Remember these song lyrics?....
Very superstitious, writing's on the wall,
Very superstitious, ladders bout' to fall,
Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past.
When you believe in things that you don't understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition ain't the way
So, what is a superstition? An online dictionary gives this definition (of course, you are free to look up your own:
1. a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the
ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence,
proceeding, or the like.
2. a system or collection of such beliefs.
3. a custom or act based on such a belief.
4. irrational fear of what is unknown or mysterious, esp. in
connection with religion.
5. any blindly accepted belief or notion.
I had a lot of whacked-out superstitions instilled in me during my early "training" in the old NSA (Nichiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai of America - now, SGI-USA). Let's look a t few of them. Maybe you-all out there have a few more you'd like to throw on the barbie...
1. No flowers on the altar, because they die. Therefore, we should only offer evergreens.
2. If you clean out the toilets, you will have many beautiful children (a supersition used to get the young women's division in there cleaning out the johns)
3. One shakubuku (sponsoring a new member) is "worth" a million daimoku (chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo).
4. Don't point your feet towards the Gohonzon
5. Never breathe on the Gohonzon
6. Never take a photo of the Gohonzon (I don't know where this comes from - it sort of reminds me of those primitive tribesmen who believe that a camera "steals your soul")
7. Don't put your altar with its back to a window (maybe this is a feng shui concept, I dunno).
Back then, the idea of being "punished" for breaking one of these superstitions was pretty widespread - I'm glad the people coming in now don't have to deal with this as much.
Does anyone else here recall any strange superstitions that were instilled in you (either inside or outside the Gakkai)? Did you break these habits of thought? If so, when and how? Or are you still carrying them around with you?
Just curious. Be reasonable, be observant, be cool.
Byrd in LA
Posted by wahzoh at April 25, 2008 10:56 AMHere were some of the things I was told:
1. If you put your butsudan on the wall facing the foot of your bed, you'll get yeast infections. (Must just be my karma, because I got them anyway.)
2. Even if he tells you to stand out on Sunset and Vine in a red miniskirt, always do whatever Regicho says.
3. Don't sleep with babies! But, since you already have and are already living together, don't have sex anymore.
4. When you get married, you must return your Gohonzon, not his, otherwise your marriage will fail.
5. Those who leave the Gakkai and practice elsewhere will "die a horrible death."
Posted by: Michele at April 25, 2008 12:49 PMWow. Who knew? Yeast INFECTIONS?
Here are a few I heard, though I think by the time I was in the SGI, there were less colorful superstitions.
1- If you leave the Gakkai, you will run out of merit and die a horrible death
2 - Don't ever put flowers on your altar. I still don't know why.
3 - The bigger your altar, the better your benefits.
I can't think of any others - well, that Nichiren Shu worships foxes... but that was more a mistaken belief than a superstition....
How come you guys got to be around during the cool superstitions?
Pouting,
Kris
Well Byrd,
When I started in 2001 I was told:
1. Never put flowers on your altar. They die, use evergreens instead. Funny part is tht it was tought that plastic evergreens where ok instead of real ones but how about plastic flowers? Never someone told me about that.
2. Never place your Gohonzon facing East. In 2001 we all used to do the first silent prayer Eastwards, so that one was obvious. Supposable now a days you can let your Gohonzon facing East.
3. Never make photo's of the Gohonzon nor use a photo of the Gohonzon. It shows lack of respect to the life of the owner of that Gohonzon or lack of respect for the fundamental object of worship which is the Gohonzon in our case. In this case the Gohonzon is a manifestation of your life.
This also means that you protect your Gohonzon at all times. so in case of fire rescue your Gohonzon first, then yourself!
Being a Keibi at the National Cultural Center at Zeist, the Netherlands,one of my tasks is to protect the Gohonzon by daimoku and physical if need be. this also means to attend people that they cannot take photo's of the Gohonzon when it's exposed to the public.So when the Butsudan is open, no photo's! This also means no video taping of the gohonzon. That's why in movies where people practice Nichiren Buddhism, as done within SGI, you never see a Gohonzon. Think off the movie What's love got to do with it, the Tina Turner story.
Often outsiders find it a bit strange that they cannot take photo's of the Gohonzon, since they can make photo's of crucifixes in churches. although we're not the only religion who has this rule. Within Islam it's forbidden to portrait the prophet Mohamed like in drawings or pictures.
Greetings
André