from [
www.sokaspirit.com]
This is an interview posted on www.sokaspirit.com several years ago. Jisai Watanabe was a Nichiren Shoshu priest who left Nichiren Shoshu to support Ikeda and the SGI.
----------------Beginning of Quote----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Long-Time Priest Risks All To Support Kosen-rufu
Jisai Watanabe, a member of the Association for the Reformation of Nichiren Shoshu, recently visited Los Angeles along with four other members of the association and ten leaders from the Soka Gakkai in Japan. The following is a compilation of his remarks at small group discussions, question-and-answer sessions and home visits in the Los Angeles area.
My name is Jisai Watanabe, and I am chief priest of Daikyo-ji temple in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture. I seceded from Taiseki-ji on October 18, 1992, having made the determination to sever all my ties with Nikken and those who blindly follow him and stand up to protect Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism together with President Ikeda and the SGI members.
Please don't worry about being unable to worship the Dai-Gohonzon at this point.
When you pray to the Gohonzon in your home, it is the same as praying to the Dai-Gohonzon I remember when the previous priest, Nittatsu, visited a temple in Odawara that is close to my temple. On that occasion, he stated that the Gohonzon enshrined in your own home embodies the life Nichiren Daishonin.
Next, I would like to comment on the SGI conferring Gohonzon and the tradition of the 'eye-opening' ceremony. When I was an assistant priest at Myoko-ji temple in Shinagawa, Tokyo, from 1952-56, President Toda came to ask the chief priest if he would confer the Gohonzon on the Soka Gakkai members. I had never heard of a 'Gohonzon Conferral Ceremony,' because at that time Gohonzon were rarely conferred, usually in cases when Hokkeko members moved away from their families, establishing a new household or when a substantial donation was made to the temple.
The chief priest decided to comply with Mr. Toda's request. However, there were practical problems to be solved. In those days, the Gohonzon were reproduced using a wood block printing technique. We had just a limited number of unmounted Gohonzon on hand. Soon after Mr. Toda's request, some members arrived to receive the Gohonzon. However, they were not ready, because we had to send the few Gohonzon on hand to be mounted professionally. The first ceremony was held a week later and the recipients were asked to make one pledge, not the three that were familiar during later temple gojukai ceremonies.
As the membership began to grow, other temples in the area began conferring Gohonzon on the Soka Gakkai members.
However, all of the Gohonzon in the various temples were not transcribed by the same high priest. For example, Myoko-ji temple, where I was assigned, reproduced and issued a Gohonzon transcribed by Nippu Shonin, the fifty-fifth high priest. Another temple in Tokyo, Jozai-ji, issued a Gohonzon transcribed by Nissho Shonin, the fifty-seventh high priest. And Hodo-in temple issued a Gohonzon transcribed by Nichio Shonin, the fifty-sixth high priest.
The chief priests of the temple issued those Gohonzon without ever sending them to the head temple to ask the high priest to perform any ceremonies, such as the 'eye-opening ceremony.'
We priests in the temples around Tokyo often encountered the problem that our supply of Gohonzon would be depleted. This being the case, as the assistant priest, I would be sent to another temple to ask if we could have some of their Gohonzon. Whenever possible, the chief priests cooperated with each other in order to provide Gohonzon to the new Soka Gakkai members. So as you can see, the members in those days had Gohonzon that were inscribed by different high priests.In light of this, I would like to say that it seems perfectly natural to me that, just as President Toda accepted the offer of Gohonzon transcribed by former high priests of his day, President Ikeda would follow suit and accept the offer of Chief Priest Sendo Narita of Joen-ji temple, Tochigi Prefecture, to make it possible for Soka Gakkai members to receive okatagi Gohonzon based on Nichikan Shonin's Gohonzon [originally inscribed in 1720].
As for the 'eye-opening ceremony,' which I understand Nichiren Shoshu claims must be performed on all Gohonzon, I consider this a distorted application of the tradition that I have only rarely observed at the head temple. This Nichiren Shoshu tradition of the 'eye-opening ceremony' was actually performed -- not on Gohonzon -- but on statues and painted images of the Daishonin that were sometimes kept in temples.
If this 'eye-opening ceremony' were essential, the retired high priest would have had to send a Gohonzon to Taiseki-ji to have this ceremony performed before conferring it on the members. He never mentioned to me during my service to him, an 'eye-opening ceremony' or the necessity of sending transcribed Gohonzon to Taiseki-ji to have this ceremony performed.(Seikyo Times, March 1994, No.392, p.20-25) © 1994 by World Tribune Press, Soka Gakkai International - USA
--------------------------End of Quote------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, if the Reverend Watanabe is correct and truthful:
1. It never really was necessary to go to see the DaiGohonzon (which he appears to consider legitimate.)
2. Soka Gakkai members have Gohonzons that were transcribed by various high priests. SGI would basically take any Gohonzon it could get, simply to have one to hand out to a new member. (And yet they object to people downloading a Gohonzon from a website, printing it out, and enshrining it.
3. The eye-opening ceremony was not necessary, and in fact it was usually done on statues and painted images, not Gohonzons.
Yes, this is all the truth -- until SGI decides to tell its members something different.