Chanting Growers Group

[SoCal Hippy]

"Some people say that the prevailing mood in the world today is one of
power*lessness. Decisions about political, economic and environmental
issues all seem to be made somewhere beyond our reach. What can the
individual accomplish in the face of the huge institutions that run
our world? This feeling of powerlessness fuels a vicious cycle that
only worsens the situation and people's sense of futil*ity.
At the opposite extreme of this sense of powerlessness lies the
Lotus Sutra's philosophy that the inner determination of one
individual can transform everything. It is a teaching that gives
ultimate expression to the infinite potential and dignity inherent in
the life of each human being."

Daisaku Ikeda

 

[SoCal Hippy]

"Knowledge alone cannot give rise to value. It is only when knowledge
is guided by wisdom that value is created. The font of wisdom is
found in the following elements: an overarching sense of purpose, a
powerful sense of responsibility and, finally, the compassionate
desire to contribute to the welfare of humankind."

Daisaku Ikeda

 

[SoCal Hippy]

"The heart is most important of all. In his classic The Little Prince,
the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery writes: "It is only with the
heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the
eye." It is just as he says. We cannot always tell whether something is
genuine just with our eyes. Only by looking with the heart can we
discern the true essence."

Daisaku Ikeda

 

[SoCal Hippy]

Ch'ung-hua and Yu were the children of commoners, but both were
extremely filial. Hearing of this, King Yao and King Shun summoned
Ch'ung-hua and Yu, and abdicated their thrones to them. Commoners
became royalty in a day. Just as a commoner can become a king in this
present life, so can an ordinary person become a Buddha instantly. This
is the heart of the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single
moment of life.

(WND, 323-24)
Letter to the Sage Nichimyo
Written to Nichimyo on May 25, 1272

 

[SoCal Hippy]

To accept, uphold, read, recite, take delight in, and protect all the
eight volumes and twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra is called
the comprehensive practice. To accept, uphold, and protect
the "Expedient Means" chapter and the "Life Span" chapter is called the
abbreviated practice. And simply to chant one four-phrase verse or the
daimoku, and to protect those who do so, is called the essential
practice. Hence, among these three kinds of practice, comprehensive,
abbreviated, and essential, the daimoku is defined as the essential
practice.

(WND, 143)
The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra
Recipient unknown; written on January 6, 1266

 

[SoCal Hippy]

"Single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha" may be read as follows:
single-mindedly observing the Buddha, concentrating one's mind on
seeing the Buddha, and when looking at one's own mind, perceiving that
it is the Buddha.

(WND, 389-90)
Letter to Gijo-bo
Written to Gijo-bo on May 28, 1273

 

[SoCal Hippy]

"What is true joy in life? This is a difficult question -- and one that
has occupied a great many thinkers and philosophers. Joy can quickly
give way to suffering. Joy is short and suffering long. Also what
passes for joy in society is superficial. It cannot compare with the
joy deriving from the Mystic Law. The key then lies in cultivating a
state of mind where we can declare without reservation that life itself
is a joy. This is the purpose of our Buddhist practice."

Daisaku Ikeda

 

[SoCal Hippy]

When one carries out the single practice of exercising faith in Myoho-
renge-kyo, there are no blessings that fail to come to one, and no good
karma that does not begin to work on one's behalf. It is like the case
of a fishing net: though the net is composed of innumerable small
meshes, when one pulls on the main cord of the net, there are no meshes
that do not move. Or it is like a garment: though the garment is
composed of countless tiny threads, when one pulls on a corner of the
garment, there are no threads that are not drawn along.

(WND, 133)
Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man
Recipient unknown; written in 1265

 

[SoCal Hippy]

"Nothing can match the strength of those whose lives have been shaped
and forged through challenging and overcoming hardships. Such people
fear nothing. The purpose of our Buddhist practice is to develop such
strength and fortitude. To cultivate such an invincible core is in
itself a victory."

Daisaku Ikeda

 

[SoCal Hippy]

"We who embrace the Mystic Law will not suffer on account of old age or
death. As long as we keep the flame of faith alive, the fire of life
force will forever burn brightly within us; we can live with great
confidence transcending birth and death. Faith is the engine that
enables us to live with hope throughout our lives."

