Nichiren Shoshu gets slapped around, predictably, by the Christian Research Institute. Read their "report" here.
Nichiren Shoshu replaces God with an impersonal omnipresent essence that eternally fluctuates in cycles of manifestation and dormancy. Practically speaking, Nichiren Shoshu is an atheistic system, for any concept of a personal God is irrelevant and, to their way of thinking, spiritually harmful.
Whatevs. I'm not sure when the article was written, but it's getting a lot of tweetage on twitter today.
What I find frustrating is that outsiders looking in don't see the very significant distinctions between Nichiren Shoshu and Nichiren Shu (totally different!) and cannot differentiate between a cult like Soka Gakkai and the openmindedness of independent Nichiren practitioners. To "them," we're all a bunch of godless heathens.
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Even a broken clock is right twice a day.There is no difference between Nichiren Shu, Nichiren Shoshu, Sokka Gakkai, and Independent Nichiren Buddhists in any essential way. For the most part they are all Godless heathens if that's how you want to slice it. Is there any real essential differences between Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, Greek Orthodox, Presbyterians, etc.? I don't think so. They'll all argue and even go to war with each other and then pray the same prayers and read from the same scripture believing in the same God. They all need a make believe big daddy in the sky to help them feel secure.Just like in Nichiren Buddhism unification remains a crazy dream.
IMO, how the followers of the Demi-God Bodhisattva Yeshua, avatar of Jehovah-Brahma, perceive Buddhism is irrelevant. The point is, how can we bring them to the Dharma? Their ignorance can only be the result of our collective failure to expound the Dharma to them. Though many of them may be icchantikas with barbaric doctrines that fail to teach impartial compassion and respect for different people and forms of life, there are many Christians who are devout because they follow that faith as what they know to be the highest good.Only Buddhism can shine light on their ignorance and expose who amongst them are disciples of Jesus and followers of compassionate Jehova-Brahma, and which amongst them are followers of the Heavenly Devil that mocks our suffering and demands our obedience to his will. If they understood the truth at all, they would turn to the East in reverence of the Law and chant the Daimoku along with their God and his retinue of angels.
I can't see the point in trying to explain buddhism or any other religious practice to some one who isn't interested. As far as the Xtians go I would be happy if they would follow Jesus have their egos broken open and become reborn. That's enlightenment enough for anybody.
Say a person did, they would eventually need to change their doctrines to reflect those changes. Personally, I left the bible when I realized that the ideas I increasingly found more and more valid were not contained in it. Eventually, rather than going against the flow in a Christian environment, I joined a Buddhist organization to reflect that change.Some Christians are disciples of the "Loving God" concept, others are disciples of the "Angry God," and they push Jesus as the only way to bypass and appease the Angry God. As people move closer to the more compassionate and altruistic side of the religion, they will begin to see it's inconsistencies: "See, the day of the Lord is coming - a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it" (Is 13:9). That's why we should always provide a good example and speak confidently about what we believe. We don't have to shout at people, we just have to stand our ground and reach out to others.The Buddha loves everyone - even the Devil (Mara/Papiyas) - and no one falls into hell forever. I think that Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhism especially, remains largely untapped even by many of it's adherents.