personal advice needed - Kosei vs SGI? One or both?

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nichiren-123
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personal advice needed - Kosei vs SGI? One or both?

Post by nichiren-123 »

So I am an SGI buddhist. I have my late mother's gohonzon which I am deeply attached to.
However I really like the Rissho Kosei Kai.
I inquired about joining Kosei and recieving a gohonzon from them (an image of the eternal buddha) and placing it side-by-side with my SGI gohonzon.
Kosei are happy for me to do this but the SGI leaders are really against it...

Kosei are of the opinion that I can practice both. SGI say I need to choose one or the other.

So should I stick with SGI or just ignore the SGI leaders and join kosei as well?
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Minobu
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Re: personal advice needed - Kosei vs SGI? One or both?

Post by Minobu »

I don't know kosei but i just looked up the image
Image

This would be ok as a picture for me on an altar...i would not but hey it's just a picture of Lord Buddha and some unoffensive other pictures.

But from what i have come to know about Gohonzon..the characters are so much more efficient at helping you to develop in your life their very aspects..
it's awesome...it works on so many levels...
i like the Shutei gohonzon that Nichiren shu gives out and one day i shall own one....for now it is just something like an image of it on my computer which i chant with...when my computer goes into screen saver mode i revert to like ODaimoku only chanting for awhile...this helps as well for me...

but now due to Dr. Frankenstein (you know him as Queequeg) i have me in Sambhogakaya Form, probably via Dharmakaya Form, to look to for guidance, and intuitive assistance.
I realize now who exactly saved me a few times in my life...like certain moments where some sort of Divine Intervention seems to have been in play....

Of course all this would be impossible without our Master Nichiren Daishonin and His understanding and insight into The Lotus Sutra, along with Tien Tai The Great's teachings and insight into The Lotus Sutra.

so like i am chanting hard today that all my other lives live compassionately and stop messing up....which ever one has caused me some of the horrible Karma to live through...Wake The frak up dude/dudette !!!!!!...ok so thats a bit of Dharma humour not necessarily dharma correct...but i did chant this way today...
just in case....lol

oh yeah ...one day you will get it right anyway so don't fret over these things like what sect to belong to....and anyone telling you their's is the only sect you can do one at a time...but who go into malls sometimes with little booths with signs saying they preserve religious tolerance....hmmmmm too weird for me.
narhwal90
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Re: personal advice needed - Kosei vs SGI? One or both?

Post by narhwal90 »

For my money, speaking as a sgi member as well, the leaders can and surely do have their opinions but your practice is fundamentally your business and they have no jurisdiction. I certainly don't talk about stuff I've been studying or discussions I've had with SGI leaders though I do chat about it from time to time with other friends in SGI. OTOH I've always been a fairly hands-off sort of SGI person, others prefer to stay tight with the organization... I say its up to you.

I keep a plain orthodox SGI-ish altar and do gongyo out of the recent book, though I retain my old NSA water offering cup and the 2 NSA crane stands that sit on either side of the gohonzon in the butsudan (forget what they're called). I will replace neither because of memories associated with the 1st and the second because I bought them when I finally had a decent job out of school and could afford an ugprade. I've thought about other options but prefer to keep my SGI practice close to SGI and follow other practices (zazen, vipassana/samatha etc) in other venues.
markatex
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Re: personal advice needed - Kosei vs SGI? One or both?

Post by markatex »

nichiren-123 wrote: Fri Oct 27, 2017 7:15 pm
Kosei are of the opinion that I can practice both. SGI say I need to choose one or the other.

So should I stick with SGI or just ignore the SGI leaders and join kosei as well?
If I had to choose between the two, I’d choose RKK. If they have a group or center in your area, then I’d surely take advantage of that.

The Gohonzon in Nichiren Shu is sometimes represented by statuary (although this is mostly in temples), so I don’t have a bias against statues.
markatex
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Re: personal advice needed - Kosei vs SGI? One or both?

Post by markatex »

Also, I don’t know how tall the RKK statue is, but I would hang the mandala behind and slightly above it.
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Minobu
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Re: personal advice needed - Kosei vs SGI? One or both?

Post by Minobu »

narhwal90 wrote: Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:05 pm For my money, speaking as a sgi member as well, the leaders can and surely do have their opinions but your practice is fundamentally your business and they have no jurisdiction. I certainly don't talk about stuff I've been studying or discussions I've had with SGI leaders though I do chat about it from time to time with other friends in SGI. OTOH I've always been a fairly hands-off sort of SGI person, others prefer to stay tight with the organization... I say its up to you.

I keep a plain orthodox SGI-ish altar and do gongyo out of the recent book, though I retain my old NSA water offering cup and the 2 NSA crane stands that sit on either side of the gohonzon in the butsudan (forget what they're called). I will replace neither because of memories associated with the 1st and the second because I bought them when I finally had a decent job out of school and could afford an ugprade. I've thought about other options but prefer to keep my SGI practice close to SGI and follow other practices (zazen, vipassana/samatha etc) in other venues.
i hope you realize you are becoming the bride of frankenstein for me...lol..sorry there is no other frankenstein other than the bride..

your take and how you deal with SGI is a template for me if i wish to sort of go back and use them for introductory shakubuku purpose.

i don't know how well Nichiren Shu takes care of new members or how far they go to help them ...

yours is a paradigm i respect with awe....not saying that lightly either...
you're alright Narwhal90
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Minobu
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Re: personal advice needed - Kosei vs SGI? One or both?

Post by Minobu »

markatex wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:56 am

The Gohonzon in Nichiren Shu is sometimes represented by statuary (although this is mostly in temples), so I don’t have a bias against statues.
yeah but they give out the Shutei gohonzon..
*tries to find clip of the old guy crippled excited to see Judah Ben hur....looks up and says"Judah Ben Hur"

im having a real good day folks...i finally get what was under my nose all along..43 years later...ok not ready to teach it ...but i get it thanks to Dr. Frankenstein..
i owe him folks...you should see some of the emails we had...sometimes not so pretty...he is a really really good guy..*tears of joy for knowing him*
:woohoo: :bow: :woohoo:
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