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Recording stars Tina Turner, Herbie Hancock, Larry Coryell, and Wayne Shorter all have something in common besides gold records: like hundreds of thousands of other Americans, they are followers of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism (NS). NS is among the most influential of the new religions that have come on the scene in recent decades. Overall, the movement claims 17 million members in over 117 countries.¹ As a mystical faith with a materialistic emphasis (one that constantly stresses its “scientific” nature), it is uniquely suited for success in America.

IN SEARCH OF “TRUE” BUDDHISM: NICHIREN SHOSHU HISTORY

The founder of Nichiren Shoshu was Nichiren Daishonin (A.D. 1222-1282), one of the most controversial and important figures in Japanese Buddhism. Daishonin lived during a period of Japan’s history embroiled in political and religious turmoil. With many of the Buddhist sects in conflicting disarray, he grew to long for the reality of one true and united Buddhism — and he devoted tireless efforts to this end. From the age of 12, Daishonin researched various schools of Buddhism, including the Tendai, Zen, and Shingon sects. Although he consumed years studying at the esoteric monastery of the Tendai school on Mt. Hiei (and at 16 became a monk there), it was only through intensive, prolonged meditation at the Shingon Monastery at Mt. Koya that he became convinced of the “truth” that has become the heart of Nichiren Buddhism. This revelation was that the essence of the true Buddha’s teachings were crystallized in the sutra or scriptural narrative known today as the Lotus Sutra or Saddharma-Pundarika (the Sutra of the Lotus of the True Law). Nichiren came to believe that the mystical essence of this sutra was embodied in the invocation Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, the ceremonial chant used by Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists. The chant is thus believed to be a repository of magical power so that the disciple can instill the alleged material and spiritual benefits of the sutra into his or her life, even without reading it. Daishonin was persuaded that not only was his life’s mission to clarify true Buddhism, but that he was the sole repository of Buddhist truth, and that only his interpretation of the Lotus Sutra was correct. He argued that “the Pure Land Sect (Nembutsu) is the Everlasting Hell; Zen devotees are demons; Shingon devotees are ruining the nation; and the Vanaya sect are traitors to the country.”² To anyone who opposed him, he warned, “Those who despise and slander me will have their head broken into seven pieces.”³ He even threatened destruction of the Japanese state unless it united under true Buddhism (i.e., his teachings). Nichiren Daishonin thus aroused no small amount of opposition by his robust intolerance of all other Buddhism. During his life he was expelled from his own monastery, exiled twice, sentenced to death once, and repeatedly suffered from persecution (though his death sentence was commuted). Despite his heartfelt desire to unify Japan and all Buddhism, his intolerance and inability to accept compromise merely saddled Japan with one more competing sect. As Brandon’s Dictionary of Comparative Religion observes, “Nichiren’s teaching, which was meant to unify Buddhism, gave rise to [the] most intolerant of Japanese Buddhist sects.”⁴ Noted Buddhist scholar Dr. Edward Conze declares, “[he] suffered from self-assertiveness and bad temper, and he manifested a degree of personal and tribal egotism which disqualifies him as a Buddhist teacher.”⁵ Not unexpectedly, Nichiren and his most prominent disciples discovered they could not agree on what constituted true Buddhism and this led to initial charges of heresy amongst themselves and eventual historic fragmentation. Although Nichiren Shoshu is the largest of the more than 40 Nichiren sects today, each sect maintains that it is the “true” guardian of Nichiren Daishonin’s teachings.

Nichiren Shoshu Today

In 1930 a lay movement was founded to promote Nichiren Shoshu: Soka Gakkai International (SGI). Since 1960, the leader of SGI has been the prolific and energetic Daisaku Ikeda. Perhaps one evidence of his dynamism is that under his leadership NS has expanded into over 100 nations. Ironically, such success has apparently caused a major rift in the movement. A recent devastating split between the lay organization and the priesthood has emerged with serious charges being leveled back and forth.⁶ In characteristically unbuddhist-like fashion, it appears that the Japanese priesthood has become jealous and even resentful of the phenomenal prosperity of the lay movement. How all this will finally play out is anyone’s guess, but the image of Nichiren Shoshu has suffered much from the quarreling, threats, negative publicity, power plays, and so forth. As a recent editorial in SGI’s World Tribune was forced to confess: “When priests denounce President Ikeda and confuse members in order to gain followers, this…is wrong…the priesthood’s recent actions are disrupting unity and hindering the propagation of [Nichiren's] teachings.”⁷ By stripping Ikeda of his authority and consolidating power to themselves under the local “Danto” movement (i.e., followers of NS who identify with the priesthood rather than the lay organization), the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood has effectively asserted its supreme jurisdiction — but it has also caused a rift that could potentially fragment the movement even further. Today in Japan, the Soka Gakkai has the third largest political party, the Komeito. It advocates a one-world government based upon Buddhist politics and universal pacifism.⁸ But one has to wonder about tomorrow. Although Soka Gakkai International continues to devote strenuous efforts to its ultimate aim of Kosen-rufu — the conversion of the entire world to its teachings — the current crises, if not resolved, could decimate both the movement’s credibility and its numbers.

