Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

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Yavana
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Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Yavana »

19149116_1561111063962667_371307782827164042_n.jpg
19149116_1561111063962667_371307782827164042_n.jpg (62.85 KiB) Viewed 4975 times
A pic from Hsongcai Nichiren Ministries, Singapore.

A lot has changed since Soka Gakkai's heyday back in the 80's and late 90's. What was once a significant movement in Western culture has fizzled into a small group of adherents focused on their own lives and families. Gone are the days of door-to-door proselytizing and bringing in strangers off the streets to sell them their own dreams as an upaya towards their enlightenment. With the exception of deeply patriarchal religions like Islam or the Christian Mormon sect, religion itself is waning in our increasingly nihilistic and cynical society—which seems to have begun leaning in a Nietzschean direction at its fringes. Those who post in forums like this are essentially the "slag" from SGI's propagation efforts, and we tend to argue quite a bit.

To my knowledge, the only ex-SGI members here in the States to have successfully engaged in propagation efforts with enduring results are those who affiliated themselves with the Kempon Hokke sect and its priests. As far as I can tell, the other independents have met with constant gridlock and infighting in their propogation efforts and attempts to organize and seem to represent what I would call "mule practitioners," who can pull their own weight spiritually but are left "sterile" when it comes to initiating others into the practice. An obvious exception is illaraza's breakaway American Kempon group, but then, they trained their own native-born American priest.

All of this makes me wonder: Are we "independents" doing something wrong in our practice simply by being "independent?" Is the only way for us ex-SGI members to break the cycle of infighting and the failure that our attempts to organize and reach out meet simply to find a trained priest to affiliate ourselves with? Should we be advising other ex-members we encounter to do so?
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by markatex »

I was never in SGI, having come to Nichiren Shu after dabbling in Soto Zen. There are a lot of former SGI members in Nichiren Shu and they have a lot of baggage that I don't really understand or relate to.

I relate even less to "independent" practitioners. I've only encountered them online, and there seems to be a lot of making it up as they go along, although SGI members seem to be doing much the same thing.

I've never understood why they (largely) won't connect with Nichiren Shu, but they seem very averse to having anything to do with groups, and even moreso toward helping build a more prominent Nichiren Shu presence.
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Minobu »

Odd enough i met someone last night who just moved to Toronto from Seattle. She originally is from India and we talked and I mentioned i was into Buddhism.
It took me by surprise but the first words out of her mouth was if i was a SGI member. Usually people from India do not associate Buddhism with SGI.
So i toldher i used to be and she said she practices on and off. I asked if she had a gohonzon and she said no.
I told her i use one of Nichiren Shonin's Gohonzon from the internet...lol..gave her the coffehouse links.

i don't think she understood...
Anyway she asked how she could hook up with SGI...I realized this person is perfect and a prime example of a SGI Buddhist. If i was to direct her anywhere else she would never practice up to any standard we all know is necessary to accomplish anything in Lotus Buddhism...So I praised SGI told her she knew if he phoned anyone that within minutes they would be here to help her adjust to Toronto.

she smiled and agreed spontaneously ..then i said they have a compassion and are really nice people but i just don't get the whole Ikeda thing...She did not comment on that and appeared as if she did not even know what i was getting at.....which leads me to wonder how they are fairing these days..

I'm sure she will get in touch with them and form some sort of practice , that only SGI have the energy to wring out in some of us.
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by narhwal90 »

I attended a Tendai service a few months ago, and was made entirely welcome as an SGI member. I spent a while talking shop with the Reverend, he mentioned he knew of quite a few Nichiren independents out in California. Perhaps some gravitate towards Tendai/Shingon rather than other Nichiren schools.
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Queequeg »

The Cicada wrote:American Kempon group
Its interesting that they adopt the shakubuku approach of NSA and wed it with an interpretation of Kempon doctrine.

...

As a general comment... Capital "I" Independents" were originally a reaction against NSA/SGI, and came out of that post schism period of SGI. See Don Ross. Add Bruce Maltz to that period who had an influence then... Maltz, I believe, brought Kempon to the US and built up its first iteration... Our friend Illaraza was a compatriot of Maltz... I don't want to say too much because I don't really know what was going on. Maybe Illaraza can fill in the history if he wants. American Kempon is not some out of the ether group - they came out of Hokke Kempon. Again I don't know the details so if Illaraza wants to fill them in...

