Why is Nichiren Buddhism better than Kabbalah?

[bcol01]

I have a friend who studies Kabbalah and is looking into Nichiren Buddhism. How might I show her that Nichiren Buddhism is the way to go?

[Minobu]

I have a friend who studies Kabbalah and is looking into Nichiren Buddhism. How might I show her that Nichiren Buddhism is the way to go?

If she practices what i have referred to as Holy Alchemy, she would understand i get her. the Kabbalah is like the root teachings...Basically it's about the chakras and Kundalini as we understand the terms...the whole tree of life thing and stuff...Anyway Nichiren and the Gohonzon is just the same only in a far eastern way.. Even most Nichiren practitioners have no clue.......If she combines both and allows for intuitive learning from basic study...She will see rewards in her kabbalah teachings like on steroids...

[tkp67]

Being the lotus sutra is the source of all teachings one gains the most benefit through practicing it opposed to any other. Why draw water from a tap when you can get it direct from the source?

[Minobu]

Being the lotus sutra is the source of all teachings one gains the most benefit through practicing it opposed to any other. Why draw water from a tap when you can get it direct from the source?

You have to understand that the Kabbalah is like Royal Yoga.
It’s a practice. You meditate using visualization.
Anything of this nature the Nichiren practice enables.
If the person really does both. It’s like she is using the practice to help her in her life experience . Albeit different from what others understand.

Don’t go all Salem witch trials on her. This practice enhances. Fear will destroy you.

[tkp67]

Being the lotus sutra is the source of all teachings one gains the most benefit through practicing it opposed to any other. Why draw water from a tap when you can get it direct from the source?

You have to understand that the Kabbalah is like Royal Yoga.
It’s a practice. You meditate using visualization.
Anything of this nature the Nichiren practice enables.
If the person really does both. It’s like she is using the practice to help her in her life experience . Albeit different from what others understand.

Don’t go all Salem witch trials on her. This practice enhances. Fear will destroy you.

There is no fear here just the teachings of Nichiren. Nichiren taught that one must discard expedient means. Other practices are just that. Chanting is superior even in the practice aligning chakra.

Breathing is critical in modulating vargus nerve function which effects glandular functions. Chakra all have glandular function correlates. Chanting regulates breathing while propagating the lotus sutra in a moments time within one's mind. Anything less is a dilution of practice and enforces a false confidence in inferior practices. Any true benefit they offer is included in Nichiren's buddhism. Nichiren taught this specifically.

[Minobu]

He asked for my opinion i gave it to him.

You do not understand that Nichiren shonin's teachings are not something that prohibits you from living .
This is life dude...
Nichiren meditated we now know for sure...he had to being a Buddhist..we were told in the gakki and me by a Shoshu priest that meditation was not Buddhist thought...i mean wowza...

the practice is base from which all human activity gets enhanced..

you are not going to raise your Kundalini just by chanting...the way to do that landed in my lap after i started to chant...
you are not going to be able to do Completion Stage Tantra , by chanting alone.

myopic views of what you do with your time after gongyo and such only harm shakkabukku...

And ok you tell me tkp67 how does one accomplish completion stage tantra without doing it ...or raising you kundalini ..which is the ultimate goal of the Kabbalah even though they refer to it as something other...eventually she will see what i am talking about...

Breathing is critical in modulating vargus nerve function which effects glandular functions. Chakra all have glandular function correlates. Chanting regulates breathing

i'm curious...tkp67 ..you think breathing during chanting is a yogic cure all.

Any true benefit they offer is included in Nichiren's buddhism. Nichiren taught this specifically.

so like if i break my arm it fixes just by chanting...did not know this..
So like getting my body in shape by exercise is a waste of time cause chanting takes care of that
so like you tell me how does one activate your Kundalini just by chanting...


you are living in Salem 1692 ....

this sort of fanatical ignorance and fear is just the thing to get me going this early in the morn....

[Minobu]

and by the way , the Kabbalah does not lead you to Buddhahood...but it does offer you to empower your self in samsara.

ignorance is not bliss it's dangerous.

add Nichiren';s practice to it and it becomes a whole other learning experience...

[tkp67]

Shakyamuni's complete and perfect enlightenment was ignorant of chakra and kundalini?