IN SEARCH OF “BENEFITS”: NICHIREN SHOSHU PRACTICE AND TEACHING

Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism teaches that an omnipresent and ultimately impersonal “essential life” flows throughout the totality of the universe, both animate and inanimate. This life, however, assumes different forms. For example, in man the life essence has manifested itself as consciousness, emotions, and other mental capacities. In trees, rocks, air, water, and so forth, the life essence is present, but latent, or dormant. One conclusion we may draw from this teaching is that in terms of their true nature, man and the universe are ultimately one: their inner nature is identical, despite any differences in outward form. However, NS claims, until we practice the teachings of Nichiren Shoshu, this unity is neither realized nor appropriated, and “spiritual” benefits cannot be acquired until this occurs. By chanting “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” (again, the magical invocation that is believed to summarize and internalize the essence of the Lotus Sutra), one’s individual nature is brought into harmony with the “essential life” of the universe. Eventually, the highest expression of essential life, the Buddha nature (which is dormant in the inner self), is brought to the surface. The individual nature becomes united to the Buddha nature, the result allegedly being new spiritual power, self-renewal, greater wisdom and vitality — and not the least, material wealth. In order to achieve this state of Buddhahood, each morning and night the NS member kneels, chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and recites sections from the Lotus Sutra. This ritual is performed before the Gohonzon, a small altar comprised of a Buddhist mandala. This mandala is a sacred piece of paper. It contains the sacred chant written vertically in the center and the name of Nichiren, around which are written the names of various Buddhist “gods” which are mentioned in the Lotus Sutra, including a “demon god.” (In NS, Buddhist “gods” and “demons” are not, officially, personal spirits, but positive and negative life functions.) This daily ritual worship is termed gongyo, and consists of three aspects: the first (as noted) involves kneeling before the Gohonzon and reciting passages from the Lotus Sutra. This constitutes a mystical, not intellectual, endeavor. The second aspect of gongyo is chanting the daimoku: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, while rubbing a string of Juzu (prayer beads). Daimoku is also done throughout the day, and is the most important form of gongyo. The third aspect involves five prayers: prayers of gratitude to (1) various deities, (2) the Gohonzon, and (3) Nichiren; (4) a prayer to fulfill one’s wishes; and (5) a prayer to the dead. The Sutra passages are recited five times in the morning and three times in the evening. Chanting is performed until one “feels satisfied,” which may last many hours, producing something of a hypnotic or trance-like effect. One individual claimed to have chanted 12 million daimoku which, purportedly, led her into spirit contact. She claimed that “she directly met Nichiren Daishonin and received his guidance.”⁹ The emphasis on materialism and the element of personal power are the most obvious attractions of Nichiren Shoshu. Chanting is believed to bring “benefits” (answered “prayer”) in the form of acquiring possessions, money, health, and control over one’s own personal circumstances and perhaps even those of others. By chanting, one can allegedly acquire anything one desires: “Through faith in the Gohonzon he can fulfill any wish and control his environment….”¹⁰ The philosophy underlying this idea is probably of little concern to most followers, who are satisfied to simply be “receiving benefits.” Nevertheless, it is integral to NS theology. According to President Daisaku Ikeda, “There is a single, underlying rhythm which controls the constant shifting of nature and the play of her interlocking harmonies — a fundamental law which also moves and supports human life. Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism defines it as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo….”¹¹ Nam means the consecration of one’s entire being into believing in the Gohonzon and all it represents. Myoho is the supreme law of the universe, its natural working principle: “Buddhism interprets nature itself as the great life. There is no such god outside the great universe. The great universe itself is mysterious (Myo), and yet has a strict law (ho) in itself. Therefore, it should be termed Myoho, i.e., the Mystic Law.”¹²

Renge refers to the lotus flower and represents karma, interpreted as the “simultaneous nature of cause and effect.” Chanting is the highest possible cause, resulting in the natural effect of answered “prayer” or benefits. Kyo is the “sound or vibration within the universe.” The sound and rhythm of the chant places one into harmony with the stream of life.¹³ By chanting, therefore, one allegedly brings one’s self into harmony with the laws of the universe and the fundamental flow of life. As one becomes united with the universe, “behavior will become synonymous with Mystic Law which leads to eternal happiness.”¹⁴ The objects of one’s desires are now capable of “flowing” naturally to him or her; hence, regular practice of gongyo allows one to achieve his or her desires and thereby produces happiness. According to President Ikeda, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo “is the origin of everything.”¹⁵ Therefore, “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the essence of all life and the rhythm of the universe itself. Life can never be apart from Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and yet, because we have forgotten this, we have come out of rhythm with life itself. When we chant, we enter back into that basic rhythm and once again have the potential for indestructible happiness….[because] our life force will permeate the universe and the Buddha nature will emerge within ourselves, enabling us to fulfill our wishes” (second emphasis added).¹⁶

