Bodhisattva Asshole verses Herr Scheisskopf

Introduction

This is a true story of a brief encounter I had with an elderly stranger.

About the title

• Bodhisattva Asshole - that would be me. And I must believe this, since my stranger had managed to so designate me five times as he got progressively angrier. There's an inspiring passage in the Lotus Sutra which goes something like this, except for the part I highlight in yellow:

          QUOTE [source - see below]*:

          Flower Virtue, you see only the body of Bodhisattva Wonderful Sound
          that is here. But this bodhisattva manifests himself in various different 
          bodies and preaches this [Lotus] sutra for the sake of living beings in 
          various different places. At times he appears as King Brahma, at times 
          as the lord Shakra, [at times as:]...a layman believer...the wife of a rich 
          man...a young boy or a young girl...an asura [which is a kind of demon]...
          or a non-human being, and so preaches this sutra. At times he even 
          appears in the form of an asshole, if that is what is needed to preach 
          salvation.

          :UNQUOTE.

          Yeah, I took the liberty of adding that last sentence in an otherwise quoted
          section, yet I feel that addition is well within the spirit of that quote. Some-
          times it takes an asshole, or at least one who is perceived by another as 
          being one, "if that is what is needed to preach salvation." Which, as you 
          will see, is what I tried to do.

• verses -   "Versus" which means* "against or as the alternative to or in contrast with" would have sufficed. But I wanted something more elegant. When I used to teach chess to 4th through 6th graders, my students would come up to me and ask, "Can I verse you in chess?" Which was their way of saying they wanted to play a game - them versus me." But in the context of my story, I wanted to (in effect) speak in verses so as to elevate to the level of poetry my responses to the angry stranger's crude outpouring. But not angry poetry, since I was hoping to defuse him. This was made difficult because he didn't speak much English and I knew even less German.

• Herr Scheisskopf - In German, this means "Mr. Shithead." Even though my antagonist verbally abused me, I didn't respond in kind. Days later, it occurred to me that I could have called him Mr. Shithead, but I knew I wouldn't have done any such thing. Going tit-for-tat in a name-calling contest is very unbecoming.

The Story

Something weird happened to me on Sept. 9. I was sitting in the sidewalk section of a fine Chicago restaurant called La Bocca della Verita eating a pizza. Toward the end of my meal, this 73-year-old German guy exits the restaurant and just stands at the door staring at me. Never seen him before. Maybe he thought it was odd that a customer would be sitting outside since it was unseasonably warm. And in fact I was the only customer sitting outside - which is maybe why I caught his attention.  He starts chatting but his English is very poor. But it looks like he wants to talk, so I motion him to sit down at my table. I even offered him a slice of my pizza which he declined.

The language barrier was quite a problem but we managed to exchange some info over a 5 to 10 minute period of mostly silence. But one thing I picked up on was he didn't like the revelers at a block party a few blocks down the street which he pointed to. At that point, I just figured him to be a cranky old guy who didn't like young people having fun.

I managed to convey that I have cancer, which was probably a mistake since (it seems) he saw that as a sign of weakness.

My waiter appeared with my check, which I paid on the spot. He was a young black guy who waited on me last time I was there. So I thought to engage him in a brief conversation  "How many civil wars took place in the United States?" When he answered "one," I told him, "That's a common misconception, since that was really a War of Secession. A civil war is one in which two or more factions fight for control of the central government. But the Confederates weren't trying to take over; they were trying to leave. Now, you might wonder, how did it get to become known as our Civil War?" [That last question led to another minute or so out of our 3 or 4 minutes of conversation.]

When my waiter left, the old guy started to get very belligerent. After saying, "Drink your fucking coffee," he said he didn't like that I was talking to the waiter. He called me an asshole, and threatened to overturn the table I was sitting at by making a motion to do so. I think he got confused when I agreed with him in a polite and even voice, "Okay, I'm an asshole." Obviously, he was trying to push my buttons by repeating his charge four more times. But I didn't bite; I stayed calm and didn't try to trade barbs with him.

I quickly sized him up, thinking, "Okay, I'm 11 years younger but I'm weak from cancer, and he looks like he's done menial labor all his life, so he's undoubtedly stronger than I am." I hate judging any book by its cover, since I'm supposed to try to see the Buddha within everybody who needs just the right conditions under which to emerge. But part of me was thinking, "I'll be damned if I'll let a 73-year-old guy kick my ass."

And then it occurred to me: He had been trying to hit on me and resented that I (apparently) showed some interest in another guy. I wasn't afraid of him but was surprised at how hateful he had suddenly become. I asked him if he'd been drinking (which he'd obviously been), "Do you drink? Beer? Wine? [Fumbling for some German, I said] Schnapps?" He said, "sometimes." I replied, "Maybe you should stop."