There is another type of independent that has emerged that never had any affiliation with any Nichiren group - just kind of stumbled into it, printed a gohonzon off the internet and learned to chant with youtube videos.

Mark Porter was trying to get something going when he was struck with a stroke. I was involved with that, as was Cicada, but that lost momentum when Mark got sick.

Nichiren Shu does not impress me has having the propagating itch as far as I can see. And organizationally seems too loose to develop into a significant movement any time soon - Shu in the US seems to have the same loose way to organize as Nichiren Shu in Japan.

Nipponzan Myohoji are around, but they do not exhibit any interest in organizing lay people.

SGI seems to have lost its direction since Ikeda faded away.

...

Lotus Buddhism has been carried, outside the institutional framework, by lay groups that emerge from time to time, that all share the feature of gathering people together to recite the Lotus Sutra on a regular basis. Look at the Peaceful Practices chapter to catch a glimpse... In any event, if the people aren't there to organize those gatherings... they don't happen. Mark Porter's locator app was pretty cool in this regard.

Damn, man. MarkP, you are missed.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by markatex »

Queequeg wrote:Nichiren Shu does not impress me has having the propagating itch as far as I can see. And organizationally seems too loose to develop into a significant movement any time soon - Shu in the US seems to have the same loose way to organize as Nichiren Shu in Japan.
Nichiren Shu is never going to be aggressive in the way I gather SGI was a few decades ago. Some do want to propogate, but lay practitioners will have to take a more active role, and people in general are sheep.

One issue I have is that it seems to me that secular Buddhist groups like that organization Ethan Nichtern started seem to have a broader appeal, and I don't think Nichiren Buddhism can fit into that framework, and it's something I have less than zero interest in anyway.

A lot of people around here also seem to be really into Dharma Punks/Hardcore Zen which, as a gay man who listens to a lot of Ella Fitzgerald, I can't relate to at all.
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Queequeg »

Funny... I knew Ethan personally before he became a celebrity... I recall brief conversations about the ideas he had which he has now put into practice. Its interesting to see, but not my mode, either.

Dharma punx, etc...?

Well, eventually, I'll have the workshop above my garage finished into a dharma hall... I'll post invites for the opening ceremony... If you can make your way up to suburban NY, you're welcome!
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Yavana »

narhwal90 wrote:I attended a Tendai service a few months ago, and was made entirely welcome as an SGI member. I spent a while talking shop with the Reverend, he mentioned he knew of quite a few Nichiren independents out in California. Perhaps some gravitate towards Tendai/Shingon rather than other Nichiren schools.
Or maybe they go looking around in different places after they leave SGI. The ubiquitous presence of such people in the area of the States where institutional Buddhism has had a presence for several generations is exactly why I've considered moving to Cali for a while. It's what one would expect.
markatex wrote:I was never in SGI, having come to Nichiren Shu after dabbling in Soto Zen. There are a lot of former SGI members in Nichiren Shu and they have a lot of baggage that I don't really understand or relate to.

I relate even less to "independent" practitioners. I've only encountered them online, and there seems to be a lot of making it up as they go along, although SGI members seem to be doing much the same thing.
SGI has tried to "modernize" their message and keep things up to speed with the personality types the organization seems to target and retain. Somewhat.