IN SEARCH OF SALVATION: NICHIREN SHOSHU VS. CHRISTIANITY

According to Daishonin, the cause of all unhappiness is evil religion, which, more or less, constituted all other religious interpretations apart from his own. Shakubuku (to break and subdue) is one NS term descriptive of his attitude toward other religions. Shakubuku is the forceful method of conversion, whereas shoju is the more moderate approach. According to Harry Thomsen, author of The New Religions of Japan, “Nichiren maintained that to kill heretics is not murder, and that it is the duty of the government to extirpate heresy with the sword.”¹⁷ Shakubuku is considered an act of great love and mercy, because it breaks the evil religion of the person being converted.¹⁸ The second president, Josei Toda, stated on May 3, 1951: “Kosenrufu [mass conversion] of today can be attained only when all of you take on evil religions and convert everyone in the country and let him accept a Gohonzon.“¹⁹ Professor Noah S. Brannen, author of Soka Gakkai: Japan’s Militant Buddhists, states that Shakubuku “designates intolerant propaganda and pressure to produce a forced conversion….[it] often employs a technique of intimidation carried out in a very systematic manner.”²⁰ Although the practice has been modified, Brannen and others list earlier incidents of threats of injury against a prospective convert and his or her family members, actual beatings, cases of arson, and so on.²¹ Perhaps it is not surprising that, despite attempts at accommodation, hostility toward Christianity has remained a feature of the writings of Nichiren Shoshu and President Ikeda. Regrettably, Christianity is often misrepresented and then attacked as an inferior and irrational belief. Thus, in the authoritative NS literature the major doctrines of Christianity are described as follows: “unscientific nonsense,” “stupid superstition,” “ridiculous,” “fantasy,” “irrational,” “morbid,” “shallow,”²² and so forth. NS believes “[the Christian] God is dead…” and “it is apparent that Christian life has, in fact, repeated every kind of atrocity.”²³ The Genesis doctrine of creation is “foolish and childish.”²⁴ Heaven is seen as “an enticement toward some illusionary paradise.”²⁵ Under a belief in absolute monotheism, “the people are powerless beings.”²⁶ In essence, being a Christian brings “bad karma.”²⁷ Relying upon Jesus Christ for salvation will “ultimately lead to confusion.”²⁸ Christian teachings are “destructive of people’s happiness.”²⁹ And, referring to the Christian concepts of God and salvation, we are told there is no need to seek salvation outside ourselves in the Christian God, nor is there any reason to believe in Him, nor is there any need for the concept of God’s grace.³⁰ As professor N. S. Brannen observed, “Christianity is the universal non-Buddhist religion singled out for attack.”³¹

God

Nichiren Shoshu replaces God with an impersonal omnipresent essence that eternally fluctuates in cycles of manifestation and dormancy. Practically speaking, Nichiren Shoshu is an atheistic system, for any concept of a personal God is irrelevant and, to their way of thinking, spiritually harmful. Nichiren Shoshu teaches that “life has no beginning; therefore it was not created by God,”³² and, “God is not the Creator….Our life is not given to us by our parents, and is neither given by God.”³³ Perhaps the clearest expression of their humanistic theology is given in The Complete Works of Daisaku Ikeda, volume 1. There it simply, if succinctly, states: “God is nothing but man”³⁴ (cf. Jer. 17:5; Ps. 9:15, 20; 10:3-4). While it is true that NS rejects the Christian concept of God, it is also clear that the mystical life essence (“the very source of the universe”) is divinized, and that the Gohonzon is the visible expression of it. Thus, while the biblical God is ridiculed as a myth, the Gohonzon is deified and worshiped. Even though common sense tells us that the Gohonzon is merely a piece of paper (Nichiren Shoshu stresses that it is a religion of common sense), throughout Nichiren Shoshu writings we find that the Gohonzon is constantly worshiped, personalized, and held to be eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and the ultimate source of everything. We find that it alone saves, supports, protects, purifies, and physically heals the believer; that it answers prayer, forgives sin, punishes evil, and gives great wisdom.³⁵ It alone can bring happiness and good fortune.³⁶ To slander or disbelieve in the Gohonzon is to fall into the lowest hell: “Nothing can surpass the Gohonzon”; “All of us are children of the Gohonzon”; “The Gohonzon witnesses everything”; “The Gohonzon’s blessings are as vast as the universe”; “The Gohonzon’s mercy is equal to all.”³⁷