That only made him angrier, so I told him he should pray to God. I repeated that several times and made a praying motion with my hands. He seemed to think about that for a moment, or at least it slowed him down. I took that pause to get up, urged him to pray again, and I walked away. I didn't know if he'd follow me or try to take a swing at me, but at least I was aware that could happen. But, no, he just sat there as I turned the corner to walk to my bus stop.

I'll talk to just about anybody, but of course that's not always a good idea. Still, how could anyone know in advance who will be cool and who will be a jerk? Go figure.

Anyway, even though part of me felt he was a fucking, intolerant, Nazi, I remembered that I'm supposed to pray for his enlightenment. At one point, I even had a Plan B, which I quickly rejected. If he had tried to strike me when I was seated or, as he indicated, had tried to overturn my table, I thought I would douse him with my cup of very hot coffee. But then I thought, some people magnify in their minds any such assaults to the level of "I'll kill him if I ever see him again." And I couldn't have that, since I'm very fond of the Lincoln Square neighborhood and wanted to go back.

When I told a gay friend about this encounter, I said, "Gay would be too noble a label for him, since he seems like the kind who would beat the crap out of any guy he paid to give him a blow job. He's just one of a lot of mentally disturbed people lurking just beyond our horizon."

Oh, one last bit: I thought the name of this restaurant was prophetic in a way, since "La Bocca della Verita" means "the mouth of truth." I hoped that some small bit of truth managed to come out of my mouth as a contrast to the anger that poured out of his.

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Steven Searle, just another member of The Virtual Lotus Samgha as well as
a former candidate for US President (in 2008 and 2012), and
Founder of the Independent Contractors' Party

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

Sources:

[source: see below]* - page 336 of "The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras," published in 2009 by the Soka Gakkai.

 "Versus" which means* - the definition which follows is from www.thefreedictionary.com

TO: SGI (Part 5: Making Buddhism Sexy)

General Introduction

Today's post is the fifth installment in my "TO: SGI" series, which is primarily addressed to current and former members of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI). Of course, anyone else is invited to read and ponder this post, but please keep in mind that it would be helpful if you are familiar with the details of SGI Buddhism's practices and terminology.

This link will connect you to the homepage of my Lotus Sutra Champions blog so you can access links to other essays I've posted and so you can read a general introduction to this new site:

http://lotussutrachampions.blogspot.com/2013/07/lotus-sutra-champions.html

Specific Introduction

Today, I'm going to address two topics:

• The benefits to be obtained from practicing Buddhism correctly;

• How the SGI failed, in spite of its sex appeal, in its ambitious propagation efforts.

Benefits - Generally Speaking

When most people receive a windfall - by (say) winning the lottery or by means of inheritance - they'll spend a lot of it in an attempt to satisfy the five senses. A guy might buy his dream car and start racing about the countryside. But suppose he could get that same thrill without having to buy the car? Or some woman might decide to start buying expensive art which is to her taste but had always been unaffordable. What if she could see the Mona LIsa any time she wanted to as if she were standing 5 feet away from it, but without leaving her home in Chicago, Illinois?

Suppose instead that someone didn't win the lottery but had saved all his life to go on a world tour when he retired. When he returned home from his year-long tour, he sadly realized that he didn't enjoy it. He had worked so hard all his life at a spirit-crushing job that he had failed to develop as a human being to the extent necessary to appreciate what other cultures had to offer. Instead, he ended up having to be satisfied to show slides to his friends of all the landmark sites he had visited.

All of these people would have profited by having attempted to purify their six senses as instructed in the Lotus Sutra.

Benefits, according to the Lotus Sutra

The greatest benefit of Buddhist practice is obviously the attainment of Enlightenment. But there are other benefits that precede that, most notably as expounded in Chapter 19 of the Lotus Sutra*, which is called "Benefits of the Teacher of the Law."

QUOTE:

[page 292]

At that time the Buddha said..."If good men or good women accept and uphold this Lotus Sutra, if they read it, recite it, explain and preach it, or transcribe it, such people will obtain eight hundred eye benefits, twelve hundred ear benefits, eight hundred nose benefits, twelve  hundred tongue benefits, eight hundred body benefits, and twelve hundred mind benefits....

[and also on page 292]

These good men and good women, with the pure physical eyes they received from their parents at birth, will view all that exists [without having to leave his present location!] in the inner and outer parts of the major world system, its mountains, forests, rivers, and seas, down as far as the Avichi hell and up to the Summit of Being [heaven]. And in their midst they will see all the living beings, and will also see and understand all the causes and conditions created by their deeds and the births that await them as a result and recompense for those deeds.

[and on page 299]

Through his power to detect scents he knows the thoughts of men and women...

:UNQUOTE.

These benefits and recommended practices are (as quoted above) clearly revealed in the Lotus Sutra. This is the same Lotus Sutra, which the SGI discourages its members from reading by saying, "That's Shakyamuni's Buddhism." But anyone who reads the Lotus could see that's simply not true. The Lotus was revealed during Shakyamuni's time, but that sutra points out that the Lotus is the means by which all Buddhas had attained Enlightenment and by which all bodhisattvas will do so. So the Lotus is not Shakyamuni's Buddhism but is the Buddhism of all Buddhas of the past, present, and future, who stand united in support.

