Well, hello again for the almost last session, since we're going to be extending it to next week to talk about Dogen's essay, Hokei ten Hokei. And Reverend Scott will be leading that one, though I will be here sitting in on that one as well. Tonight, instead of a lecture, we are going to try to experience the Lotus Sutra, to experience the ceremony in the air that I talked about over the last few weeks. As you may remember, I talked about the practice of the Lotus Sutra from the perspective of aspiration, and from the perspective of realization, and finally, from the perspective of dedication. of the merits of our practice. So tonight, hopefully we will experience that aspiration, realization, excuse me, and dedication, and experience the ceremony in the air, and the teaching of Lotus Sutra through the medium of quiet meditation and chanting.

[01:18]

Could I have your, I will, Mailey right now is making copies of the liturgy that we're going to use tonight. So while we're waiting, I'll explain what it is that we're going to be doing. And then if there's still time, I'll take some questions to make sure everybody has understood what we're going to try to do. The first thing is after the three bells, we're going to do gosho. We all know what gosho is. We're going to say a, I guess you'd call it prayer, called the Meditation on the Throne of Enlightenment, and where we affirm that this place, where we are, is the place where the Buddhas attain perfect enlightenment, where the wheel of the Dharma is turned, where all the Buddhas enter complete, ultimate nirvana. Of course, that's not just because this is a dojo. It's a very good place for that to happen. But this prayer could be said anywhere in your home, out in the park, anywhere at all.

[02:24]

So it's wherever we recognize this wonderful dharma, that becomes the place of practice and fulfillment of practice. When you get your copies, you'll notice that in the bold parts are what we will all do together. The next is the Three Refuges. We're all familiar with that. And then the fourth part will be the Meditation for Harmony of Body and Mind. This is basically Zazen, as you're familiar with it, except that this time we're going to sit facing inward, Rinzai style, instead of turning around and face the wall, Soto style. So we're going to face in. The purpose of this in Nichiren Buddhism is before we engage the wonderful Dharma, the Lotus Flower teaching through our voice or actively as it were, we want to collect ourselves, center ourselves and have that pure awareness that is able to clearly and fully realize what it is that we're about to do, what it is that we're about to express.

[03:29]

The next part is chanting the Odaimoku to the rhythm of the taiko drum, or in this case, the hand drum that I brought. And just as we've been doing last week, that chanting is Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. Namu is, I devote myself to. Myoho is, wonderful Dharma. Renge is lotus flower and Kyo is teaching. So I devote myself to the wonderful Dharma, the lotus flower teaching, which is essentially what we've been discussing for the last few weeks. But of course, we're not merely devoting ourselves to a teaching, to a bunch of words and concepts and interpretations. We're, through our voices, trying to enter into that ceremony in the air, enter into that true reality that's right under our feet, right beneath our nose, right now. The rhythm is going to start off very slow. Let me pull out my drum here. It's going to start off namu... Oh!

[04:35]

I seem to have lost something there. Yeah, I don't know if I need it. Yeah, just leave it off. It's the tip for this. Okay, we're going to start off very slow. It'll be namu... We're just gonna pick up in rhythm. and get a little faster, a little faster, a little faster, and until finally, it's like a train building up steam, and we'll be rocketing up the hill, and then when we get to the top, we're gonna start slowing down again, putting on the brakes, as it were, and we'll get into that little valley, and go slow again, and then we're gonna go up again, and then go slow again, so we're gonna do two rhythms, slow, fast, slow it down, fast, slow it down, Then my assistant, Stephen here, is going to hit the bell, and it will end with three more daimoku after the bell is rung.

[05:38]

And then we're going to go into the 20. What happened here? Oh, I see. OK. Yeah. Got it. I thought I had single space. We're going to go into the meditation after daimoku, which basically, zazen again. In our tradition, the point of this part is to kind of abide in the daimoku quietly. Now there's no more need for our own effort, even so much as to chant, but to just rest in the wonderful dharma. And also, on a practical level, that second silent period kind of grounds the energy that we've raised. After that, I will say a prayer to dedicate the merit from chanting the daimoku.

[06:39]

And then, after that, If you're looking at the sheets here on page 29, section 8, is the Four Great Bodhisattva Vows, which I'm sure you're all familiar with. The wording of this might be slightly different than what you use. I would not be surprised if it were a little different, but it's the same. And then finally, there's a dedication, which I will say. And then we all chant together the daimoku three more times. And then that's it. So once again, the sections in bold, we'll all do together. The other sections, I'll be saying. Yes? That's my chi chi. There you go. Now, before we start, are there any questions about what it is we're going to be doing or how it is we're going to be doing it?