Jesus Christ and Salvation

Statements about Jesus Christ are usually general and given within a Buddhist context. For example: “Because of his love, Jesus of Nazareth is comparable to a Bodhisattva,” that is, one full of compassion who sacrifices himself to help others attain “enlightenment” (i.e., Buddhahood).³⁸ Thus, Nichiren Shoshu rejects the biblical portrait of Christ’s person and mission, that is, His unique deity (John 1:1; 3:16, 18; 10:30, 33) and His atoning death (Matt. 26:28; Eph. 1:7). For example: “Jesus died on the Cross. This fact shows that he was defeated by opposition, whatever interpretation posterity may have given to this fact….”³⁹ While the Bible teaches that “there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:15), who is “the Savior of all men” (1 Tim. 4:10), Nichiren Shoshu teaches that it is Nichiren who is “the true Savior of mankind.”⁴⁰ Only he is to be worshiped through the Gohonzon, as he is “the original and eternal Buddha.”⁴¹ According to Nichiren Shoshu, “Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism alone can save all of the people.”⁴² But what is salvation? In its true essence, salvation is humanistic for NS, not theological. Salvation is equivalent to lasting personal happiness or satisfaction (“Buddhahood”); it does not involve deliverance from sin and spiritual death as Christianity maintains (Eph. 2:1-4). In a nutshell, “salvation” is from suffering, ignorance, and unhappiness. It results from appropriating the supposed Buddha nature within, achieved by the spiritual mechanics of Nichiren Shoshu: “The true intention of the Daishonin is to save the whole world through the attainment of each individual’s happiness in life.”⁴³ The biblical concept of atonement (John 3:16; 1 John 2:22) is rejected on multiple grounds. First, Christianity’s God is held to be a myth and so its teaching on the atoning death of Christ — God’s Son — is also held to be a myth. There is no Christian God who exists; so he could not, in fact, have a Son to give. Thus, as NS acknowledges, “faith in the saving power of Christ is fundamental to every Christian teaching….Buddhism paints a vastly different picture.”⁴⁴Second, the concept of the miraculous is rejected. The idea of a divine incarnation or of a God who intervenes in history is seen as “irrational, unscientific nonsense.”⁴⁵ Yet salvation in Christianity is miraculous from start to finish as can be seen in the doctrines of Christ’s miraculous birth, ministry, death and resurrection, ascension, intercession, and Second Coming. Third, the concept of substitutionary death for man’s sins violates the heart of major Buddhist doctrine, such as the law of karma — the relationship between cause and effect, and the necessity to atone for one’s own misdeeds by repayment. Fourth, the idea of the Christian atonement is innately repugnant to Buddhists since it implies that ultimate reality is somehow linked to suffering, the very thing Buddhists work so diligently to eradicate. In the Buddhist universe, suffering is an illusion to be dispensed with — forever vanquished by absorption into the ultimate reality of a blissful, if impersonal, Nirvana. It is not something that can be related to ultimate reality (“God”) in any way. In conclusion, Nichiren Shoshu clearly offers a system of salvation by merit and personal effort. God is an entirely irrelevant consideration. By chanting, one removes karma, becomes happy, and, finally, attains Buddhahood (“eternal happiness” — although not in a personal, individual sense). All this is why President Ikeda emphasizes, “We must seek the source of the meaning in life within man himself, instead of finding it in another transcendental being, God.”⁴⁶ Nevertheless, Jesus Himself taught: “This is eternal life, that they may know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent” (John 17:3). And, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Three Problems for NS

In the areas of spirituality, religious claims, and morality, NS Buddhism falls short of what a seeker might legitimately expect of the true religion. First, despite its claims to offer an intelligent spirituality, NS really offers just another occult-based system of religion. Nichiren Shoshu priests and some laypersons have claimed occult and/or shamanistic powers, and part of daily worship involves an offering of ritual prayers to the dead. The Gohonzon itself is seen as a repository of magical powers available to anyone who recites the incantation and therefore “has the power to bless or curse” its worshiper, depending upon the treatment given it.⁴⁷ Second, NS’s claim to constitute true Buddhism is false. As Yale historian Kenneth Scott Latourette concludes, “[Nichiren] was mistaken in his conviction that the Lotus Sutra contained the primitive Buddhism. As a matter of fact, it was a late production, an expression of a form of Buddhism that would scarcely have been recognized by Gautama, or if recognized, would have been repudiated.”⁴⁸ Nor can NS offer the world the true interpretation of the Lotus Sutra, for the important NS doctrines are absent from the Lotus Sutra and its mythological content is incapable of objective uniform interpretation. Third, I have talked with NS members who have attempted to utilize chanting to bring about evil: to obtain drugs, commit crimes, or to magically control other people’s decisions. They have told me that “chanting works as well for these things as for any others.” But even when NS members chant for “good” things, the emphasis is far too materialistic. NS maintains that those who chant properly “will surely become rich” ⁴⁹ and, “Let’s make money and build health and enjoy life to our heart’s content before we die!”⁵⁰ Many more examples of such a materialistic attitude could be cited if space permitted. In NS it becomes all too easy to replace spiritual integrity with a goal of personal indulgence. In contrast to this entire approach to spirituality, Jesus warned us, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). After Christianity’s clear condemnations of the occult and materialism and its solid historical support are contrasted with NS’s failings in these areas, the seeker of truth and salvation would be a fool to disregard the claims of Christ for NS’s promised “benefits.” For Jesus also said: “What will a man be profited if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26). John Weldon, Ph.D., is a Senior Researcher for the John Ankerberg Show. His M.A. thesis for Simon Greenleaf University comprised a critique of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism.