Promoting Buddhism by means of Sex Appeal

Bottom line?

NSA (before it became SGI) had managed to attract a lot of young, idealistic people in the 70s. And basically, these new members fed off of each other in terms of providing support, companionship, and in a lot of cases, sex. Then there was the huge build-up of activity in support of the 1976 Bicentennial Parade, which took place in New York City (in which I participated). But after that occurred a huge let-down. Members were exhausted by that effort and SGI didn't know what to do except unveil a vague and unstructured Phase Two. That was basically an idea to encourage personal growth and to focus on growing the districts.

However, after playing follow-the-leader for so long, most members had no clue how they should take responsibility for their own development by means of this practice. And SGI didn't provide any guidance in this area. I overheard one medium-level leader say to another, "Well, I guess we're supposed to get some culture by going to museums, right?"

The SGI's idea of benefit

When I joined the NSA in 1975, one of the sales pitches was, "You can chant for anything you want." I overheard one new prospect respond to that by asking, "Will I get it?" Answer: "Yes." Follow-up question: "How about a date with so-and-so [some famous model at the time]?"

At this point, the leader says, "Go ahead and chant for that. But remember, sooner or later you're going to have to actually ask her to go out with you." And that's what I liked about SGI's buddhism - the fusion of the mystic with the practical: One had to chant but also to take action. And at that point, the leader usually talked about also taking action for kosenrufu. That is, if one made efforts on behalf of the organization, those "causes" would create effects in seemingly unrelated areas in a person's life. And that was called myoho.

Of course, there were a number of possible responses to this new prospect's questions:

• "It would help if you bathed more frequently...no offense, but I'm just saying...."

• "If she agreed to go out with you, would you be able to even pay for (say) dinner and a movie? Or would you have chanted all along that she pay for the both of you? After all, she's the one who's got money - and you're so awesome, she wouldn't even consider letting you pay."

• "Are you the kind of person who a worldly, sophisticated young lady would find interesting enough to go out with? If not, maybe you should chant for that, too. And do something about it."

• "If you don't get that date, don't worry. That would simply be her karma dictating that she blow this chance with you. Or your negative karma which hadn't been sufficiently overcome with your new Buddhist practice."

About that last: After I rejoined the SGI, after a 17-year absence, the revised version went like this:  "You can chant for whatever you want and you'll either get it, get something better, or lose the desire for it." Of course, they didn't mention that desire can be lost and accompanied by bitterness at the loss. But most people didn't voice such objections. The kind of person who would join the SGI would have a certain amount of hope in their hearts. And that would be enough to at least get them started in their chanting practice.

One other feature of the SGI sales pitch I found attractive: "You don't even have to believe in this Buddhism in order for it to work for you. SGI believes in the law of cause and effect which, like other laws (such as the law of gravitational attraction), works whether you believe in it or not." But SGI always stressed consistency of effort. If you want killer abs, you can't skip days from your exercise routine. Or you can't pound down a six-pack after every workout. In like manner, you can't skip morning or evening gongyo and you can't put out bad causes which will act to counter all the good causes you've created by chanting.

All of this made a certain amount of sense, and was enough to sustain a person's practice. But for how long? How many years, how many decades must pass before members would start (at least in secret) noticing a few things. Like how many more have quit the practice than have stayed with it, even though SGI was supposedly, at one time at least, on the verge of achieving worldwide success in its propagation efforts? How many long-term members can you point at and exclaim, "This person has definitely attained enlightenment?"

About that last: It always bothered me that nobody I ever knew in the SGI (well, except for me) actually chanted to become a Buddha at all, let alone in this lifetime. One local leader informed me that Buddahood is a journey, not a destination. In other words, one doesn't become a Buddha, one manifests (more and more as practice develops) one's buddha nature. To which I responded, "You obviously have never read the Lotus Sutra." Another leader told me that everyone who chants is chanting for enlightenment by means of the silent prayers. The closest I could find in support of this claim lies in the first sentence of the fourth prayer: "I pray to bring forth Buddhahood from within my life and accomplish my own human revolution, change my destiny and fulfill my wishes in the present and the future."

That sounds way too indirect to me. How about something like this: "I pray to become a fully-enlightened Buddha in this lifetime?" To my way of thinking, it's not good enough to always be praying to "bring forth Buddhahood." That sounds too much like, "I want to always bring forth my best possible behavior." While that's laudable, it's not quite as satisfying as having someone point at you and say, "I see a Buddha, who is in complete possession of all of the supernatural powers possessed by all of the Buddhas!"

To current SGI members: "How many Buddhas do you see running around in the SGI?"

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Steven Searle, just another member of the Virtual Lotus Samgha

*  Chapter 19 of the Lotus Sutra - This was published by the SGI in 2009 under the title, "The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras," as translated by Burton Watson.

