A Byrd's Eye View

Let's Be Clear

Hi, everyone - after some feedback I have received off-board, I want to be very clear that my recently deceased friend, Barbara, very much loved the SGI and its International Honorary President, Daisaku Ikeda. I didn't realize that I was giving any other impression of her. She gave me an interesting persepective on President Ikeda, in fact - feeling strongly that because they were almost exactly the same age, that he was sort of her "classmate", and her peer. I thought that was a very interesting POV.

She also expressed a lot of concern about the amount of Japanese cultural influence within the organization - it was something we talked a lot about. She gave me a whole lot of books on the subject and recommended a lot more.

I hope I haven't given anyone here the impression, conveyed to me off-baord, that I was in some way wrongfully using Barbara or her death to "besmirch" the SGI. She was opinionated and outspoken, and did not always agree with the org (characterizing to me the recent "chant to close the temples" campaign as "silly" - I agreed with her on that), but she did love the Gakkai, warts and all. So do I. That was something we had in common.

Here's Barbara on that campaign:

Dear Byrd --
Your posting was terrific. I totally agree. I've been enrolled in that old-folks Pioneer group and am embarrased by its silliness.
When my European ancestors went through their "get rid of priesthoods" phase 500 years ago, the battle was a lot bloodier. Lots of well-meaning people killed each other.
But the rebels and free-thinking Protestants then subdivided into many rebellious, free-thinking sects -- try counting some of them in your local Yellow Page "Churches" secton...keeping them in Unity -- even with intimidation and punishment -- was not possible. The genie was out of the bottle.
I think that will be SGI's major problem -- and good news for those of us who want to practice more Western Buddhism.

Barbara

Posted by: Barbara Pike at December 12, 2007 10:53 AM

I certainly intended no insult to anyone. If you want to get to know Barbara's opinions on the SGI, you can certainly go back through my blog here and read her comments for herself. She had a lot of particularly interesting opinions about the impact of Japanese hierarchical cultural norms on the Gakkai. Here are a few insightful quotes from her:

Howdy --
As you know, I've amassed a whole shelf of books on Japanese culture, while trying to sort out what is Buddhism, and what is merely cultural peculiarity -- essentially Confucian...
I can recommend "The Unspoken Way --Haragei in Japanese Business and Society" by Matsumoto, "Hidden Differences: Doing Business with the Japanese" by Howard & Mildred Hall, "Japanese Culture and Behavior" edited by T.S and W.P.Lebra and the not-outdated classics by G.B Sansome and Ruth Benedict.
I have misplaced a main one by a Japanese psychologist, with the word "Dependent" in the title -- explaining all Japanese relationships -- in corporations, the military, social organizations, etc -- in terms of the "amae" emotional dependency of spoiled small boys upon their mothers. He's so right! And maybe why Douglas MacArthur called Japan "a nation of twelve-year-olds."
Ideally, superiors are nurturing, indulgent and very much feared. Inferiors are unquestioning, blindly dependent upon their betters, learning how to behave when they get dependent inferiors of their own.
It seems to be emotionally growth-stunting -- sort of training human bonsai trees. I don't think that most of them ever learn to cope with adult life the way that grownups in the rest of the world do.

Barbara

Posted by: Barbara Pike at January 23, 2008 07:56 PM

Or, from the same blog entry:

Me again.
I understand that there is no word for principle in Japanese. It's too non-situational. I think even their math is situational, in that there are several words for one, two, three, etc., depending upon who is involved.
Also -- I've been trying to remember a very important verb in Japanese that describes the activity before any business meeting, in which all issues are decided and concensus arrived at. Meetings are just feel-good formalities.

And we need to consider the passionate patriotism of Japanese expats. I'm recalling, in Mexico City, the exaggerated Frenchness of colonials at 14th of July parties, the veddy Britishness at Queen's Birthday parties, even gringos' homesickness on 4th of July... it brings out a lot of shared complaints about the wrongnesses of the foreign place where they happen to be.
Moreover, to some Japanese after WWII, we have been the enemy in what they called a Hundred Years War which was far from over. Before the Japanese economy tanked, they could feel arrogant.
As I recall, NSA offered training to upper echelon people in what it termed "mastery."

I remember World Tribune editor Gary Curtis, after a year of gakkai training in Japan, saying, "The Japanese have Democracy brand shoes and Democracy brand cigarettes. But they will never understand democracy."

Barbara

Posted by: Barbara Pike at January 24, 2008 12:14 PM

Here's a goodie about Daisaku Ikeda, whom she very much admired:

Dear Byrd & all --

So true. And in case any SGI policy makers ever see this blog, I'd like to add that the Japanese are also shooting themselves in the foot (in the feet?) with all the C-list school doctorates and other formal "honors" that are being collected. The Japanese seem incapable of comprehending anything beyond "face" facade -- of recognizing the cause and effect realities that the rest of the world feels entitled to take for granted. Everyone here understands that all those certificates have not been given without serious solicitation, probably accompanied by money. Money that we donate.

I don't blame President Ikeda for this. His aim is to proselytize.
I think he has been persuaded that the accumulation of honorary doctorates, titles, etc. will help in proselytizing.
And I think whoever is persuading him about that is doing a great disservice to SGI's worldwide credibility.

Barbara

Posted by: Barbara Pike at January 7, 2008 09:18 PM
:

Here's a great one to close with:

Hi Byrd & all --
My 2cents' worth -- Much of the problem could be culture clash and misunderstand-able translations: guru=sensei=master...all implying the sort of "amae" emotional dependency that Westerners outgrow in adolescence, but Japanese seem to keep all their lives.

In America, I think substituting the word "mentor" has been unfortunate...as a woman in the business world, every time I refused to go to bed with a would-be mentor, he suddenly ceased to even be friendly.

I think that if Buddhism is to spread in the West, we need to appreciate the Oriental teachers -- learning all we can from them as we grow and change -- but always paying close attention to the Gohonzon within us.

Barbara

Posted by: Barbara Pike at December 1, 2007 02:54 PM

That's what I loved about Barbara - she was always more than capable of speaking for herself. Good writer, too. Take care, all. Best, Byrd in LA

Posted by wahzoh at April 3, 2008 01:53 PM