[Minobu]

I have a friend who studies Kabbalah and is looking into Nichiren Buddhism. How might I show her that Nichiren Buddhism is the way to go?

i think i read your OP wrong..
are you saying how can you explain to her that the Kabbalah practice is of no use to her and she should chant instead ?

As Buddhism spread it adopts what the area it has landed into.

When going into Tibet ,Shamanistic Bon religion got melded into the mix

When it landed in Japan ,Shamanistic Shinto got melded in... Nichiren actually chanted to a Shinto god and inscribed Hachiman on Gohonzon..

So these practices of your inner Dharma body can be used..without fear...or reprisal..

beware of anything like the Spanish Inquisition of 1473 ...

or not...it's your choice...choose myopia ...it feels good...fanaticism is like a drug...it's fun...who cares if it makes you closed...bah hum bug ..fanatics unite.

[Minobu]

Shakyamuni's complete and perfect enlightenment was ignorant of chakra and kundalini?

worst question ever...
He was born into these teachings...why do you think Mahayana Tantra is Buddhist ?
totally...

you don't really know what you are doing..the very practice you do does not limit human development....you want to delete knowledge ...burn a few books while you are at it...

I had a raving mad lunatic Chapter Chief in the Gakki wanting me to throw out all my books that were not Shoshu...A book on the I ching by wilhelm Reich drove him bonkers....so yeah lets all have a good ole fashioned book burning ...yayness galore ...


i awoke in peace and now this in your face fanaticism this early in the morning...

my god we are doomed with people like you...

[tkp67]

No what I am saying is that any benefits to be had from kabbalah are gained within the single practice of daimoku. In addition to the rest of the benefits that come with this practice.

The lotus sutra does not destroy benefit to replace it with a superior version. It eliminates the provisional nature of that those benefits are tethered with.

It is not a disrespect or callous abandonment of kabbalah but the virtuous reward that path has opened. When one wholeheartedly embraces the lotus sutra discarding provisional practices the practices that led one to the lotus sutra are reconciled to a greater understanding. Their place in one's personal development revealed in the process. This place in personal development, the specifics of path, are not the one vehicle yet we all navigate one in the process.

Because Shakyamuni's enlightenment contains kundalini and chakra knoweldge chanting the title of the lotus sutra involves those practices. This is a teaching of Nichiren not my own so your doubt, disdain and commentary are aimed at me but point to his teachings not my own.

[Minobu]

No what I am saying is that any benefits to be had from kabbalah are gained within the single practice of daimoku. In addition to the rest of the benefits that come with this practice.

The lotus sutra does not destroy benefit to replace it with a superior version. It eliminates the provisional nature of that those benefits are tethered with.

It is not a disrespect or callous abandonment of kabbalah but the virtuous reward that path has opened. When one wholeheartedly embraces the lotus sutra discarding provisional practices the practices that led one to the lotus sutra are reconciled to a greater understanding. Their place in one's personal development revealed in the process. This place in personal development, the specifics of path, are not the one vehicle yet we all navigate on in the process.

Because Shakyamuni's enlightenment contains kundalini and chakra knoweldge chanting the title of the lotus sutra involves those practices. This is a teaching of Nichiren not my own so your doubt, disdain and commentary are aimed at me but point to his teachings not my own.

and thus you get to disembowel anything of value and say it is contained in the Daimoku..

so exercise ,diet ,university degrees , gall stones , appendix attack....just chant and everything is ok..

good day ...

nightmare...total nightmare...

so if anyone want to know what the Daimoku is..
it empowers the conventional you ,allows for your Buddha Nature to work it's magic on any endeavour..

you have a human body a Dharma Body and this Buddha Nature...

you can't exercise your human body with just chanting

you cannot do things with your Dharma Body with chanting alone

Nichiren Shonin explains in the gosho True Entity of the Mystic Law both delusion and enlightenment is produced , and yet the Mystic Law is neither.



Your Buddha Nature can work with evil or goodness...you choose...

you can use your Buddha Nature to do good or bad...