[07:51]

Yes? The first sitting should be about 15 minutes, and the second maybe about 10 minutes. And the chanting altogether will be about, if I time this right, 20 minutes. Any other questions before we start? Yes, basically that's how we do it down in San Jose. I've heard that in Japan they'll do it for an hour or more, but I don't even know if I'm ready for that yet. the whole thing, you know. Although actually last fall we had a novice training seminar and we chanted for I think at least an hour. And it really does a job on your voice. But it was really great too. Anything, any other questions or are we ready to begin? We're ready?

[08:51]

Yes. Oh, right. No, I don't believe I wrote it down, but Namu is dedication. Namu means a lot of things. It means I put my trust in or I dedicate myself to take refuge, right? Myoho is wonderful dharma. Renge is lotus flower and Kyo is teaching. And that's the literal translation, but there's a lot, a lot of meanings contained within that. So wonderful dharma, which comes from sadharma, the wonderful or sad part means mysterious, ineffable, beyond explanation or concepts. Dharma means anything from law to truth to phenomena, just the way things are. Renge is lotus flower, pandarika, and it means that this is the wonderful truth of the lotus flower, which, just like Buddhahood blossoming up from within our lives, is this beautiful flower that grows in the swamp.

[10:05]

So this is the wonderful Dharma of the blossoming of our own Buddhahood. And in Kyo, in this sense, it seems to refer just to the Lotus Sutra, just to this text, this eight volumes, but really Sutra is a thread of discourse. And this wonderful Dharma of the lotus flower, this blossoming of Buddhahood from within our lives is the thread that runs through all the teachings of the Buddha. So basically what we're doing through chanting this is we're dedicating our lives to embodying the whole point of all the Buddhist teachings. And that's what this is about. And we try to experience this through sound. But it's not just the sound. We really need to bring it into our mind, into our heart, into our gut. and we need to live it whether we're reciting it on our lips or just doing dishes or playing with the baby or whatever it is we're doing. At least that's the teaching in our school.

[11:07]

Okay, yes. Oh, maybe you missed that. We're going to just stay where you are. We're going to sit Soto-style facing inward, or I guess for you it's kind of difficult. Just stay where you are. Yeah, we're not going to be moving around. So, OK. And, all right. Any last questions? OK. Let's start. Ready? OK. Hit it. Know this, the place where the stupa is erected is the place of enlightenment. Here the Buddhas attained the Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi. Here the Buddhas turned the wheel of the Dharma.

[12:11]

Here the Buddhas entered into Parinirvana. With our whole hearts, we bow to the eternal Buddhas of the worlds of the 10 directions. With our whole hearts, we bow to the eternal dharmas of the worlds of the 10 directions. With our whole hearts, we bow to the eternal sanghas of the worlds of the 10 directions. Namo Myoho Renge Kyo Namo Myoho Renge Kyo Namo Myoho Renge Kyo

[13:51]

Namo Buddho. We respectfully dedicate all our merits gathered up until now to the great benevolent teacher Shakyamuni, the eternal Buddha, to the supreme teaching, the Lotus Sutra, to the leaders of the declining latter age of the Dharma, the original disciples, the great Bodhisattvas who emerged from the earth, and to the protective deities of the Dharma.

[30:42]

May all beings under the heavens and within the four seas live in accordance with the wonderful Dharma. May the wonderful Dharma spread throughout the 10,000 years of the declining latter age of the Dharma. May we realize that this world is the eternal Buddha's pure land. May peace permeate all the world and all people enjoy peace and happiness. May all people live in safety and live long without misfortune. May peace and happiness last forever and all beings prosper. May we purify our minds, limit our desires, learn to be content. Feel free to experience the quiet, unassuming joys of life and learn to abandon all attachments formed in the mind. We pray for the spirits of our ancestors and for all the spirits of the universe. We pray that all beings may awaken to the true nature of reality, which is the Buddhadharma. May all beings of all realms be helped equally overcome suffering and gain happiness, the happiness of blissful liberation through the merits of following the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

[31:50]

With this prayer we endeavor to increase our understanding and appreciation of what others have given and contributed to us, and to develop constant mindful consideration of how our thoughts and actions will beneficially contribute to others. Namo Myoho Renge Kyo. Sentient beings are innumerable. I vow to save them all. Defilements are inexhaustible. I vow to quench them all. The teachings are immeasurable. I vow to study them all. The way of the Buddha is unexcelled. I vow to attain the path sublime. From this moment until the attainment of Buddhahood, we shall uphold the three great secret dharmas of the eternal life of the Tathagata chapter, from the original gate of the Lotus Sutra, the actual 3,000 worlds in a single thought moment, this good, excellent medicine, which is Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.