NOTES

¹ William M. Alnor, “Name It and Claim It Style of Buddhism Called America’s Fastest Growing Religion,” Christian Research Journal, Winter/Spring 1989, 26. ² R. H. Robinson, “Buddhism in China and Japan,” in The Concise Encyclopedia of Living Faiths, ed. R. C. Zaehner (Boston: Beacon, 1959), 346; cf. Harry Thomsen, The New Religions of Japan (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle, 1963), 101. ³ “The Buddha’s Perception into the Three Existences of Life,” Seikyo Times, Dec. 1978, 7. ⁴ Charles Brandon, ed., Dictionary of Comparative Religion (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970), 470.⁵ Edward Conze, Buddhism, Its Essence and Development (New York: Harper & Row, 1959), 206. ⁶ See William M. Alnor, “Infighting, Division, and Scandal Afflicting Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists,” Christian Research Journal, Winter 1992, 5-6. ⁷ Editorial, The World Tribune, 1 April 1991, 2. ⁸ Kiyoaki Murata, Japan‘s New Buddhism (New York: Walker, 1969), 169-70; Daisaku Ikeda, Lectures on Buddhism, vol. 5 (Tokyo: Seikyo Press, 1970), 44. ⁹ “Twelve Million Daemoku,” World Tribune, 31 August 1970, 7. ¹⁰ Ibid., 1 July 1970, 7. ¹¹ Daisaku Ikeda, “Be Envoys of Peace for a Troubled Age,” NSA Quarterly, Winter 1976, 42. ¹² Daisaku Ikeda, Complete Works, vol. 1 (Tokyo: The Seikyo Press, 1968), 478-79. ¹³ NSA Quarterly, Spring 1973, 59-60. ¹⁴ Daisaku Ikeda, Lectures on Buddhism, vol. 4 (Tokyo: The Seikyo Press, 1969), 119. ¹⁵ Daisaku Ikeda, “Life’s Ultimate Fulfillment,” NSA Quarterly, Fall 1975, 68. ¹⁶ NSA Quarterly, Spring 1973, 59-60. ¹⁷ Thomsen, 101. ¹⁸ Murata, 103, citing Soka Gakkai Kyogakubu (Study Dept., Soka Gakkai) Shakubuku Kyoten, Tokyo, 1967, 244. ¹⁹ Murata, 104. ²⁰ Noah Brannen, Soka Gakkai: Japan’s Militant Buddhists (Richmond, VA: John Knox, 1968), 100-101; cf. 103-6; and Thomsen, 104-15. ²¹ Ibid.; cf. Murata, 102. ²² The Sokagakkai, rev. ed. (Tokyo: The Seikyo Press, 1962), 78, 82, 143, 148; Daisaku Ikeda, Science and Religion (Tokyo: The Sokagakkai, 1965), 47; Daisaku Ikeda, “Salvation of Mankind in Our Times,” The East, Jan. 1973, 25; Seikyo Times, Nov. 1972, 45; Ikeda, Complete Works, vol. 1, 442; NSA Quarterly, Fall 1973, passim. ²³ Seikyo Times, Nov. 1972, 45; Ikeda, Complete Works, vol. 1, 442; cf. NSA Quarterly, Fall 1973, 18-127.²⁴ Ikeda, Complete Works, vol. 1, 462. ²⁵ Editorial, “Three Guiding Principles,” Seikyo Times, Jan. 1979, 4. ²⁶ Daisaku Ikeda, Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life, part 2 (Santa Monica, CA: World Tribune Press, 1977), 12. ²⁷ “To Secure Human Happiness,” Seikyo Times, Oct. 1982, 52. ²⁸ “The Reality of Evil,” Seikyo Times, Nov. 1982, 58. ²⁹ “Heaven and Hell versus Life in the Ten Worlds,” Seikyo Times, June 1982, 56. ³⁰ “The Innate Power of Life,” Seikyo Times, Dec. 1982, 43-44. ³¹ Brannen, 98-99. ³² Ikeda, Complete Works, vol. 1, 395. ³³ Y. Kohira, Shakubuku Kyoten, 344 (1954 ed.), from Thomsen, 103. ³⁴ Ikeda, Complete Works, vol. 1, 8. ³⁵ E.g., The Soka Gakkai, 48, 50, 60, 126, 144; Ikeda, Lectures on Buddhism, vol. 5, 6, 10, 15, 19, 59, 70-71, 73, 112, 115, 144, 161; Seikyo Times, March 1973, 23-24, 49-54; NSA Quarterly, Spring 1973, 87; Winter 1976, 8; Ikeda, Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life, part 2, 78. ³⁶ Takashi Harashima, “Faith and Study,” Seikyo Times, Nov. 1978, 6; Ikeda, Complete Works I, 550-51. ³⁷ Ikeda, Lectures on Buddhism, vol. 5, 19, 144; Seikyo Times, March 1973, 23-24, 49-54. ³⁸ Ysuji Kirimura, Fundamentals of Buddhism (Tokyo: Nichiren Shoshu International Center, 1978), 161; cf. 45.³⁹ Thomsen, 103. ⁴⁰ The Soka Gakkai, 47-48; Ikeda, Lectures on Buddhism, vol. 4, 307. ⁴¹ “Ho’on Sho,” NSA Quarterly, Fall 1975, 130; Kirimura, 151-52. ⁴² “Practice of the Buddha’s Teaching,” Seikyo Times, Sept. 1975, 46. ⁴³ The Soka Gakkai, 15. ⁴⁴ “The Roots of Suffering,” Seikyo Times, July 1982, 51. ⁴⁵ This quote is derived from personal conversations with many members. ⁴⁶ See “Buddhism and Traditional Western Concepts Series,” Seikyo Times, June 1982, 55, and October 1982, 52-53. ⁴⁷ Brannen, 34. ⁴⁸ K. S. Latourette, Introduction to Buddhism (New York: Friendship Press, 1956), 38; cf. Mark A. Ehman, “The Saddharmapundarika-Sutra” in Buddhism: A Modern Perspective, ed. Charles S. Prebish (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975), 102; and Murata, 24. ⁴⁹ The Soka Gakkai, 141. ⁵⁰ In Murata, 107-8.

At press time the situation was clearly worsening as Nichiren Shoshu high priest Nikken Abe ordered the Soka Gakkai, the lay arm of Nichiren Shoshu to disband. But accord­ing to the November 11, 1991 World Tribune, Soka Gakkai president Einosuke Akiya has refused the November 8 order on the grounds that the Soka Gakkai is an independent reli­gious organization. (The World Tribune is a newspaper published by the U.S. branch of the Soka Gakkai.)

The disbandment order was the second major blow against the organization by its priest­hood in less than a year. According to the September 1991 Cult Awareness Network News, in December 1 990 the priesthood stripped Soka Gakkai leader Diasaku Ikeda of his title as sokoto, head of all Nichiren lay believers.