Daisaku Ikeda

 

[DrKong]

"Whatever karma I create, whether good or evil, that I shall inherit." ~ Upajjhatthana Sutta

 

[SoCal Hippy]

Once during a leader's meeting in 1955,Soka Gakkai President Josei
Toda (1900-1958) was asked about "broad and narrow" propagation
of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. His advise to the leader was that
the terms are meaningless. Toda states:

"If by broad propagation, you mean something based on thorough study of
the Buddhist teachings, don't worry about it. It is impossible to
know everything about Buddhism, which is too vast and profound for a
person to master even in five or ten years of study. Your task is to
give guidance centered on the Gohonzon and the way faith in it can cure
illness and eliminate worries. Study of Nichiren Daishonin's
Buddhism is only for the purpose of fortifying faith."

(Human Revolution, Book II, Vol. 10, p. 1407)

 

[Babbabud]

Nam myoho renge kyo Like the Roar of the Lion

 

[scegy]

my butsudan

my butsudan

hello chanters!

i've recieved my Gohonzon!

we had a gongyo yesterday and we unrolled and enshrined my Gohonzon. it was a nice warm moment in my life.

i've trashed the printed gohonzons as they are no use to me anymore and they always supported my doubts in a way.

i do feel uncertain at the moment, but am looking forward to get closer and connect with my Gohonzon

as i chanted this morning i felt how much more power is enshrined in my butsudan, although i felt unsecure the Gohonzon did not! the printed gohonzons always felt unsecure, i always felt stronger then "them". this is exhilarating, so much more pure motivation and sencere intentions that are manifested through the SGI members and you guys and girls

i thank you for that from the bottom of my heart!

life is tough sometimes, hmmm i'm starting to feel that togheter we can provail, no matter what - one of the feelings that was unimaginable just a while ago

i'm happy that one part of humanity works hard in making things better, it is a seed, lots of seeds

why is important to plant seeds?

as i drived on the highway a few days ago, i noticed like some lights blinking and some standing cars. So i started to steer on my right on the slow lane and in a few seconds i noticed a car braking hard behind me on the other lane and two already crashed cars infront of him......i avoided the crashed cars, the other car didn't, i heard the slam while i was already 30 m ahead(driving 120 kmh)...well i've seen the 2nd crash in my rear mirror....
i immediately said to my gf to call 911, although i've thought that all those ppl that drived by the crash before i saw it must have called 911 already...well i was wrong, we were the first to call, and we saw cops driving the other way a minute after we called.....i mean it's sad, but it's that much a bigger reason to finally start showing ppl the right way with no ffffff.... shame!




Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Bonzo]

Scegy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really have no words cause you have allready said them, BUT CONGRATULATIONS MY BROTHA!!!!!!!

Wooooooooooooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

love and respect my brotha!!

~~~~~ ~~~~~












Nam myoho renge kyo!!!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[SoCal Hippy]

CONGRATULATIONS SCEGY! A new chapter in your life as a Bodhisatva. Awesome.

 

[EasyMyohoDisco]

FINALLY!

FINALLY!

Scegy did you just say you threw out the old Gohonzon? I thought you were going to hand it in so that others could take care of that issue for you? Not sure if throwing out any Gohonzon is a good idea, but congratulations are in order for you my friend.

Many months I spent chanting for you for this moment and again Scegy I could tell you with 100% sincerity, I get everything I chant for even if it seems like I can't "see" it right away!

This month Scegy I'm hosting the Discussion meeting at my house and also going to do two special meetings on the side, the first will be a Gosho study meeting in which we will study my favorite Gosho "The Fourteen Slanders" and then the other meeting will be a Happiness Toso for everyone's special intentions.

I'm very happy to have read this news, and with our teacher Thomas we can never fail. Thomas has taught us how to persevere he is my teacher and has helped me so much that I will always have gratitude for him. Also I have gratitude for all of us here whom struggle hard in our lives to somehow despite all the obstacles come here and post the reality in our lives and keep Thomas and us abreast of the latest events. Not too long ago I was struggling so hard with this Mentor Disciple talk that goes on in the USA publications and have exploded about it and cried about it and still do. Thomas came into the thread and spelled it out for us to better understand this issue, and now I refuse to subscribe to Living Buddhism or the World Tribune because it is all about Mentor and Disciple (last LB issue and a few of the latest WT). Even last night I had a hard time chanting because I didn't want to feel the way I feel about a person who does so much good but I know now that I have to keep reading, chanting and practicing and eventually form a Buddhist Organization that does not worship one individual.**Edit: Actually Thomas specifically told me not to try wasting my time to reinvent the wheel of the SGI and keep supporting the SGI so I guess I'll just have to try and put an out in a paper when I stop growing so that I could invite new people to come chant with us and give others a place to practice without having to stomach more M&D talk**

When I came to the thread I was so impressed with The Goshos and the various commentary on The Goshos and immediately recognized Nichiren as "THE BUDDHA" so I really didn't know much about Makiguchi, Toda and Ikeda but out of the three I feel I could relate more with Toda from what I read. So at first President Ikeda seemed like a Nichiren Daishonin Buddhist version of John Madden. You know, calling all the plays and giving us inside tips on whats going on, etc. As time has progressed the sweet old japanese "John Madden" is forcing his relationship with Toda upon 10 million+ people as the only correct way to gain perfect enlightenment in this life. F U C K THAT. In the last LB it says, and I'm paraphrasing "Makiguchi was enlightened by the Gohonzon and Nichiren Daishonin, Toda learned the way in faith from Makiguchi and Ikeda learned the way in faith from Toda." How come I feel like I learned the way in faith on this thread and from deeply studying Nichiren Daishonin with my life (lacking the original Japanese Text) yet faithfully practicing and studying over the past 2+ years and it really had very little to do with Ikeda until I had to goto an SGI community center to recieve a Gohonzon. And now on page 71 of the LB (living buddhism) for may-june it says "Buddhism is a teaching conveyed through the mentor-disciple relationship. The oneness, or shared commitment, of mentor and disciple forms the essence of Buddhist practice. If we forget the mentor-disciple relationship, we cannot attain Buddhahood. Nor can we achieve eternal happiness or realize kosen-rufu. It is through the bond of Mentor and Disciple that the Law is transmitted." and another quote on the next page referencing the Jan-Feb 08 LB where Ikeda says " The heritage of the ultimate Law of life and death flows in the lives of those who strive for kosen-rufu based on the path of the mentor and disciple. Please remember that without the mentor-disciple relationship, the flow of this heritage will be cut off."

The article further says "that the deification of Shakymuni that occurred in many Buddhist schools after his death can be viewed as a collapse of the mentor-disciple relationship...... In contrast to this, Nichiren Buddhism- the Buddhism of mentor and disciple- understands that Buddhahood is inherent in all life. The Buddha is not deified, nor is the object of devotion a transcendent or supernatural Buddha. Rather, enlightenment in one's present form is available to all and the object of devotion is the Law itself, Myoho-renge-kyo, of which life and death are functions." So clearly my mind is contradicting reality and I'm seeing what I'm being told is not there!

I really thought the problem i had with the Mentor Disciple issue is just other people's thoughts and actions regarding it, but it really is me that is at odds with himself. I really don't want to trust any further than our thread and Thomas, I constantly make a leap of faith and try to write essays for school mentioning Ikeda and tell others about him but it feels faker than I've ever been so i guess I keep it to a minimum. There are articles written by youth like me discussing how they have the same issue and by chanting and sitting down with other members to study more about it now they accept this "mentor" and are happily going forward, and I HAVE TO SAY ON SOME FORUM OR VENUE THAT I THINK THAT IS BLATANT PROPAGANDA and I TOLD THE REGION Men's leader that and he tells me I'm seeing it wrong and more concerned with what other people think and say. Anyway, I'm going to go back a bunch of pages and read Thomas' posts on this topic (by searching the words "defacto mentor") I mention again because honestly I'm as thick as they come when it comes to somethings and I'm really not a fan of this pervasive concept in my USA organization.

