I have to comment on the recent misconceptions posted about the SGI by Kempon Hokke Kai (KHK). First, I was an SGI member for 5 years before I converted to KHK. I let myself be lured by what I thought was my intellect into a sect that claimed to have information that was not shared in the SGI. After awhile, I began to believe what the KHK was saying. 

I studied more than ever for the next two years I was with KHK. The truth is that after that time, I found that it was the SGI that was correct all along. KHK speaks of the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni as spoken of in the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, but they fail to realize that it is the Buddha life condition that is eternal and ever present in our lives. Thus, it is the revelation of our eternity not just Shakyamuni. 

They also take every mention of "buddha" in the Lotus Sutra to mean Shakyamuni and Shakyamuni only. KHK greatly lacks the very concept of what ichinen sanzen is all about. They deny that Nichiren was a Buddha. From my perspective, KHK is, in a sense, a monotheistic, dualistic/nondualistic religion. In the beginning I really thought that the KHK doctrine was more deep and "profound", but I was wrong. KHK teaches that Shakyamuni was the Buddha, and the next Buddha will be Maitreya. But what would be the point of practicing Buddhism if we can not attain Buddhahood in this lifetime? 

As for some of the recent issues being discussed on the Internet ... the Nam/Namu issue is not an issue at all. Rev. Kubota of KHS chanted both every time I met with him. At a meeting at a believer's house in Portland, OR, in 1996, he stated Nam/Namu did not matter, and he did not mention anything about the having to have the "correct object of worship" while stating this. KHK took this out of context and made it sound like it did not matter whether you chanted Nam or Namu if your object of worship is wrong. 

Second, SGI has not discarded Shakyamuni or the Lotus Sutra at all. This is all I have to say on these matters at this time. Although the people of KHK are good human beings, the organization really does not understand the depth of Nichiren Buddhism, outside a textbook approach. Even Nichiren stated that his knowledge of the Lotus Sutra was very poor as compared to T'ien t'ai and Dengyo. Why was Nichiren different and why do we follow him today? Things to be pondered.

So happy to be back with the SGI !

Matthew McLaughlin