What a wonderful day yesterday was! I got up at 3:15 in the morning, picked up another SGI member, and drove for an hour into the mountains to celebrate the establishment of Nichiren Buddhism. At 5:45 am, we joined approximately 15 other people on a lookout atop Mt. Wilson in the Angeles National Forest to chant Daimoku and two chapters from the Lotus Sutra to the rising sun, and the experience was a treasure of the heart.
As we all know, Nichiren established the practice of chanting Nam(u)-Myoho-Renge-Kyo 750-some years ago. On April 28, or so the story goes, he emerged from a Hut of Solitude at Seicho-ji temple where he had been meditating, hiked to the top of the mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and chanted to the rising sun. Then, he went back to the temple, gave a speech in which he declared the superiority of the Lotus Sutra, changed his name from Rencho-bo to Nichiren, told everybody to chant Daimoku, and all hell broke loose.
The Los Angeles Nichiren Shu temple, under the direction of Bishop Kanai of the Nichiren Organization of North America, has an annual service to commemorate the establishment of Nichiren's practice. It is held at a turnout facing east near the top of Mt. Wilson, looking out over row after row of rolling, forested foothills. The morning mist hangs over the hills, and as the sun comes up, the view becomes clearer and clearer - a wonderful visual reminder of how the clouds and darkness are dispelled from our lives when we chant. Yesterday was the second year that I attended.
Last year, the mountaintop ceremony was cold and there was snow on the ground, crunching under our feet as we walked out to look over the cliff and greet the day with our Daimoku. The fog and mist lent an aura of mystery as we chanted. We shivered and saw our breath, hoping some light would come soon. Then, very gradually, the sun sent bright streaks through the cloudy sky, spotlighting some hilltops and leaving others hidden. Ah, last years' view was wonderful to behold - sublime is not too strong a word.
This year was completely different. Same location, entirely different weather. Sort of like our lives when we have breakthroughs in our perceptions. One day cloudy, the next day clear. This year, the sky was completely clear and the weather was so warm that we didn't even need sweaters.
I had a spotty map of the location with most of the directions in Japanese, and I had my memory of last year's ceremony to help me get to the site. So I had to pray - Universe! Shoten Zenjin! Help us make it to the lookout! We hooked up with three others who were coming to the ceremony and we drove off from a rest station, winding over a mountain road until I finally recognized the right turn-off. It was touch-and-go there for awhile...it looked like we were going to miss the sunrise. The sky was getting brighter and brighter....and then we came out of a turn and saw the rugged little group off to the left of the road, looking out over a glorious view, beating their hand drums and chanting daimoku, silhouetted against the pink and orange of the bright, clear sky. We had made it in time! Thank you, Universe and thank you Shoten Zenjin!
We piled out, grabbed our drums and joined right in. And this year, the sun came right up! First some pink and orange in the sky and then POW! A big bright ball, just as clear as could be, came up from behind the hills and shone its radiance on everything - just like the Lotus Sutra, illuminating all. And there our little band stood, chanting Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, nothing between us and the brilliant light of the morning sun.
I will write more of this event tomorrow.....
Be adventurous, be bright, be cool,
Byrd in LA
Most SGI members do not know that one of Nichiren's six major disciples was the first overseas missionary of the Daimoku. Nichiji Shonin actually left Japan after Nichiren's death and headed to China to spread the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, hoping to fulfill Nichiren's dream of spreading Buddhism from East to West.
For years, I have felt ashamed of Nichiren Shoshu's (and by extension the SGI's) mean-spirited misrepresentation of the so-called "five senior priests." We in the SGI have consistently and slavishly followed the Temple's teaching that all Nichiren's disciples other than Nikko somehow "betrayed Nichiren's intent", and that as a result, the SGI alone is the true inheritor of the Law. We have missed opportunities to make friends with other denominations, and have instead chosen to make ourselves feel big by putting down others who chant. A very poor cause for world peace, in my opinion.