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

TO: SGI (Part 4: Nichiren "Buddha" v. Shakyamuni Buddha)

General Introduction

Today's post is the fourth installment in my "TO: SGI" series, which is primarily addressed to current and former members of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI). Of course, anyone else is invited to read and ponder this post, but please keep in mind that it would be helpful if you are familiar with the details of SGI Buddhism's practices and terminology.

This link will connect you to the homepage of my Lotus Sutra Champions blog so you can access links to other essays I've posted and so you can read a general introduction to this new site:

http://lotussutrachampions.blogspot.com/2013/07/lotus-sutra-champions.html

Specific Introduction

Today, I'm going to quote from an e-mail I'd sent to an SGI member. This further clarifies my position that Nichiren was not a Buddha.

Text of e-mail:

QUOTE:

More importantly, though, is my reaction to your expression: "as a 'Shakyamuni-Lotus Buddhist' rather than a 'Nichiren Buddhist.'" To put a finer point on it, I am a Lotus Buddhist. It's a common failing in the SGI to refer to the Lotus as being "Shakyamuni's Buddhism." But that's a fatal and inaccurate characterization, and a lot of bad things have flowed from this.

The Lotus was revealed to us during Shakyamuni's time on earth but that didn't make it Shakyamuni's Buddhism as the Lotus itself makes very clear. [Shakyamuni] admits that the Lotus was his teacher during his days as a bodhisattva. In the Lotus's pages, the first one to even mention the Lotus Sutra by name is Manjushri, who described his previous encounter with the Lotus untold eons earlier. And the Lotus is replete with names of other Buddhas and bodhisattvas who taught the Lotus to others way before planet earth was even formed. Not to mention Many Treasures Buddha who appeared in the Treasure Tower to offer his testimonial support to Shakyamuni's preaching of the Lotus.

Now some might point out that if the Lotus is supposed to be this sutra that's been in existence forever, then how could it so prominently feature Sharihotsu (Shariputra) to whom it is addressed in Chapter 2? Sharihotsu was first introduced to the Lotus 2,500 years ago in India, not untold eons ago. The answer to that question, which most SGI members wouldn't even think of asking, is quite simple: The version of the Lotus we have is contextual (that is, an expedient means version) pertinent to our particular place and time, so this "eternal" document was thus revealed to Sharihotsu. But the eternal version of the Lotus has always been similarly revealed (as an expedient means version) by some Buddha to someone like Sharihotsu. And this is alluded to in the Lotus we have with us today.

Nichiren, on the other hand, was a solo act. He never referred to any other Buddhas or bodhisattvas who had ever in the history of the universe taught what he taught. And yet, Nichiren claims as the source of his buddhism secret, hidden, esoteric interpretations of passages in the Lotus - his interpretations not backed up by or testified to by anybody else either in his day or in bygone eras. Nichiren extolled and swore fealty to the Lotus, but basically went off on a tangent not really justified by the actual contents of that Sutra. Try as I might*, I can't find any evidence in the Lotus to support the supremacy of the daimoku (or even its existence) or even to support any rationale in support of the gohonzon. Nichiren once wrote that the "gohonzon is not my invention," when that's exactly what it is.

As far as anyone taking exception to any of this is concerned, the fact that I've encountered dodgers like Ethan [Gelbaum, Director, SGI Culture Center in Chicago] during my entire career of questioning the foundations of SGI faith speaks volumes about those foundations. This might seem rather harsh, but I believe in honest, unblinking answers to honest, unblinking questions. Anything less is dishonorable. Only Guy McCloskey, among the leaders I've met, showed any degree of open-mindedness when (for example) I read aloud and distributed to a study meeting at the Center (which he attended) my piece** called "The Parable of the Honest and Excellent Physician." He allowed me to continue, whereas someone like Ethan would have stopped me cold in my tracks. Or had he not been there but heard about what I did, would have severely reprimanded me by daring to introduce a counter-parable meant to stimulate discussion.

For this, I have respect for Guy but not a whole lot for Ethan, Marty, or any of the other leaders I've met.

:UNQUOTE.

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Steven Searle, just another member of the Virtual Lotus Samgha

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

might* - I've recited the Lotus Sutra over 150 times and couldn't find (as indicated above) "any evidence in the Lotus to support..."

my piece** - Here's a link to my counter-parable:

http://ind4prez2012.blogspot.com/2011/01/parable-of-honest-and-excellent.html

TO: SGI (Part 3: Death, Daishonin, and me)

General Introduction

Today's post is the next installment in my series, the first of which was entitled "TO: SGI (Part 1)," which was posted on August 24.

These "TO: SGI" posts are primarily addressed to current and former members of the Soka Gakkai International. Of course, anyone else is invited to read and ponder this post, but please keep in mind that it would be helpful if you are familiar with the details of SGI Buddhism's practices and terminology.