I was considering to goto FNCC (where alwaystotheleft went) yet when I read in a WT article that the YMD asked Ikeda to pick the Topic, sure enough, it was Mentor and Disciple. There are more Mentor and disciple conversations going on than I can stomach and I guess because my general life condition is not as high as it could be on a consistent basis but I keep going forward nonetheless. So that is why I want to study The Gosho "The Fourteen Slanders" with whoever from my district appears because I really want to stop slandering and fucking up so much.

Congrats again Scegy!!! Great job and thanks for sharing the experience of Gohonzon protecting you, you have a very special mission over there and I'm sure the best is yet to come!

Just like my brother Babba always tells me "KEEP GOING FORWARD BUD"!!!! He sure is a wise man!

 

[EasyMyohoDisco]

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!!!

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!!!

Why in the world would you have done that? Creating public awareness of dissention is never the solution. You assume everyone is on your level in regard to objectivity and capacity. That would be a very big mistake.

If your comments cause even a bit of disunity or confusion then know that you should have handled it differently. Be responsible for that; you made the decision to do so. (hmm, what's the fifth of the five cardinal sins we respect as Nichiren Buddhists based on his teachings?)

I was with you until you said you had distributed your comments. I think you need to chant very deeply about what your motives truly were in doing so. Before you decide to try and influence other people, make sure you have made enough personal effort to be credible in being objective and genuinely having a seeking mind. If you had these issues and questions, there would be no reason to express those questions in such a manner without knowing first what the answers would be. Then you would have a chance to chant to clearly understand them based on faith.



My worst nightmare would be to influence ANYONE to have an attitude about accepting Daisaku Ikeda as their personal mentor. If one can be inspired in this way, then it would be a big mistake to resist such an influence in one's life. If you could pull it off, how could you fail?

What does accepting Daisaku Ikeda as your mentor mean? Aren't they really just saying and expressing to us the truth that we should have his same passion to achieve kosen rufu? To a great degree we already do that by trying to capture that spirit here on this thread. I quote him quite a lot don't you think? What part of what he is saying might I try and dissuade someone from embracing?

Could you have done those nine shakubuku without the SGI? Could you read that Gosho without the SGI having had it translated for you by world renowned academics? It's Daisaku Ikeda's passion for kosen rufu that helped you accomplish that. To embrace and share that passion is a good thing.

Something one must keep in mind in regard to my practice, which is not true to those of you beginning yours now--we lacked the english language references that allow people to access Mr. Ikeda's thinking today. Also, frankly, there was a greater number of very capable 'leaders' (experienced members sharing their life experiences and inspiring and directing others) "per capita" then there are today. I had the good fortune to have people that I had life to life relationships with, which were very capable people. Some may not have that good fortune.

So in fact, I am a defacto disciple of Daisaku Ikeda in that the things that my mentors taught me, they learned from the ideals, faith and practice of the Soka Gakkai as directed and nurtured in growth and dynamic by Daisaku Ikeda. President Toda had already been dead for sixteen years when I started practicing, but a big english language based influence from Daisaku Ikeda didn't occur for at least ten or fifteen years after I received Gohonzon in '73.

I agree with all of your comments about the potential of confusing new members that might regard discussion of a term referred to as mentor/disciple from the wrong perspective. But until you get past your own prejudices, just as I am attempting to get past mine, we can never influence others as we are directed to by our Eternal Master, Nichiren. I would take your chapter leader up on his offer to speak with someone more senior than himself, and chant lots of Daimoku in anticipation of that meeting.

Deep respect!

Thomas (more to say, but not enough time to say it)

PS: Thanks for all of the change you all have thrust upon me since '04! I have just been appointed an SGI Men's Division district chief again. They will announce my appointment next month.

It is our very good fortune to have this thread. It really is!

 

[EasyMyohoDisco]

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Wednesday, June 4, 2008

It‚'s so important to keep the promises made to friends. This is the true meaning of friendship. To become people who can do so, however, we must first learn to keep our resolutions-the promises we have made to ourselves.



Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Death will come to each of us some day. We can die having fought hard for our beliefs and convictions, or we can die having failed to do so. Since the reality of death is the same in either case, isn't it far better that we set out on our journey toward the next existence in high spirits and with a bright smile on our faces-knowing that in everything we did, we did the very best we could, thrilling with the sense "That was truly an interesting life"?

 

[EasyMyohoDisco]

From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Wednesday, June 4, 2008

However great the good causes one may make, or even if one reads and copies the entirety of the Lotus Sutra a thousand or ten thousand times, or attains the way of perceiving three thousand realms in a single moment of life, if one fails to denounce the enemies of the Lotus Sutra, it will be impossible to attain the way.

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 78
Encouragement to a Sick Person
Written to Nanjo Hyoe Shichiro on December 13, 1264