About 23 years ago, when I was a new member of the SGI (then, NSA), I went to visit my old college Buddhism professor so I could tell her I had found it. The true practice of the Lotus Sutra! Hurray! She listened to me for a few moments and then growled a bit and muttered in her gravelly voice, hoarse from years of Pall Mall nonfilters, that I was a "Soka Gakkai Jerk." I think she meant that I was a jerk for having joined the Gakkai, not that I was a jerk already who had happened to join (although she may have meant that, too). Of course, I was thrilled when she said this, as her grumbling blurt meant that I was enduring persecution for the sake of the Law! I was on the right track! A-A-O! Wa-SHOI! Shakukubuku Shakubuku all the WAY! (insert your own Headquarters cheer here). Ah, the weird old days.....but that's another blog.
Actually, there is a lot to love about the Gakkai - the practice is so accessible and easy to transmit. Anyone can do it, and anyone can gain insight and other benefit. SGI members are generally fabulous. I have practiced alongside all kinds of wonderful folks, and I have gradually built a bedrock faith that yes, all people do have the potential for enlightenment and the practice of chanting
Nam(u) Myoho Renge Kyo to the Gohonzon is how we can bring that out. It's good to know that everybody has the Buddha Nature. I definitely prefer that faith to the belief I was raised in, where everybody was a sinner and everybody but the Lutherans were going to hell. Well, maybe not everyone. A few Methodists might get through, but the Catholics, well, they were all doomed for sure.
Now, after 23 years, I'm a Soka Gakkai Jerk once again - only now, it's people within the Gakkai who think I'm a jerk. I mean, look at the evidence. I enjoy non-SGI practices like silent meditation. I chant with dear friends who are not in the SGI -- without even joyfully encouraging them to return to the fold. I figure they're grown-ups and they can do as they see fit. I write about SGI-USA policy issues and Buddhist doctrine online without "talking about it" to my leaders first. I have my own voice and I pick my own mentors. In brief, I am an American Buddhist, who places values like scholarship, honesty, free speech and free association above values like loyalty to group and leader. So naturally, there are those within the Gakkai who think I'm a bit of a jerk. Gee twenty three years and I'm still a Soka Gakkai Jerk? Must be my immutable karma.
Be victorious, be sonorous, be cool.
Byrd in LA
Posted by wahzoh at April 18, 2007 09:43 AMI'm glad that you've added your voice to the mix here Byrd. Welcome.
I wonder if the SGI is the kind of organization that will have room for an American Buddhist like yourself? They may eventually try to push you out. Or they may accomodate you and others like you and grow in the process. I am very interested in seeing what happens. Either way I am sure that you will come through just fine.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
Ryuei,
The answer might be that they will excommunicate us, but still count us, our relatives, and pets for statistical purposes.
robin
Posted by: robek at April 18, 2007 02:35 PMWelcome, Byrd!
Congrats on the new Blog, and on your new title! Wear it with pride.
Namaste, Engyo Mike Barrett
Posted by: Engyo Mike Barrett at April 18, 2007 02:42 PMByrd:
My name is Charles, and I'm an alco..., I mean, I'm a Soka Jerk. If excommunication is the price one will eventually pay for freedom of expression, scholarship, compassion, and engagement, well, thank the Buddha "we're free at last!"
It is so wonderful to welcome you to our diverse cabal. What a fabulous addition you will be. Don't hold back.
Charles
Posted by: Charles at April 18, 2007 03:15 PMHold back? Moi?
Posted by: Byrd at April 18, 2007 04:39 PMGlad to see your first blog entry and looking forward to many more.
Posted by: Michele at April 18, 2007 05:16 PMHi Byrd,
Great to see you added to this very diverse and interesting group. Congratulations! I found your experience to be an excellent example of how one can take a bad thing and turn it around into a good thing. BTW, It was great seeing you this past Sunday.
Oy!
Wonderful to read your blog. Some of us are jerks, some jerkas (or should the female version be jerkis?). Soka Gakkai Jerk? Is that someone who works at a particular kind of soda joint? Poor attempt at a joke.
In any case there are more folks on the "fringes" of the org than most people can possibly know.
Always with my tippy toes just hanging outside of the tent...
Hi, Mimi,and thanks for commenting - it's kind of weird getting started here, and it's nice to hear from my friends.
I think the feminine of "jerk" is "jerkina", or in France, "jerkette". You're not the only person who saw "soka gakkai jerk" and got the image of a guy in a white hat making egg creams and hot fudge sundaes.
Nice to hear from you, Byrd
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