...If tomorrow, aliens took over the Earth, they would come out and tell all of the members that President Ikeda had been long considering the implications of extraterrestrial life for human civilization and there will be some new guidelines to follow with emphasis on gratitude for the guidance of geniuses and other "higher beings." If the UN suddenly made, and was able to enforce, a law that all men must wear fuschia clothing, they would say that President Ikeda was behind this new development and has long had a fondness for the color.
markatex wrote:Nichiren Shu is never going to be aggressive in the way I gather SGI was a few decades ago.
Part of the reason I've avoided NShu. I also suspect some of their constituents still remember that whole concentration camp thing, and that this might factor into their lack of enthusiasm for propagation. Just a hunch.
Some do want to propogate,
Which is why I've begun considering that ex-members with the mindset for propagation might need to reach out to trained, knowledgeable, and like-minded priests.
A lot of people around here also seem to be really into Dharma Punks/Hardcore Zen
It seems to me that SGI has marketed itself more towards (to be direct) some rather flaky flake types over at least the past 2½ decades, for whatever reason. Personally, I'd rather reach out to the would-be Muslim or Mormon—the kind of people who would pray several times a day, change their mode of dress, and submit themselves to their tradition—than the secularist types SGI has aimed for. I would rather spend my time with compassionate fascists and selfless Machiavellians, for that matter, than agnostic nihilist existentialists and other such cool kids smoking behind the dumpster. (No offense, dumpster-smokers.)

Personally, I'd like to see the tradition passed on within families in the States outside of the Asian, ethnic community. I wonder if people are looking at the Nichiren tradition and judging it by the firmness of its practitioners towards its teaching? It seems like we live in a world where people of pure devotion have given themselves to shallow and incomplete doctrines and, predominantly, people with little conviction have wandered through the gate of the most sublime teachings like wild cattle.
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by narhwal90 »

Current SGI propagation is to discuss the practice, history, purpose etc to others when and where appropriate, then facilitate bringing them to a meeting if they are interested & if not, leave them be. The street-corner shakabuku campaigns of the 80's, early 90's have not been done since those days. Nevertheless propagation is still reasonably effective; in the last year or so in my district we've had probably 10-15 newcomers pass thru, about half are still around and some of them have received gohonzon. A few new SGI community centers have opened in that period as well.
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by illarraza »

markatex wrote:
Queequeg wrote:Nichiren Shu does not impress me has having the propagating itch as far as I can see. And organizationally seems too loose to develop into a significant movement any time soon - Shu in the US seems to have the same loose way to organize as Nichiren Shu in Japan.
Nichiren Shu is never going to be aggressive in the way I gather SGI was a few decades ago. Some do want to propogate, but lay practitioners will have to take a more active role, and people in general are sheep.

One issue I have is that it seems to me that secular Buddhist groups like that organization Ethan Nichtern started seem to have a broader appeal, and I don't think Nichiren Buddhism can fit into that framework, and it's something I have less than zero interest in anyway.

A lot of people around here also seem to be really into Dharma Punks/Hardcore Zen which, as a gay man who listens to a lot of Ella Fitzgerald, I can't relate to at all.
Here within you will find some reasons we can never accept the Nichiren Shu:

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2017/05/w ... -ones.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2016/07/t ... or-in.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2016/04/t ... worse.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2016/04/n ... ichiu.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2015/12/r ... hiren.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2014/12/m ... nt-of.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2013/06/n ... n-shu.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2013/12/i ... yusho.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/n ... guchi.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/f ... hives.html

Another reason is their association with such sects as Pure Land, Shingon, Honmon Butsuryu Shu, Rissho Kosekai, Nichiren Shoshu, etc. Still others are the matter of Ichi-Shoretsu, mixing of practices [for example Zazen], kito prayer donations and practices, and the selling of admission to the Nichiren ossuary, separate enshrinement of deities and Bodhisattvas.

mark
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by illarraza »

markatex wrote:I was never in SGI, having come to Nichiren Shu after dabbling in Soto Zen. There are a lot of former SGI members in Nichiren Shu and they have a lot of baggage that I don't really understand or relate to.

I relate even less to "independent" practitioners. I've only encountered them online, and there seems to be a lot of making it up as they go along, although SGI members seem to be doing much the same thing.

I've never understood why they (largely) won't connect with Nichiren Shu, but they seem very averse to having anything to do with groups, and even moreso toward helping build a more prominent Nichiren Shu presence.
My response was to this post. Sorry for the confusion.

Mark
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Queequeg »

illarraza wrote:
My response was to this post. Sorry for the confusion.

