Mentor and disciple relationship. If memory serves I recall first hearing this principle in the late 80’s. It was introduced as the “Master and Disciple relationship”. Members, not sure which members, just “members’ threw a conniption fit. Actually I am surprised that my spell check program actually has the word conniption in it. Funny that.
Again if I am recalling correctly it had been said that Black American members had been angry or at the very least uncomfortable with the term “Master and Disciple” mainly due to the American meaning of the word Master. The term was quickly changed to Mentor and Disciple. It always seemed to me to be missing something in the translation. Master to me has always denoted someone who has mastered something, someone perhaps higher level than a mere Mentor, but Mentor works well too.
Suddenly out of no where everything I hear from SGI-USA has Mentor and Disciple in it. I personally have never had an issue with the thing - it always made perfect sense to me. I’ve had many Mentors in my life, and Pres. Ikeda is certainly my Buddhist Mentor. Nonetheless the over-use of the term seems to be drawing out caution, weariness and even suspicion from my members, some of whom are wondering “whats up with that?”.
So what IS up with Mentor and Disciple? I really don’t know, and I wish I did.
Since the last study review “Mentor and Disciple” has taken on the sound of a gospel, maybe even the formation of a new religious canon. Let’s review that word;
Definition of the word canon;
a rule or body of rules or principles generally established as valid and fundamental in a field or art or philosophy
Recently Greg Martin explained, in regards to hypothetical or actual members who had asked him if the Mentor and Disciple relationship was something new created by SGI-USA, that the Mentor and Disciple relationship was really the basis of Buddhism, stemming all the way back to Shakyamuni.
I’m ok with this - mostly. The principle of Mentor and Disciple could be said to be the basis of many things, including virtually ALL religions so I don’t know why he even brought it up.
In short, why the big fuss about Mentor and Disciple? I ask this both of the membership who have become suspicious AND the leaders who are using this self-evident concept and slogan as the very cornerstone of our movement for Kosen Rufu?
So whats up?
Don
Posted by dshimoda at February 19, 2008 05:05 PMHi, Don! Glad to see you back! You haven't got a lot of comments here, yet - you have to check in more often so that people know you're still here! Anyway, welcome back....
FWIW, the Buddha was very specific when he told his disciples to "follow the Dharma and not persons" - this would seem to contradict Martin's assertion about M/D, at least as we are practicing it in the Gakkai. But very few people in the Gakkai have any kind of knowledge about Buddhism other than what they're told by the study department anyway.
M/D as we are practicing it is an attempt on the part of the SGI to create a bona fide Buddhist lineage. Lineage is the important principle in Buddhism. If you look at translations of Nichiren's mandala Gohonzon, at the bottom there is a listing of the lineage to which Nichiren laid claim - Shakyamuni, Nagarjuna, T'ien T'ai and then on to Nichiren himself. Without a lineage, Nichiren would have been just "floating", and not grounded in any Buddhist context. The same is true of us.
Now, most people in America are not that concerned with lineage. We're more of an "every person for him or her self" kind of culture. But in Asia, where the SGI has its main base, and where the organization has to establish itself as a valid form of Buddhism, it is very important.
Once we "got divorced" from Nichiren Shoshu, we no longer had any kind of lineage of enlightenment to which we could lay claim. Now we are creating one from whole cloth. Hence the emphasis on M/D.
That's my take, at least.
Once again, Don, welcome back. Check in here more often! I'm interested in what's going on with you and your area!
Best, Byrd in LA
Posted by: Byrd in LA at February 20, 2008 09:15 AMHello Don:
It's great to see your honesty in revealing your amibvalence on this issue.
I have been deeply troubled by the issue. There is a duality at work here. One is the simple understanding of "mentor/disciple" as the shared commitment of the buddha and his disciples. This I accept.
But this has evolved into issues of loyalty and an incessant drone in the SGI that threatens our future, IMO.
The latest lectures by Pres. Ikeda has him quoting Nikko, to the effect that if we veer from the path of mentor and disciple, we are damned to the hell of incessant suffering.
Do we Americans really want Mr. Ikeda telling us, in effect, to follow him or face the fires of eternal hell?
