Katie Higgins and I have a dialogue about Bodhisattva Fukyo (Never Despise) and the Soka Gakkai

 

1. kevinhiggins85March 30, 2016 at 8:43 AM

   In Sept. 2012, the SGI-USA Boston "Region Personnel Committee" issued me a letter, sent, by Registered mail- citing me for "violations" "SGI USA Charter"
   Chapter 11,
   "Article 72, Article 73
   Paragraph b:"Conduct intended to either 1)damage the reputation of SGI-USA or 2) harm or undermine the interests of SGI-USA
   
   ~Katie

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2. 
   kevinhiggins85March 30, 2016 at 8:46 AM

   I had sent a few emails to local leaders questioning various practices and behaviors . My notice of *disciplinary action* official letter was signed by three leaders I barely knew. None of the leaders I had emailed had responded after 4-5 months. I had let the matters drop-- was not attending meetings anyway
   ~Katie

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3. 
   kevinhiggins85March 30, 2016 at 8:51 AM

   The response I wrote and mailed to every member of the Boston Region Board was ignored-- I was left assuming that my *suspended membership* has, in fact, been terminated.
   This was a blessing-- to be booted out (for the third time in Boston) reaffirmed to me that I had indeed been practicing with *slanders* of the True Teaching.
   4 years journey to this web site-- and my purified altar-- and a deep sense of appreciation, has lead me to believe that rebuking this slander and caring deeply for those who are being harmed by SGI, is absolutely part of correct practice.
   ~Katie

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4. 
   kevinhiggins85March 30, 2016 at 9:02 AM

   P.S. Questioning the leaders themselves about the behavior or the practices of any leader in SGI USA is *grounds* for disciplinary action--
   
   THIS is SGI USA a decade after Andy and the IRG engaged top leaders on vital points regarding democratizing SGI USA as per Pres IKEDA'S guidance (for crying out loud)
   Please note: There was no *due process* involved in my Final notice. In 1998, my district was disbanded by the same Board- citing my *insubordination*
   I have written letters to the top leaders, even Daisaku Ikeda regarding these issues-- no response directly to me was ever issued.
   I do not *disparage* any of these leaders, but with regard to Pres. Ikeda, he is absolutely incorrect in assigning *sacred* status o SGI. Whenever I read his declarations in that vein, I cringe.
   ~Katie

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5. 
   Mark RogowMarch 30, 2016 at 2:24 PM

   hi Katie. I disparage every single SGI leader above Group Chief but reserve special disparagement for the double-tongued mentor and his top lietenants.

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6. 
   kevinhiggins85March 30, 2016 at 4:23 PM

   Is disparagement "ok" in the latter day of the Law practice of shakubuku, then?
   
   I have been criticized for noting that although Fukyo was pelted with tiles for bowing to everyone as he recited a verse of the Lotus Sutra, no one would likely be attacked, much less persecuted for bowing to "everyone" in this day and age.-- So, I have suggested that the bowing to everyone thing is not correct in our time.
   
   Nichiren seems to use Bodhisattva Never Disparaging as a point of comparison to his own practice --which to me, has meant that if you propagate the True Law as it is taught, you will be attacked, persecuted-- NOT that their practices were the same.
   
   Again and again I have been admonished for *disparaging* remarks about leaders--BY leaders who claim I am not "getting the point of Nichiren's references to Fukyo" ---
   
   P.S. I never made it about "Unit chief"-- a short- lived experience at that.
   
   ~Katie

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7. 
   Mark RogowMarch 30, 2016 at 7:51 PM

   SGI never teaches that those who persecuted Fukyo: For a thousand kalpas underwent great suffering in the Avici Hell. After they had finished paying for their offenses, they once again encountered the Bodhisattva Never Disparaging and attained Enlightenment. What do you think? Is not passing 1000 kalpas in the Avici Hell a form of strict shakubuku.

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   kevinhiggins85March 30, 2016 at 8:48 PM
   SGI also never teaches that Fukyo's practice accorded with a different time. Aligning themselves with corrupt secular institutions, securing personal reward and significant monetary gain is an example of the benefit of SGI leaders "peaceful practices".
   
   Admonishing members for minor infractions amounts to maintaining a status quo, superficially peaceful organization that serves the personal interests of top leaders.
   
   Strict shakubuku is completely left out of SGI's philosophical agenda. It is common to hear the term, shakubuku, in reference to introducing someone to the practice and SGI. When, in fact, the method was shoju, laced with promise of treasures of the storehouse, mind and body, that persuaded the *new member* to join SGI.
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8. 
   Mark RogowMarch 30, 2016 at 8:03 PM

   When a person’s offense is minor, admonishment is sometimes called for, but at other times it may be unnecessary, for there are those who may correct themselves without being told. Reprove a person for slander when necessary, so that you can forestall for both of you the consequences of an offense. Then, you should forgive that person. The point is that even minor slanders may lead to serious ones, and then the effects one must suffer would be far worse. This is [what Chang-an means when he writes], “One who rids the offender of evil is acting as his parent.”
   
   Many such examples of slander are also found among Nichiren’s disciples and lay believers. I am sure that you have heard about the lay priest Ichinosawa. Privately he is considered one of Nichiren’s followers, but publicly he still remains in the Nembutsu school. What should be done about his next life? Nevertheless, I have presented him with the ten volumes of the Lotus Sutra.
   
   SGI members fall into the category of those who continuously slander the Law and thus are to be continuously reproved. They pretend to be foremost in upholding the precepts and I continuously point out how they break the precepts [of preserving the Law and doctrines of Nichiren]. I do this for their sake. I will forgive them when they correct their mistakes. The strange thing is that they overlook major slander through their interfaith initiatives and strictly admonish their own members for the most minor of infractions.

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   1. 
      kevinhiggins85March 30, 2016 at 8:49 PM

      In pursuit of minor good, they commit great evil...

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