Medicine and Poison

The Law of Cause and Effect is strict. It is not hard to believe that. Hence a good person with a kind heart will be rewarded with benefits. This is the most natural. And it doesn’t matter which school of thoughts this person subscript to. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Sikh. As long as you can muster a good heart, you will have good things happening to you. This is just like gravity working whether you are aware of the Law of Gravity or not.

There are many people who claimed that their faith is one and absolute by saying that miracles are evidence. It is true that evidence in the form of miracles is important in demonstrating that there is something positive about the faith. However, I have to point out that there is not a single school of thoughts which has a monopoly on such miracles. Therefore, I have to conclude that miracles are part and parcel of life and due to cause and effect instead of the faith. You have compassion for others, you get the benefit. This is most natural.

Even people with no adherence to any faith have shown miracles when they are imbued with strong willpower. This like the body’s natural healing ability and the antibodies when we are sick. Positive teachings are just like medicines which complements our antibodies to help us get well.

But as we all know, there are many different types of problems in life just as there are many countless types of sicknesses. Good medicine can cure many sicknesses. They provide hope and encouragements. This is what positive faiths and religions do.

Now, those of you who know me will know that I am a strong supporter of Nichiren Buddhism taught by the Soka Gakkai. Why did I choose this particular religion?

I recognized the positive effects that many good religions and faiths are doing for their followers. However, even good medicine cannot cure all sicknesses. My study of this Buddhism allowed me to realize that this school of thoughts can. Why?

Because the focus of Nichiren Buddhism is not about seeking external factors to strengthen our lives but instead, about inner transformation.

Using my earlier analogy, Nichiren Buddhism, instead of an external medicine to aid our recovery from sickness, strives to understand our body and strengthen our natural antibodies and healing power. We believe in the indefinite potential of each human and seek to tap this inherent potential. This, I believe, is the strategy to truly “cure all sicknesses”. It is much like the people with no faith but performing miracles with willpower except that with the understanding of why willpower works, we further enhance its effects.

This is with this understanding that while proclaiming the superiority of Nichiren Buddhism, we managed to maintain a healthy respect for people of other faiths. We can truly appreciate the good that they have done also.

But it is also well-documented that while Soka Gakkai has good relations with people of other faiths, it is highly intolerant of other sects who also practice some form of Nichiren Buddhism, especially the Nichiren Shoshu. Why is this so?

There are many reasons really. To list them all would not be suitable for a blog entry like this but for a proper full dialogue and discussion. So I will only state one clear example here. Let’s look at it from the foundation of these organizations. During WWII, the founding fathers of Soka Gakkai, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda fiercely opposed the war and call for peace. They were harshly thrown into prison. Makiguchi died in prison while Toda was released after the war with his health shattered. But he reconstructed the Soka Gakkai with the fiery desire to rid of the world of miserly [especially from warfare]. In contrast, the Nichiren Shosho caved in to the pressure from the military government during the war and even conducted prayer session to support Japan’s war efforts. Not hard to see which organization truly inherited the spirit of compassion of Nichiren Buddhism.

Soka Gakkai is currently an organization of 192 countries and territories (and still growing rapidly) with millions of practitioners constantly changing their lives for the better. This growth would not be possible if the teaching is not a positive force for humanity. The Law of Cause and Effect is strict.

The main reason why the Soka Gakkai would not tolerant Nichiren Shoshu of today is that their corruption of the teaching will hurt innocent people. The Soka Gakkai respects the other religions because they actually bring about a positive influence on people. But the corruption of Nichiren Shoshu is like taking the most powerful medicine of all, but applying it in the wrong way. For example, a medicine which is supposed to be applied on a cut, if you were to take it orally instead, it becomes poison.

Therefore, corrupted Nichiren Buddhism to Nichiren Buddhists is not the same as alternative medicines like Christianity or Islam. It is poison and ought to be eradicated.