Pieters (May 23, 1996)
Some say that Nichiren priests do not keep precepts; therefore, they cannot be called real Buddhists. What do you think of this?

Murano (June 6, 1996)
Very few of us are vegetarians. Vegetarianism is conceived in Japan differently from that in India. I visited India and saw that there were two kinds of restaurants: vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Vegetarianism in India allows the use of eggs and milk products while Japanese vegetarianism means food of plant origin only. There is a large Soto Zen temple called Sojiji in Yokohama. When the World Fellowship of Buddhists’ Conference was held in Tokyo in 1952, many Theravada bhikkhus put up at Sojiji and were treated with vegetarian dishes without eggs and milk products. Worse still, Theravada formalism prohibits taking food in the afternoon. They take their full day volume of food by noon. Japanese temples, however, do not have such a food supplying system. They complained of food shortage. A Theravada bhikkhu told me, “We are a pitiable minority.”

Abandoning celibacy is a trend of Japanese Buddhism, although some lamas and Korean priests marry. Some Japanese priests are celibates. Nipponzan Myohoji priests do not marry. Two Nichiren priests in Kamakura are celibates. The chief priest of Myogyoji at Baraki, Chibaken, does not marry. Some Japanese Zen priests are celibates. The late chief priest of Komyoji Temple of the Jodo Sect in Kamakura did not marry.

I think that the most interesting thing to the Buddhists outside Japan is that most of the Japanese priests are in laymen’s attire in their everyday life. Theravada bhikkhus, lamas and Chinese priests wear priestly robes for 24 hours a day. Some new religion Buddhist priests in Korea wear laymen’s attire, but all the other Korean priests are in priestly robes. On the contrary, most of the Japanese priests wear priestly robes only during ceremony. Many Japanese priests work outside temples in laymen’s appearance. They work as school teachers, city office clerks or business company employees. When working outside temples, priests do not mind being treated as laymen. One who has been initiated into priesthood should be called Reverend even before he is ordained, but it is suitable for him to be called Mister when he works outside his temple.