Since Ikeda’s picture was prominently placed near Nichiren Shoshu altars world­wide, the move stunned many.

In some ways this rift between the priestly side of the sect (as represented by the Nichiren Shoshu high priest) and the secular side (as represented by Ikeda, who is also a powerful political leader in Japan who helped spawn Komeito, “Clean Government,” the second largest opposition party in Japan) couldn’t have come at a worse time for followers of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. In Japan within the past year and a half the Soka Gakkai group has been tarnished by a $4.5 million tax evasion case, a major stock mar­ket scandal, and a scandal involving alleged missing funds resulting from the religious group’s questionable acquisition of two Renoir paintings that also implicated the Mitsubishi Cor­poration (see the September 8, 1991 Los Angeles Times).

Until these scandals, which appear to have hurt Nichiren Buddhism in Japan, the move­ment was considered one of the fastest growing religions. But despite this, there are few out­ward indications that the squabbling has hurt the move­ment in North America. Here the sect is still in an expansion mode as it is attempting to build large educational and conference facilities in South­ern California’s Santa Monica Mountains and in Toronto, Canada. In both locations fierce community opposition to the sect — which is operating under the name SGI-USA (standing for Soka Gakkai-USA) in America and under the name NSC in Canada (standing for Nichiren Shoshu Canada) — is growing due to concerns that the group may be a cult.

According to the November 17, 1991 Los Angeles Times, while the group is credited with “many good works in Japan,” many critics “say it functions like a cult, with promises of material rewards and happiness in exchange for unquestioning allegiance.”

The article states that certain cult-watching groups, including the Cult Awareness Network, charge that it is “a dangerous cult because of its charismatic leader — Ikeda — its coercive recruitment techniques, and its emphasis on chanting for mate­rial gain, which the network describes as brainwashing.” In addition, Canadian opposition to the group began following an episode of “Inside Edition,” a tabloid television show, which accused it of practicing mind control.

According to the 1989 Win­ter/Spring CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, U.S. membership in the group was estimated at a half million, while worldwide membership of the Nichiren Buddhist movement was at 17 mil­lion (including 10 million in Japan) in over 117 countries.

The movement was traced to a thirteenth-century Japanese monk named Nichiren Dais­honin who claimed to have found the “True Buddhism.” The JOUR­NAL’s article, quoting the sect’s own literature, also added that the group believes that the first Buddha, Shajyamuni, who lived in India 3000 years ago, predicted that his own teachings would lose their “validity and fall into con­fusion.” He predicted that “a great teacher would propagate the correct form of Buddhism for the new age….[and] Nichiren Daishonin…fulfilled all the conditions of the prophecy.”

The sect claims that in A.D. 1253 Daishonin began chant­ing NAM-MYOHO-RENGE­KYO (which is said to mean “glory to the lotus sutra of the mystical law’), and that was the date the group started.

But Nichiren Shoshu did not develop into a significant movement until the Soka Gakkai was formed as a lay branch in the 1930s. Now the Soka Gakkai is reported to be the largest single religious group in Japan.

Since Ikeda took over as president in 1960 the Soka Gakkai has flourished. He has penned more than 200 books promoting his religious philoso­phy that he believes will some­day shape the destiny of the world. And he has hobnobbed the globe making friends and gaining influence with many leaders. Soka Gakkai actually means “value creation society.”

Nichiren Shoshu is quite a bit different than most forms of Buddhism in that it is a religion that attracts many upwardly mobile people. Other forms of Buddhism such as Zen, do not emphasize the material world. One cult watcher quoted in the JOURNAL article described it as a Buddhist “name it and claim it movement in which members chant for better jobs and material blessings. Most adher­ents chant to an altar in the morning and evening in which the Gohonzon, a scroll of sacred writings contained in a black box, is kept.

Since 1967 the Soka Gakkai’s U.S. headquarters has been located in Santa Monica, Cali­fornia, where nearby in a lush mountain meadow the sect now operates a 100-student branch of Soka University (other branches are in Japan and France). But in recent days the university has ignited controversy as it has announced plans to expand the 580-acre campus to a full-blown liberal arts college for 4400 students, according to the September 8, 1991 Los Angeles Times. Besides the con­cerns of many in the community over the group’s aggressive recruitment techniques, environmental groups are opposing the expansion.

In Japan the Soka Gakkai paid $4.5 million in back taxes in May 1991 after a government investigation determined that it had underreported income earned from the grave­yard business it operated with the Mitsubishi Corporation. The venture, which flourished as the result of selling and renting graveyard sites near Mount Fuji, attracted scrutiny about two years ago when $1.2 million in cash was found in a safe acci­dentally sent to a scrapyard.

Soka Gakkais reputation was also tarnished by Japan’s stock market scandal when it received about $3.3 million from brokerage houses to com­pensate for its losses, while many other Japanese investors who lost millions received nothing.

Since coming to America in 1960 NSA has launched an aggressive proselytizing program. In 1967 it built a national head­quarters and World Culture Center in Santa Monica, Califor­nia, and has since established offices in most major U.S. cities. According to NSA’s figures the sect, which is part of the Japan based umbrella organization Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society), now claims a half mill­ion members in the U.S. — up 100,000 from a year ago.