[33:02]

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. Thank you everybody. That was wonderful. It's really great. And with that, my portion of this five-week seminar comes to an end. Maybe I should take some final questions or comments. Okay. Yes? Can you chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to get things? I mean, is it supposed to work?

[34:05]

It's supposed to work, but it's like saying, well, Well, you know how they talk about different levels of Zazen? Philip Kaplow goes on about this. You can sit to improve your health, but that's kind of non-Buddhist sitting. You can chant to, I mean, you can sit Zazen to attain peace of mind, or to attain altered states of consciousness, rather. But that's kind of, while it's a little more religious, it's not really Buddhist Zen. You can sit Zen to attain your own peace of mind, but that's kind of Hinayana Zen. And then you can attain, you can sit in Zazen in order to cultivate enlightenment for the sake of all beings, and that's Mahayana Zen, finally. And then there is Zen, which is abiding in Buddha nature, just as it is right here and now, and that's the ultimate Zen.

[35:05]

Some other people like my friend Taigen would say, well forget about that, just sit. And I think there's a good point to that. But I bring these five ways of sitting and Zen up because Daimoku is the same way. You can chant Daimoku to get stuff, but that's not really Buddhism. That's a form of magic, witchcraft. Not necessarily bad, depending on what you're chanting for, but it's not Buddhism. You can chant you know for your own peace of mind you can chant for the sake of all beings or you can chant as a direct expression of Buddha nature and that's the kind of chanting I try to do. But I'll tell you another thing when I'm at night when I'm doing my daily practice and in the morning I try to as I'm chanting in the beginning think of all the people who are in need people that I should be more mindful of, of caring about. And it kind of opens me up more.

[36:10]

And sometimes my parents or somebody else will say, well, will you pray for this person or for that person? And I'll do that. And on one level, it makes me more aware of others. It helps me be more compassionate. But I think even beyond my own mind, it creates a response from the Dharma realm, the Dharmadhatu. It's coming from the Dharmadhatu and it's going back into it. And I think that it really does beneficially help others to do that. Any other questions or comments? Yes? Oh good. Oh yeah. I think Shinto was actually a direct influence.

[37:39]

The apartment I live in is in Japantown. We're right next to the Japanese community center and like every other night it seems they're doing the taiko drum practicing in the center. It has that same kind of ecstatic kind of rhythm and of course, if you've ever seen, I watch a lot of Kurosawa movies, there's a scene where the peasants are drumming and dancing and just like the Native Americans and I guess the Siberians, they're trying to mimic the sound of the thunder and bring the rain for the crops that they needed. And I think that Nietzsche and maybe other Buddhists before him really tapped into that and made it part of their way of doing Buddhism. I'm glad you experienced it that way because that's the way I experienced it and it's really quite remarkable. As a matter of fact, one thing though is this shouldn't be just wild energy just going out all over the place. In the Lotus Sutra there's ecstasy too. It says Shariputra in the third chapter says he felt like dancing for joy.

[38:40]

He was so happy when he heard the prediction of his Buddhahood. We're reproducing this, but this isn't a wild kind of punk rock thrashing around kind of ecstasy. And I say this because when I was chanting, yeah. When I was chanting with my sensei once, we were actually, we weren't doing this, we were chanting the sections of the sutra in Japanese and has that same kind of rhythm, that bah, [...] No, no, you're doing it right. So, it's okay. So I'm chanting with him and I start going. And I'm just moving the energy and he just, it was great. He's doing it with the one hand and he just didn't even look over at me.

[39:40]

He just went like that. Contain it, keep it. Raise the energy but harness it, focus it. Don't just let it get wild. So feel it, yes, but you know. So I can't even, I won't even pretend to be able to explain all this too well. I'm just a beginner with this kind of practice, but I am glad that you experienced that. Yeah, yeah. Any other comments or questions? It doesn't have to be just about tonight either, about the whole thing. This is your last chance to nail me, to put me in the corner here. Yes? Hindu actually, I think the Greeks started it, I could be wrong. It was originally the Sindh river, I think, and it just meant the people beyond the river.