This link will connect you to the homepage of my Lotus Sutra Champions blog so you can access links to other essays I've posted and so you can read a general introduction to this new site:

http://lotussutrachampions.blogspot.com/2013/07/lotus-sutra-champions.html


Specific Introduction

Today, I'm going to write about the cancer that killed Nichiren Daishonin, the cancer I'm struggling with, and how both fit into the general scheme of Buddhist things.

Nichiren Daishonin's cancer

Nichiren died when he was 60 years old, though the SGI doesn't say more than "he was sick." Years ago, I was in a university library and came across a book written by a professor in Japan which was published in the 1930s. I wish I could recall the author's name and the book's title, but I can't. He related that Nichiren died of some kind of stomach or intestinal ailment which was most likely a form of cancer. Then it hit me like a bomb: Could this cancer have been caused by sumi ink, a known carcinogen, due to Nichren's lifelong exposure as he engaged in his prolific writing career and inscription of gohonzon?

It's ironic, then, that Nichiren's last sermon was on one of his most famous works, Rissho Ankoku Ron which means "On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land." The RAR's main point is, only by establishing true Buddhism within its borders could the Japanese nation be assured of "peace," taken to be the absence of war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. He saw these evils as punishments or consequences of the embracing of false teachings by the general population and the persecution of those who promoted his own brand of Buddhism.

The irony I speak of stems from a comparison in terms of another concept Nichiren embraced - the oneness of mind and body. In my comparison, Nichren's body can be likened to "the land" in which Nichiren's mind lived. And I mean "the land" as it's meant in the title of the RAR. Since true Buddhism was established in Nichiren's mind (or so he believed), then it must follow that his body - which is the "land" I'm referring to - must have been assured the "peace" referred to in the RAR's title.

But his body, in the end, didn't know that peace - that is, protection from physical affliction which was supposedly guaranteed when the "correct teaching" was established in his mind. Of course, if Nichiren were a fully-enlightened Buddha, then he could not have succumbed to disease. So there are two conclusions to be drawn here:

• That Nichiren was not a buddha;

• That the correct teaching was not what was in Nichiren's mind.

If Nichiren died of cancer, I'm sure he suffered though I'm equally sure he did his level best to hide this from his disciples. He might have even been able shield himself from his pain by means of deep meditation. That's how the famous self-immolating monks of modern day Vietnam and Tibet were able to placidly endure the flames. However, that form of death was at least quick whereas death by cancer is prolonged torture, especially without modern painkilling drugs.

I wonder if any of Nichiren's disciples who were with him toward the end were at all bothered when he was puking blood, even if he'd managed to show no pain while doing so. Or did they agree among themselves not to speak of any gory details, in the name of protecting the members? Who knows? Maybe they thought the protection of the Buddhist gods somehow inexplicably failed at the very end (for which they would, in turn, be punished), though had been present earlier in his life when Nichiren could very well have perished due to harsh living conditions or by his almost being executed though saved from that by a miracle truly from heaven.

The Cancers I'm Struggling with

I, Steven Searle, was diagnosed with Stage IV liver cancer (and early stage colon cancer) about a year ago. My doctor told me the colon cancer was insignificant, that it would be the liver cancer that would kill me - probably within 6 to 8 months. However, I have responded miraculously to chemo treatment and my demise isn't scheduled for any time soon. However, statistically speaking, only 7% of patients with Stage IV liver cancer last 5 years.

I, however, am praying to beat this thing - to drive all traces of cancer from my body. So for now, I am treating my cancer as a "good Buddhist friend" who has much to teach me - even though I am telling this friend that he can't stay in my body. I don't know if I'll succeed in beating cancer, but I am happy that I've already managed to extend my lifespan beyond my doctor's wildest expectations. Not only that, but I've regained a lot of my vitality and sense of mission. Not to mention that I am not in pain most of the time and I manage to go out on my own quite often. I feel tired and drained at times, mostly due to the effects of my chemo treatment, but I am managing to rebound more quickly from those IV treatments as time goes on.

The cancer in my liver is now only 5% of its original size but that doesn't mean it can't come roaring back. So I do my best to keep a positive attitude, engage in almsgiving, and practice what I believe true buddhism to be - as Shakymuni Buddha said, "correct practice means reading, reciting and pondering the Lotus Sutra and teaching it to others to the best of your ability.

Does the Rissho Ankoku Ron apply to me, in terms of my "land" (i.e., my body) having to succumb if indeed I am wrong and I don't have true buddhism established in my mind? Well, perhaps it will. But I don't claim to be a Buddha and don't anyone dare make that claim on my behalf - as if anyone would! I would chalk up my demise to my not having had enough time to practice correctly so as to offset the negative karma that gave rise to my cancer in the first place.