Completion Stage Tantra is an exercise of the Dharma Body...In Buddhism it is safest ...there are fail safes...the Kabbalah ultimately produces the desired effect as well..how do you think that Jews , Rabbinical Jews teach reincarnation...they uncovered what is there...


got to go...this stuff is like putting needles in my eyes...

like Johnny dangerous said...we need to work on aversion...

[Minobu]

Your Buddha Nature can work with evil or goodness...you choose...

The Buddha and the Buddhist Protectors are enshrined in Gohonzon..
So with Gohonzon and Nichiren Shonin's teachings and the Odaimoku you get that fail safe i mentioned..

you can't do evil with your Buddha Nature for you are under the Cloak of Lord Sakyamuni Buddha and The Buddha's Protector deities auspice..

Even if you do ..it becomes a learning experience eventually with constant practice.

[Minobu]

Folks itsa big wide wonderful world we dwell in...we have these incredible bodies to inhabit...so much to experience...

beautiful...wonders of beauty...so much to experience with these bodies and the world we dwell in...After all it is imbued with Lord Sakyamuni Buddha's Mandala .....

add to that Nichiren Shonin's Mandala he inscribed ..and wowza...
a blessing inside a blessing to work with...

[tkp67]

No what I am saying is that any benefits to be had from kabbalah are gained within the single practice of daimoku. In addition to the rest of the benefits that come with this practice.

The lotus sutra does not destroy benefit to replace it with a superior version. It eliminates the provisional nature of that those benefits are tethered with.

It is not a disrespect or callous abandonment of kabbalah but the virtuous reward that path has opened. When one wholeheartedly embraces the lotus sutra discarding provisional practices the practices that led one to the lotus sutra are reconciled to a greater understanding. Their place in one's personal development revealed in the process. This place in personal development, the specifics of path, are not the one vehicle yet we all navigate on in the process.

Because Shakyamuni's enlightenment contains kundalini and chakra knoweldge chanting the title of the lotus sutra involves those practices. This is a teaching of Nichiren not my own so your doubt, disdain and commentary are aimed at me but point to his teachings not my own.

and thus you get to disembowel anything of value and say it is contained in the Daimoku..

so exercise ,diet ,university degrees , gall stones , appendix attack....just chant and everything is ok..

good day ...

nightmare...total nightmare...

so if anyone want to know what the Daimoku is..
it empowers the conventional you ,allows for your Buddha Nature to work it's magic on any endeavour..

you have a human body a Dharma Body and this Buddha Nature...

you can't exercise your human body with just chanting

you cannot do things with your Dharma Body with chanting alone

Nichiren Shonin explains in the gosho True Entity of the Mystic Law both delusion and enlightenment is produced , and yet the Mystic Law is neither.



Your Buddha Nature can work with evil or goodness...you choose...

you can use your Buddha Nature to do good or bad...


Completion Stage Tantra is an exercise of the Dharma Body...In Buddhism it is safest ...there are fail safes...the Kabbalah ultimately produces the desired effect as well..how do you think that Jews , Rabbinical Jews teach reincarnation...they uncovered what is there...


got to go...this stuff is like putting needles in my eyes...

like Johnny dangerous said...we need to work on aversion...

Daimoku is all inclusive because Shakyamuni's enlightenment realized that everyone possessed a buddha nature. Because everything is a product of consciousness the source of all these thing is the conscious. This practice reveals our own nature as derived from the primordial source.

There is no greater sentient practice and to deny that this is the ultimate teaching that even the gods abide by is simply denying the lotus sutra.

If you doubt that the chanting daimoku fulfill tantric, esoteric, exoteric, etc practices you are doubting Nichinren's teachings, one's own buddhahood and fundamental ignorance that this teaching is a direct mirror to one's own mind. The very difficulties you see in this teaching are a reflection of your own interpretations not what Nichiren taught. He did explain your reaction would be the causation of muddling provisional and the true teaching.

Since the OP is asking for guidelines to propagation of buddhism in the Nichiren forum it is a detriment to attempt to validate the propagation of provisional teachings. If you wish to practice other forms of buddhism that is on you. Propagating them here is a violation of the practice and grossly inappropriate.

[Minobu]

If you wish to practice other forms of buddhism that is on you. Propagating them here is a violation of the practice and grossly inappropriate.