I remember reading years ago that some evidence had been found of Nichiji's presence in China. I was glad to know that he had made it safely across the Sea of Japan, but wondered how he had fared once he got there. How happy I was to find a documentary on youtube that shows the archeological find as well as its return to Japan.
Part One:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIZU7c62ycY
Part Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Ze7-ajmRk&mode=related&search=
Part Three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQXrF8S0kKA&mode=related&search=
If the links don't work, you can go to youtube and search for "Treasures of Senka"
One of the speakers in this documentary characterizes Nichiji as being a pioneer and an adventurer. I think it must have taken a tremendous amount of guts and faith for Nichiji to go to a foreign country where he didn't speak the language and where the Daimoku was unknown. No automobiles, no telephones, no members meeting him at the airport. I am not at all ashamed to say that I admire Nichiji and his courage very much, and I sincerely hope the SGI will cease and desist in its slander of him. I would be very interested to hear what others here think about this.
Be brave, be faithful, be cool
Byrd in LA
I have been thinking about the topic of memorial prayers since the shooting at Virginia Tech last week. My bodhisattva practice has matured a great deal through praying for the deceased, but not always in the way I expected. Perhaps some of you have had experiences with this portion of the practice which you can share as well.
The first time I can recall having a "breakthrough" experience with memorial prayers was after the death of my aunt Mickey in 1994. Mickey had been exposed to chanting, and she sometimes went with me to the Wednesday lunchtime SGI discussion meetings which Matilda Buck used to have at her home in Brentwood. Mickey suffered considerably with cancer of the throat before she died (a good warning not to drink alcohol and smoke tobacco).
At the time when my aunt died, the SGI was still doing the prescribed Nichiren Shoshu prayer service, with five sutra recitations in the morning and three in the evening. One day, as I was performing the fifth recitation (in honor of the deceased), I decided that I would use my practice to "allow" my deceased aunt to attend the Ceremony in the Air through me (for those readers who are unfamiliar with the Ceremony in the Air, it is a mythical event in the Lotus Sutra where the Buddha transfers the Law to his disciples, among other things - it is the gathering which is portrayed on the mandala Gohonzon to which we chant).
I can't really describe any better what it is that I decided to do with my prayer - I wasn't really praying for my aunt, which implies that she is a target or object of my prayer. It was more like there was no separation between us, and we were communing together in the Ceremony. But that sounds sort of clinical. It was one of those Gohonzon experiences where time kind of warps and the mandala sort of shifts in how it looks - it becomes more three-dimensional and more brilliant, somehow. If you've had the experience, you know just what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I was startled by this experience, and decided to extend this "style" of praying to everyone and anyone on the "other side" who was interested in participating. I sort of made the Ceremony in the Air into a "come one, come all, come as you are" sort of event at my altar for any life that wanted to attend. Now that was a trip! Wow!!. For me, my experiences with that prayer alone are proof positive that life continues in some form after death. I have to honestly say I only really connected and "accomplished" a huge, sweeping prayer for the deceased maybe ten times, but when I did, it was pretty intense stuff.
Awhile later, I read in a book somewhere (not an SGI book, some other Buddhist book) that we can pray for people and other beings who are dying at the moment when we are chanting. I don't know where they are or what their lives were like, but I can send try to greet them, embrace them and send them on their way while I ring the bell on my altar. So I started trying to remember to do that on a daily basis.
Then, 9/11 hit. So many killed and so much outrage. People feeling like they were doing something by flying American flags from their car antennae. I determined that I would ring my altar bell once for each one of the lives lost in that event. That was my way of "doing something" which didn't require me to cultivate rage or any other painful, destructive state of mind.
Well, I got to about the 100th ring and started to really remember that the people in the Twin Towers were not the only beings to have died that day and certainly not the only ones who died in fear or pain. Why were "we" and our tribe of dead so much more important than anyone else? What about the millions dying overseas? What about the hungry children? what about, what about, what about, what about...? And I never made it to the 1,000th dedicated ring, much less the 3,000th. My special ceremony began to look less like an exercise in compassion than an exercise in tribalism. So what if my tribalism was "enlightened"? It was angry tribalism which had triggered 9/11 to begin with, and we're all capable of all ten worlds. So if I didn't want to experience the angry tribalism, I was going to have to get rid of the "enlightened" tribalism, too. I hope that makes sense.
