Miguel,
Here is the quote in full:
"Toda felt particularly bitter toward one Taiseki-ji priest, Jimon
Ogasawara, who had favored the merger of Nichiren Shoshu with Nichiren Shu at
Minobu to conform with the government policy of unifying all Nichiren
sects. Ogasawara also advocated the eclectic Shinto-Buddhist theology,
according
to which Buddhist deities were merely manifestations of the true
deities--those of Shinto. Such had been the atmosphere at Taiseki-ji when
Makiguchi
was called to the temple and directed to moderate his outspokenness in the
interest of good relations between the temple and the authorities. Toda
felt that the priests, and Ogasawara in particular, were thereby largely
responsible for the government suppression of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai and for
Makiguchi's death in jail.
"Toda never forgot this, nor did he forgive Ogasawara. On the eve of
April 28, 1952, when Taiseki-ji held a major service to commemorate the
founding of the Nichiren Sect in 1253, Toda visited the temple with four
thousand members of his Youth Division and assaulted Ogasawara. Toda felt
justified in doing so to avenge his late teacher and demanded an apology from
the
octogenarian priest. When Ogasawara refused, the young men, who included
Ikeda, later president of Soka Gakkai, mobbed him and carried him on their
shoulders, tagging him with a placard inscribed 'Tanuki Bozu' (Racoon Monk).
Ogasawara was taken to Makigushi's grave, where he was forced to sign a
statement of apology.
"Recalling this incident in an interview with the author in July 1956,
Toda admited hitting the priest 'twice' and said that this was the cause
of the extremely unfavorable press his organization then received--which
labeled Soka Gakkai as a 'violent religion.'
"Ogasawara filed a complaint with the authorities against Soka Gakkai
for assault and battery. In November 1958, Nissho, the high priest of
Taiseki-ji, reprimanded Toda for the April 27 incident, and Toda responded
with
an apology printed in Seikyo Shimbun, Soka Gakkai's organ. He promised that
Soka Gakkai would follow 'the iron rule of absolute obedience to the
policy of the [Taiseki-ji] administration' and would continue to serve its
interests. 'In response to the high priest's admonition,' he said, 'we shall
forget completely what happened in the past. . . .But if Mr. Ogasawara should
take steps like those he took during the war . . . we will resolutely carry
out a firm struggle to safeguard our cannon. For the sin of having troubled
the high priest, I am resolved to atone and apologize with the conversion
of the entire nation. It goes without saying that members of the Youth
Division follow me in this regard.'
"In a pamphlet issued in May 1955, Ogasawara similarly 'repented' his
'indiscretion in having had the unfortunate conflict with Soka Gakkai.'
Ikeda, who led the four thousand young men to mob Ogasawara, says now that the
incident was an act of kindness because the old priest, made to realize
his apostasy, was grateful to Toda and Soka Gakkai and died a happy man."
This excerpt was taken from pages 95 to 97 of the book, Japan's New
Buddhism: An Objective Account of Soka Gakkai, by Kiyoaki Murata, published by
Walker/Weatherhill in 1969. LCC Card No. 74-83640.
In the book's Foreword, on pages ix and x, Daisaku Ikeda writes the
following about this book:
"As for the facts given in this book concerning the Soka Gakkai, I can
say with assurance that the book is more accurate than any other on the
subject. Some of the bits of information the author has dug out in the course
of his research are printed for the first time."
"I hope that this work by Mr. Kiyoaki Murata will play a role in
bringing correct understanding of the Sokagakkai to many people..."
To which I say, "Indeed!"
Ernesto
In a message dated 6/18/2010 07:21:08 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
Ernesto I am very interested in the quote...As you know..".from the mouth
of two or three witnesses".....
--- On Thu, 6/17/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [GohonzonForum] Re: [The Bible of Shakubuku] supervised by
Taisaku Ikeda, SGI
To: [email protected]
Date: Thursday, June 17, 2010, 3:28 PM
Him and some of his mates in the SGI battered a Priest who was in his 60s
because he disagreed with their views. This happened way back in the days,
40s or 50s. If you search the net you will find the correct information as
I did.
This event is discussed in the now long out of print book, Japan's New
Buddhism. The priest is described there as being an "octogenarian, " meaning
he was in his eighties, not sixties. The YMD went to the old priest's home
and dragged (literally and eventually carried) him to a cemetery in the
middle of the night. He was roughed up and forced to apologize to the tomb of
Makiguchi in his underwear. If I recall correctly, the old priest's "crime"
was in writing a doctrinal paper stating that the time for Shakabuku was
over (but I might be wrong about this). Ikeda, himself, wrote the preface to
this book, highly praising it. It was either the first, or one of the
first, scholarly works to be done about the Gakkai by an independent source.
If
anyone is interested, I can post a quote directly from the book, as well
as publishing information.
Ernesto