It's back to this again...

what is grossly inappropriate is your take on what i do...

your interpretation of Saint Nichiren and his teachings are ok for you ...but it is really gross to force others to see it your way only...

It's back to this again...There are a multitude of differing concepts of what people think this practice is all about...everyone one of them perfectly correct for the person involved .

a violation of the practice

a violation of whose practice by the by...
some believe in Nichiren as some Buddha others a Bodhisattva and still others just a guy who got it right.
which one do you come from..

and who gives you any authority on the subject...to say

a violation of the practice and grossly inappropriate.

[tkp67]

This is indeed an accursed time to live in this land! However, the Buddha has commanded me to be born in this age, and it is impossible for me to go against the decree of the Dharma King. And so, as the sutra dictates, I have launched the battle between the provisional and the true teachings. Donning the armor of endurance and girding myself with the sword of the wonderful teaching, I have raised the banner of the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, the heart of the entire eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra. Then, drawing the bow of the Buddha’s declaration, “I have not yet revealed the truth,”4 and notching the arrow of “honestly discarding the provisional teachings,”5 I have mounted the carriage drawn by the great white ox6 and battered down the gates of the provisional teachings. Attacking first one and then another, I have refuted opponents from the eight and ten schools, such as the Nembutsu, True Word, Zen, and Precepts. Some have fled headlong while others have retreated, and still others have been captured to become my disciples. I continue to repulse their attacks and to defeat them, but legions of enemies exist who oppose the single Dharma King and the handful who follow him. So the battle goes on even today.

“The Lotus Sutra is the teaching of shakubuku, the refutation of the provisional doctrines.”7 True to the letter of this golden saying, in the end, every last one of the believers of the provisional teachings and schools will be defeated and join the retinue of the Dharma King. The time will come when all people will abandon the various kinds of vehicles and take up the single vehicle of Buddhahood, and the Mystic Law alone will flourish throughout the land. When the people all chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the wind will no longer buffet the branches, and the rain will no longer break the clods of soil. The world will become as it was in the ages of Fu Hsi and Shen Nung.8 In their present existence the people will be freed from misfortune and disasters and learn the art of living long. Realize that the time will come when the truth will be revealed that both the person and the Law are unaging and eternal. There cannot be the slightest doubt about the sutra’s promise of “peace and security in their present existence.”

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/42

On Practicing the Buddha’s Teachings

[tkp67]

Question: Why do you not advocate the meditation on the three thousand realms in a single moment of life, but instead simply encourage the chanting of the daimoku?

Answer: The two characters that comprise the name Japan contain within them all the people and animals and wealth in the sixty-six provinces of the country, without a single omission. And the two characters that make up the name India—do they not likewise contain within them all the seventy countries of India?21 Miao-lo says, “When for the sake of brevity one mentions only the daimoku, or title, the entire sutra is by implication included therein.”22 He also says, “When for the sake of brevity we speak of the Ten Worlds or the ten factors, the three thousand realms are perfectly encompassed therein.”23

When Bodhisattva Manjushrī and the Venerable Ānanda came to compile all the words spoken by the Buddha at the three assemblies during the eight years [in which the Lotus Sutra was preached], they wrote down the title Myoho-renge-kyo, and to show their understanding [that the entire sutra is contained in these five characters], they proceeded with the words “This is what I heard.”24

Question: If a person simply chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with no understanding of its meaning, are the benefits of understanding thereby included?

Answer: When a baby drinks milk, it has no understanding of its taste, and yet its body is naturally nourished. Who ever took the wonderful medicines of Jīvaka knowing of what they were compounded? Water has no intent, and yet it can put out fire. Fire consumes things, and yet how can we say that it does so consciously? This is the explanation of both Nāgārjuna and T’ien-t’ai, and I am restating it here.

Question: Why do you say that all teachings are contained within the daimoku?

