Introductions

Hello,

I have had a number of thoughts over the years about Nichiren Buddhism and want to share them if anyone cares to read.

My background: I am a middle aged American man, who was born into a family practicing Nichiren Buddhsim with the Soka Gakkai.  I grew up going to SGI meetings and to the Nichiren Shoshu Temple for occasional Gojukai Ceremonies up until the excommunication in the 90s, when my family continued to practice with the SGI to this day.  As a kid, I first learned all about the Gohonzon's power was passed down from the Dai-Gohonzon by way of the successive High Priests of Nichiren Shoshu, and then almost overnight, it was not - the Gohonzon's power is inside of each of us that we reveal with a direct connection with the Lotus Sutra, to help sweep away our fundamental darknesses to reveal the true and the Gohonzon (scroll mandala) is just a physical depiction of the Gohonzon inside of us and has no real power but to serve as a mirror and visual aid to focus our visual sense when we chant.

When the SGI started issuing Nichikan Gohonzons and started to release all the talking points about the Gohonzon and all the arguments against the Nichiren Shoshu dogma, the priesthood itself and REALLY started to establish itself as a religiously free organization from any temple, while needed, it really brought to the fore a number of interesting questions in my mind about the nature of Nichiren Buddhism in terms of it's fundamental doctrines / philosophy as well as structural / sectarian differences of opinion and interpretations.

Basically, experiencing this in my formative years shaped me to question everything about what I was taught.  What was "correct" Nichiren Buddhism?  Is there even such a thing as "correct" Nichiren Buddhism?  How much of the doctrine that I was taught that came from Nichiren Shoshu was really taught by Nichiren and how much was dogma to support their "brand" of claiming sole legitimacy as the heir to Nikko Shonin, etc.  And later, now exposed to the greater Nichiren Buddhist world including Nichiren Shu, I find navigating these questions a very exciting and curious endeavor.

I am left now pondering a few points:

  1. Nam vs. Namu
  2. The nature of and the composition of the Gohonzon
  3. Sectarian vs. Independent practice
  4. Exclusivist vs. Inclusivist practice
  5. The debatable origin of some of Nichiren's written works
I hope to explore those topics in this blog and would like to hear your comments.

Thank you!

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