Sometimes I think people are actually just looking for trouble. It's time for the annual May contributions campaign, and the usual tirades about financial transparency are sure to come to the fore. In fact, I recently read some rantings about it on a web page somewhere... Yawn. Same old, same old. Why do people get so bloody fixated over this? I mean really, can't one come up with better ways to spend time than criticising the organization for fundraising (or keeping its books closed to prying eyes)?
So the organizations books are a mystery... big FRIGGIN' deal! If you don't trust the organization with your hard earned moolah, then don't friggin' contribute money. For pete's sake, continuously whining about it just ticks me off. There are plenty of ways one can help the organization without donating money - just give time instead. Time teaching a new member to learn gongyo. Time studying Buddhism with a friend. Time listening to another member's problems. Time chanting with local members. And if you are really gung ho, find out what your local community center needs and go get one and donate it. Send a check to their utility company to help keep the lights on, or the water company to keep the bathroom toilets flushing. Go help clean or garden at the community center. Hell, you can even be REALLY radical and go help a member mow their lawn or practice some other pseudo-random act of kindness for a member. It's not like there isn't a plethora of good-karma generating alternatives to giving money to the organization.
To be a little more fair to the other view, I do understand that people want to know how their money is spent when they contribute to an organization. Organizations sometimes have a couple of shifty folks who ruin it for the honest ones. Typical cynical distrust of organizations aside, I think it is important for transparency just to take the wind out of similar criticisms. However, such criticism should be tempered by the fact that many of us members trust that our money will be used wisely and appropriately, without the added expense of publishing a detailed accounting of organizational funds.
I mean really, when you get down to it, cause and effect is very strict. Misappropriation of money (especially that which was sincerely donated for the purpose of kosen rufu by SGI members) is a cause, and is certainly one that would reap an equal effect. It's fundamental to this Buddhism, after all. It is perfectly logical for people to see both sides of this issue, there's no need to get in a twist over it.
Just expressing my exasperation;
Did you ever stop to notice... ...people pick the darnedest things to get in a twist over sometimes?
I'll be making out my check as soon as I see the total for all of last year's donations and bequests.
Charles
Posted by: Charles at May 4, 2004 08:36 PMWhy is May the chosen month? http://www.sgi-usa.org/thesgiusa/aboutsgi/Contrib-04-Eng.pdf explains how this date was chosen - "The SGI-USA conducts a May Commemorative Contribution each
year that begins on April 28—the date Nichiren Daishonin first proclaimed Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in 1253—and ends on June 10—Soka Gakkai
Women’s Day. That period also encompasses Soka Gakkai Day on May 3 and the birthday in 1871 of the first president, tsunesaburo Makiguchi, on
June 6."
So that is the official explanation.
Posted by: Earth Song at May 4, 2004 06:08 AMJohn asks, "And could someone please explain why May is the big donation month? I really don't know. ;-)"
Could it have anything to do with the availability of Tax Refunds?
Posted by: Chikushonin at May 4, 2004 04:57 AMoh... I meant would NOT characterize it as a “darndest thing”, a weird, etc. As should be pretty obvious...
Tough to be one's own editor...
Anyone who followed the rise and demise of BuddhaJones, (not just “some web page somewhere”, but the predecessor of this site), would not be so fatuous as to dismiss concerns about SGI’s financial transparency out of hand as you have done. Anyone who read Jan Tylor’s heartfelt article, “Contributing My Two Cents to SGI-USA’s Millions…” Andy Hanlen’s blog on Financial Accountability (where are you Andy?), Jonathan Wilson’s substantial piece in rebuttal called “Never Give Up on Financial Accountability”, Lisa’s probings as well as considered contributions by others (including me) to that site would characterize it as a “darndest thing”, a weird, “whining”, off-base preoccupation.
The concern, tiresome though it might be to you, is obvious and entirely legitimate. It bears directly upon the credibility of SGI within North American religious society, and (as Brian, Chikushonin, etc. have pointed out here), its efforts to propagate Nichiren Buddhism. I myself had the privilege of a lengthy and revealing discussion with the president of SGI-Canada which would shed further light on the issue. But frankly, I just don’t feel it’s appropriate go into it here, in back pages of a blog entry already surpassed by others to be quickly consigned to archive obscurity…
If there has been little spirited rejoinder to your views on this issue, people on “that other web page somewhere”(many of whom are here) have talked the issue out ad nauseum, and it’s time to give it a rest.
When the time is ripe, maybe the issue will be given the fresh reconsideration and the prominence it deserves. Obviously, yours is not the last word on the subject. Nor is mine, nor the brief replies of others who have contributed here. But… well, as John said, YOU friggen’ brought it up…
Chikushonin writes: "The current 500,000 Shakubuku campaign identifies the SGI-usa as an organization lead by persons of incorrigible disbelief, unworthy to receive offerings"
I simply disagree. It does not logically follow that, having a lofty membership goal, the organization is headed by icchantikas. A membership goal is simply a goal, and one could argue that having such a goal is needed to propel Nichiren Buddhism into mainstream American consciousness.
Brian writes:
"When I and others spend our time criticizing SGI, it's not because we enjoy pointing out mistakes. It's because if we are ever to fulfill the great hope of kosen rufu, we've got to get our [expeletive deleted] together."
I can't argue that the organization needs better leaders. In fact, so does my local government. But that is not the issue. The issue lies in the constant harping on the opaqueness of the finances of the organization.
Brian writes further:
"Personally, I have no doubt that SGI-USA uses donations wisely. That's not the point. The point is being open. The point is adapting to American values."
I agree about the point at hand. Should we have financial transparency? Sure. However, should we merely complain incessantly about it, or should we find more productive and enriching things to do that improve the organization?