Answer: Chang-an writes: “Hence [T’ien-t’ai’s explanation of the title in] the preface conveys the profound meaning of the sutra. The profound meaning indicates the heart of the text, and the heart of the text encompasses the whole of the theoretical and essential teachings.”25 And Miao-lo writes, “On the basis of the heart of the text of the Lotus Sutra, one can evaluate all the other various teachings of the Buddha.”26

Though muddy water has no mind, it can catch the moon’s reflection and so naturally becomes clear. When plants and trees receive the rainfall, they can hardly be aware of what they are doing, and yet do they not proceed to put forth blossoms? The five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo do not represent the sutra text, nor are they its meaning. They are nothing other than the intent of the entire sutra. So, even though the beginners in Buddhist practice may not understand their significance, by practicing these five characters, they will naturally conform to the sutra’s intent.

Question: When your disciples, without any understanding, simply recite with their mouths the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, what level of attainment do they reach?

Answer: Not only do they go beyond the highest level of the four flavors and three teachings, as well as that attained by practitioners of the perfect teaching set forth in the sutras that precede the Lotus Sutra, but they surpass by a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, million times the founders of the True Word and various other schools of Buddhism, such as Shan-wu-wei, Chih-yen, Tz’u-en, Chi-tsang, Tao-hsüan, Bodhidharma, and Shan-tao.

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/94

On the Four Stages of Faith

[Minobu]

Question: Why do you not advocate the meditation on the three thousand realms in a single moment of life, but instead simply encourage the chanting of the daimoku?

Answer: The two characters that comprise the name Japan contain within them all the people and animals and wealth in the sixty-six provinces of the country, without a single omission. And the two characters that make up the name India—do they not likewise contain within them all the seventy countries of India?21 Miao-lo says, “When for the sake of brevity one mentions only the daimoku, or title, the entire sutra is by implication included therein.”22 He also says, “When for the sake of brevity we speak of the Ten Worlds or the ten factors, the three thousand realms are perfectly encompassed therein.”23

When Bodhisattva Manjushrī and the Venerable Ānanda came to compile all the words spoken by the Buddha at the three assemblies during the eight years [in which the Lotus Sutra was preached], they wrote down the title Myoho-renge-kyo, and to show their understanding [that the entire sutra is contained in these five characters], they proceeded with the words “This is what I heard.”24

Question: If a person simply chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with no understanding of its meaning, are the benefits of understanding thereby included?

Answer: When a baby drinks milk, it has no understanding of its taste, and yet its body is naturally nourished. Who ever took the wonderful medicines of Jīvaka knowing of what they were compounded? Water has no intent, and yet it can put out fire. Fire consumes things, and yet how can we say that it does so consciously? This is the explanation of both Nāgārjuna and T’ien-t’ai, and I am restating it here.

Question: Why do you say that all teachings are contained within the daimoku?

Answer: Chang-an writes: “Hence [T’ien-t’ai’s explanation of the title in] the preface conveys the profound meaning of the sutra. The profound meaning indicates the heart of the text, and the heart of the text encompasses the whole of the theoretical and essential teachings.”25 And Miao-lo writes, “On the basis of the heart of the text of the Lotus Sutra, one can evaluate all the other various teachings of the Buddha.”26

Though muddy water has no mind, it can catch the moon’s reflection and so naturally becomes clear. When plants and trees receive the rainfall, they can hardly be aware of what they are doing, and yet do they not proceed to put forth blossoms? The five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo do not represent the sutra text, nor are they its meaning. They are nothing other than the intent of the entire sutra. So, even though the beginners in Buddhist practice may not understand their significance, by practicing these five characters, they will naturally conform to the sutra’s intent.

Question: When your disciples, without any understanding, simply recite with their mouths the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, what level of attainment do they reach?

Answer: Not only do they go beyond the highest level of the four flavors and three teachings, as well as that attained by practitioners of the perfect teaching set forth in the sutras that precede the Lotus Sutra, but they surpass by a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, million times the founders of the True Word and various other schools of Buddhism, such as Shan-wu-wei, Chih-yen, Tz’u-en, Chi-tsang, Tao-hsüan, Bodhidharma, and Shan-tao.

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/94

On the Four Stages of Faith

so He explains what Daimoku is...the entire Lotus sutra..

but i am talking about something different..

lets put it this way...

foot reflexology..
does chanting do that work on your foot ...
it's an extremely effective practice...you do have these lil lumps of poison in your feet and they are released and cleansed with reflexology...

