A friend from the SGI recently read FWP and sent me an email. It was a pleasant surprise, as she is a leader and has been involved in the organization for decades and I hadn’t expected such positive feedback. I told her I wanted to share her comments on the site, since the question “Is the SGI changing?” comes up so frequently and her voice was important here.
She also raised a point about meetings being different in other parts of the country. Here in Los Angeles, there’s a huge focus on material gain and career success. The experiences people share are usually about an external success, rather than an inner spiritual breakthrough. I’m not saying our lives are not important and that I don’t want success as much as the next person. I’m just saying I don’t believe that is what “true Buddhism” is about. Material success is a great part of life and I love having money and a nice house and a cell phone and quality medical care. But to call the acquisition of such “Buddhism” is just too much of a stretch even for eclectic old me. Buddhism is a inner practice that certainly does effect the outer world – but the focus should be on the inner and not the end result. At least that’s what I think today. As I always say, check back with me tomorrow because all is subject to change.
I also want to add that unlike my friend, I don’t think the “biggest” problem with the SGI is the focus on material gain. I think the problem is that it’s an organization. Buddhism was never meant to be "owned" or governed by any organization, and certainly not one that professes to have an exclusive on “true” Buddhism and openly expresses hostile attitudes toward those who think differently. But that's another topic, one that's already been talked to death, and something that doesn't really bother me much anyway since I'm really not a group kinda gal...
Now, on to her email.
She wrote:
“I think the biggest problem with the SGI experience format is the “I chanted and got a new job thing.” It makes people like me and you feel like things are topsy turvey-- which they are -- and also that we have no real voice. I'm at the point with my practice now that I can see clearly that the benefit to practicing is not in "getting what you want.” For me, my practice is really about a broader range of appreciation... appreciation of what my life tells
me and really trusting my inner voice... not judging things that I've felt are "bad" or "wrong" with me as necessarily "bad" or "wrong" at all -- really trusting my life and letting those "bad" things serve to benefit me... appreciating my full range of feelings and human emotion--not trying to always push things to a positive side.
Right now, my daimoku is almost exclusively based on self-reflection -- really seeking to see all sides of issues I'm dealing with and then listening to my life for the best action to take, even if it's based on my favorite world -- anger -- and really having faith to see that everything has value when the center of your life is buddhahood...
Any leader who really practices true buddhism will tell you that determinations should always be in the background of buddhahood-- not the reverse... they will also tell you that buddhahood is found in the 9 lower worlds.
I'm really struggling to get away from this "I chanted and got this thing" approach and really deepen our group's understanding of what the practice is actually about. It's next to impossible to have a real dialogue at the meetings when so many members are focused on material goals. I would love to build the group in a way that is authentic versus based on some kind of bizarre marketing message, if you know what I mean. I'd like to build a group that people of similar minds as ours can really enjoy -- we just don't know where they are because they don't come to meetings anymore!!!"
Posted by at April 24, 2005 03:16 PMHi, Lolo - I will jump in with an answer toy our friend - there really are small-ish groups which do not have a big emphasis on material gain. I went to one such distritc meeting this morning. The guest had been attracted by the example of someone who"always got whatever she wanted", but we ended up talking about some very, very different stuff. Really focusing on the rhythm and flow of life, and how the daimoku keeps us centered, etc. Some of us, for example, are going up to the moutains this Thursday morning to chant to the rising sun in celebration of April 28. This would be a cool thing for your friend to jump on if she lives in the LA area. We'll be leaving from the Valley. She (or you) can always e-mail me.
I think the people our friend is referring to do come out to meetings, they just have created their own groups, and to some extent, traditions.
I woul dbei nterested in knowng how things are in other parts of the country. If LA is the center of "I, Me,Mine", then what is Poukeepsie?
Best, byrd in LA
Hi Byrd,
I, too, went to an SGI meeting like this tonight!I haven't been to a meeting in ages, but my friend's email inspired me to show up and see how it would go if I stayed true to myself -- in spite of not being totally in line with the group agenda. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised! I waited for the right moment and then, when someone mentioned how she gets what she wants when she chants a certain way, I jumped on the chance to talk about how for me, it's not about chanting to get stuff. It's about chanting (or meditating, or walking outside, or playing with my kids) with an open heart and an intention to connect with something quiet inside of me. When that connection happens, my outer life works in harmony with it... I don't focus on certain things that I want, I focus on being in touch with my true nature and THAT attracts things into my life that in all honesty I could never even imagine for myself. (Quite often the world has far greater things in store for me than I could ever dream up out of my own limited little mind.)
The funny thing was the meeting all went this way. People were sharing in a deeper way than usual. A few said that they meditate in addition to chanting. My good friend who was also there spoke about how her practice is much more than chanting daimoku, and also includes prayer and meditation but mostly pure ACTION. (She's an amazing doctor who went on her own to Sri Lanka to care for tsumani victims. I'll be sharing more about her in an upcoming blog.)
I can't say I feel any more rah-rah about the SGI, but at least I felt connected with my old SGI friends and I felt I was able to contribute in a meaningful way.
Posted by: Queen Lolo at April 24, 2005 09:58 PMQueen Lolo,
For me, it's about keeping a sense of proportion. IMHO, I don't think it's anti-thetical to Buddhism to utlize the practice for prosperity, as long as the material doesn't become the object of worship. Recently, I won a large chunk of money at my job, and I confess to chanting a little Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo under my breath when it happened. Through the years I have chanted for a plethora of earthly gains, including guilty pleasures I won't admit to here.
That being said, I concur with you that too much emphasis has been placed on such achievements, and that character development, conflict resolution, making others' happiness as important as one's own - all the noble untertakings are what's most important.
Through this web site, I've been exposed to many viewpoints that have contributed such value to my life. Among those are the idea of chanting to "become one with the mantra" instead of chanting "for" things. One of the people who suggested this here said he has gotten more "benefit" from this approach, and I sensed that the tangible reward wasn't his main focus. I also begain chanting this way. The result has been more grace manifesting in all areas in my life, including the attainment of goodies, which I keep in its proper perspective.
Have a great week.
Gabrielle
I'm glad I practice in Santa Cruz where materialism is not the order of the day. When I hear about people chanting for things other than self improvement it is usually health challenge related.
Philip
Posted by: Philip Brett at April 25, 2005 11:33 AMEverything changes. Not always for the best, but everything changes. Ten years ago I was asked not to attend discussion meetings if I was going to talk about the purpose of practicing Buddhism was to manifest Buddhahood, ie, become a Buddha. The rational was that if I talked that way, people would think we are crazy and not join.
Seems that has changed, even if other core doctrines have not....yet...one hopes.
Regardless, people that chant with a seeking mind towards the Gohonzon always manifest their inherent Buddha-nature to one degree or another.
One problem is that too often when they do they get driven away, or as you friend wrote, "-- we just don't know where they are because they don't come to meetings anymore!!!"
Posted by: chikushonin 智倶諸人 at April 25, 2005 11:06 PM