Furthermore, NSA is likely to continue its rapid growth due in part to the recently publicized conversions of prominent jazz and pop musicians. Included in these ranks are Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Larry Coryell, according to a November 24 Reuters News Ser­vice dispatch, and Tina Turner, according to a September 27 Los Angeles Times article.

The Nichiren Buddhist move­ment has shown explosive growth worldwide as well, claiming 17 million members (including 10 million in Japan) in over 117 countries. The move­ment has also attracted its share of critics everywhere who charge that it exercises mind control over its followers.

What is NSA? Leaders trace it to a thirteenth-century Japanese monk named Nichiren Dais­honin who claimed to have found the “true Buddhism.” According to an NSA pamphlet, the first Buddha, Shajyamuni, who lived in India 3,000 years ago, predicted that his own teachings would lose their “validity and fall into confusion.” He predicted that “a great teacher would propagate the correct form of Buddhism for the new age….(and) Nichiren Daishonin…fulfilled all the con­ditions of the prophecy.”

The pamphlet further states that Nichiren Shoshu was founded on April 28, 1253, when Daishonin “began chant­ing and propagating NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO” (which is said to mean “glory to the lotus sutra of the mystical law”).

Despite its early roots Nichiren Shoshu didn’t take hold with any kind of strength until the 1930s, when Soka Gakkai was formed as a lay branch. Today the Soka Gakkai is reported to be the largest single religious group in Japan.

In 1960 Diasaku Ikeda became president of Soka Gakkai and rapidly became the driving force in the movement. A prolific writer, Ikeda has penned over 100 books. As the current hon­orary president, his picture is prominently placed near Nichiren Shoshu altars world­wide.

On such altars rests the object of morning and evening chant­ing, the Gohonzon, which is a scroll of sacred writings con­tained in a black box. Herbie Hancock said such chanting “gets your life in tune for the day.”

A May 6, 1986, Wall Street Journal story on the movement noted that this style of Bud­dhism differs from others in that many members chant to “focus right here on the here and now. They chant for a better job, a new coat, a white BMW,” and other material blessings.

Cynthia Kisser of the Cult Awareness Network of Chica­go said this is a reason for NSA’s fast rise in America. “It’s like a Buddhist ‘name it and claim it’ movement” that appeals to the upward bound, she observed.

Popular and prolific Buddhist author Thich Nhat Hanh reports in his book, Living Buddha, Living Christ, that his “personal shrine” contains images of both Buddha and Jesus, whom he deems spiritual brothers, both worthy of veneration. Given the current popularity of the Dalai Lama and books and magazines on Buddhist meditation and practice, it seems many Americans might also hold Hahn’s perspective. Those caught in the strong winds of religious toleration and relativism shrink from logically judging the truth claims of these great religious founders. Instead, people often assume that they were equally significant “spiritual teachers” who taught roughly the same thing. Accepting both Jesus and Buddha as enlightened beings is taken to be nonjudgmental, inclusive, and affirming of both Christians and Buddhists. Why bother considering one teacher above the other — especially in our contemporary pluralistic culture? How should Christians, who worship Jesus alone, respond to this pervasive notion that Jesus and Buddha were great spiritual masters on the same plane?

The essential religious truth claims of Jesus and Buddha differ radically from one another. To think otherwise is to ignore history, logic, and the well-being of one’s soul, since Jesus and Buddha proposed radically different spiritual paths. Jesus, in fact, warned that the path to life was narrow and that many fail to find it (Matt. 7:13). Jesus’ followers must not shrink back from the seriousness of His statement, especially in our pluralistic society.

Before comparing the basic teachings of Jesus and Buddha regarding God, humans, and salvation, one should point out to those enamored of the Buddha that the earliest written documents about the life of Buddha (563–483 b.c.) come about five hundred years after his death. In his edited collection, Buddhist Scriptures, Edward Conze notes that Buddhism has nothing that corresponds to the Christian New Testament, which is an authoritative canon of Scriptures written a short time after the life of Jesus.¹ Let no one, therefore, take Buddhist records as hard history and then discount the New Testament for being too ancient to be historically credible.²

Two Virgin Birth Stories. Some try to narrow the gap between Jesus and Buddha by saying that both are recorded as having come into the world through spiritual means via a virgin birth. In their recent book, The Original Jesus, Elman Gruber and Holger Kersten go even further and argue that the story of Jesus’ virgin birth was borrowed from a Buddhist source that claimed the same kind of supernatural origin for Buddha.³ This is unlikely. First, this view overlooks significant differences between the two accounts. In the Buddhist account, the prehuman Buddha came in the form of a white elephant who entered the side of his mother. Religious scholar Geoffrey Parrinder notes that it “was not a virgin birth, since she was married, and in this story…it is celestial influence rather than a divine seed that enters her.”⁴ The Gospel’s account of Jesus’ conception and birth differs radically (Luke 1:26–35).

Second, the Buddhist sources are dated long after the gospels of Luke and Matthew. The Buddhist story comes from a fifth-century a.d. text and is absent from the most ancient Pali canon of Buddhism.⁵ If any borrowing occurred, it is more likely that Buddhists selectively borrowed from the Gospels than vice versa.⁶ The New Testament documents were all written in the middle to the late first century. According to renowned biblical scholar J. Gresham Machen, the virgin birth material had “been in existence only a few decades from the time when Jesus lived.”⁷ This is quite different from the late emergence of the Buddhist stories.

What about Jesus’ and Buddha’s essential worldviews, that is, their teachings on ultimate reality, the human condition, and spiritual liberation?