[40:46]

Right, so the people beyond that river were the Hindus. So originally it was like kind of an anthropological term and it got applied to the religion. There is no such thing as Hinduism. There's the religion of the Vedas and then within that there's a bunch of different cults, not in a perjurative term, but different ways of following the Vedas and different philosophies, so there's no such thing as Hinduism. Hinayana, hina means small, like a and you can use Jhana for a lot of things, Mahayana is a great vehicle. Then there's Mantrayana which we did a little bit tonight, the vehicle of using sound mantra. Mantra actually means to protect the mind, so when you're chanting you're protecting the mind from defilements. But I do want to say one more thing about Hinayana. People mistakenly apply the term to Southeast Asian Buddhism, to the That's not really the right way to use it.

[41:51]

When Mahayana first arose first century BCE, first century CE, it was those groups of monks who were compiling the Mahayana sutras or traditions were kind of using that term as a perjurative way to refer to the Abhidharma schools and the sectarianism and pettiness of the Abhidharma scholars. And the idea was that, well, they're so concerned with their analysis and their own enlightenment they've forgotten about everyone else. And then the Theravada is one of the last surviving schools of that Abhidharma Buddhism or that sectarian Buddhism of ancient India. But when you read the Pali Canon They're not really Hinayana because in the Pali Canon the Buddha clearly says to his disciples go out and for the sake of compassion preach to others and in reference to some monks who want to commit suicide he said no that's not real nirvana. Nirvana is staying here and helping others and sharing this teaching.

[42:53]

It isn't just annihilating yourself. So it's not really right to say that they're the small vehicle Buddhists or Hinayana. they're just the school of the elders. They're more conservative but they have their teachings of compassion as well and I would venture to say that a lot of so-called Mahayana Buddhists in Tibet, China, Japan are very small-minded themselves and so I think of these terms Henayana and Mahayana not as sectarian designations but as states of mind. In one case one that we should be careful of not to fall into a small-minded way of practicing and the other way to aspire to the I guess that's all I'll say about that. Any other questions or comments? In Theravada? Oh well you know that's a tricky thing. It drives me crazy. Up until the 19th century With the exception of the Jodo Shinshu, all the schools of Buddhism in Japan had celibate, vegetarian priests.

[44:07]

And with some exceptions. I mean, there was some stuff going on, you know, and a lot of things that shouldn't. But officially, they were supposedly celibate, vegetarian even. But in the 19th century, when Japan opened up, they decided to set up Shinto as the religion of the state, sort of their version of American secular religion. And they decided, let's get rid of this foreign Buddhist stuff, this ancient Indian superstition that we've been harboring for way too long. And they destroyed temples, they took lands away, and they forced many of the clergy to return to lay life. And this happened with the Soto, it happened with Nichiren Shu, it happened to everybody. I hadn't heard that, but that's probably, yeah. So, what you have today is you have the father's priest handing the temple down to the son in all the schools, and this has been going on since the 19th century.

[45:19]

And they still call themselves by the terms that were used for monks and nuns, but since the 19th century, they haven't been monks or nuns. And only the Jodo Shinshu has a doctrinal reason for doing this, and the rest are just kind of fudging. on the precepts or on, you know, what it is that they're supposed to be. And it's a real difficulty, not just for our school, but all the Japanese schools. Well, are there major, I mean, the Sotoshu has in Keiji, you know, large training monasteries, is that true? Oh yeah, we have Kuanji, which is the main temple at Mount Minobu, where Nichiren spent his last years in retirement. And that's where the 35-day final training for priests happens. I don't know if they hold any other kind of retreats or regular year-round practice there, but I imagine they do. And then at a place called Ikigami Honmanji, which is in Tokyo, they have a 100-day ascetic practice where basically those macho priests who are up to it torture themselves for 100 days by sitting in seiza so long their knees bleed and they pour freezing cold water on themselves and eat rice and daikon and chant for the whole day through and sleep about, I think, two hours a night, two or four.

[46:36]

some ungodly amount. So there's that that goes on. There is a monastic order, the Nipansa Myohoji, who maybe some of you might have seen them on a peace march. They wear orange... One of us went on a peace march. Oh, okay. Yeah, they have the orange robes and they chant with the drums and they're actually a monastic order and their founder was a friend of Gandhi. And he spent World War II in India because the Japanese government wanted to get him away from them. He was quite an embarrassment. He used to sit across from the imperial palace and beat his drum and try to remonstrate with the emperor for relying on imperialism instead of the Lotus Sutra. So they said, please, go somewhere else. So he went to India. And when he was there, he wanted to sort of bring Buddhism, bring his form of Nichiren Buddhism back to the mainstream of Buddhism. And so he took up the Theravadan monastic robes and led a celibate life. He was actually one of the instructors at the 35-day training when my sensei was there.

