Does anybody here still practice the chant?

Did you know that there is a tale of Nichiren "calming the storm", just like the jesus, just like the Apostle Paul? Here is a picture of it

Hmm, if Nichiren is going to calm that storm, he'd better get to work on that twenty-foot wave on the left!

Funny, for all those wondrous superpowers of his and for "no prayer will go unanswered", he STILL ended up starving to death in a freezing hut, alone in the mountains... So much for the "protection of the Buddhist gods"! Those Buddhist gods are going to have some 'splainin' to do!

That prompted me to google Nichren's death. I didn't find any reference to his starving to death but did find some interesting contradictions. A detailed SGI article admits to an illness, stating the following:

On September 25, despite the gravity of his illness, he lectured to his followers on his treatise “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land.” Then on October 13, 1282, Nichiren again declared that his teachings be entrusted to Nikko Shonin, naming him chief priest of Kuon-ji. Later that same day, after sixty-one years, the noble life of Nichiren Daishonin came to an end.

However, a short article on the SGI website states "Nichiren died of old age three years later". Similarly, this page states "Nichiren died of old age three years later, his mission complete". Nasty illness, that old age!

Non-SGI sources provide more detail regarding the illness. The Encyclopedia Britannica states:

The hardships and persecutions endured for so many years began to take their toll, and Nichiren’s state of health grew worse and worse. His final illness was probably a cancer of the intestinal tract. In the fall of 1282 he left his hermitage at Minobu and took residence in the mansion of one of his disciples in the district of Ikegami (in what is now Tokyo), where he died.

The Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society states:

It is also believed that the militant Buddhist monk Nichiren dies from cancer of the intestinal tract.

Finally, this post states:

Nichiren died when he was 60 years old, though the SGI doesn't say more than "he was sick." Years ago, I was in a university library and came across a book written by a professor in Japan which was published in the 1930s. I wish I could recall the author's name and the book's title, but I can't. He related that Nichiren died of some kind of stomach or intestinal ailment which was most likely a form of cancer.

That author goes on to propose that, if Nichiren were a fully-enlightened Buddha, then he could not have succumbed to disease. Hence, he concludes that either 1) Nichiren was not a buddha, or 2) the correct teaching was not what was in Nichiren's mind. In any event, I can see how Nichiren dying of cancer could be a problem if you believe him to be the True Buddha who had the ultimate protection of the Buddhist gods.

By the way, you might want to invite the author here. I see at this link that he challenged the SGI to a debate. I see that he is still posting and his Google+ profile is here.

/r/sgiwhistleblowers Thread