"I do have some tightly-gripped scars. You're right. I see the SGI perfectly positioned to teach Buddhism to millions of loyal followers who hang on their every word. Instead they teach Ikedaism. I see the SGI in a position to literally change the world and help lead all those who put their faith in the SGI to salvation. Instead, the only thing the SGI is concerned with is how many magazines and newspapers they can sell, and how many online contributions they can defraud people out of. And the longer I see the SGI continue to treat the poorest of the poor like Chattel, as if these poor people are the SGI's personal ATM machine, the deeper those scars go. Eventually the SGI is going to pay a heavy price for misleading people. It's heartbreaking to watch. My group leader was having some terrible dental pain. But she refused to go to the dentist to get it fixed until she won some contest to be a Soka Victory Chapter because those above her put pressure on her. She put off going to the dentist, and was in excruciating pain, for months until she finally won the silly contest. Buddhism is all about ending suffering, not proliferating it. When some contest becomes more important than people's health you have drifted so far away from Buddhism as to not even be in the same universe with it. The SGI is not a Buddhist organization. It's become nothing more than a Global Corporation that happens to mention Buddhism now and then for tax purposes. Nothing more. I agree that the SGI meetings are places where like minded people can meet, share stories and encourage each other. But that describes a Ku Klux Klan meetings as well. Regardless of how many people get together and slap each others back and eat cookies together at SGI meetings, they are still not studying or practicing Buddhism. I have never once heard of a Lotus Sutra study in my group or Buddhist Center. Not one. They are in the process of studying Ikeda's NHR down to minutia. The problem is that the NHR doesn't have a single word of Buddhism in it. Not a single word. Rah Rah speeches and promises of a new car if you chant hard enough have zero to do with Buddhism. The problem is that you have drifted so far away from Real Buddhism that you believe the NHR and eating cookies with a group is what constitutes Buddhism. That's the point that Murraysburg Bodhisattvas Vow is trying to make; the SGI has drifted so far outside of Buddhism that no one involved actually realizes that they are no longer Buddhists. They are SGI members who happen to chant to a Gohonzon."
Originally found on Facebook Murrysburg Bodhisattva
ReplyDeleteSGI keeps Abe, in power. Abe, is a sadistic fascist. It shows how awful and duplicitous SGI is.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply.
ReplyDeleteWould it be uncool to make my own wooden gohonzon and we're could I get a good sepia lay over to lay out it's carving I have zero interest in supposed sanctified anything all groups have lost all credibility in my eyes!!!!
ReplyDeleteHi unknown. I imagine that lay people can inscribe Gohonzon because in Opening the Eyes of Wooden and Painted Images Nichiren teaches:
ReplyDeleteUnless ONE who has grasped the essence of the Lotus Sutra conducts the eye-opening ceremony for a wooden or painted image, it will be as if a masterless house were to be occupied by a thief, or as if, upon death, a demon were to take possession of one’s body..."
No mention of priests. However, he tells Toki Jonen to have his Shakyamuni Buddha statue consecrated by Nitcho, a priest. The problem is finding a priest who has grasped the essence of the Lotus Sutra to perform the ceremony. The important thing is to perform the Eye Opening Ceremony. Perhaps you could self tonsure as a priest. I consider myself a priest because I perform the forceful practices. You can find the Eye Opening Ceremony on line or here (got to rush will look later). Chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and Gongyo may be enough. Not aware that Nichiren mentioned the Eye Opening Ceremony format.
https://markrogow.blogspot.com/2019/06/great-mandala-eye-opening-ceremony.html
ReplyDeleteTHEN and NOW
ReplyDeleteTHEN
This is taken from the 1986 edition of the NSIC Major Writings, Volume IV.
"Next, Nichiren Daishonin compares a wooden or painted image to the living Buddha. Wooden and painted images of the Buddha are inferior to the living Buddha because they lack not only the feature of the pure and far reaching voice but also the Buddha's mind, that is, his spiritual aspect. The pure and far reaching voice is the manifestation of the Buddha's mind. The Buddha's compassion to save the people manifests itself in his voice, that is, in his teachings. Thus, when a sutra is placed before a Buddha image (i.e., used to 'open the eyes' of the image
or consecrate it), it is the same as if it possessed the pure and far reaching voice. This is because a sutra embodies the Buddha's teachings conveyed by his voice."
However, the Daishonin goes on to explain that the kind of sutra used to consecrate an image will determine the nature of the spiritual aspect that the image manifests. He concludes that since the Lotus Sutra embodies the Buddha's spiritual aspect, when the Lotus Sutra is used to 'open the eyes' of a Buddha image, that image will become equal to the living Buddha. This accords with the principle of the attainment of Buddhahood by plants (somoku jobutsu), plants here representing all
insentient life.
This concept of the enlightenment of plants in turn derives from the profound principle of ichinen sanzen, which teaches that all life - insentient as well as sentient - possess the Buddha nature. In a similar context, Nichiren Daishonin states in the 'The True Object of Worship': 'Both the Buddhist and non-Buddhist scripture permit wooden or painted images to be used as objects of worship, but T'ien-t'ai and his followers were the first to explain the principle behind this act. If a piece of wood or paper did not have both material and spiritual aspects
or lacked the inherent cause to manifest a spiritual nature, then it would be futile to rely upon it as an object of worship' [The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 48],
and '... without ichinen sanzen, the seed of enlightenment, sentient beings cannot attain enlightenment, and any statue or object would be an object of worship in name alone' [ibid., p.63]. This concept of manifesting the Buddha nature inherent in an insentient image through the 'eye opening ceremony' thus making it an object of worship, also applies to the Gohonzon, though the Daishonin does not mention the true object of worship in this particular Gosho.
Subsequently the Daishonin sharply attacks the use of Shingon rituals for 'opening the eyes' of Buddha images. He points out that using distorted teachings such as those of Shingon to consecrate images will cause demons or devils to occupy them - that is, it will bring forth not Buddhahood but the diabolical nature inherent in the insentient life of the image causing suffering for individual believers and disaster for the land in which they live." MW IV: 37 to 39.
****[Note that this explanatory comment states that the eye opening ceremony applies to the Gohonzon.]****
Now
"No Eye Opening Ceremony is required for a Gohonzon" -- SGI official proclation