I think the cultural sensibilities of the Japanese has a great deal to do with this. I think that being "of the same mind as Nichiren" is an essential point...because it means sharing the vow to make all living beings equal to the buddha without exception.
But let me quote from the founding document of the Soka Gakkai...Makiguchi's 1930 "Soka Kyoiku Gakku Taikei"...translated by David bethel as "Education for Creative Living"..pages 83-84.
"...It is written that Sakyamuni said "Heed the Law, not persons".
This is the greatest guidance that buddhism has to offer to the advancement of humankind. here we are shown the way up from dependence to true freedom, from living in obedience to charismatic
power figures to living in unison with the niversal order. As we shall discuss later in more detail, to follow blindly the will of others or even of oneself is a form of personality worship. We are self-sold into bondage. And because such one-track beliefs are not based on reason, they are apt to be quite volatile and reactive. The
most minor doctrinal or iconographic deviations may fuel sectarian disputes and religious intolerance.
Religions everywhere preach compassion, mercy and reciprocity with an intense fervor that almost inevitably leads to interfaith warfare,all because they get entrenched in personality worship.There is no chance to rise above the life of person dependence. Just like the lover who has no eyes for anyone but his love, the devotee of a
personality cult has not the least inclination to to assume an objective scientific stance to calmly compare the various religions, hail the greater similarities, and reject the trivial differences.
Gradually, though, as we move through the process of aquiring ever more knowledge, the subjective emotional elements give way to more rational considerations. We gain a certain distance from the charismatic figure as our conciousness of an underlying order grows more pronounced. The realization dawns that even that person we had
so revered only shortly before is is but one ordinary human being. At that moment,like a sunrise outshining the stars that appeared to
gleam so brightly, the focus of that conciousness driving our very being shifts from persons related to our own individual loss and gain
to the natural order and social laws that work equally for all mwithout favor or discrimination."
What more can I say?
David
It is this awakening to conciousness of an nderlying order and a
commitment to rule by law rather than by persons that gives hope for
the future....As the masses gain awareness of their alienation from
the power that is rightfully theirs and realize the impotence of a
divided, noncollective existence, they can unite to seek their mutual
release from their former bondage..."
"...We cannot afford to relegate the task of translating abstract
truths into real-life values to religious sects that spend their time
fighting and quarreling over which one has the most truth....If
debates must ensue, they should be free of emotional arguments and
serve to strengthen adherence to the principle "Heed the law, not
persons".
Oops!
I accidentally split up the Makiguchi quote. Please read the content after my sign-off!
David
Posted by: David Johnson at February 20, 2008 09:48 PMDon,
I am one of those Black American's that never had a problem with Master/disciple re; mentor/disciple.
Regarding the context, I always remember the gosho quote, "I, and my disciples." WND Opening of the Eye's. part II
I consider the Gohonzon/Nichiren/Nam-Myoho-renge-kyo as the master and myself as the disciple, which President Ikeda clarifies in the current march/April Living Buddhism article on mentor/disciple.
I know I am not one of the members whom is suspicious, but I hope my opinion counts as well.
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick at February 21, 2008 03:36 PMThanks for all of your comments. Thanks Patrick, for your vote of confidence! I'll go back and re-read those passages.
Don
Posted by: D.Shimoda at February 21, 2008 07:28 PMDon,
To me, the way SGI defines mentor/disciple is that the mentor has the vow for kosen rufu. This means that the mentor is following the law, the Lotus Sutra and the Gosho. A person would choose whether to follow the mentor and become a disciple.
Rick
Patrick wrote:
"...Regarding the context, I always remember the gosho quote, "I, and my disciples." WND Opening of the Eye's. part II."
This is a crucial point. The "Orally transmitted teachings" never mentions Nichiren alone...over and over, it is "Nichiren and his followers".
The point is that we are one with Nichiren...that we share his vow. If we do this, our enlightenment equals his.
If President Ikeda teaches us how to be "of the same mind" as Nichiren, then he acts as an excellent teacher.
