Sunday, May 22, was the monthly Kaji Kito service in which Ven. Kenjo Igarashi personally prays for and purifies each parishioner, taking on the bad karma of one after another so that each can be happier.
It’s an evil practice.
At least that is how some priests apparently describe this Gosho, or honored teaching of Nichiren.
Ven. Igarashi earned the merit to perform this practice through aragyo, a 100-day ascetic practice. He has performed this 100-day practice five times over the more than 40 years that he has been a Nichiren Shu priest serving in the United States.
That accomplishment is nothing.
At least that is what some priests would have one believe.
As Ven. Igarashi explained during his Sunday sermon, there are plenty of examples of Nichiren praying for others, the most notable being Nichiren’s prayers for his mother, which extended her life four years. And, of course, the Lotus Sutra speaks repeatedly of the power of faith.
This Gosho of praying for the happiness of each church member is Igarashi’s way of propagating the Lotus Sutra. Each happier person inspires people to ask, “Why is he so happy?” and to learn of the Lotus Sutra.
Happiness, however, is not material gain. It is not a better job, or a prettier girlfriend. It is not financial wealth or a larger house. This is a message that Ven. Igarashi repeats often in his sermons.
For me, personally, with my past association with the Soka Gakkai of the 1990s, this concept of chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo for happiness has been one of the great joys of my Nichiren Shu practice.
When I was first introduced to Soka Gakkai and knew nothing of the Lotus Sutra, I was encouraged to chant for things. Need a job? Chant. Need a girlfriend. Chant. Not getting what you crave? Chant more. And I won’t even get into the “activities” and the threatened consequences of failing to participate.
One of my stated purposes for maintaining this website and, in particular, my collection of quotes from books I have purchased and read, is to be able to recall those quotes in a situation like this.
On the topic of happiness, I can cite my two favorite American sources, Rev. Ryuei McCormick and Rev. Ryusho Jeffus
Ryuei Shonin writes:
A person in the grip of undeveloped, immature, and ignorant desires usually tries to fulfill these desires by acting in a way that only serves to reinforce them. That is, that person attempts to find some form of lasting satisfaction and security in material or spiritual things. However, there is nothing short of Buddhahood that can bring the kind of true happiness that can fully quench ignorant desires. In this sense, these desires are actually the workings of the Buddha-nature: they cause us to unwittingly seek out our own Buddhahood. One could even say, “that which we seek is that which causes us to seek.”
Lotus Seeds
Ryusho Shonin writes:
Perhaps it is the reality of our modern advertisement saturated media that has led many to believe that only after buying and using every product known to man, after every single penny is spent that has ever been earned in the entire history of man- and womankind then and only then will somehow perfection and happiness be possible. Somehow by doing something so unlikely to produce indestructible happiness as buying a product is more realistic than the realization that each one of us is already all we need to be. We are as complete as we need to be in order to become indestructibly happy. All we need to do is simply wake up to this reality in our lives, and the Buddha is telling us that the Lotus Sutra is the most efficacious way of doing this.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra
I look forward to each Nichiren Shu service I can attend, both at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church and online with Myosho-ji, Wonderful Voice Buddhist Temple, Charlotte, NC.
I am happier today.