Mark
Hey Mark,

Now that you'r here, I wanted to ask you some questions. Understand that I ask these in a sincere way, so please don't take it otherwise. While you and I have disagreements on doctrine, I do admire and appreciate you and your efforts. You are an examplar of the vigorous practice of the Lotus Sutra in the modern times, and in the spirit of this thread - as Cicada commented, you are one of the only American Nichiren groups spreading the teaching of Nichiren and organizing people. So, these questions are meant in a sort of "talking shop" kind of way.

Why shakubuku? Why is shoju not a proper practice at this time?

Does it make sense for lay people to practice shakubuku? In Nichiren's time, shakubuku was largely limited to the monastic disciples, while the rest of the community was encouraged to practice by giving support.

Is there something different about the present circumstances that warrants all people to engage in shakubuku?

I hope this can be a fruitful and informative discussion.

QQ
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Minobu »

what is the real difference between shakabuku and shoju.

I never really got heavy into hell fire and brimstone if you don't join..i always kinda did it with honey instead of trying to destroy the person's present state of paradigm..
is that it or is there more to the subtleties of shakkabuku...encyclopedia Britannia back in the day expressed the translation for shakkabukku was break and subdue...something a friend of mine pointed out and was perplexed as to why i would engage in such activities.
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Queequeg »

http://fraughtwithperil.com/rbeck/2010/ ... -contrast/

Robby gives an excellent discussion on shakubuku and shoju
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by markatex »

I couldn't care less why you won't "accept" Nichiren Shu, and I have no interest in reading your long-winded, impenetrable rants.
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by illarraza »

Queequeg wrote:
illarraza wrote:
My response was to this post. Sorry for the confusion.

Mark
Hey Mark,

Now that you'r here, I wanted to ask you some questions. Understand that I ask these in a sincere way, so please don't take it otherwise. While you and I have disagreements on doctrine, I do admire and appreciate you and your efforts. You are an examplar of the vigorous practice of the Lotus Sutra in the modern times, and in the spirit of this thread - as Cicada commented, you are one of the only American Nichiren groups spreading the teaching of Nichiren and organizing people. So, these questions are meant in a sort of "talking shop" kind of way.

Why shakubuku? Why is shoju not a proper practice at this time?

Does it make sense for lay people to practice shakubuku? In Nichiren's time, shakubuku was largely limited to the monastic disciples, while the rest of the community was encouraged to practice by giving support.

Is there something different about the present circumstances that warrants all people to engage in shakubuku?

I hope this can be a fruitful and informative discussion.

QQ
Not everyone is predisposed to perform the forceful practices. Nichiren understood that, for one reason or another, not every one can perform the forceful practices. Some have not studied Buddhism sufficiently and others are innately gentle. Regardless, he mandated that his monks and priests perform the forceful practices but not necessarily the laymen. He also taught that whether or not one performs the forceful practices or merely chants Namu myoho renge kyo, one should support those who do the forceful practices, either through moral support, withholding criticism, or through donations [if a priest]. I believe that the forceful practices are the only appropriate means to convert such evil men and women as Soka Gakkai leaders and members, Nichiren Shoshu priests and laymen, Islamic fundamentalists who strap explosives on mental defectives and detonate them in the pet marketplace, Christian fire and brimstone fundamentalists, those of the Jewish Defense League, the Hindi Kashitra or Brahman class, and the authorities who support them.

It is predicted in the Lotus Sutra and in the writings of Nichiren Daishonin that, in this age when the Pure Law will be lost, the Great Pure Law will appear. For the sake of the Great Pure Law we are lessening our sleep and worldly pleasures.

I have often been criticized that I create enmity and people are turned off to Nichiren Shonin’s Buddhism by my criticisms of the Soka Gakkai, the Nichiren Shoshu, the provisional Buddhist sects, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Others say, I don’t get the deeper meaning of what Nichiren Daishonin was teaching. I hear all sorts of criticisms from Nichiren Buddhists, Zennists, Tibetians, Islamists, and Christians. The fact is, if you study the Lotus and Nirvana Sutras and the writings of Nichiren Daishonin, you come to no other conclusion than our's and Nichiren Daishonin's that these religions and philosophies are the cause of the world’s strife and the people’s suffering.