Makiguchi did his human revolution without a living mentor. The Gosho itself was his mentor, according to Ikeda. This is absolute fact.
Ikeda writes:
"Our eternal and unchanging mentor is Nichiren Daishonin, and it is the Gohonzon."
This must always be the essential point for anyone who hopes to call himself/herself a Nichiren buddhist.
I take the Gosho as my mentor. It is our direct connection to Nichiren. No intermediary required.
If a teacher can expand and explain the Gosho to me..as Ikeda has...then that's a great help.
But it is always MY personal connection to the Gosho...and not to Mr. Ikeda...that forms the heart of the mentor/disciple relationship for me.
I would be happy to call Ikeda my mentor, if only the SGI didn't try to shove it down my throat incessantly. Because of that attempt to force-feed the M/D doctrine, I will not make such a public statement...nor will I allow anyone to presume to speak for me. Everytime a leader refers to Ikeda as "our mentor", I approach that person later and explain that it is not polite to speak for others...it denies them the option of making their own decision.
The SGI cannot define itself as an organization of disciples of Daisaku Ikeda. If it does, then we become Ikeda buddhists.
I am a Nichiren buddhist...and intend to keep it that way.
David
Posted by: David Johnson at February 22, 2008 09:38 AMpage 48 living buddhism, March/April 2008
President Ikeda says'..maintaining the shared commitment of mentor and disciple with Bodhisattva Superior Practices as the mentor.'
President Ikeda goes on to say..'the heritage of the ultimate law of life and death flows in the lives of those who practice as Nichiren teaches and with the same commitment as he has.'
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick at February 22, 2008 01:48 PM"I and my disciples" has nothing to do with mentor and disciple that is more b.s. instead of honesty. If you read the gosho and tell me that Nichiren is talking about mentor and disciple I will think you can not read. What is mentor and disciple? Personality cult and brainwashed disciples. Ikeda should apologize to everyone and retire, to not do so is EVIL!
ch
Nichiren finishes this paragraph saying, "This is what I have taught my disciples morning and evening, and yet they harbor doubts and abandon their faith. Foolish men are likely to forget the promises they have made when the crucial moment comes."
The next paragraph Nichiren goes on to talk about how we have lived and died with our families, time after and time, and yet we have not yet awakened to the Great Law of life and death, and live out our lives practicing the correct practice, and later to be of 'the same mind as Nichiren' and propogate the chanting of nam-myoho-renge-kyo alone as the source to attaining buddhahood in one's present form.
I think when Nichiren wrote the Opening of the Eyes, he was writing to an entire people, and not just Shijo Kingo, whom received the gosho.
I think Nichiren was talking about himself being the mentor and those learning from him as his disciples including Nikko Shonin and others of his time and perhaps our times as well.
Mentor and disciple.
Shakyamuni Buddha even encourages in the Lotus Sutra to 'find a good teacher'
Mentor and disciple.
Mentor and disciple is not evil.
both 'good and evil spring forth from the same mind'. 'Buddhism is reason.'
Evil thoughts or actions are only evil thoughts or when actions they create unhappiness in the lives of others.
Is it not 'reasonable' to find a 'good teacher' to learn the correct buddhist practice as Nichiren Daishonin taught?
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick at February 23, 2008 12:47 PMNichiren finishes this paragraph saying, "This is what I have taught my disciples morning and evening, and yet they harbor doubts and abandon their faith. Foolish men are likely to forget the promises they have made when the crucial moment comes."
I love that quote. It's one of my favorites. Thanks for posting it here, now.
Don
Posted by: Donald Shimoda at February 23, 2008 01:35 PMYes great quote,"Foolish men are likely to forget the promises they have made when the crucial moment comes." Fits Ikeda perfectly.
ch
I think the process of finding a mentor is extremely difficult. I have someone who's older who I talk with about Buddhism, but I still don't actually consider him my "mentor." We're just friends. I learned something from the mental health area called "wise mind." I believe you can have an ongoing dialogue with this "wise mind" and I've considered this my mentor-disciple relationship, because of the difficulty in finding an outside person.
Brian
Posted by: Brian at March 8, 2008 09:42 AM