[47:43]

So my sensei was taught by him, actually. Yes. That's you. Right. In other words, why do people who are following the Buddha who attained enlightenment by sitting quietly under a tree are trying to attain enlightenment by banging drums and chanting?

[49:10]

It's a very good question. First off, the Buddha may have taught chanting to his monks. There are several passages in the Pali Canon which are explicitly for reciting and chanting protective spells that call upon the Vedic gods and goddesses. from a very early period. It may not have been Shakyamuni himself who taught this, but chanting has been used from the beginning of Buddhism to create certain mind states or to give people a sense that, well, somebody up there is looking out for you, so you can just relax and sit or relax and do your practice. And also, of course, reciting the sutras. Before they were written down, that was the only way they could be passed on. they weren't just reciting them to remember them and pass them on, but because by reciting them it would sort of etch it in their hearts as it were.

[50:21]

It's like the Metta Sutra is a good example of this, the one on loving-kindness. As far as chanting a single phrase, that basically started with the Pure Land Buddhists in China from again a very early period, I think It originally arose because in the early period of Buddhism there were these six ways of, for people who couldn't just sit with a breath or had trouble doing other kinds, there were these six forms of recollection. So you would sit and you would recollect all the wonderful qualities of the Buddha, or you would recollect how deep and profound the Dharma is, or you would recollect the merits of being a member of the Sangha. or you would recollect how good it is to lead a virtuous life and follow the precepts, or recollect the heavenly realms in order to kind of lift your mind above ordinary concerns, or you would recollect the merit to be gained from being generous, opening yourself up.

[51:28]

So these are six recollections, and by the time you get to Mahayana Buddhism in China, the recollection of the Buddha had become a full-blown visualization exercise. and it would be accompanied by reciting passages of the Pure Land Sutras. But then some Chinese monks figured, you know, if Mahayana Buddhism is supposed to be for everybody, not just professional monks. Well how are we going to pass this on to the ordinary layperson, the peasant in the field or the scholar or judge or soldier. So let's skip all this visualization stuff and reciting these long passages and let's get to the essential thing, chanting the name of the Buddha to bring the Buddha to mind. So that's how you have chanting Namu Amida Buddha. By the time you get to Nichiren's day, 13th century Japan, that had eclipsed, that simple practice had eclipsed all the rest of Buddhism. Sitting meditation, precepts, the insight of the sutras, talking about emptiness and form, form is emptiness, forget that.

[52:30]

We'll figure it out when we're reborn in the Pure Land after we die. So this recollection of the Buddha to get those same qualities in yourself had become by the time of Nichiren, recite the name of the Buddha so when you die you're reborn in the Pure Land, then you can practice Buddhism, then you can learn Buddhism. So Nichiren was trying to steer things back to the Lotus Sutra, steer things back to the mainstream of Tendai Buddhism and he did that by recognizing that people do need a simple practice. So let's recite the title of the Sutra and that will direct people back to the Sutra and will direct people back to what the Sutra teaches that this is the pure land. And now you could still say, well all right, but that's still not how Buddha got enlightened. You know he sat under a tree, he did Zazen. True, Nichiren though believed as did many in his day that and this is based on a were living in the final age of the Dharma, the latter age, where people were so far removed in time and space from the original spirit of Shakyamuni Buddha and his immediate disciples that they could no longer on their own practice Buddhism the way it was meant to be practiced.

[53:44]

So Nichiren had to figure out, as did the Pure Land Buddhists before him, well how can we try to live it today if we don't have the kind of discipline or merit or karmic connection that those past disciples did and they figured that well the best way is to just plant the seed of faith within ourselves that it is within us all that discipline all that merit it is there we just need to pull it out and so by chanting we're trying to put ourselves in that same state of mind that Shakyamuni had which was that deep faith that he would be able to figure it out. He would be able when he left his palace and wife and child and family, that when he went out in the woods, he didn't know how to practice at that time. He didn't know eventually he would just sit beneath the Bodhi tree. He had to try everything. But the one thing he had from the moment he left the palace to the moment he sat under the Bodhi tree was this great aspiration, this great faith that I will be able to figure this out. This wisdom is there.