However, as Nichiren Daishonin’s teaches on the practice of the householder [layman]:

“But for your person as a householder the essence is for you to chant ‘Namu Myoho renge kyo’ with no other thought and also make offerings to the monks. And also, if it is in accord with the sutra text, one should also ‘expound it according to their strength,’ shouldn’t one?” [Reply to Lord Matsuno]

Nothing else is required of us. If our strength is such, we may do street conversions, as did Nichiren Daishonin. If we are only able to share Namu Myoho renge kyo with our family and friends, that too is in accord with the teachings. If we have lots of money and wish to construct a temple and hire a true priest, that too is a viable practice of the Lotus Sutra. If one has the money and the strength to rent a stadium every week and fill it with 10,000 people chanting the Daimoku then, you too are a Bodhisattva of the Earth. If you don’t have the strength to do assertive or aggressive practice then you may do the gentle practices towards those who are receptive. If you just have the strength, for one reason or another, to talk to the cat or bird, then tell the cat or bird. If you are blind, deaf and unable to speak, then believe in Namu Myoho renge kyo.

When you are old and ill, just chant the Daimoku from your hospital bed and if you are not married and have the strength, tell the nurse caring for you that, thanks to the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, I can still recognize a beautiful woman. There are no rules except as found in the Lotus Sutra and Gosho which is no rules save one, chant Namu Myoho renge kyo throughout your life.

Question: The SGI fills stadiums with people who chant Nam Myoho renge kyo. How can you say they are not practicing as the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin teach.

Answer: Another passage from reply to Lord Matsuno [also known as The Fourteen Slanders] reads, “Those who have obtained a human body. which is difficult to receive, and who happen to have left the household life, who have studied the Buddha Dharma and do not attack those who blaspheme against the Dharma but vainly spend their nights and days in disporting and idle talk are beasts who have put on the skin of Dharma Teachers. Though they borrow the name of ‘Dharma Teachers’ to make their way through the world and nourish themselves, there is not one instance of their turning out to be Dharma teachers. They are Thieves who steal the name of ‘Dharma teachers’. They should be ashamed.”

The good monks to whom Nichiren Daishonin is referring are those monks who “attack” those people and religions who slander the Dharma. The good monks are those who do not cherish bodily life but only follow the Supreme Way, not sparing their bodily life.

The Soka Gakkai leaders [priests], on the other hand, fail to follow these injunctions, slandering honest monks who desire and are satisfied with little while failing to attack those who slander the Dharma. They are those “making their way through the world, nourishing themselves.” Interfaith is not the practice of the Lotus Sutra nor is enriching oneself from the Dharma.

Question: How do you know that your faith and practice is correct?

Answer: It is is an impossibility that everyone having such divergent views are all correct. There is only One Vehicle, not two or three. We follow The Succession Through the Scrolls of the Lotus Sutra and the writings of Nichiren Daishonin. We turn to the Lotus Sutra and the writings of Nichiren Daishonin for guidance, not persons of the first, second, third, and fourth ranks, those SGI leaders and Nichiren priests who fail to preach with Sutra in hand.

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2017/04/l ... wrong.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2016/06/s ... ymous.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2016/05/t ... e-and.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2016/12/r ... hiren.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2016/04/d ... y-for.html

http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2016/04/i ... among.html

mark
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by gohonzon »

It seems to me that SGI has marketed itself more towards (to be direct) some rather flaky flake types over at least the past 2½ decades, for whatever reason—than the secularist types SGI has aimed for. I would rather spend my time with compassionate fascists and selfless Machiavellians, for that matter, than agnostic nihilist existentialists and other such cool kids smoking behind the dumpster. (No offense, dumpster-smokers.)
WHY is this so?
The Dai-Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary of the Essential Teachings is Legally owned & cared for exclusively by the Nichiren Shoshu Orthodox Temple Priesthood. — vowed Temple members are called "Hokkeko". :applause:
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Minobu »

Itai Doshonin huh !!!
we all need to try to get along on some level....We all basically believe in the same thing and fight over nuance.
yeah fight!!!

one can feel it over the screen...
If all of Buddhism could only come together...admit it ...reading other threads and forums on this site opens our minds up to new possibilities and makes us understand what Nichiren had studied...He studied , apparently anyway...all schools of thought available in Japan...
He came to a conclusion and lived out the predictions and meaning for Buddhism and The Lotus sutra...

