SOKA BUDDHISM:Fundamental similarities, differences and parallels

Comparing the Soka Gakkai sect of Nichiren Buddhism to other Buddhist schools, to Christianity and to scientific materialism.

Founded in Japan in 1929 by renowned educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, an organization known as Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society) is the preeminent popular Buddhist force in history. The inception of constitutional religious liberty in Japan following WWII resulted in phenomenal proliferation of sects, and the Nichiren-based Soka Gakkai undertook such aggressive propagation that in 1957 Makiguchis successor, Josei Toda, presided over a throng of 750,000 families. Todays SGI 12 million members in 192 countries advances under the warm and inspiring leadership of Daisaku Ikeda Sensei, a steward of world peace and avatar of global humanistic culture and education.

ABSOLUTE REALITY

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo:The name of the fundamental law of life and the universe expounded in Nichiren Buddhism. To translate simplistically: Nam (to devote oneself, expression of deep respect); myoho (mystic law, the essential law of life and all phenomena); renge (lotus, the simultaneity of cause and effect); kyo (sound/vibration and also teaching, the pulse or signal of life in all things).

For believers in Moses (who lived perhaps 700 years before the lawgiver Gautama Buddha), something of the dharma is referenced in Exodus 3:14, when Man receives a title for invoking God: "I AM THAT I AM."

The fundamental reality or law is not a result, not the effect of any prior cause, but a perfect and eternal singularity that contains its own purpose.Buddhist tradition likens this sovereign absolute to the lotus, wherein flower and seed which cause one another appear at the same time.

Quarks have a similar arrangement, revealing how it might be that intelligent design and the intelligence doing the designing are, as we Buddhists are fond of saying, "not two."

"NOT TWO" ( shikishin-funi )

Shikishin funi or "oneness of body and mind." One of the Ten Onenesses expounded by the great teacher Miao-Lo of China (C.E. 711-782), based on the Lotus Sutra. Shiki means that which has form and color (the physical body) and shin means that which has neither form nor color (mind or soul). Advanced Buddhist insight came to challenge the fundamental dualism of physical versus spiritual with proofs that they are, in final essence, not two. From Einstein we learned that mass and energy are not two, that time and space are not two. Light is at once a particle (shiki) and a wave (shin). The living universe thus demonstrates the oneness principle and -- as always -- science confirms Buddhism.Very significantly, life and death are likewise complementary aspects of one thing...

The Universe Believes In Reincarnation!

Science has illuminated the cyclicity of living systems and processes-- from evaporation/precipitation to phases of the moon, from the rhythm of the seasons to respiration to the beat of honeybee wings, all of nature celebrates the principle of "again and again."

"All phenomena, including life and death, can be seen as elements within the cycle of emergence and latency, or manifestation and withdrawal. Cycles of life and death can be likened to the alternating periods of sleep and wakefulness. Just as sleep prepares us for the next day's activity, death can be seen as a state in which we rest and replenish ourselves for new life. The Lotus Sutra, the core of Mahayana Buddhism, states that the purpose of existence, the eternal cycle of life and death, is for living beings to "enjoy themselves at ease." -Daisaku Ikeda

Buddha: Literally, "awakened one." Dharma: The profound primary law of the universe. Ever investigative as to the true nature of reality, Buddhism is the most rationalistic religion. Accordingly, science tends to corroborate essential Buddhist teachings.

Like any ancient religious literature, the sutras contain representations of mythical beings and wondrous events BUT in the present day it is not useful to insist on strict literalism concerning them. A Buddhism of the present age identifies divine energies and functions of the cosmos in the light of an up-to-date understanding. Certainly there is appreciation for wisdom of ancient vintage, but we are neither able nor inclined to pit the extravagant lore of 2,600 years ago against todays high-confidence scientific knowledge.

A religion that is not dead will undergo development and adapt through the centuries, drawing gratefully on progress in human knowledge. In today's Buddhism, faith turns upon what is known about our connection to the living law of the universe an improvement, presumably, over faith measured by ones capacity for believing unlikely things without proof.Scholarly Buddhism's characterization of the true nature of phenomena, many centuries old, is remarkably like theoretical physics. Just as chalkboards of calculations work out to give us Einstein's good equation

Sutras of grand sweep come down to a formula made up of five or seven Chinese characters.

In both cases we obtain glyphs of concentrated meaning that name the universe and unlock awesome power

Interestingly, prayers offered while chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo are very often realized dramatically, affording the practitioner evidence and proof of the teachings practical validity.

The saintly priest who founded Soka Buddhism in the 13th century C.E. attained enlightenment by means of a practice of the Lotus Sutra. His identity as a Buddha was borne out by wonders during his ministry and is apparent in his profound and compassionate writings."First of all, as to the question of where exactly hell and the Buddha exist, one sutra states that hell exists underground, and another sutra says that the Buddha is in the west. Closer examination, however, reveals that both exist in our five-foot body. This must be true because hell is in the heart of a person who inwardly despises his father and disregards his mother. It is like the lotus seed, which contains both blossom and fruit. In the same way, the Buddha dwells within our hearts. For example, flint has the potential to produce fire, and gems have intrinsic value. We ordinary people can see neither our own eyelashes, which are so close, nor the heavens in the distance. Likewise, we do not see that the Buddha exists in our own hearts." - Nichiren, New Years Gosho

The teaching that each person is entitled to become a Buddha would appear a contrast to the Judeo-Christian tenet of guilt and atonement: There is nothing good in me, Romans 7:18; All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, Isaiah 64:6; There is none righteous, no, not one, Romans 3:10; For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, Rom 10:3; Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, Rom 8:7

"No matter how earnestly Nichiren prays for you, if you lack faith, it will be like trying to set fire to wet tinder. Spur yourself to muster the power of faith...Employ the strategy of the Lotus Sutra before any other...Have profound faith. A coward cannot have any of his prayers answered." - Nichiren, The Strategy of the Lotus Sutra

Compare Nichiren's emphasis on self-reliant faith with Jesus' declaration: " I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Some sects of Buddhism (such as Pure Land) do teach submission to a heavenly, deified Buddha figure, but the Soka Gakkais position is radically humanistic by contrast, and a rebuke to religious authoritarianism.