A Prosperity Christian is a "Christian" who believes that God wants him to be rich. A Prosperity Buddhist is a "Buddhist" who believes that his practice will make him rich. Many of the Buddhists I'd met during my years with the cult known as the SGI-USA (Soka Gakkai International - United States of America branch) fully believed that proper Buddhist practice, as defined by the SGI, would allow them to receive "material benefits." There were fewer, though still a sizable minority, who took this claim one step further: "I'm going to be a millionaire someday."
The latter group make sure their voices are heard during SGI public discussion meetings. And the members in attendance enthusiastically applaud their various rags-to-riches stories. I even heard one long-time member (himself Japanese - "oddly" enough) who tried to lend gravitas to the high-level leaders he'd met in Japan (SGI's home base) by saying, "Oh, all these guys are millionaires." The irony of all this is, the founder of SGI's brand of Buddhism was a 13th century Japanese monk, Nichiren, who spent his entire life in a state of homelessness living off the charity of others.
The concept of "benefit" is huge in SGI Buddhism. When new members are welcomed into the fold, they are told, "You can chant for anything you want." They are told, "You will receive benefits as the result of your practice." Of course, donating money and time to the organization are forms of "practice" (almsgiving) that would vastly increase the amount and earlier arrival of these benefits.
To be sure, there are scriptural references* that could be used to support such claims. However, the vast majority of other references* describe the truest benefit as being the attainment of Buddhahood itself. This is the highest goal, the greatest benefit, as detailed in the scripture which the SGI pays lip service (and only lip service) to being the greatest: The Lotus Sutra. This greatest benefit" would, ironically enough to Prosperity Buddhists, come about by rejecting materialism in one's personal life and (instead) making sacrifices for others - these are among the practices encompassed by the six paramitas*.
six paramitas* - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81ramit%C4%81
"There is no need to seek impatiently for greatness, fame or wealth. The Earth and Sun do not hurry; they follow their own path at their own pace. If the Earth were to accelerate and complete one rotation in three hours instead of twenty - four, we would be in big trouble! The most important thing in life, too, is to find a sure and certain path and confidently advance along it." -- Daisaku Ikeda
ReplyDelete"How long does a lifetime last? If one stops to consider, it is like a single night’s lodging at a wayside inn. Should one forget that fact and seek some measure of worldly fame and profit? Though you may gain them, they will be mere prosperity in a dream, a delight scarcely to be prized. You would do better simply to leave such matters to the karma formed in your previous existences." -- Nichren's Questions and Answers on Embracing the Lotus Sutra.