A Byrd's Eye View

Queen Lolo -

May I submit that you are judging Nichiren Buddhism as a whole by only what you have learned/seen within SGI? SGI is decidedly NOT the whole of Nichiren Buddhism.

"You see, nowhere can I find anything mentioned about the Four Nobel Truths, or the Eightfold Path, or meditation. (I was even told "Nichiren Buddhists don't display statues of Shakamuni because he was "the wrong Buddha.") Nowhere can I find anything about non-attachment or meditation or any of the basics, all aspects of Buddhism I continue to work with on my own. "

Nichiren Shu, and other Nichiren schools, teach the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the other basic Buddhist concepts. We meditate; even including a meditation service which combines silent sitting with chanting Odaimoku. Nichiren Shoshu and SGI are the groups which do not revere Shakyamuni as the Buddha; for most Nichiren schools, Shakyamuni is the representative of the Eternal Buddha for this world. Nichiren Shu and most other schools consider Nichiren as an avatar of Bodhisattva Superior Practice (Jogyo) as he himself claimed in his writings, and not as a Buddha supplanting Shakyamuni. Statues of Shakyamuni are an acceptable part of a Nichiren Shu altar. They are not a requirement, mind; but if one wishes to have one there is no problem with this.

The other primary difference is that only Nichiren Shoshu and SGI consider the wooden Gohonzon once enshrined in the Sho Hondo to be particularly special. The other Nichiren schools view this as an Omandala, but not one of any special significance.

If you are willing to learn things from a different perspective, may I recommend the book "Awakening to the Lotus", available from the Nichiren Buddhist International Center (Hayward CA) at: http://www.nichiren-shu.org/books.html .
This book is relatively short, but provides a clear, comprehensive overview of Nichiren Shu suitable for anyone, regardless of previous Nichiren experience.

Hope this helps, and namaste,
Engyo Mike Barrett

Queen Lolo:

The nature of prayer in the SGI version of Buddhism revolves around directed prayer toward a specific result. The idea of "earthly desires equal enlightenment" has been misconstrued to imply that praying for whatever one desires is to correctly practice Buddhism. There is no quiet "meditation" per se, just hyper-directed daimoku for personal and group desire.

This approach, in my opinion, is skewed from a number of standpoints. First, there is no time allowed for quiet contemplation; prayer research - particularly from the Spindrift scientists - have deemed directed, targeted and prayer less effective than open-ended prayer or mindfulness; and finally, this approach of constantly praying for personal desires runs counter to all former Buddhist tradition that teach modesty, non-attachment, and so forth.

The SGI brand of Buddhism does mention the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path in their Dictionary of Buddhist Terms and Concepts, but in 32 years of practice, I have never once heard these vital concepts being taught. I believe that the logic here is that once Nichiren came on the scene, denouncing the various sects, provisional Buddhism, and Hinayana, someone must have come up with the idea that these important areas were no longer relevant in the Latter Day.

Referring to what Engyo wrote about Shakyamuni:

"Nichiren Shoshu and SGI are the groups which do not revere Shakyamuni as the Buddha; for most Nichiren schools, Shakyamuni is the representative of the Eternal Buddha for this world. Nichiren Shu and most other schools consider Nichiren as an avatar of Bodhisattva Superior Practice (Jogyo) as he himself claimed in his writings, and not as a Buddha supplanting Shakyamuni."

I defy anyone to find in the Lotus Sutra where Jogyo Bosatsu is the next and true Buddha. It's not there. I look at it this way. Nichiren regarded Shakyamuni as the eternal Buddha, His teacher. That's where I've arrived in my beliefs.

It's fine to chant for parking spaces, but just chanting for what we desire or chanting for the group's big goal seems like a huge limitation of the practice. If I'm not mistaken, Nichiren, like Shakyamuni, attained enlightenment without chanting or the Gohonzon.

Charles

Thanks for this blog, Lolo - I was a student of Buddhism for manyyears before joining that Gakkai at a point in my life where I was suffering tremendously and really wanted to find "it" and have my dreams come true.

It's taken me awhile to get away from the Gakkai's interpretation of Bonno Soku Boddai, but now that I'm no longer suffering from the magial thinking that if I just indulge my deluded desires enough I will become enlightened, I findmyself being a lot happier on a basic level. the proble, of course, is that there aren't that many people int he Gakkai you can discuss it with. That's where FWP comes in - that goodness for the web!

Mike, I have sent off today for some of the NS books you recommended. I already have Introduction to the Lotus Sutra. I look forward to reading this material.

Best regards, Byrd in LA

Perhaps these might help:

http://www.nst.org/articles/4NobleTruths.txt

http://www.nst.org/articles/6Paramitas.txt

Best, Jussi.

Hello Queen Lolo.

Am curious, have you read many of Nichiren’s writings or are you basing your criticisms on what is taught in the SGI?

Sincerely, chikushonin.

The four noble truths of which the eightfold path is the last are a rhetorical device couldn't they all be summed up in a saying made popular elsewhere, " Know the truth and it shall set you free." Is it necesary to have the formulation of the truth be the same ? Couldn't those ideas be expressed in a different way and still be valid ?

I don't hear those terms mentioned much in SGI but those cocepte are talked about all the time.

Philip