Guidance from Sixty-eighth High Priest Nichinyo Shonin On the Occasion of the June Kosen-rufu Shodai Ceremony
July 5, 2008
Reception Hall, Head Temple Taisekiji
On the occasion of the July Kosen-rufu Shodai Ceremony, conducted today at the Head Temple, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the large number of participants in attendance, including those who are attending the seventh term of the Hokkeko Summer Study Tozan.
Usually, the Kosen-rufu Shodai Ceremony is held on the first Sunday of each month. However, the Hokkeko Summer Study Tozan is in session, so the Shodai Ceremony was scheduled one day earlier.
The Kick-off Meetings for the Advancement of the Great Assembly of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, held at four venues across the country, were all completed with great success. These results were due to the profound efforts of the participants, including the Steering Committee members who organized the Kick-off meetings. I am extremely grateful, and I extend to you my most sincere congratulations. I respect your tremendous efforts.
As I have explained before, these Kick-off meetings were carried out to bolster our confidence toward achieving the Doubling the number of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, the Great Assembly of 75,000 believers, and the Commemorative General Tozan, which are just a year away. Therefore, our further efforts during the remainder of the year will be crucial in order to demonstrate the true significance and the results of the Kick-off meetings.
It is vital for each individual to approach the second half of the year with profound feelings of the great success we achieved at the Kick-off meetings, so that we can absolutely achieve these goals next year.
For this reason, the Commemorative Standing Committee for the 750th Anniversary of the Rissho ankoku-ron has designated next year’s tozan as “The Commemorative General Tozan of 500,000 Believers Celebrating the 750th Anniversary of Revealing the Truth and Upholding Justice through the Submission of the Rissho ankoku-ron.”
This Commemorative General Tozan refers to all of the tozans to be held in 2009. It includes the New Year’s Tozan, Nichiren Shoshu’s two annual Grand Ceremonies held in the spring and fall (the Grand Ceremony of the Airing of the Sacred Treasures and the Oeshiki Ceremony), the Commemorative Grand Ceremony, to be held on July 15th and 16th, the General Meeting of the Great Assembly of 75,000 believers, to be held on July 26th, and the Commemorative General Tozan, in which all of the Hokkeko believers will participate. This includes the chapter tozans, the personal (tensho) tozans, and furthermore, the Overseas Believers General Tozan. The General Tozan of 500,000 Believers was named based on the collective sum total of all these tozans.
Accordingly, all Hokkeko believers who make the pilgrimage to the Head Temple next year will be treated equally as participants in the “Commemorative General Tozan Celebrating the 750th Anniversary of Revealing the Truth and Upholding Justice through the Submission of the Rissho ankoku-ron.”
The Gosho, “The Person and the Law” (“Nanjō-dono gohenji”) states:
Those who travel to this place to pay their respects will instantly eradicate the negative karma they have accumulated since the remote past and transform their sins of the three categories of action into the three virtues. (Gosho, p. 1569; The Gosho of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol.1, p. 83)
As the Daishonin teaches in this Gosho passage, the merit of making a pilgrimage to the Head Temple is immeasurable. The tozan to be held next year has deep meaning and is exceptionally beneficial. Therefore, it is vital for each and every Hokkeko believer to participate.
The next important point, which I proposed on New Year’s Day, is for all the chapters to achieve their shakubuku goals for this year without fail. At the recent Commemorative Committee meeting, I explained that we must shift our attitude from assembly mode to shakubuku mode. I believe it is important for us now to shift gears.
I have heard that some chapters obtained remarkable results after the Kick-off meetings. I hope all the chapters will quickly change their mind-set and attain their shakubuku goals.
The Daishonin teaches in “Encouragement to a Sick Person” (“Nanjō hyōeshichirō-dono gosho”):
Even those with profound faith do not reproach the enemies of the Lotus Sutra. No matter what great good deed one may perform, even if he reads and transcribes the entirety of the Lotus Sutra a thousand or ten thousand times or masters the meditation to perceive ichinen sanzen, should he but fail to denounce the enemies of the Lotus Sutra, he will be unable to attain the Way. To illustrate, it is like the case of someone in the service of the imperial court. Even though he may have served for a decade or two, if he knows someone to be an enemy of the emperor but neither reports him to the throne nor feels personal enmity toward him, all the merit of his past services will be thereby negated, and he will instead be charged with a crime. You must understand that people of this age are slanderers of the Law. (Gosho, p. 322; MW-6, p. 23)
There is a saying that goes, “Diligence is the mother of good fortune.” One’s dedication eventually reaches the hearts of the guardian deities. A person with such dedication will be able to achieve anything.
I would like to conclude my address today, though short, by sincerely praying that each of you will strengthen your faith and take action to ensure that every chapter achieves its shakubuku goal set for this year without fail, before welcoming the year of the 750th Anniversary of Revealing the Truth and Upholding Justice through the Submission of the Rissho ankoku-ron.