First up i was introduced to Lotus Buddhism as a sort of magic trick to get all my desires answered.
I think Toda referred to gohonzon and Butsudan as a happiness machine.
here is a bit from
http://pounceatron.dreamhosters.com/nic ... ai-02.html
Copyright by Ryuei Michael McCormick. 2001.
The Ogasawara scandal, the aggressive proselytization tactics, military style organization, political ambitions, and the Soka Gakkai's intolerance towards all other religions tarnished its reputation in the eyes of the Japanese media and many in the general public. Nevertheless, Toda's dream of the conversion of 750,000 families was reported to have been met in 1957. One reason for the Soka Gakkai's success may have been the promise of material benefits through the simple practice of chanting daimoku to the gohonzon. Toda described the Daigohonzon as a kind of "happiness machine":
Suppose a machine which never fails to make everyone happy were built by the power of science or by medicine...Such a machine, I think, could be sold at a very high price. Don't you agree? If you used it wisely, you could be sure to become happy and build up a terrific company. You could make a lot of money. You could sell such machines for ¥100,000 apiece.
But Western science has not yet produced such a machine. It cannot be made. Still, such a machine has been in existence in this country, Japan, since seven hundred years ago. This is the Daigohonzon. [Nichiren] Daishonin made this machine for us and gave it to us common people. He told us: "Use [the machine] freely. It won't cost you any money." And yet, people of today don't want to use it because they don't understand the explanation that the Daigohonzon is such a splendid machine. (Murata, p. 107)
so by the time it got to me ....well...
anyway this morn i awoke and all that disappeared with one realization.
The Lotus Sutra is medicine to cure the effects of Karma in sentients dwelling in the degenerative age.
It's hard work and what needs to be addressed is your own personal Karma.
I'm 62 and not entirely living a life i wished i would by now. Not going to go personal ,but for the sake of this buddhism want people to know i realize that there is a lot of hell on earth for ole Minobu here. It's all down to me and my Karma.
So somehow the Universe and with the help of Buddha produced something of a cure.
Unfortunately it does not erase your Karma like bleach or something. It's more like this;
One needs to commit to a life long practice and do the right thing as laid out by Nichiren Daishonin. Faith Practice Study and helping other sentients to see the way we decided to live our lives with a Buddhist practice...
It's a long game...a forever game.
So today i am no longer focussing on seeking for successes in my daily life and enjoyments i desire....I look to the long game for myself and others .....
Let the Medicine purge the cause and live through the purges...
I think the Gakki with all it's false views still does a great job at bringing people to the Practice of Lotus Buddhism and maybe in the future they will have the freedom to complete the transformation ikeda initiated but in my view did not go far enough.
I'll always hope for the Gakki to become that place of purity i pray for where sentients can learn the Pure Lotus Buddhism laid out by the Masters.
imagine that organization with all the energy and resources they have...purging themselves of all the false doctrine and get back to basics...
anyway i say that only to impress upon you that this Buddhism is about hard work towards your purge of Karma...Take away the Karma and free all hindrances that obscure Tathagatagarbha .