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The Koma Persecution

Imagine if you will an attempt on your life. You are with a group of friends walking down the street and you are attacked viscously, not unlike the news we view on television and read about almost weekly in our society! We do not dwell in meditation on such a vile situation for long, only to remind us how so many others seemingly innocent people in our community suffer great pain be they elderly, middle age, young, financially rich or poor. When we read about such events we are responsible to chant that they may discover their Buddha nature.

As we have seen in our modern day it is also the very good who are attacked and even killed for their leadership and their desire to bring ignorance and stupidity to a to an end, such as fighting criminal elements of society or taking up against racism. The names of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Yitzhak Rabin are only a few public names.

The sadness one feels is in the realization that whether it is the thirteenth century or the present time, our human progress towards peace is very slow. Peace will not come as long as humans choose to remain ignorant, self righteous, and without compassion for others. Even those who try fairly large in number make only the smallest of dents in these times of regression. This is why the Five-In-One Sound Meditation, chanting powerful meditations to the universal Law through our "conscious communication" is so vital. The Buddha teaches us that until there is a strong desire for "spiritual sustain-ability," peace will not come and the insanity of deep suffering will continue in our saha world of endurance.

Today, we are reminded of another who fought for peaceful means in his time. The young priest who founded the Buddha Dharma we practice daily, upset many religious and governmental officials as he was not one who taught with a gentleness or kindness towards all. In fact it was his very vocal remonstrations towards those in power that brought him much suffering. Like others before and after him, he was trying to spear ignorance with a lance, not always the best of methods. On November 11, 1264 after being freed from his exile to Izu Island, which lasted a little more than a year and a half, Nichiren returned to the home of his mother, who was very ill. He manifested a major "Daimoku" campaign for her health, which was very successful, as his mother recovered from her life threatening illness and lived for another four years.

During this time he lodged at one of the local temples and one of those faithful to Nichiren's new teachings invited him home to dine with him and his family. At dusk as the party of about ten believers were walking to the guests home the group was attacked at a crossing called Komatsubara. Nichiren suffered a deep sword cut to his forehead which he wore for the rest of his life, and his left hand was broken. Even more seriously two of his followers Kyonin-bo and Kudo Yhoshitaka were killed. These were two of the first to die for believing in the Buddha Dharma of our Latter Day of the Law, their names are inscribed on the Gohonzon. Yet like so many who are attacked in today's society, they probably felt they were not doing anything that deserved persecution and death.

When I meditate on today, I am filled with great sadness as we are reminded what is happening in Pakistan, Iraq, the starving in North Korea because of despot government control, and other unstable places on mother earth. Here we see the powerful and government leaders ignoring the masses of people who have a desire to live in peace. The ordinary people unwilling to understand their personal empowerment. However, if you were to tell those involved in this gross suffering that life would be better if all sides were to get together and chant Nam~Myoho~Renge~Kyo and explain to them this is the title of the Buddha's highest teaching, the energy force of the Buddha Dharma that could bring about a solution to the difficulty; they "All" would probably tell you to get lost, just as they did in Nichiren's time. The point is being an envoy of the Buddha-way is not an easy task.

We understand that the human condition is a gradual awakening, whether we think about the past war of Vietnam or present day Afganistan. Too many in power, persecute at will, just like in Nichiren's time. Some things change, but much stays the same when it comes to greed, insanity and power. But, god help you for calling the injustice as insanity.

In today's society there is no Buddhist Middle Pathway, as very few understand the path to "spiritual sustain-ability." It becomes easier to understand the Buddha's words, "all the living are ever suffering, blind without true leadership, unaware of the way to end pain....never hearing the buddha's name..." Chapter 7 p. 148 Threefold Lotus Sutra

Respecting those who have accomplished the Buddha-way, we are reminded "if you continue living as you are now, there can be no doubt that you are practicing the Lotus Sutra twenty four hours each day." Letter from Nichiren to Kingo Shingo

Let our Meditation for this week be: "how much time will it take for my body, mind and spirit to be still, peaceful, tranquil in daily practice, not distracted? That I may pass peaceful means along to others by introducing them to the Buddha-way.

Knowing you are making a difference in all you do, let us do what we can, by chanting daily in our Fourth Mediation to help relieve those suffering from persecution in our current Latter Day of the Law.

"Life is more than a journey, it is most importantly Your Journey,
along the pathway of body, mind and spirit."
                    Respectfully, Henry, Author, BGT     

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