#hokkeko

After finding her passion for fashion design in India, Monica Gupta moves to Los Angeles, where she attends fashion school and becomes a head fashion designe...

According to the Myosenji Temple website, its chief priest Rev. Murata, "gave a lecture on the basic concepts of Buddhism and how Nichiren Shoshu believers chant and recite the Sutra."  After his lecture the website states the students came up with  many questions. The website listed a sample of their questions:

What does tonsure mean?

What is the significance of the Buddhist prayer beads?

What is the daily life of a Buddhist priest in America?

What does Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo mean?

Can I chant at home?

Why does the Assistant Priest beat on the Taiko drum?

This constitutes spiritual malpractice:  after the priest's lecture on Buddhism the students came up with six questions, only two of which were significant.  How wrong that these students walk away thinking that tonsure, beads, drums, and priests represent the significance of  Buddhism.

It would have been far better for them to view the video of SGI-USA member Monica Gupta.  On the basis of her Buddhist practice Ms. Gupta is revolutionizing the fabric and fashion industry of India, providing living wages to factory workers.

Brava, Ms. Gupta!

The latest article on the Myosenji website is about anger.  It can be summarized as, "Hey, have you ever been angry?  Learn to change poison to medicine. Come to our meeting about the Ten Worlds."  

It even offers a quote from Rev. Murata's lecture on June 10th, 2012 (wow, that must have been a noteworthy one!)

A theoretical explanation about the Ten Worlds is fine.  But the Myosenji webmasters do not mention the purpose of the Ten Worlds: learning how to become happy.

How could they miss the entire point?

The essence of the Ten Worlds is that we can become happy right here and now, exactly as we are.  To do so we must walk the path of self-transformation, described in the SGI as "human revolution."

According to the August 28, 2014, Tanshin (#584), a Soka Spirit newsletter published in Japan, Shuukoh Yoshida (65), chief priest of the Nichiren Shoshu Buppo-ji Temple in Tomakomai City, Hokkaido Prefecture, has resigned his position and has entered into retirement.

Thus far, three priests have left the Nikken Sect (Nichiren Shoshu priesthood) this year. Shuukoh Yoshida was another senior priest who had disclosed his desire to quit as chief priest. According to recent reports in Tanshin, various chief priests seem increasingly frustrated and disgusted with the authoritarian way that the Nichinyo (the current high priest) Administration handles temple matters, especially in the way it overtaxes local temples, forcing them to fulfill quotas in propagation, pilgrimage participation and various other undertakings. The fact that Yoshida acted on his longheld desire proves this. This also shows how desperately the Nikken Sect has been pushing propagation (“shakubuku”) to increase membership.

Dear Myosenji webmasters,

You have to speak up!  How dare Myosenji Temple Chief Priest Murata say: "It is not correct to offer our personal prayers while we are chanting Daimoku. [Nichiren Daishonin] never tells us to offer our own personal prayers while we are chanting the Mystic Law of Nam‐Myoho‐Renge‐Kyo."

Duh????? Nichiren never tells us to offer our own personal prayers, nor does he tell us not to offer them.  It is entirely implicit that prayers can be whatever a person desires.

"So, if you earnestly pray that blessings be given to you without delay, how can your prayers fail to be answered?" (from the Gosho "On Prayer," WND-1, p. 346).  Passage after passage from the Gosho encourage us to pray sincerely without delineating what constitutes a proper prayer.

"What is called faith is nothing unusual. Faith means...chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as a woman cherishes her husband, as a man lays down his life for his wife, as parents refuse to abandon their children, or as a child refuses to leave its mother." (From "The Meaning of Faith" Gosho, WND-1, p.1036

The Daishonin certainly doesn't hesitate to reference here very personal desires like "cherishing a husband" when discussing the meaning of faith and chanting daimoku! And the Daishonin surely doesn't ban the expression of such prayerful wishes from when one is chanting daimoku!!

"Since I heard from you about Kyo’o,  I have been praying to the gods of the sun and moon for her every moment of the day...." demonstrates that he himself chanted with deep personal prayers in mind.  "Muster your faith, and pray to this Gohonzon. Then what is there that cannot be achieved? There can be no doubt about the sutra passages that say, 'This sutra can fulfill their desires, as a clear cool pond can satisfy all those who are thirsty'” (From "Reply to Kyo'o" WND-1, 410-411).

"So, if you earnestly pray that blessings be given to yout without delay, how can your prayers fail to be answered?" (from "On Prayer," WND-1, p. 346).

