On 1 April 2002 the preamble to the rules and regulations (or constitution), of the Soka Gakkai were revised. Although the regulations specifically concern only the Soka Gakkai in Japan, in terms of faith, they clarify the mission of SGI. The Preamble, which is set out below, clearly states the spiritual flow of Buddhism from Shakyamuni to Nichiren Daishonin to SGI, and confirms for the very first time that the spirit of the three Presidents will be our eternal guiding model.   It also confirms that as members of SGI we are directly connected to the spirit of Nichiren Daishonin, embracing the Gohonzon, basing our movement on the Gosho, and carrying out activities for kosen-rufu through spreading Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in exact accordance with the Daishonin’s will and mandate.  

THE SOKA GAKKAI’S RULES AND REGULATIONS PREAMBLE

(The following text is a provisional translation) 

The Buddhist spirit of compassion and peace, first expounded by Shakyamuni, is crystallised in the Lotus Sutra. This sutra represents the quintessence of Mahayana Buddhism and clearly sets forth teachings to lead all people to happiness. Nichiren Daishonin embodied the essence of the Lotus Sutra in the Three Great Secret Laws, establishing an eternally enduring path for saving humanity. The Soka Gakkai is a religious organisation in accord with the Buddha’s will and mandate, with the mission of kosen-rufu, spreading Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism worldwide. The organisation was founded on 18 November 1930 by the first president, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, and second president, Josei Toda. 

Presidents Makiguchi and Toda initiated the practice of propagation in the effort to realise kosen-rufu. As a result, during the Second World War, they were imprisoned by the national government, which used State Shinto to enlist spiritual support for its policies, and the first president Makiguchi died in prison. First president Makiguchi, who taught Buddhism as a guide for daily living and a philosophy of value-creation, bequeathed to posterity the spirit of selfless dedication to spreading the Law by offering his life for Buddhism. 

During his imprisonment, second president Josei Toda awakened to the ultimate truth that the Buddha is life itself, and to his own identity and mission as a Bodhisattva of the Earth. Upholding the principle of human revolution, he revived and renewed the significance of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism in the contemporary world. He solidified the foundation for kosen-rufu in Japan by fulfilling his vow to enable 750,000 families to embrace this teaching in his lifetime. The third president, Daisaku Ikeda, has propagated Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism not only in Japan but throughout the world, applying the philosophy of Buddhism to the promotion of peace, culture and education. In this way he has opened the way for the worldwide propagation of Buddhism for the first time in its history. 

The spirit of the oneness of mentor and disciple, and the selfless practice of propagating the Law for the attainment of kosen-rufu, both embodied in the lives of the ‘Three Successive Presidents’ is the core of the ‘Spirit of the Soka Gakkai’. Herein lies our eternal guiding model. The Soka Gakkai, rooted in the spirit of Buddhist compassion, shall be dedicated to realising world peace and happiness for all humanity. 

Article 2 of the recently revised Rules and Regulations articulates the four religious tenets of the Soka Gakkai. It reads: 

This Association shall regard Nichiren Daishonin as the True Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. It shall embrace with faith the Dai-Gohonzon of the Three Great Secret Laws bestowed upon the entire world, base itself on Nichiren Daishonin’s writings, and seek to realise, as its ultimate goal, the worldwide propagation of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism, thus fulfilling the Daishonin’s mandate. 

Article 3, The Spirit of the Soka Gakkai, which is entirely new, says: 

The Three Successive Presidents – first president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, second president Josei Toda and third president Daisaku Ikeda – embody the spirit of selfless devotion to spreading the Law for the attainment of kosen-rufu, and shall be considered as eternal leaders of this Association. 

Article 4 Objectives of the Soka Gakkai: 

The objectives of this Association shall be to propagate Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism throughout the world, and to contribute to the realisation of world peace and flourishing of human culture based upon this foundation, by spreading its teachings, conducting ceremonies and functions, helping its members to deepen and establish faith, all based upon Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism.

