Daily Gosho Passage - 16 January

[Jim Heckler]

Nam - Myoho - Renge - Kyo

…on the Island of Sado…at Tsukahara…several hundred priests and others
gathered in the spacious yard of the hut and in the adjacent field…and
I overturned them as easily as a sharp sword cutting through a melon
or a gale bending the grass. They were not only poorly versed in
Buddhism but contradicted themselves. They confused sutras with
treatises and commentaries with treatises…As I demonstrated the
falsities of each sect…there were Nembutsu adherents who admitted the
error of their sect…some threw away their robes and beads on the spot
and pledged never to chant Nembutsu again.

On the Buddha's Behavior;
MWND, Vol. 1, p. 187-188

Nam - Myoho - Renge - Kyo

[Kurt]

Post by Jim Heckler
Nam - Myoho - Renge - Kyo
…on the Island of Sado…at Tsukahara…several hundred priests and others
gathered in the spacious yard of the hut and in the adjacent field…and
I overturned them as easily as a sharp sword cutting through a melon
or a gale bending the grass. They were not only poorly versed in
Buddhism but contradicted themselves. They confused sutras with
treatises and commentaries with treatises…As I demonstrated the
falsities of each sect…there were Nembutsu adherents who admitted the
error of their sect…some threw away their robes and beads on the spot
and pledged never to chant Nembutsu again.
On the Buddha's Behavior;
MWND, Vol. 1, p. 187-188
Nam - Myoho - Renge - Kyo

It was so interesting to visit Sado Island in 2005 and see the remnants
of the Nembutsu culture. The Koh dance (Sado is known for Koh, sort of
like Kabuki) featured Nembutsu prominently and it was fascinating to see
a robotronic depiction of Nembutsu priests performing a ceremony after a
gold vein was discovered in the Sado gold mine. The mine was found many
years after the Daishonin was exiled there. It was one of the most
prolific gold mines in the world. Nembutsu seemed to have been like
Christianity in the west, widely accepted by the masses (and therefore
"safe").

Here's a picture I took:

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Love the masks...