I describe all this because I undertook a similar "one ring for each of the dead" practice as my way of responding to the tragedy at Virginia Tech one week ago. Every gongyo, I have rung the bell 33 times. It's a lot easier than 3,000 - that's for sure. But the result has been the same for me. I have been reminded not just of Cho Seung- Hui's madness, but the madness of all violent killers. Not just the fear of the Virginia Tech students, or the wasteful loss of their lives, but that of all those who die in fear and confusion. The Virginia Tech killer was in the world of hell - a raging Tribe of One. Let us all respond by bringing illumination when and where we can.
Be loving, be kind, be cool.
Byrd in LA
About five years ago, I was surfing the web and discovered a Nichiren monastic group called the Nipponzan Myohoji. Basically, what this order of Nichiren Buddhist monks and nuns do is build Peace Pagodas all over the world, with just volunteer labor and donated supplies. They've got a Peace Pagoda at Bodhgaya in Northern India where the Buddha attained enlightenment, and they've got a Peace Pagoda at Eagle Peak, the location where the Buddha is purported to have taught the Lotus Sutra. You can learn all about the Peace Pagodas by just googling "peace pagoda", or by copying and pasting this into your browser:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Pagoda
The group's founder was named Nichidatsu Fujii. Fujii is the same fellow who actually taught Gandhi to chant Daimoku, and who walked with the Mahatma over India, beating a hand drum for peace and chanting. Gandhi apparently gave Fujii the name of "Guruji". He was a contemporary of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the founder of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (forerunner of the SGI). Here is a little bit about Fujii (I am not sure if links come through on this system, so if it doesn't link, just copy and paste into your browser):
http://www.dharmawalk.org/fujii.htm
You can surf around the "dharmawalk.org" site and see some very cool walks they have done, beating their hand drums and chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. One such walk was in memory of the lives lost in the North American slave trade, and one march ended at the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland. They also march to prisons and march with Native Americans at Wounded Knee and other sites of atrocities against the people who were native to the land we in the US live on today. That's their practice - they build peace pagodas, they walk, they beat their hand drums and they chant Daimoku while they walk. That is their witness for peace. It's no surprise that Fujii lived to be 100 years old - I'm sure it was all that walking!
I was able to get ahold of some interesting materials about this group. One is a book of Fujii's teachings called "Buddhism for World Peace" - I enjoyed his stories about Gandhi. His perspective on chanting Daimoku for peace was refreshing and made me think about my own practice in a new way. I also got my hands on a Boston PBS documentary made on the Nipponzan Myohoji group. This 30-minute film (I got a VHS tape) was made over 20 years ago, during the height of the arms race. It contained a fabulous shot of these monks, nuns and laypeople standing outside the Reagan White House beating their drums and chanting Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. It also had a sequence where the Nipponzan Myohoji was holding a sit-in at a nuclear weapons plant. It showed the Connecticut State Troopers hauling the chanting protesters off to a paddy wagon. I just loved that. Somehow, I think Nichiren would have been happy with that kind of direct action.
The monks and nuns of the Nipponzan Myohoji actually take vows of poverty and rely on contributions from the laity. I found this out the hard way when I tried to get a speaker from their pagoda-building project in Washington State. These guys don't have two nickels to rub together, but they do have heart. Apparently as of a year ago, they were still chanting for peace outside the White House:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3oUWP3LF-o
I am so much enjoying my own continuing education in Buddhism. It's a relief and an adventure to learn that the world of Nichiren Buddhism is not divided into noble and victorious Us, and pitiful, misguided Them. I am proud of the Nipponzan Myohoji members of the Nichiren family, and I hope to be able to visit one of their pagodas and report here about it some day.
Be broadminded, be peaceful, be cool.
Byrd in LA
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