Search found 103 matches

by OregonBuddhist
Sat Jun 08, 2013 8:43 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: Four noble truths
Replies: 51
Views: 13110

Re: Four noble truths

by OregonBuddhist
Thu Dec 06, 2012 8:47 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: Went to a Rissho Kosei Kai service today.
Replies: 14
Views: 5263

Re: Went to a Rissho Kosei Kai service today.

Okay. That's it. I crown you, Queequeg, king of this forum. :applause: Not only do you have an amazing knowledge of this topic, but your synthesize it very well and present it in a well written fashion.
by OregonBuddhist
Thu Dec 06, 2012 4:45 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: Dharma and long-term economic recession.
Replies: 45
Views: 14013

Re: Dharma and long-term economic recession.

Your writing is often more succinct, and just pain better written, than anything I can find in books. Why aren't you writing books yourself? :shrug: Not if you're a charmer . :facepalm: OK, humoring... All you need is Sandaihiho - Three Great Hidden Dharmas - 1. Gohonzon (Object of Veneration/Devoti...
by OregonBuddhist
Sun Nov 25, 2012 11:57 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

Thank you. I have a book of meditations by the Dalai Lama. But the Dalai Lama isn't a teacher of Nichiren Buddhism. (I did find a clip on YouTube, though, of him chanting the Odaimoku, which was great to see. :namaste: )
by OregonBuddhist
Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:36 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

Thanks for the response. :smile: In the first illustration, you say that the West doesn't have a problem mixing spirituality and materialism -- but has trouble with spirituality, period. In the second illustration, you say that Christianity is mixing spirituality and materialism all the time. I agre...
by OregonBuddhist
Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:30 pm
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

Are you denying that Christianity does basically teach that there is a difference between the physical world and the spiritual world, and that the spiritual world (heaven, which you go to after you die) is better than the physical world?
by OregonBuddhist
Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:10 pm
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

At the risk of sounding humorless (I'm actually watching Family Guy as I type this), I would wager that we can assume that when a book titled "Japanese Buddhism" says that in general the Japanese affirm the world and do not seek a way of escaping it, the book is referring to a religious co...
by OregonBuddhist
Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:57 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

Yes, everyone is different. For me, I was exposed to Buddhism as a child in Japan. I don't know if the form of Buddhism practiced by the people I knew was Nichiren Buddhism. But it makes sense for me that my childhood experience in Japan was perhaps the happiest experience of my life, and the style ...
by OregonBuddhist
Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:45 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

Thank you for the response. Here is the quote from the book which I paraphrased above: "In general, the Japanese affirm the world and humanity as they are and do not seek a realm or a state of existence that rejects or transcends the natural world. Several reasons can be given for this mindset....
by OregonBuddhist
Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:33 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

Phew! Thank you very much for the very interesting response. "This is what I'm talkin' 'bout." :) So, what you write here is related to what I mention in another thread I started: that Buddhism in Asia is part of a cultural fabric that is foreign to many Western convert Buddhists: http://w...
by OregonBuddhist
Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:22 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

Thank you everyone for the responses. They are all interesting in their own way. I can't help but feel, however, that somewhere along the line there was a miscommunication about my question. I wasn't asking for directives with regard to my own practice, nor was I necessarily looking for ways to prac...
by OregonBuddhist
Thu Nov 22, 2012 11:00 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

....a Christian saying that perfectly illustrates what I'm addressing in this thread: the belief prevalent in the West that a desire for material benefits is non-spiritual.
by OregonBuddhist
Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:55 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

My perspective is that Nichiren Buddhism gets "bashed" for something that I think is representative in the Asian cultures: focusing on being successful and happy in the material world. Camel in the eye of a needle, that kind of thing. :smile: Which is, to my knowledge, a Christian saying....
by OregonBuddhist
Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:52 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

I used the term "the west" because I was quoting an earlier comment by another member of the forum. That's the term they used. Prior to studying Buddhism, I studied Judaism. That included taking a class called "An Introduction to Judaism" taught by the Oregon Board of Rabbis. My ...
by OregonBuddhist
Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:18 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

Thank you for the response. I should probably state upfront that I think it's fine to have material desires, and I think it's fine to chant for their fulfillment -- and this is what brought me to Nichiren Buddhism to begin with. I had respect for other schools of Buddhism and found them interesting,...
by OregonBuddhist
Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:43 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

Thank you for the responses, everyone. I suppose my question wasn't precisely worded, so that's my fault. I wasn't thinking of specific examples. I was just thinking of the theory of mixing the spiritual and the material, and that this seems "un-holy" to the Western mind. And I am basing t...
by OregonBuddhist
Thu Nov 22, 2012 1:20 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Replies: 33
Views: 11382

The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality

I don't know if the title makes any sense, and I don't remember the exact quote. But a member of this forum (I think it was Queequeg) posted a while ago that in the West there is a conflict in mixing spirituality with the material. There was some reference made as follows: people were selling figure...
by OregonBuddhist
Sat Oct 27, 2012 9:40 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: Chanting Experiences
Replies: 3
Views: 2402

Re: Chanting Experiences

I feel it's turned my life around. As I've mentioned on previous threads, I was raised Catholic. There was a point in my Catholic upbringing where I really felt a faith, a sense of there being larger forces at work. Something happened to ruin that for me, and I lost faith in Catholicism. It's kind o...
by OregonBuddhist
Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:16 am
Forum: Nichiren
Topic: The Life Span of the Tathagata
Replies: 3
Views: 2110

Re: The Life Span of the Tathagata

I actually saw a book that had the Four Noble Truths translated into a mathematical equation.

Go to advanced search