Kabbalah is just the same...you have do it to experience it...

what else..oh yeah there was a shiatsu guy in the gakki..is rich in toronto cause of his place where he does this...

so like you are talking about different things...

so show me anyone who has accomplished what Completion Stage Tantra does from just chanting..

show me someone whose feet got better without reflexology..which helps your entire system by the way..

i don't think you have a clue as tp what these practices are and just want to do the Salem Witch Hunt fear thing...

this is what is wrong with what Nichiren's Teachings have been slain with...

go enjoy a good book burning...

[tkp67]

Question: As I understand it, a teacher is someone who has grasped the central meaning of the sutras and treatises and who writes commentaries explaining them. If that is so, then it is only natural that the teachers of the various schools should each formulate doctrines according to their own understanding, and on that basis write their commentaries, establish principles, and dedicate themselves to the attainment of enlightenment. How could such efforts be in vain? To insist that the Lotus Sutra alone holds the position of absolute superiority is to adopt too narrow a view, I believe.

Answer: If you think that to proclaim the absolute superiority of the Lotus Sutra is to take too narrow a view, then one would have to conclude that no one in the world was more narrow-minded than Shakyamuni Buddha. I am afraid you are greatly mistaken in this matter. Let me quote from one of the sutras and from the commentary of one school, and see if I can resolve your confusion.

The Immeasurable Meanings Sutra says: “[Because people’s natures and desires are not alike], I preached the Law in various different ways. Preaching the Law in various different ways, I made use of the power of expedient means. But in these more than forty years, I have not yet revealed the truth.”

Hearing this pronouncement, Great Adornment and the others of the eighty thousand bodhisattvas replied in p.56unison, voicing their understanding that “[as for those living beings who are unable to hear this sutra . . . ] though immeasurable, boundless, inconceivable asamkhya kalpas may pass, they will in the end fail to gain unsurpassed enlightenment.”

The point of this passage is to make clear that, no matter how much one may aspire to the Buddha way by calling upon the name of Amida Buddha, or by embracing the teachings of the Zen school—relying on the sutras of the Flower Garland, Āgama, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods preached by the Buddha during the previous forty years and more—one will never succeed in attaining supreme enlightenment, even though a countless, limitless, inconceivable number of asamkhya kalpas should pass.

And this is not the only passage of this type. The “Expedient Means” chapter of the Lotus Sutra states, “The World-Honored One has long expounded his doctrines and now must reveal the truth.” It also says, “[In the Buddha lands of the ten directions] there is only the Law of the one vehicle, there are not two, there are not three.” These passages mean that only this [Lotus] sutra represents the truth.

Again, in the second volume it says, “I am the only person who can rescue and protect others.”1 And it speaks of “desiring only to accept and embrace the sutra of the great vehicle and not accepting a single verse of the other sutras.”2 These passages mean that only Shakyamuni Buddha can save and protect all living beings, and that one should wish to accept and uphold only the Lotus Sutra, and never even a verse from any other sutra.3

It also says, “If a person fails to have faith but instead slanders this sutra, immediately he will destroy all the seeds for becoming a Buddha in this world. . . . When his life comes to an end he will enter the Avīchi hell.”4 This passage means that, if one does not believe in the Lotus Sutra but instead turns against it, one will immediately destroy the seeds for attaining Buddhahood in this world. After death, one will fall into the hell of incessant suffering.

Examining these passages, T’ien-t’ai concluded that it was statements such as these that had prompted the words, “Is this not a devil pretending to be the Buddha?”5 If we merely rely upon the commentaries of various teachers and do not follow the statements of the Buddha himself, then how can we call our beliefs Buddhism? To do so would be absurd beyond description!

Therefore, the Great Teacher Chishō stated that, if one claims that there is no division of Mahayana and Hinayana among the sutras and no distinction of partial and perfect among revelations of the truth, and therefore accepts all the words of the various teachers, then the preachings of the Buddha will have been to no purpose.6

T’ien-t’ai asserted, “That which has a profound doctrine and accords with the sutras is to be written down and made available. But put no faith in anything that in word or meaning fails to do so.”7 He also said, “All assertions that lack scriptural proof are to be branded as false.”8 How would you interpret such statements?

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/8

Embracing the Lotus Sutra