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' I c l! 'I I tl"- ' --;'~~ " :" ~- --t"' ~ : r tcj"'" :: " ~~' "! j ":;;c' :;;t ~ ; r TOWARD OUR COMMON G OF CORRECT FAITH " ' : ; \!';[~J" 1 "1t~:::::~ f" ; j I ; : '~;: t A Response to Recent Allegaton~':: :~;:;~~~ ::f4 I I ;-':~~'~; " %~:( c ~ ~ f~ \ '~- ":~~~ l ; ' ' ""' If " c ;;~; c"c;:1 ~f Compled by the New York Youth Dvson :( c Research Commttee ;~;' t " I " I ' :; ~j' 'c
':0#: " ' "~';'~::\!" c "'<~?' " - Table of Contents C!~~' " Preface cf I General Dscusson 1 II Commentary by Reverend Hosho Shna chef prest of New York Temple ' 15 III Sermons by 67th Hgh Prest Nkken Shonn Sermon at the Formal SuccessonCeremony 21 Aprl 6 1980 Frst Formal Sermon 29 Aprl 6 1980 Sermon to Lay Belevers 45 November 26 1980 Sermon at Vancouver BC 57 July 3 1981 ~; '" "" "
~~ ;;; "c{';; o')~') ;: c ~~ Preface' co' ""\" 'I;' 't::;;;;"~;:'" ";';~t:':'~:; ';~ " '~: :';~ In recent years many NSA members have fqundtber correct practce of Nchren Dashonn's Buddhsm threatened by serous obstacles arsng from wthn our organzaton of Nchren Shoshu belevers The 67th Hgh Prest NkkenShonn spoke about ths stuaton durng hs vst to Vancouver n June of 1981 He cautoned belevers: 1 am sure that these people motvated by ther jealousy and hatred of those wth the true fath wll contnue to dssemnate ther false fabrcated and malcous propaganda throughout the world 1 hope you wll not be swayed by such people or such propaganda n the least but that you wll contnue your sncere practce of true Buddhsm wthout even gvng n to the slghtest doubt Because of our sncere desre that all NSA members be able to contnue to practce joyfully and confdently and after consultaton wth the Nchren Shoshu presthood and the Soka Gakka Internatonal we have decded to pont out erroneous allegatons made by a group of dssdent prests and ther followers Ths group actng aganst the repeated admontons of both the 66th and 67th hgh prests had ntated a well-organzed campagn to spread confuson and dstrust among Nchren Shoshu members throughout the world focusng especally on NSA Dur-
ng the past year and a half a group supportng the former chef ext pr\es~ of the New York Temple Reverend Kando Tono has ; launched Gakka attack a partcularly Ther actvtes vgorous follow ant-presthood the same pattern and ant-soka as those ofs pro observed n Japan and other places throughout the world where rut the unty of the belevers has been dsturbed One s forced to an< queston ~he purpose of ther actons w~ To refute allegatons whch go aganst the gudance of the I w] hgh prest or to debate these crtcsms just for the sake of debate s meanngless But the possblty of preventng even one member from beng led~rt9useless confuson by these dstorted teachngs mpels us to publsh ths commentary The frst secton of ths pamphlet presents a dscusson of ths stuaton and gves gudance n fath based on Nchren Dashonn's teachngs and the gudance of the 66th and 67th hgh prests of Nchren Shoshu In the second secton the chef prest of the New York Temple Reverend Hosho Shna explans the correct atttude of a prest The fnal secton contans sermons by the 67th hgh prest relatng to ths stuaton and to the correct practce for all Nchren Shoshu belevers In readng ths materal and reflectng on ths stuaton please understand that t s not at all extraordnary that these problems have occurred among belevers In the lght of the Gosho that s to be expected What s remarkable s that because we have contnued to nvoke the Law-chantng damoku dong gongyo-and never surrendered to these devlsh functons we have now been able to establsh an even more beautful harmony between prests and lay belevers We have also been able to strengthen wthn our organzaton a sold core of devoted members who have shown that even n the coldest wnter or the fercest hurrcane ther commtment to seek and to propagate true Buddhsm wll not be
hef extngushed Ths s an mmense beneft has Because of ths great beneft whch evolved out often years ~ oka of struggle we are now able to embark-fully unted wth the mgh lose prest of Nchren Shoshu-on the next mportant phase of kosenlere TUtU: the era of nternatonal propagaton Because of the hardshp l to and struggle we have endured mllons of unhappy people n ths world wll meet and embrace the Gohonzon That s the Dashonn's " ' the wll and that s the greatness of ths relgon D )ate ber Y ' n gs ths n's : of few llde gh all ""'" o;z::;~\:;{:" :::~!';; c~ c ase :ms t s onmd ~en ~sts Jur wn Imbe I