There is no self-authentication [authentication without extrinsic evidence] of the teachings in Nichiren Daishonin Lotus Sutra Buddhism or Shakyamuni Buddha would have never preached the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren would not have written so many letters and treatises. Shakyamuni would have merely exhorted us to meditate under a tree and Nichiren would have merely taught others to chant the Daimoku to the Gohonzon. For Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren, a bodily reading and experience of the Lotus Sutra line for line and passage for passage is most important. This is the meaning of revelation and actual proof in Nichiren Lotus Sutra Buddhism and the fusion of subjective wisdom and objective reality. Still, nowhere did the Buddha and Nichiren teach to throw out theoretical and documentary proof. Likewise, although the Daimoku is most important, nowhere did the Daishonin teach us to throw out the Lotus Sutra, not even the Theoretical Section. Those who claim self authentication for their teachings on the faith and practice of the Lotus Sutra lack the actual, theoretical, and documentary proof to thoroughly convince others.
Recruiters wish us to believe that the impressive tales they tell about people and places unknown are accessible to us if we only buy their sell. "A YWD wanted to marry a millionaire. No - a *billionaire*!! She chanted for 20 years and she married a billionaire!" Really? What's her name and where does she live so I can ask her myself? What's that? Oh, you don't know her name or address. Or any identifying details at all.
ReplyDeleteSo why again should I take seriously anything this recruiter says?
Don't tell me "Chant for whatever you want" and then tell me "Oh, sometimes you won't get what you chant for because it wouldn't be good for you/not the right time/later - just keep waiting/etc." Don't tell me "Chant for whatever you want" and then tell me "Oh, you have to chant for *reasonable* things, *possible* things, *simple* things that could easily be accomplished." Don't tell me how Nichiren said, "Then how could the prayers of one who chants go unanswered" or some such, when I can see with my own eyes that everyone's practice is basically a graveyard of broken dreams.
Don't tell me that the first Soka Gakkai members were the poor, the ill, the disenfranchised, and now, because they practiced, they're the most wealthy in Japan. Again - names? No? Why doesn't that seem to work here in the US, where the longest-term members, the aging Japanese war brides, are lower-middle-class at best? Why aren't THEY the most wealthy in the US? Doesn't the Japanese magic work away from Japanese soil??
And how many people has Ikeda shakubukued? What are THEIR names?
Funny how there are so many missing names...