 This article was published in the November 2004 issue of the SGI-UK study magazine Art of Living, pp. 23-24. 

***

 

The principle tenet of the Soka Gakkai is to practise faith directly connected to Nichiren Daishonin 

Soka Gakkai Study Department Chief Katsuji Saito explains the significance of the changes in 2002 to the Soka Gakkai’s Rules and Regulations. 

Article 2 of the recently revised Rules and Regulations articulates the four religious tenets of the Soka Gakkai. It reads: 

This Association shall regard Nichiren Daishonin as the True Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. It shall embrace with faith the Dai-Gohonzon of the Three Great Secret Laws bestowed upon the entire world, base itself on Nichiren Daishonin’s writings, and seek to realise, as its ultimate goal, the worldwide propagation of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism, thus fulfilling the Daishonin’s mandate.

This statement summarises in four points the ‘faith directly connected to Nichiren Daishonin’ that the Soka Gakkai has maintained since its founding. 

The First Tenet 

First it says, ‘This Association shall regard Nichiren Daishonin as the True Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law.’ In the Gosho, the Daishonin states: 

If Nichiren’s compassion is truly great and encompassing, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo will spread for ten thousand years and more, for all eternity, for it has the beneficial power to open the blind eyes of every living being in the country of Japan and it blocks off the road that leads to the hell of incessant suffering.[1]

In order to save the age of the Latter Day of the Law, which is described as a time of ‘quarrels and disputes in which Shakyamuni’s teachings will be lost’, and lead the people to happiness on the most fundamental level, the Daishonin revealed and propagated Nam-myoho-renge-kyo which is the core and essence of the Lotus Sutra and the fundamental Law of life itself. To revere the Daishonin as the True Buddha who embodies the three virtues of sovereign, teacher and parent to all people of this age is the foundation of the faith of the Soka Gakkai. 

Second, Article 2 then says, ‘[This Association] shall embrace with faith the Dai-Gohonzon of the Three Great Secret Laws bestowed upon the entire world.’ This addresses the essential significance of faith in the Dai-Gohonzon, which the Soka Gakkai has consistently maintained. 

During the Atsuhara persecution, ordinary believers demonstrated the spirit to persevere in faith even when their very lives were threatened. In response to this, Nichiren Daishonin inscribed the Dai-Gohonzon, thereby fulfilling the purpose of his advent in this world, on the twelfth day of the tenth month of 1279. 

To reply to the spirit of the people, who had aroused genuine devout faith of yearning for peace and happiness, and to lead all people of the Latter Day of the Law to happiness, the Daishonin revealed the purpose of his advent in the form of the Dai-Gohonzon, in which he embodied his great vow to realise kosen-rufu, and establish a Buddha land. Accordingly, the faith of the Soka Gakkai lies in arousing a great desire or great vow for kosen-rufu perfectly according with the Daishonin’s own spirit; it is the strong faith to advance and practise for the happiness of ordinary people. 

The Gohonzon, which is one with the very life of the Daishonin, becomes manifest only in the strong faith to wage a tenacious struggle for kosen-rufu with the aim of defeating and destroying devilish functions. Therefore, it is called the ‘object of devotion for observing the mind’. The strong faith of the Soka Gakkai is indicated by the phrase ‘embrace with faith the Dai-Gohonzon’. In ‘Article 2’ the phrase ‘bestowed upon the entire world’ addresses the Daishonin’s spirit, embodied in the Dai-Gohonzon, to lead to happiness all people of Jambudvipa – indicating the entire world – over the ten thousand years of the Latter Day of the Law. This is the fundamental significance underlying the Dai-Gohonzon. 

Thus, the Daishonin says: 

Showing profound compassion for those unable to comprehend the gem of the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, the Buddha wrapped it within the five characters [of Myoho-renge-kyo], with which he then adorned the necks of the ignorant people of the latter age.[2]

Based on the concept of ‘emanations of the Buddha’s body’, to embrace a Gohonzon that is a transcription of the Dai-Gohonzon with correct faith is to embrace the Dai-Gohonzon. 