Your point (as I understand it) is that it is fundamental - that financial transparency is a prerequisite for large growth in America, or at least so fundamental that it should be corrected before we go off half-cocked.
My view on this is different - that the organization is not static and that it will evolve as it must in order to survive. If the attempts to grow the organization falter due to this one issue, it will either adopt this more open policy or die. If my opinion is correct however, the issue of financial transparency is not the crucial hinderance for kosen rufu.
The first rule when optimizing something is to figure out where the biggest problems are and correct those first. Where you and I differ in opinion, is that you seem to view the lack of financial transparency of the organization as one of the "big" problems, wheras I view it as a much smaller issue.
John, frustration is shared on both sides it seems, and such frustration often leads to rifts. That we can talk about it means that we can at least understand one another. So thank you for the light-hearted reply.
Mike, I'm not sure how I should respond to your post, I entirely agree with what you wrote. To belabor the final message of my web log; I simply trust the organization, but even further, I have sincere faith in cause-and-effect - that no matter what, the causes that I make will yield fruit, and the same holds true on a larger scale (like that of an organization).
Thanks to all for their valuable comments!
|--+ ES +--|
No doubt about it, we sold a lot of Gohonzon. I agree with Brian that the SGI-usa has been like a revolving door. I have been through it a couple of times. The first time I went out the door was because of the arrogance of the leaders—I had the distinct feeling that I was escaping an abusive situation—and in fact I was. The second time was due to the lack of openness of the organization. It would be more accurate to state that it was due to the close-mindedness of the organization.
I perceived the SGI-usa as a ship in a bottle, and to this day, I am still attempting to get it out of its self-imposed imprisonment. The only thing that has changed in this regard is that I now see all of so-called Nichiren Buddhism as a small boat in a bottle. That, and the seas are getting rough, bringing the danger that the ship will sink to the bottom of the ocean, or be cast out, dashed to bits on the nearest shore.
Last time around, our district, once in throes of death, was consistently number one in Shakubuku. This made our chapter number one in Shakubuku, which in turn made out headquarters number one in Shakubuku, which became a territory, and grew from there.
We sold a lot of Gohonzon. From the perspective a person that personally enshrined somewhere near 1,000 Gohonzon for new members, while arrogance and the closed nature of the organization are the most obvious reasons why people who have received the Gohonzon leave, the number one reasons is that we sold people the Gohonzon with the zeal of used car salesmen.
As for financial contributions, Nichiren states that the only people that are not worthy of receiving offerings are the icchantika, persons of incorrigible disbelief. The current 500,000 Shakubuku campaign identifies the SGI-usa as an organization lead by persons of incorrigible disbelief, unworthy to receive offerings.
Selling Gohonzon—getting people to receive Gohonzon—does not equal Shakubuku, and getting people to join a closed-mind organization does not equal kosen rufu.
Sincerely, Chikushonin
Daikudoshin, myokaku, myojisokukyo/
Namumyohorengemyojisokukyo
Well, actually, no, I can't think of a better way to spend my time. And here's why: at the end of the '80s, some 500,000 people had received Gohonzon. Where are they now? 9 out of 10 have left. And they didn't leave becasue chanting doesn't work. We all know it does. And we really also know why they left: because of issues with the organization. So here we are, ready to begin another 500,000 shakubuku campaign and you know what? If we don't make fundamental reforms in the organization, the same goddam thing is going to happen. When I and others spend our time criticizing SGI, it's not because we enjoy pointing out mistakes. It's because if we are ever to fulfill the great hope of kosen rufu, we've got to get our [expeletive deleted] together. Personally, I have no doubt that SGI-USA uses donations wisely. That's not the point. The point is being open. The point is adapting to American values. The point is being able to tell guests -- "Here! Look at this -- our organization is open about its finances. We know how our contributions are spent."
Posted by: Brian at April 29, 2004 06:53 PMA bit twisted myself I guess. . . ;-)
I know, we do have the option/choice to limit what we give to the organization.
But we are also told over and over in meetings that we should be giving more. Especially in May for some reason.
So many of the rants may simply be frustration with wanting to do what's best for the organization and this Buddhism and PEace and all that. . .and dealing with the pressure from people in the organization, who you do respect, who keep telling us to give more. (Especially in May, for some reason.)
Even those giving on a regular basis are made to feel it's not enough by the sheer amount of time spent on the subject.
So the frustration builds when you are the kind of person who prefers to know what causes you are helping to finance through the organization.
It will be an ongoing issue it looks like.
I apologize if my response "exasperates" anyone, but YOU "friggin" brought it up! LOL ;-) (Just quoting a couple of your choice words. . .& meant to be light hearted & funny. . .by the way. . .)
And could someone please explain why May is the big donation month? I really don't know. ;-)
Earthsong -
"Trust" is a very interesting issue. I was taught once that you can trust absolutely anybody, on ONE CONDITION: You must trust them to be EXACTLY AS THEY ARE and not as you want or expect them to be. The trick becomes understanding them as they are and not as I think or feel they should be.
I feel the same thing applies to organizations. You can trust any organization explicitly, as long as you trust it to be EXACTLY AS IT IS, and not how you want it to be, or how it may say it is, or how it's base moral code implies, and so on. Again, learning to distinguish the reality of an organization from what is stated or implied becomes key. If the two things line up, so much the better.
People and organizations often have a self-image that does not correspond directly with reality. I know mine doesn't, even after decades of work. A casual acquaintance will have a different image of me than my wife does; the same thing applies even more strongly to organizations.
Namaste, Engyo Mike Barrett
Posted by: Engyo Mike Barrett at April 28, 2004 03:38 PM