The General Scheme of Buddhist things

I'm not going to make a big deal out of the fact that I outlived Nichiren by two years. Even if I outlive Shakyamuni Buddha, who died at the age of 80, I wouldn't think of myself as superior to him in any way. And that's mostly because the Lotus Sutra makes it clear that Shakymuni didn't die as is historically related. He merely gave the appearance of his death as is made quite clear (to me, at least) at the end of the Lotus Sutra's 16th chapter. He said, I am always here preaching the law, but through my transcendental powers I make it so that living being in their befuddlement don't see me even though I am always close by.

There are SGI members who I used to practice with who predicted that terrible things would happen to me because I had destroyed my gohonzon 36 years ago, even though I had been issued a new one in 1996. One member even said I was afflicted with cancer because of my heretical views. If that is so, then all I can say in my defense is, "I had a seeking mind strong enough to challenge what I saw as profound flaws in SGI's doctrines and even Nichiren's claims. I embraced what I came to understand is true buddhism, but if I was wrong in this, I am willing to pay the price of death by cancer if that will teach me, in my next life, how I should proceed instead."

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Steven Searle, just another member of the Virtual Lotus Samgha

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

TO: SGI (Part 2)

General Introduction

Today's post is the next installment in my series, the first of which was entitled "TO: SGI (Part 1)," which was posted on August 24.

These "TO: SGI" posts are primarily addressed to current and former members of the Soka Gakkai International. Of course, anyone else is invited to read and ponder this post, but please keep in mind that it would be helpful if you are familiar with the details of SGI Buddhism's practices and terminology.

This link will connect you to the homepage of my Lotus Sutra Champions blog so you can access links to other essays I've posted and so you can read a general introduction to this new site:

http://lotussutrachampions.blogspot.com/2013/07/lotus-sutra-champions.html


Specific Introduction

Today's post will cover two topics:

• Back in 1976, I destroyed my gohonzon; but in 1996 I was issued a new one.

• On Aug. 28, 2013, I was banned from the Chicago SGI Culture Center by "director" Ethan Gelbaum.

My Gohonzons

Background

I first joined the SGI (known as NSA - Nichiren Shoshu of America - at the time) in 1974, which is when I received my gohonzon. When I quit NSA in 1977, I secretly destroyed my gohonzon by setting it on fire, dousing it with water, and tossing it into a trash can. What I should have done was return my gohonzon to NSA. However, I destroyed it because I wanted to prove to myself that I hadn't been brainwashed into thinking this was some kind of amulet with magical powers that could destroy my life should I mistreat it.

I didn't have any contact with NSA/SGI until 1993 when I rejoined, but this time - under my terms. I was asked if I had a gohonzon due to my having been a member 16 years earlier. I confessed that I had destroyed it. SGI offered me another gohonzon, but I declined, insisting that I could practice by using a "gohonzon" of my own creation. This was just an ordinary piece of paper on which I typed (in English) a variety of names and phrases that I could focus on while I chanted. The names were of persons in my life who were important to me, while the others words were representative of a variety of Buddhist concepts.

At no time did the SGI inform me that I was engaging in heretical behavior by chanting to my own gohonzon. I do remember, though, one leader gritting his teeth and saying, "That's not a gohonzon." To which I replied, "Since the word 'gohonzon' means 'supreme object of worship, veneration, or focus,' and that's how I view it, this typed sheet of paper fulfills the purpose and definition of 'gohonzon' as far as I'm concerned. But I'm not asking for your approval nor am I expecting that you would ever chant to it."

Ethan Gelbaum

At this point, I will introduce Ethan Gelbaum who runs the Chicago SGI-USA Community Center. He introduced himself to me as the regional director upon my first meeting him about a month ago, but I've seen him mentioned on-line as an SGI Vice President and Vice General Director. In any event, he's pretty high up the chain of command, which means he gets paid for his services as a leader. And by that I mean, "paid" in terms of this being a full-time job. Try as I might, I couldn't find much info on-line regarding Ethan's long-runnning stint with the SGI. So it seems to me, he's pretty good at keeping a low profile.

I will mention Ethan more prominently in the next section of this article. But for now, I will highlight his unique reaction to the news that I had destroyed my original gohonzon - he was angry. And that's unique because none of the other SGI leaders or members I'd told about this back in 1993 reacted that way. In fact, they tried very hard to get me to accept a new gohonzon. But I demurred, preferring the "gohonzon" of my own creation instead.

My New Gohonzon

After a couple of years, though, I did finally apply for a new gohonzon and was issued one.  And, to this day, I still have this gohonzon enshrined in my home. But I rarely chant to it, preferring instead to read aloud from my English-language translation of the Lotus Sutra, with my eyes riveted to the pages of this translation. I usually recite in my own home, but on occasion I'll recite while sitting on a park bench.

As far as the gohonzon itself is concerned, I do not cherish it (as Nichiren urged) nor do I worship it. When I do chant to it, I feel a sense of comfort and find it to be a useful focal point for my concentration during those rare times when I do gongyo or chant daimoku. Nowhere in the Lotus Sutra - which I've recited over 150 times - is there any mention of the gohonzon. Shakyamuni never had a gohonzon nor did any of the other Buddhas or bodhisattvas mentioned in the Lotus. So, as far as I'm concerned, the gohonzon was an expedient means invented by Nichiren meant to serve as a focal point for the faithful.

