, children and civilian people were victims of the war. After the war was lost, the emperor announced to all the people, "The truth is I am not God, I am a human being." It was called the "human Declaration." It is nonsense. So many people were killed by the national government.

All unhappiness of the human world comes from mistaken religion, ideas and religious concepts. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that we distinguish correct religions from wrong ones. Nichiren Daishonin stated:

How pitiful to think that, in the space of a few decades, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people have been deluded by these devilish teachings and in so many cases confused as to the true teachings of Buddhism. If people favor perverse doctrine and forget what is correct, can the benevolent deities be anything but angry? If people cast aside doctrines that are all-encompassing and take up those that are incomplete, can the world escape the plots of demons? Rather than offering up ten thousand prayers for remedy, it is the source of all the trouble!

Even if people pray only for their own desires, they won't be accomplished wothout abandoning wrong religious practices. Such practices are the root of all evil and never the solution of evil.

Some people think they can pray to the Gohonzon, and do shakubuku and also hold other religious views or participate in other practices at the same time. But no matter how they chant or do shakubuku, the mistaken practice keeps creating a negative karma in their lives that they can never catch up with.

The Daishonin wrote:

Both master and desciple will surely fall into the hell of incessant suffering if they see enemies of the Lotus Sutra and fail to reproach them. The Great Teacher Nan-Yueh wrote "They will fall into hell with evil men." To seek enlightenment without repudiating slander is as futile as trying to find water in the midst of fire or fire in the midst of water. No matter how sincerely one believes in the Lotus Sutra, any violation of its teachings will surely cause him to fall in to hell, just as one crab leg will ruin a thousand pots of lacquer. (Admonitions Against Slander)

To point out wrong religion to other people and tell them to abandon those viewpoints is very difficult, but the Daishonin said in his Gosho known as "Teaching, Practice and Proof", "Nichiren's disciples cannot accomplish anything if they are cowardly." You are supposed to shakubuku bravely because the future enlightenment of another person depends on it. Shakubuku is not a fight. It is a compassionate way of teaching that "wrong religion causes one to become unhappy in this life." It is a way of leading people to the correct practice of Buddhism. Shakubuku is a most precious relationship, not a "campaign."

If you have made a mistake on any of this, then you are not practicing Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. You are practicing some concoction of your own making. Nichiren Shoshu is a strict and orthodox religion regarding these matters.

Many people think: "It is Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism that is not true". "Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism is not tolerant to other religions". "Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism is overly strict."

However, to practice this teaching is not just a matter of course. It is more like a matter of being in strict training for the "Olympics of enlightenment" and the "Kosen rufu high jump".

There is but one "Truth". If there were many truths they could not all be true. We call this truth the "law" or "dharma" in Buddhism. Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism reveals the "truth" or "law" directly and completely to the people. It would be unnecessary to propogate Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism if people could become happy by any other religion, even if it seemed to contain some good elements. Likewise the True Buddha Nichiren Daishonin wouldn't have had to undergo dangerous persecution if practice was easy.

Even though the United States guarantees religious freedom, America is greatly influenced by Christianity. It is no easy thing to practice Nichiren Daishonin's True Buddhism purely within this environment. I think that our ideas can distance people and therefore you must go through hardships and many obstacles when you shakubuku.

At that time you should overcome hardship through faith and remember the courage Nichiren Daishonin and the three martyrs of Atsuhara.

I am determined to practice in the spirit of itai-doshin with you. Thank you very much.