What we are actually doing WITH this Buddhism

[Minobu]

This morning i awoke with a pretty simple realization of this practice.

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 .

[Queequeg]

It's a long game...a forever game.

Thank you for sharing that. Well said, brother.

[SunWuKong]

Minobu that sounds like an awareness of great clarity. Although I’m out of a different tradition this resonates with me as well.

[illarraza]

This morning i awoke with a pretty simple realization of this practice.

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 .

Ain't going to happen Minobu. Too much money involved. They would have to admit too many errors and give back to the people the several hundred billions they have in the bank. The 200+ top senior leaders making mid six figure salaries won't let it happen (the loss of their revenue stream).

Mark

[illarraza]

Could it possibly be that only us 50 and 60 + year olds give a S--t about the teachings? We need some youth to care, don't you think so Minobu? The
SGI youth care about the social activity that is SGI and their Sensei but I don't see them having an abiding love for the teachings, the Lotus Sutra, the writings of Nichiren, Shakyamuni buddha and Nichiren Daishonin.

[narhwal90]

The SGI youth don't hang out in spaces such as this talking to the "olds", they are found in meetings & community centers and on facebook or similar online horrors. The last district meeting I attended was conducted by a 20-ish "young men's division" who also led the discussion at a couple places, citing and interpreting gosho, young women doing the same in previous meetings.

[Minobu]

Could it possibly be that only us 50 and 60 + year olds give a S--t about the teachings? We need some youth to care, don't you think so Minobu? The
SGI youth care about the social activity that is SGI and their Sensei but I don't see them having an abiding love for the teachings, the Lotus Sutra, the writings of Nichiren, Shakyamuni buddha and Nichiren Daishonin.

Actually anything mystic was frowned upon when i was there..

Anyone that talked of such things were ostracized and made to "Undo".

But still...they are cut from the same cloth as every practitioner of Lotus buddhism in whatever sect you are fond of and decide to propel..
Ikeda was inevitable and so was Toda and your Mr. williams that guy that showed up in toronto in a blue velvet suit and gave a talk that sounded like Elmer Gantry in the flesh. He signed my original gosho with .
Faith hope and ,with a swooping voice and finger pointing to it and then the air, the confidence . over forty years ago.

NOW my inevitable...I found myself here with you guys.
I pray I will build an altar and Butsudan out of pine ...rub it with orange shellac and methyl alcohol..finish it with clear varathane... Namu Myoho Renge Kyo , Namu Myoho Renge Kyo , Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

make it ready for enshrining a Shutei Gohonzon. Hopefully have Reverend Kanto Tsukamoto Shōnin ...who i met at a funeral and talked to when i was lost .really lost after his service i blessed myself and did not chant with him during the service.....I think He gave off some impetus for me to regain my faith...Have this man present it to me and maybe enshrine it with me.... Namu Myoho Renge Kyo , Namu Myoho Renge Kyo , Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

One day before i pass the Gakki will accept me as i am with that Gohonzon and what i learned here .
and all will be well in Lotus Buddhist Land. I promise . Namu Myoho Renge Kyo , Namu Myoho Renge Kyo , Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

[Yavana]

The SGI youth don't hang out in spaces such as this talking to the "olds", they are found in meetings & community centers and on facebook or similar online horrors. The last district meeting I attended was conducted by a 20-ish "young men's division" who also led the discussion at a couple places, citing and interpreting gosho, young women doing the same in previous meetings.

I attended some SGI meetings, I think around 2015, and not much has really changed since I was active a decade ago. There are gosho readings and interpretations, etc.. There is definitely a "type" that SGI retains for its non-Asian members. If I had the kind of numbers and understanding of statistics that insurance companies use, I could probably brush away the dust from the general form of the artifact to reveal a solid group type.

Could it possibly be that only us 50 and 60 + year olds give a S--t about the teachings? We need some youth to care, don't you think so Minobu? The
SGI youth care about the social activity that is SGI and their Sensei but I don't see them having an abiding love for the teachings, the Lotus Sutra, the writings of Nichiren, Shakyamuni buddha and Nichiren Daishonin.

Our nihilistic culture is starting to see the full flowering of that nihilism as well as a backlash at the fringes. You'll remember the term "generation X." The following generation is typically referred to as "millennials," but also "generation Y." That generation, my generation, mainly channels its religious impulses into the kind of activities that make up the "social justice" phenomenon. The next generation, referred to as "generation Z" (you'll note that we're running out of letters here,) is much more cliquish and tribalistic. Along certain demographic lines within that generation, they supported Trump. (That subset has been dubbed "general Zyklon" by some.) Others within that age bracket also seem to be pushing for things like making Oprah president, or at least vice president.

Many things that were once verboten have resurfaced with generation Z. Presently, any kind of sincere religious temperance is seen in the same light as Islamic fundamentalism—protected, but suspect. This is going to change in the future. What that will mean is anyone's guess, but we can't lament when we look around today and see that the Buddha's teaching is taken lightly by others and forgotten. This is exactly what was predicted, and we're only witnessing the verity of those predictions.