[54:46]

So when we're chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we're not doing what the Buddha literally did, but we're trying to bring about that same state of mind, that same iron faith and aspiration that he had. So in that way, we are really emulating him, but we're doing it in a way that we can do now, recognizing our own limitations and our own removal from the circumstances that Shakyamuni had when he sat under the tree. I'm still trying to work this stuff out in my own mind, but that's how I'm experiencing it, and that's how I understand it so far. Is that? Okay. Oh, good. Anybody else? Any other questions or comments? Sort of, I don't know. How many nutrient sects are there? Too many. It's like Highlander, there should be only one. Well, here's a trick to Nichiren Buddhism.

[55:50]

The main school is Nichiren Shu, which is what I belong to. They're the ones with They have the most temples, and all of the lineages. Nichiren had six major disciples, and they all went out and started their own temples and their own lineages. And basically, each of the temples was kind of its own independent franchise. So there really was no such thing as Nichiren Shu until the 19th century. There was different branches. There was like the Monobu branch, or the Ikigami branch, or the way out in the boondocks branch. And in the 19th century, after the persecution stopped, the government fell back on plan B, which was, well, if we can't stamp them out, let's at least consolidate them and keep our eyes on them. So they forced all these branches to become the Nichiren Shu. But there were still some other branches who said, we don't want to have anything to do with them. They're too open-minded. We want to only concentrate on the last chapters or this or that. You know, all these little petty political differences.

[56:54]

So, a few remained separate, but even they got consolidated into Nichiren-shu at the time of World War II. And now I think a few went separate again. But Nichiren-shu's so big that any of those schools outside Nichiren-shu that have a certain point of view, you're gonna find some people within Nichiren-shu who have the same point of view. And then, you know, so it's kinda like, The sectarian stuff just really doesn't matter. The only one that matters is Nichiren Shoshu and its former lay organization Soka Gakkai. All other schools of Nichiren Buddhism follow Shakyamuni Buddha. The teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. All other schools recognize the Dharma is... it's what we're living. It's not a thing. All other schools recognize Nichiren as the preeminent bodhisattva, you know, that we're following. that we're all the Sangha, we're all the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Nichiren Shoshu alone believes that Shakyamuni has been replaced by Nichiren as the true Buddha for this age.

[58:00]

Nichiren Shoshu alone insists you can't become enlightened unless you have a connection with a wooden mandala Nichiren supposedly made, which is idolatry. Nichiren Shoshu alone says that their successive high priests are the head of the Sangha, And that, you know, they alone embody the third jewel of the Sangha. They alone, you know, teach these things. So Kagakai, their lay organization, which sort of started in the 1930s as a teaching organization and by, after World War II had become the lay branch of Nichiren Shoshu, spread this kind of teaching to America and the rest of the world. Since then, the Soka Gakkai, which is kind of a personality cult based around a man named Daisaku Ikeda, split with the priesthood of Nichiren Shoshu in 1991. They are now fighting like cats and dogs, or as some people say, a bad divorce. Nichiren Shu does not recognize them as legitimate Nichiren Buddhists.

[59:07]

In fact, we would not even recognize them as Buddhists at all because of how they have tried to turn Nichiren into the Buddha, gotten rid of Shakyamuni, and turned the Dharma into this plank of wood. It was always, yeah, it was always, it was the Taiseki-ji is their head temple, it's at the base of Mount Fuji. They had always been kind of separate, and even when the consolidations happened, they were able to take their related temples and keep separate. And in fact, they gave themselves the name, they were the Fuji school first, then they became Nichiren Shoshu in the early part of the century. Until maybe the 15th or 16th century, doctrinally, they weren't much different from Nichiren Shu. But because they were kind of this little temple that nobody visited much, that's when they started producing these documents saying that, you know, we are the only real successors to Nichiren.

[60:09]

We have this mandala that nobody else has. They started coming up, you know, we have the true cross. So, pilgrims come here. It sounds harsh, what I'm saying, but unfortunately I think that's the truth and most independent scholars would agree that this is the true story. Well, thank you very much, Michael, for this has been a wonderfully wide-ranging and deep class. And we, the people who want to continue next week, Thank you for inviting me and letting me come here.

[61:14]

Thank you. Oh, and if anybody else is interested, I do still have copies of those books, so you can see me. You did great. Great, thank you. That's my practice in San Jose is paying off.

[61:45]

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