To protect the flow of the story, my editor wanted me to put a sequence I had in the first chapter in an appendix. Its major characteristic is that it reads like an essay on Nichiren’s life and teaching.

The following is an excerpt of the article in the appendix that will help me make a couple of points that follow:

Nichiren was distrustful of powerful people for their potential abuses. Of government, he said:

 “Buddhism primarily concerns itself with victory or defeat, while government is based on the principle of reward and punishment. For this reason, a Buddha is looked up to as the supreme leader of the world, while a king is called the one who rules at his will.”

He was equally distrustful of professional clergy, admonishing lay believers not to necessarily follow priests that assert their superior knowledge and authority concerning doctrine when Gosho contradicts it.

He wrote:

“…even though you chant and believe in Myoho-renge-kyo, if you think the Law is outside of yourself, you are embracing not the Mystic Law but some inferior teaching.”

In the The Infinity Option and the second volume to be published at a future time (The Progeny Framework) the question of whether when one practices one actually makes enlightened decisions or not is raised in a comparison involving a Muslim character, Omar Ebedi. He has compassion and sincerity in his heart as is demanded by his religion despite the image Al Qaida has tarnished it with.

Never does the story discuss what has happened in real life between the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood and the Soka Gakkai. But it is instructive as commentary on the framework required for coming generations of Gakkai.

When we chant we fuse with causation or the proposition that we have the power to be causative if we are determined enough. But the lesson Nichiren was teaching in the statement above did not mean that we possess some perfect illumination within us to tell us everything we need to know about choices we need to make about this or that, and right and wrong that chanting will automatically open up.

Rather our Soka Gakkai, our Value Creating Society is and needs to be a Value Protecting Society to prevent wrong-mindedness from eventuating even among those who chant, particularly those who lead. This is how we do it. Everybody is equal. Even the most senior leader is considered an equal and what he or she says and does is as much subject to peer review as anyone else’s behavior. There are no Ayatollahs.

Fortunately we can thank the trouble with the priesthood for the formulation of this model of our organization.

The priests, particularly the High Priest, received criticism for haughty and self-aggrandizing behavior by Daisaku Ikeda. The High Priest plotted to sever Ikeda from the Soka Gakkai and take over the organization in a contestation for influence over the lay organization. Ikeda won, but the lesson learned was, as Nichiren taught, do not rely on upper authority to do what is right. Judge for yourself and act accordingly.

That is the democratizing value of the Soka Gakkai by which anyone can draw a line distinguishing it from Islam even if they assert there is no difference between the exhortations of both religions to behave beyond the normal level of exertion to do good.

This may clear up a misunderstanding it is possible that people have about our Buddhist beliefs. We believe that in this lifetime if we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo we can achieve something remarkable. We can change our own destiny or karma. We can become something we would otherwise not become, whether it is a professional designation or being a better parent or spouse, or just a happier individual capable of giving back to his environment in positive ways. We do not say we can become some all-seeing all-knowing right-minded abstraction called a Buddha. Rather we see a Buddha as someone who is always on a path of self development with a can-do attitude that so permeates one’s spirit as to be indomitable. Nevertheless fallible.