Two Views of Ultimate Reality. Jesus affirmed the existence and unity of a personal and moral God, who is both sovereign over history and involved with it. He taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9 nasb). Jesus never challenged the monotheism of His Jewish brethren but affirmed it and intensified its spiritual and moral challenges (Matt. 5–7).

Buddha, however, did not deem theological matters worthy of consideration. He regarded them as metaphysical speculations, unedifying and irrelevant to attaining spiritual liberation. He challenged key features of the Brahmanism of his native India but did not embrace belief in a Creator God as fundamental to proper spirituality. Buddha’s image is worshiped around the globe, but he never considered himself a revelation of God. He rather considered himself an enlightened teacher (“Buddha” is a title that means “the enlightened one”).

Two Views of the Human Condition. Human beings, according to Jesus, were created by God (Matt. 19:4) and ought to worship and obey God with their whole beings, as well as to love their neighbors as themselves (Matt. 22:37–39). Jesus taught that humans possess immaterial souls that persist after death and that will one day be reunited with resurrected bodies (Matt. 12:26–27; John 5:28–29). Jesus, however, also referred to humans as spiritually “lost” (Luke 19:10) and corrupt at their core (Matt. 9:13; Mark 7:21–23).

Buddha did not speculate about human origins but focused on the human condition as (1) suffused with suffering (2) brought about through unfulfilled desires (the first two of the Four Noble Truths, the essence of Buddhism). He taught that people cannot satisfy their souls with anything because they do not have souls. Just as a chariot has no essence, but is only a collection of individual parts, so the human person has no essence or substance; it is only a collection of parts or states called skandas. There is no personal essence or soul, and there is no personal afterlife. Buddha did not deny the Hindu doctrines of transmigration and reincarnation, but he denied that there is any individual soul that comes back in another form.

Two Views of Spiritual Liberation. According to Jesus, salvation is found in Him alone: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10 niv). Jesus viewed Himself as the only way to restore fellowship with the heavenly Father: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt. 11:27 niv; cf. John 14:6). He claimed, moreover, to be God incarnate (John 8:58). In light of this, Jesus beckons us to follow Him (Matt. 11:28–30) and to believe in Him for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life (John 3:16; 6:29). These claims, however, were not uttered in a vacuum. Jesus demonstrated Himself to be the divine Messiah through the wisdom of His teaching, His fulfillment of Hebrew prophecy, the unparalleled power of His miracles, His authority over the demonic world, His sacrificial death on the cross, and His own death-shattering resurrection.⁸

Buddha taught that spiritual deliverance was found by letting go of desire and the quest to satisfy the nonexistent soul, and by detaching oneself from impermanent things. This teaching is the Third Noble Truth. The Fourth Noble Truth is that salvation is achieved through effort, which Buddha called “the eightfold path.” It requires wisdom (right understanding and thought), ethical conduct (right speech, action, and livelihood), and mental discipline (right effort, awareness, and meditation). Those who succeed leave the realm of karma and rebirth and attain nirvana, which is the blowing out of the human personality in a state that supposedly cannot be described in words. Buddha did not claim to bestow this state upon others, he simply pointed toward it. He never claimed to be God moreover; nor did he raise the dead, heal the sick, or cast out demons. At age 80, he died.

According to the New Testament, Jesus came into the world as a supernatural agent of redemption, who accepted suffering at the hands of sinful humans that He might vicariously atone for the sins of a rebellious world estranged from its own Source of goodness and life. He embraced suffering on the cross in order to rescue those suffering from sin and its effects (Isa. 53). As one poet wrote, “No other God has wounds but thee.” The risen Jesus presented His wounds to doubting Thomas as proof of the efficacy of His mission (John 20:26–29).

The oldest accounts of the life of Buddha do not depict him as a supernatural figure but as an illuminated sage. Images of Buddha worldwide show a man sitting in tranquil contemplation with his eyes shut to a world he wants to transcend. How different from this posture was the defining act of Jesus, who, though nailed to a cross, bruised and bloodied, gazed in love on the world He came to redeem. Buddha taught the dharma (the way or teaching) to many others, but he never claimed to overcome death through his own death or to offer life through his own life. He only pointed the way to nirvana whereas Jesus opened the door to heaven.

The essential teachings and ministries of Jesus and Buddha cannot be reconciled or synthesized. No amount of religious tolerance or pluralism can erase the deep and sharp differences between these two identities, their worldviews, and their actions. By accurately defining these differences we do justice to both religious leaders while communicating the truth in love to those who would place them on the same plane.

– Douglas R. Groothuis

NOTES

1. Edward Conze, “Introduction,” in Buddhist Scriptures, ed. Edward Conze (New York: Penguin Books, 1959), 11–12.

2. On the reliability of the New Testament, see Douglas Groothuis, Jesus in an Age of Controversy (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2002), chaps. 2–3.

3. Elmar R. Gruber and Holger Kersten, The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity (Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1995), 82–83.

4. Geoffrey Parrinder, Avatar and Incarnation (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1970), 135.

5. See J. Gresham Machen, The Virgin Birth of Christ (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1930), 339.

6. Ibid., 340.

7. Ibid., 342.

8. On the claims and credentials of Jesus, see Groothuis, Jesus in an Age of Controversy , chaps. 13-16; and Douglas Groothuis, On Jesus (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2003), chap. 8.