On one of the replies to my entry "why practice with the SGI" someone compared the SGI to the anti-christ. In this case it was because members pray for material benefit. The fire goes all over the place as people wage similar arguments across the internet and in the "mundane" world. I once participated in these intense battles.
But then it occured to me one day. How do you fight lies that speak inward truth? People join groups like SGI or Fundamentalist Christianity, Islam Judaism, or "New Wave" cults for a reason. The principal trouble they get into is in confusing general principles that are explained using simile, allegory, fables, tall tales, myth and legends, with actual reality. That is especially true for those who get all hot and bothered by hearing the folks flying on their fantasies.
So, how do we deal with demonizing, triumphalist, and deeply confused and twisted cults?
Nichiren would say "Shakubuku." But what is shakubuku? Someone explained that the word means literally "break and subdue" but the literal meaning is also tied up with other meanings. It means more "break" as in breaking something that is already broken, like untwisting a stuck bottle cap or removing a rusty threaded pipe. And the "subdue" means as much an 'inner' discipline as an outward one. The difference between Shakubuku and Shoju (gentle teaching) is more slippery than people then suppose.
To do Shakubuku one has to untwist what is twisted. That takes truth applied in reasonable doses and served with the right examples, similes, parables, and maybe even the language of the people one is talking to. To be able to do that starts with ourselves recognizing what those stories are talking about -- or should be. As Nichiren also says when the body straitens so does the shadow. We can't change our environment by becoming twisted ourselves. And really we don't need to get so twisted up about other people's nonsense anyway. It's our nonsense we need to work on.
If we don't do this, then we risk otherwise worthy enterprises; like the Gakkai, continuing to turn into twisted emmanations (shadows really) of our own [collective] twisted lives.
Maybe if one feels not at any stage of enlightenment it might be worthwhile staying away from what is twisted even a little. I'm starting to feel that way more and more myself. And certainly we don't need to seek out aggravation. Buddhism doesn't tell people that wading into filth will do anything but transfer the filth to oneself. But if one is going to learn about Buddhism, one has to start somewhere. And until the rest of us mature enough, perhaps the Gakkai is a good place to start. I don't mean the Gakkai of the community centers, but the one that you can still find out there in the discussion meetings and local areas. The key is to recognize the difference between what is important -- really -- and what folks sell one as important. And the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren's teachings are important enough so that everyone should study them at least a little and in context.
Once one grasps the general principle, learns to apply these principles rationally and clearly (without attachment), dumps the detritus of attachment to vile or transitory things, and learns to seek the "wisdom" over the surface meaning, and the spirit of the teaching over it's vehicle; one can be around people without fearing that they are the "great satan" or "bringers of doom" or "anti-christ", or whatever. The eschatology becomes a thing to see as an abstract formulation that says that all things must come to an end; Paradise if we collectively do what we should do. Hell if we don't. And the "anti-Christ", three powerful enemies, are eternally real principles conveyed by eternally simplistic stories. When we see others as "being" evil -- we should really examine our own hearts. Why am I so angry?
The only thing that can possibly prevent these methods from working for people is one, and that is clinging to lies. But lies are as self destructive as they are outwardly destructive. They tend to harm the liar eventually. So rather than being afraid of anybody -- let's just fight to make sure that no one pulls the wool over anyone's eyes. That isn't just a religious battle, that is a social and political one. If people are commiting Fraud, harming others, or getting rich at our expense, then we should find a way to make sure they get caught. That takes, Daimoku, not becoming swept up either "pro or con" and waking up. That is all we need to do.
As a Westerner I believe that what goes around definately comes around. But we don't need to be literally tilting at windmills. We need to recognize that the "demon" here is what makes us think those windmills are Giants.
Posted by cholte at November 9, 2004 09:50 PM