Ningen Kakumei episodes 06-10 batch + TL notes

Episode 6 notes:

• Vessel for manifestation of Buddha's true self - actually, "発迹顕本" is another heavily loaded concept from Buddhism. Fully expanded, it amounts to something like "Casting off the transient body and revealing the true self of the original Buddha." The meaning of this passage is that Buddha lives in anyone, and through piety anyone is able to reveal traces of Buddha in himself - anytime, anywhere, even with a mortal body. More here. 
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  Another context-heavy scene. At least the show made an effort to make it clear what's going on, and I resounded that effort without resorting to \an8 TL notes. The guy here refers to the word 正しい / tadashi = correct, hence he wants to name the magazine "正教 / seikyo" = orthodox (literally "correct faith"). Toda, however, mistakes it for another "seikyo," namely "聖教 / seikyo" = Sacred Teachings (literally "saint faith"). And that's how they end up naming the magazine - Seikyo Shimbun. Also, the name of Daishonin himself - 大聖人 - translates to "the great saint."
• Toda's pen name - "Myogoku (妙悟空)" - means "the man enlightened to the meaning of the Supreme Law." During his imprisonment, Toda awakened (go) to the essence of Buddhism, the mystic truth (myo) of nonsubstantiality (ku). When continuing the publication in Toda's stead, Daisaku Ikeda himself would assume the name of "Hogoku" which in turn means "enlightened to one's own ignorance" - denoting his master-disciple relationship with Toda even here. 
• True Embodiment of Buddha - actually, 御本仏 (gohonbutsu) is another loaded term, that means one of the Buddha's, who had the virtues of all the previous Buddhas. The difference with the 御本尊 (gohonzon) is that gohonzon refers to the idealized image of the Buddha, while gohonbutsu is one specific Bodhisattva of the Earth. 

Episode 7 notes:

• Invincible Kansai - this topic would be explored later in the show. For now, let's just say Kansai was the first ever place where Soka Gakkai's political party gained the majority of seats in Parliament.
• Soka Gakkai's traditional "February Campaign" - February is the month when both Toda Josei and Nichiren were born, and after 1952, it also became a sort of month of celebrations within the movement, when all the branches work especially hard, trying to make it to the leaderboard. More here.
• Sir, we would like to select the most outstanding members from each branch and use Sato Haruo’s "New Translation of Suikoden" as our teaching material. And as for the group's name... How about "Suikokai" to convey that the gathering at Mount Liang is Soka Gakkai? It means "a get-together of brave men concerned about the chaos in this world." - oof. Where do I start?
• First off, "Suikoden" has an official English translation - "Water Margin" - but I had to keep the Japanese word because otherwise the next lines would have been impossible to follow. 
• Next, the story itself is about a group of 108 rebels, resisting corrupt officials and oppressive rulers during the Song Dynasty. The novel explores themes of justice, loyalty, and the struggles between good and evil, highlighting the lives of these bandits as they seek to restore order and righteousness. In short, Suikoden was essentially the Chinese Robin Hood, except that, as befits Chinese literature, it's a lot more complex and impenetrable. I bet you can already see the parallels. The rebels happened to gather at Mount Liang, aka Ryōzanpaku in Japanese. 
• If it wasn't obvious before, the name Toda chooses for Soka Gakkai's Men's Group is a calque of Suikoden, replacing 傳 [den] (legend) with 会 [kai] (gathering), hence Suikokai.
• Toda christened the women's training group "Kayokai" with the meaning of "beautiful like a flower and proud like the sun." - literally what characters in 華陽会 (Kayokai) stand for.

Episode 10 notes:

You heard me right, previous two episodes had no TL notes to them.

• The Three Great Secret Laws, formulated by Nichikan Shonin... - a sacred text of the Lotus Sutra, very basically, it's the instruction on who to chant for, where to chant, what to chant, written in 18th century by the 26th high priest of the Lotus Sutra, Nichikan Shonin, basically revered as secondary saint in Nichiren Buddhism. No wiki page for him :(
• Rikyobo Temple - is simply one of the pagodas within the Taisekiji temple, explained in earlier episodes. In this episode, Taisekiji is also brought up in the context of "Youth's Ceremonial Climbing" which is a ritual in Nichiren Buddhism (literally called "general mountain climbing" or 総登山 / soutozan)—because Taisekiji is located on an elevation in the foothills of Mt. Fuji, climbing all the way up to it is no easy task. 
• The reason today's Youth Division meeting didn’t receive the blessing of Brahma and Sakra, and we have to hold it in the pouring rain, is entirely due to my slander of the Law - Brahma and Sakra are the two principal godly beings in Buddhism, the creators of Buddha himself. 
  Toda's slander of the Law probably refers to the sins the sect committed during the war, explained in episode 1. 
• If you are clever, keenly aware of prajna, possess great wisdom and strong vijnana... - basically, a lot of Buddhist mumbo jumbo that's outside of the scope of this show, which is what it meant to be in the context—a quote from sacred scriptures that you aren't supposed to understand unless you're seriously into Buddhism. In very simple terms, prajna is wisdom, and vijnana is consciousness. 

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