[‘Emanations of the Buddha’s body’ is a principle based on the Lotus Sutra and the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra. It refers to the Buddha projecting emanations of his body in various lands, and teaching the same Law to the people in those lands through his emanations. Through the power of their faith, the beings in those lands are able to receive precisely the same benefit.] 

Accordingly, to embrace the Gohonzon that is enshrined in our own home is to embrace the Dai-Gohonzon. 

The contention of the Nikken Sect that one must visit some specific place in order to attain Buddhahood is erroneous and does not accord with the Daishonin’s intent. This is as indicated by the following Gosho passages:  

…the place where one upholds the Lotus Sutra is itself the place of practice; it is not to be found by leaving this place and going elsewhere.[3]

And,

 Wherever we dwell and practise the single vehicle, that place will be the Capital of Eternally Tranquil Light.[4]

Next, we come to the Three Great Secret Laws. In order to guide the people of the Latter Day to happiness and transform the age, Nichiren Daishonin expressed the Mystic Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo from time without beginning that he himself practised in a form that corresponds to the three types of learning: precepts, meditation and wisdom. He termed this doctrine the Three Great Secret Laws, which consists of the object of devotion of the essential teaching (meditation), the daimoku of the essential teaching (wisdom) and the high sanctuary of the essential teaching (precepts).

Through his expounding of the Three Great Secret Laws, the Daishonin enabled the people of the Latter Day of the Law to take faith in and practise the Mystic Law. In other words, the term ‘Three Great Secret Laws’ here indicates the Gohonzon as the embodiment of the correct teaching of the Latter Day of the Law, whose power is available to all. 

The Daishonin inscribed the Gohonzon in order to lead all people to happiness. When people embrace with faith the Gohonzon, which is the correct teaching for the Latter Day, they can cause the same state of life of the world of Buddhahood as the Daishonin possessed to manifest in their own lives. 

In the Gosho, the Daishonin says: 

Believe in the Gohonzon, the supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvipa. Be sure to strengthen your faith, and receive the protection of Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions.[5] 

And,

I, Nichiren, have inscribed my life in sumi ink, so believe in the Gohonzon with your whole heart. The Buddha’s will is the Lotus Sutra, but the soul of Nichiren is nothing other than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.[6]  

As these passages suggest, faith based upon the Gohonzon is the way of faith revealed and taught by the Daishonin himself. Since its founding, the Soka Gakkai has persevered in carrying out faith based on the Gohonzon exactly as the Daishonin taught. 

The Third Tenet 

Third, the statement, ‘[This Association shall] base itself on Nichiren Daishonin’s writings’ indicates the manner of practising based on the Gosho that is the tradition of the Soka Gakkai. The Gosho is the True Buddha’s teaching pertaining to matters of both doctrine and practice; it could be described as the great scripture for the Latter Day. The Gosho is the Soka Gakkai’s eternal standard.

The Fourth Tenet 

Fourth, the article says that the Soka Gakkai will ‘seek to realise, as its ultimate goal, the worldwide propagation of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism, thus fulfilling the Daishonin’s mandate’. This pertains to the great wish for kosen-rufu that is the heart of the Soka Gakkai spirit.  

The Daishonin teaches that ‘the heritage of faith’ of the ultimate law of life and death flows in an organisation whose members possess the great wish for kosen-rufu and are united by the faith of many in body, one in mind.  

He also explains that the path to attaining Buddhahood lies exclusively in the practice for kosen-rufu, which entails spreading the Mystic Law to one person after another. The great wish for kosen-rufu is the heart and soul of the legitimate body that is dedicated to transmitting Buddhism.  

This article is a translation of a speech given by Katsuji Saito in Tokyo on 29 March 2002. 

Published in the November 2004 issue of the SGI-UK study magazine Art of Living, [pp. 24-26].

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