Mr. Murata's comments are worthy of thought police or superficial schools of Buddhism that focus on controlling or removing thoughts.  He has no business snooping into the heartfelt minds of sincere Buddhist practitioners and judging which of their prayers measure up to his standard of "single-minded."  Such high-handedness is brutal, condescending, and ultimately dangerous.

It appears that Myosenji Temple will host an introductory meeting where the chief priest will explain about the concept of karma.

Most people have a fatalistic view of karma: "what goes around, comes around."  Some people believe that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is a method to chip away at this block of karma.

This is not the spirit of the Lotus Sutra.  The emergence of the Treasure Tower in the 11th chapter of the Lotus Sutra portrays the magnificence and depth of the Buddha within us.  

Don't let the temple's chief priest portray karma or obstacles as some type of curse.  Rather, in Nichiren Buddhism they are entry points to our own victory and enlightenment. 

We selected very strong words in the title and in this litigious society we use them with great care. But we have caught Rev. Yuzui Murata in acts of lying and plagiarism and we must bring this to public scrutiny.

Rev. Murata, the chief priest of Myosenji Temple, delivered a sermon in February 2014, his second of three sermons outlining his goals for the year. It has come to our attention, however, that this sermon is a carbon copy of one he delivered in Feb. 2007 when he was the priest at the Chicago Nichiren Shoshu temple (See www.nstchicago.org/feb2007oko.htm).

Does this fact constitute lying?  Yes if he states, "A Hokkeko member recently told me, 'I pray for Shakubuku every morning, but nothing seems to be happening. What's wrong?'"  It is a lie to state that the incident was "recent" when it actually occurred seven years prior.  All the Myosenji congregants were believing that this incident occurred in their midst whereas in reality it took place 700 miles away.

Does this constitute plagiarism?  According to conventions in academia, reusing one's own work without citation does constitute plagiarism.  Self-plagiarism is a serious ethical problem in academia and industry.

The Free Dictionary states that a con man is "a swindler who exploits the confidence of his victim."  Rev. Murata's audience is expecting fresh and not recycled thoughts.  In fact, in his January 2014 Oko lecture he introduces a series of forthcoming sermons to help encourage his members to attain the temple's new goals for the year. 

The Sunday introduction to Buddhism meetings at Myosenji recycle three and only three topics: "What is Buddhism?", karma, and the Ten Worlds.  That's it, no variation except a jiggle or two of the title or explanation.  This is the "Myosenji Three Bean Salad."

To condense an introduction to Buddhism to just three topics is quite worrisome.  However, our Tumblr site has questioned the website's handling of even these three topics.  For the sake of simplicity we  are pulling together some of our responses to Myosenji website articles on these three topics into this one compendium of links.

What is Buddhism?

http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/41703191146/sgi-usa-official-facebook-page http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/41703457081/buddhist-in-america-youtube-channel http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/44788677402/yikes-an-introduction-to-buddhism-meeting-about-prayer http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/44795588355/intro-to-buddhism-its-the-heart-not-the-beads http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/46949526830/what-is-buddhism http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/47035858732/what-is-buddhism-part-2 http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/47099091648/what-is-buddhism-part-3 http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/47447488321/the-myosenji-website-is-advertising-an-upcoming http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/49169480596/cassuality-what-is-a-buddha-the-buddha-beat http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/50308727288/what-does-buddha-mean-the-myosenji-website http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/51226638705/introduction-to-buddhism-skip-the-upcoming http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/52096962007/what-is-buddhism-a-brief-history http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/52219322019/what-is-buddhism-a-brief-history http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/58233631650/order-of-significance-1-crane-2-hands-and-beads http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/59675194279/being-a-buddhist-in-america-you-must-take-ten http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/60921634076/whos-the-buddha-according-to-the-myosenji

What is karma?

http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/79664004556/understanding-karma-better

http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/43517317336/what-did-you-do-with-the-term-human-revolution http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/45421702145/kounterfeit-karma-the-myosenji-website http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/48112306119/what-is-karma http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/48113565198/what-is-karma-thanks-cosmic-storm-for-this http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/50495388958/present-effects-are-due-to-karmic-causes-from-the http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/50496897084/yes-it-is-what-is-karma-week-at-myosenji http://viewsonmyosenji.tumblr.com/post/63258418872/mr-toda-once-told-me-you-can-make-a-defeat-the

What are the Ten Worlds?