Hi Miguel, Yes, they did admit their conduct, but honestly, how can one rightly feel justified for mobbing, roughing up, punching the lights out of, and dragging an 80 something year old man to a cemetery in the middle of the night simply because he had a doctrinal position that was different from their's? As far as to what this has to do with SGI today, well, I have no idea. I came into this conversation rather late, so I really don't know what it was all about or how it got started. However, since I saw this event being spoken of, and since I had accurate information on it, I thought that I should post it. That's it. Ernesto In a message dated 6/19/2010 12:28:12 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Ok..Thank you Ernesto..so they admitted there conduct and felt justify.... Now what does that event have to do with SGI Today? Like I said..everything that happened by then was in the context of a historic Event ww2..II.. --- On Sat, 6/19/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [GohonzonForum] Toda, the YMD and Ogasawara To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, June 19, 2010, 12:08 AM 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, desertmonk2002@ yahoo.com 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, kokoroi...@aol. com <kokoroi...@aol. com> wrote: From: kokoroi...@aol. com <kokoroi...@aol. com> Subject: Re: [GohonzonForum] Re: [The Bible of Shakubuku] supervised by Taisaku Ikeda, SGI To: GohonzonForum@ yahoogroups. com 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