But He studied it all absorbed it all...

We need the purity of Illarazza[s thing...the SGI thing...each individua lthat posts here that i read for about year now brings something to the table...

We need a round table...a tolerant one where we can enjoy and promote each other's take. yeah promote each others take on it..

it has to start somewhere...otherwise we spend hundreds of years arguing over nuance...instead of being happy to see ...how did someone put it...happy to see our strength and weaknesses work together..
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Yavana »

Well, I think this post answers a lot of questions for me, personally, much like some personal correspondence with Queequeg once answered the question of why I should stay the hell out of California just by his reaction to my opinions on various topics. I'm not sure if anyone else reading could get much out of it so far, so let me share my conclusions and summarize.

Being an "independent," of an ex-member of the Soka Gakkai International that continues to practice Nichiren Buddhism is a territory that is intermediary for most—much in the way that Mexico is not the final destination for individuals from around the world who pass through it to get to the States. Many will finally move on to another group that fulfill their needs for community, Buddhist or otherwise. Some will find another Buddhist community, and those who were convinced by Nichiren will find another Nichiren sect. Even fewer will remain "independent," and as markatex pointed out, such individuals are typically not the communal type.

The idea of a unity among the independents was born from the desire for reform in the heyday of the Soka Gakkai, when members and ex-members began attempting to organize and formed breakaway groups. Today, this is a moot goal.
gohonzon wrote:
It seems to me that SGI has marketed itself more towards (to be direct) some rather flaky flake types over at least the past 2½ decades, for whatever reason—than the secularist types SGI has aimed for. I would rather spend my time with compassionate fascists and selfless Machiavellians, for that matter, than agnostic nihilist existentialists and other such cool kids smoking behind the dumpster. (No offense, dumpster-smokers.)
WHY is this so?
This is something that illaraza has covered on his blog. He believes that SGI is attracting individuals that it knows will be profitable of for the organization, with a minimum of potential pushback, in order to use their funds to aid the political interests of Soka Gakkai back in Japan, which is associated with the "New" Komeito party. Also relevant is the experience of George M Williams who was in charge of the Gakkai in the States during the Gakkai's more prominent years in the States. He was punished by the organization president Daisaku Ikeda for his zealous, and highly successful, propagation efforts that made the Gakkai a mainstream phenomenon.
illarraza wrote: I have often been criticized that I create enmity and people are turned off to Nichiren Shonin’s Buddhism by my criticisms of the Soka Gakkai, the Nichiren Shoshu, the provisional Buddhist sects, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Others say, I don’t get the deeper meaning of what Nichiren Daishonin was teaching. I hear all sorts of criticisms from Nichiren Buddhists, Zennists, Tibetians, Islamists, and Christians. The fact is, if you study the Lotus and Nirvana Sutras and the writings of Nichiren Daishonin, you come to no other conclusion than our's and Nichiren Daishonin's that these religions and philosophies are the cause of the world’s strife and the people’s suffering.
I agree unequivocally.
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Minobu
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Re: Ex SGI members and Itai Dosshin

Post by Minobu »

As per George Williams;
when he came to Canada in his velvet blue suit and stood up and gave this talk i thought wow..:Elmer Gantry is in Canada"
He might of went over well in the united states but here some of us felt like the Carnival was in town and we were in some sort of evangelical tent.

not our cuppa.

i think this dissecting of the gakki as some sort of political rake in the money scheme is a little over the top as well..

There is a need for me to find a true to form organization where i can learn True Nichiren Dharma..

Queenqueg is my only game in town...but now with him standing alone...without the other members push and shove and their own ideas such as Ilarraza he would be dead in the water...for me anyway...you all have no idea how i (hair is standing on end all over me and i have a tear well up) much you people mean to me...and i extend that to malcolm a and others , this guy Coëmgenu is a store house of inspiration and his ability to see through the darkness is unequivocally vital in my research and understanding of all things buddhism....and then there is the sheepal..and the angered...and the fanatics ,the pseudo intelligentsia , all of which lend a hand as well...where would be without the peanut gallery eh!
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