The only other significance my gohonzon has for me is my promise to return it to the SGI, should I decide I don't want to keep it any longer, rather than destroy it as I had done in the case of my first gohonzon. Looking back on how I destroyed my first gohonzon over 35 years ago, I regret having broken my word to protect it. In my defense, however, I will say the SGI bears some responsibility for what I did. Nothing happens in a vacuum; so when I destroyed it, that was in reaction to the oppressive, cult-like behavior of NSA/SGI at the time. Yes, I was angry because I felt NSA misbehaved in terms of how it treated its members - expecting much from them, but not even giving much in the way of respect back in return.

A blackly humorous anecdote

NSA/SGI was also at fault for how easily they conferred gohonzon, not really treating it as the object of respect it was supposed to be. This brief anecdote highlights my point:

A couple of years before I rejoined SGI in 1993 (I think it must have been around 1987), I ran into my brother-in-law who had been out partying at a local dance club. We sat down on a bench and chatted for a few minutes, when two people came up to us. These two were doing street shakubuku on the last day of a month-long shakubuku campaign. They asked if we wanted to go to a Buddhist meeting. My brother-in-law wanted to go, since he was curious about this Buddhist thing I used to do. So we hopped into a cab and went to the SGI Community Center which was on Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago at the time.

I made it clear to the SGI members that I was a former member who was there only because my in-law asked me to join him. Did I mention that he was very drunk? Like I said, he had been out partying. So I couldn't help but laugh (to myself) as he was guided through the process of filling out a membership application (at this, his first meeting!) and paying a $15 fee so he could get his gohonzon that night! So I was treated to the amusing spectacle of watching my bro-in-law stand in line with the other new members to receive their gohonzons from a visiting priest. As he walked down the center aisle toward the priest, I could see he was drunkenly weaving instead of walking straight. So I thought, "Looks like SGI will give anybody a gohonzon these days in order to jack up the shakubuku numbers. Has it really come to this?"

Yes, I'm afraid it has (or at least "had") come to this. So when Ethan Gelbaum chose to express a degree of anger toward me for having destroyed my gohonzon, he should have realized that the disrespectful attitude the SGI itself had toward their supreme object of worship might have been an indirect cause for a member, in turn, disrespecting it. Besides, as I've already pointed out, the SGI was eager to get me to accept a new gohonzon knowing full well that I had destroyed my first one.


My banishment from the Chicago SGI-USA Culture Center

What happened?

Ethan banned me from the SGI Center on August 28, 2013. I arrived around 12:30, started to chant in the Round Room, and after about 10 minutes Ethan taps me on the shoulder. I follow him to a point about 10 feet or so from the Round Room's entrance. After Ethan asked how I was (and I said I was okay), he told me the Center is only for SGI members. I added, "And guests?"

He said, "Not for guests who diss the organization and blog about it."

I replied, "So...we're not going to have a discussion meeting or a dialogue about this?"

Me: "That was one time weeks ago for scarcely 10 minutes and I did most of the talking." And that brief meeting was before I'd sent him e-mails asking a variety of questions. He didn't respond to any of them or respond to my invitation for a one-on-one dialogue.

And then I started to leave but added, "You should be ashamed of yourself." When he said, "I'm not," I said, "You should be."

After he said something like have-a-nice-day, I said, "I hope you enjoy your epic failure." And I left. I hope he got that point about "epic failure," which perfectly describes the decline of this layman's Buddhist movement. Back in the mid-seventies, SGI boasted of having 12 million members - 10M in Japan and 2M elsewhere. Today, they "boast" of exactly the same numbers.


"We've just got 20 years to go."

Back in the seventies, we SGI members used to sing the "Shakubuku Fight Song," which included these lyrics:

Do your Gongyo early in the morning.
Daimoku late at night.
Going to follow President Ikeda.
Make this planet peaceful and bright.
Shakubuku is the way to Kosen-rufu.
Twenty years and we'll see Kosen-rufu.
Keep chanting! Keep chanting! 
We've got just twenty years to go.

Ahem, we've just got 20 years to go? That was the assertion based on our confidence that we would be successful based on the Rule of Thirds. If we could get one-third of the world's population to chant (and that was supposed to be a slam dunk), that would mean another third would support us but not chant themselves, and the remaining third wouldn't support us but they wouldn't oppose us either. Well, guess what, Ethan. A lot more than 20 years have gone by (more than 35 years in fact) and SGI isn't in ascendancy; it's in precipitous decline. But I suppose as long as the SGI continues to pay your salary, you needn't concern yourself about such things.


My deal with Ethan

I had kept up my end of the deal I'd made with Ethan about a month ago, when he first told me he was contemplating barring me from the Center. I didn't speak to anybody on the Center's premises about how I practice or my particular interpretations of Buddhist doctrine. I was respectful of Ethan's territory.

