In observing my own practice, I see that I chant in three different ways, maybe more.
1. Just plain chanting of the daimoku. This is my "just do it" style of practice. I'm not particularly thinking about anything while I'm doing it. I just sit and chant, and also sit silently for longish periods and follow my breath.
2. Chanting with intention. With this kind of daimoku, I feel that I'm working with a question, problem, or desire. I feel as if I'm "communicating" with the Gohonzon. It feels conversational and can be intense.
3. Chanting and leaving it alone. In this mode, I feel like I have a big, weighty concern, but I am at a loss about what to "do" about it. So I basically offer it to the Gohonzon along with my daimoku and say, essentially, "You figure it out."
Wisdom for Modern Life -- Daisaku Ikeda -- "We can lose ourselves in romantic attachment, but the truth is, the euphoria is unlikely to last for long. Indeed, the likelihood of undergoing suffering and sadness only grows over time. As long as we remain unable to redress our own weaknesses, we will be miserable no matter where or to whom we may take flight."
This came across my Facebook (I know, I know. I created a Facebook account when it first started, just to see what it was all about. I don't use it all that much. Really.) wall the other day. I use to agree with it. I don't anymore.
In a previous thread participants raised questions about what's appropriate on this website.
There's very little moderation that happens here. Anyone can create an account and post comments immediately. Currently, there's no review filter. Participants who post comments are rapidly "promoted" to being able to post items to the main column. Again, there's no review filter.
The whole point of this site is to create an open, public environment where people can easily swap news and opinion about what's happening regarding Nichiren Buddhism.
Most other forums for Nichiren Buddhism are more controlled or moderated. Many are private, members-only sites. We don't want to be like that. We want people to be able to see and interact with the online Nichiren community, warts and all.
Please ask yourself why you participate on this board. Are you sharing information, experiences, and opinions that other Nichiren Buddhists might find interesting, helpful, or even controversial? Do you have questions about Buddhism you'd like to pose, or ideas about Buddhism you'd like to share? Great. Welcome. Thanks for contributing.
If that's not why you're here, why are you here? Is your goal to necessitate the use of moderation and filters on this site because you're incapable of moderating yourself? Give it a think, please. Vote in the poll after the jump.
We don't have avatars here. Too bad. Over on another board some people have mounted (pun intended) a campaign to get me to change mine (I'm John over there). It's pretty funny. Hope you can see it without joining.
I'm not sure if it's cool for me to mention this yet, but I'm excited for this book to come out in September. If you remember the "old" BuddhaJones humor site, you probably remember "Daily Scoldings." I saw an early draft of the book. It has a lot of funny fractured dharma stories that you will probably recognize if you've spent any time studying Buddhism. The promo trailer is silly and cracks me up. You can see it here.
So I'm on Facebook and I get a friend request from "Soka member." Now to send me a friend request he has to be an individual, right? With a real name. Well I can't tell if "Soka member" is a group or a person. Anyway, Facebook says this:
Accounts are for personal use only. To represent a celebrity, business or brand, please create a Facebook Page. Pages are for representing a real public figure, artist, brand or organization and may only be created by an official representative of that entity. For more information about Facebook Pages, please click here.
Professional and religious titles are not allowed in account names.
You can list your maiden name as your alternate name on the Account Settings page. Please note that account names that include "was", "nee", and "formerly" are not allowed.
Accounts can represent one person only. Accounts representing groups, families, or couples are not allowed.
When he wasn't running an elaborate Ponzi scheme, Toronto businessman Robert Mander practised Buddhism and became such an ardent follower of the religion he used investor money to donate $500 a month to a local Buddhist organization.
The Gakkai apologists over at Tricycle Magazine blog would have you believe that Soka made a "classy move" in returning the donations it received from the longtime member and fraud master.
Truth is, SGI ain't no hero. A little more searching (which Tricycle is too disingenuous to do) reveals that SGI was legally obligated to return the money:
Amidst those, however, was the lone great revelation of the interview--the thing that perhaps made the whole thing worth it.
"Eric Erlandson and myself shall not play guitar together again," Love said, later citing that it is for "religious purposes" having to do with them being of different Buddhist sects that are not allowed to be in the same room as one another.
I'm one of many, many Nichiren Buddhists who believes that religion has no place in government. Alas, Soka Gakkai has a different idea. They promote the merging of faith and politics, especially in Japan through support of the Komeito political party. Japan Probe has this to say:
The grassroots activities of Komeito's supporters resemble the acts of fanatical religious missionaries, and frankly it makes it hard for me to see the "political" party's existence as a good thing. While the Komeito's current official party platform doesn't contain anything about turning Japan into a theocracy, it is worrisome to see a party that relies so heavily on the support of a single religious sect and its believers.
i agree. Also, check out the comments on that page.
Nichiren Shoshu gets slapped around, predictably, by the Christian Research Institute. Read their "report" here.
Nichiren Shoshu replaces God with an impersonal omnipresent essence that eternally fluctuates in cycles of manifestation and dormancy. Practically speaking, Nichiren Shoshu is an atheistic system, for any concept of a personal God is irrelevant and, to their way of thinking, spiritually harmful.
Whatevs. I'm not sure when the article was written, but it's getting a lot of tweetage on twitter today.
What I find frustrating is that outsiders looking in don't see the very significant distinctions between Nichiren Shoshu and Nichiren Shu (totally different!) and cannot differentiate between a cult like Soka Gakkai and the openmindedness of independent Nichiren practitioners. To "them," we're all a bunch of godless heathens.
I need your help. It's my job to comb the web for links that might be of interest to readers of this site. I have been swamped lately and unable to fulfill this solemn (ha) duty. Please, if you have a link to share, or an event, book, or blog to promote, please shout it out below. Thanks!
CNN has an article about mentors from the secular point of view.
Mentors: Do you need one? By Beth Braccio Hering, CareerBuilder.com
July 7, 2010 9:13 a.m. EDT
CareerBuilder.com) -- "I met my mentor before I knew what a mentor was or that I would ever need one," says Debra Yergen of Yakima, Washington.
Fresh out of college and conducting an interview at a hotel in Seattle as a freelance journalist, Yergen "just connected" with the establishment's public relations director. By the end of the day, the woman asked if Yergen would like to have her as a mentor. Yergen agreed, wanting to be cordial, but "had no idea what this meant."
What it turned out to mean was a 15-year relationship during which Yergen's mentor gently guided, inspired, opened doors and offered introductions. "Over the years, she taught me more than I learned in any one college course or in any one job. She was my lighthouse through every professional opportunity and storm," Yergen says.
While a person doesn't absolutely need a mentor, workers who have found one are often glad they did.
I'm posting this, because it sometimes seems that much of the Nichiren community has a very different definition from the rest of the english-speaking world, of what a mentor is and how a mentor functions in one's life.
Those of you who have expressed concern for Don Ross' recent health crisis and have have kept him in your prayers, will be happy to know that his health has turned the corner.
He wrote the following to the Independent Sangha on June 28th: "Hi everyone, Thanks for all the prayers. I'm doing fine. No big changes. Lots of nausea from the meds. Still sleeping about 20 hrs day. But I am now feeling like I might live this. ;-]"
As you can see, his recovery will be slow and arduous, so please continue to keep him in your prayers.