But he decided to extend his authority to my outside activities - that is, to what I put on my blog. That's my territory and my business. But what bothered me the most was his initial attempt to lie to me. His first shot was, "The Center is only for members." I knew full well it's also for guests and the receptionist doesn't check the status of anybody who walks through the Center's doors. But obviously he thought a lie would simplify matters and I'd be gone. Ethan didn't think I'd question his claim. I ask a lot of questions, to which the Ethans of the world must ultimately fall silent.

About that member of 40 year and Nichiren's alleged Buddhahood

About 10 years ago, I went to my SGI district meeting, being the first to arrive. I asked Mrs. Oishi, a member of 40 years or so, if she'd ever read the Lotus Sutra. She told me she'd read excerpts in the SGI organ publications but had never read it in its entirety. She found it too daunting. Now this is a woman who told me she gets up a 5 AM everyday and chants four hours of daimoku. When I told Ethan about this, I said, "It would have been better if she'd chanted only 3 hours of daimoku, and dedicated that fourth hour to an recitation of the Lotus Sutra." He didn't respond to that, but I suppose he thought my comment heretical, since reading aloud from the Lotus isn't a practice SGI recognizes.

And something else Ethan Gelbaum didn't respond to: I asked him, about a month ago, if he could cite any scriptural source in which Nichiren claimed he was a Buddha. He turned to his assistant, Marty, and asked him to send me an email response to that. I will now quote Marty's email and a portion of an email I made in response:


QUOTE:

I hope all is well with you. From our previous discussion here is a reference for your inquiry.

Question: In the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (WND), where does he reveals his identity as the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law ?

Answer: In the Opening of the Eyes WND-Vol. 1 (One of the 5 major treatises of Nichiren Daishonin). This treatise clarifies Nichiren’s identity as the true Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. He reveals “casting off the transient and revealing the true”, post Tatsunokuchi Persecution.

If you want further background on intent of the Opening of the Eyes, please read Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra (WND- Vol. 1). Moreover, another writing to read would be The Unanimous Declaration By The Buddhas (WND-Vol. 2).

:UNQUOTE.


QUOTE:

After reading your response, I sense a difference of styles between our approaches to answering questions. Basically, what you did was throw a library at me, saying (in effect): "Here are sources you can investigate, so go ahead and find that needle in the haystack."

By my last comment, I mean, "For instance, the Opening of the Eyes (which I had read over 15 years ago) is a very long gosho, though perhaps somewhere in there Nichiren is claiming he's a Buddha. I can't, however, remember having read any such claim within its many pages." It would have been far more helpful if you'd quoted at least one decisive and key passage wherein Nichiren makes this claim rather than burdening your reader (me) with having to sift through a lot of background material that (really) doesn't make the point.

I, on the other hand, will provide quotes from Nichiren which cast grave doubts on any claims of his being a Buddha:

ONE:  "Why did I first begin to chant as I do? Bodhisattva Jogyo is the one destined to make his advent in this world to propagate the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo. But before he had even appeared, I began, as though speaking in a dream, hardly knowing what I was doing, to chant the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and so I chant them now. In the end, is this a good thing I do, or a bad thing? I do not know, nor can anyone else tell for certain." - Letter to Myomitsu Shonin.

The two areas I highlighted are hardly the words a Buddha would be speaking.

TWO:  "...but since I am a common mortal, it is beyond my power to know the past. There is no doubt, however, that in my present life I am the votary of the Lotus Sutra, and that in the future, I will therefore reach the seat of enlightenment without fail."

"I cannot hold back my tears when I think of the great persecution confronting me now, or when I think of the joy of attaining Buddhahood in the future."

These two quotes appear on page 386 of the True Aspect of All Phenomena and show that Nichiren, even after he started chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, had not yet attained Buddhahood. Instead, he speaks of doing so "in the future."

:UNQUOTE.

Not only did I send this email to Marty, but I also copied it to Ethan Gelbaum. Neither of these two gentlemen offered any further defense of their belief that Nichiren is a Buddha. If they can't even defend this critical assertion, that speaks volumes of not only their competence but the truth of this assertion.


In closing

I'm not at all  surprised at Ethan or the SGI for that matter. I chose to interact with Ethan as I did, fully expecting his cowardly response. I hadn't even considered setting foot in the SGI Center until an SGI friend, whom I shakubuku'd 13 years ago, suggested we meet there. The rest, as they say, is history. Frankly? I had written off the SGI years ago as a failed enterprise hardly worth my time to engage. But for old times sake, I decided I'd try one more time to appeal to their sense of mission and to their commonsense. Having failed in that, I now move on in my own Buddhist practice in terms of trying to reach current and former SGI members with my blog posts. And, of course, in continuing to (as Shakyamuni Buddha urged) to "read, recite, ponder, and teach to the best of my ability the Lotus Sutra."

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Steven Searle, Just another member of the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus