Joe Isuzu's Daily Slander

Oh Captain, My Captain

Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

O Captain! My Captain!

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Who’s being mourned?
I’ll give you a hint. It’s not “your” captain and it’s not “our” captain. But a choice is made available.

“I celebrate myself;
And what I assume you shall assume;
For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you.”

There are only about four or five words, which are strictly untranslatable, and are autonomous unto their self from the Lotus Sutra and need be used (and explained in context) to make a point in addressing Buddhism. In every other case, in the US, if you can’t use an English word in describing or explaining, you probably don’t understand what you’re talking about in the first place.

“Sensei!”

Its usage between some practitioners in the SGI is cavalier at best and unsettling. It’s used in speeches and can be seen on twenty-five foot long banners in SGI community centers wishing “sensei” a happy birthday. And everyone assumes that this Japanese word, “sensei”, means “mentor” or “teacher”, which is in turn construed to be Daisaku Ikeda when used by a Soka Gakkai member. And because there is no questioning of the meaning of “sensei” specifically when referring to Daisaku Ikeda, I could easily take a page from the Soka Spirit web site play book and pass my own spurious title past the true believers by making this statement:

“I’d like to read something from Sensei in a moving address which I believe accurately reflects the Soka Spirit movement; ‘So we have come together on this day to prove symbolically that we are more than a collection of individuals, that none of us is too proud, none of us too high, none is too rich, and none too poor, to stand together. Everything that we have created up to the present we owe solely to goodness of heart, its capacity, its loyalty, its decency, its industry, its sense of order. So this, I believe, can be our message: we are proud enough to confess that we ourselves are a treasure. I could, as leader, think of no more glorious, no prouder task in this world than to serve this people.’ ”

But in this case, my “sensei” is Adolph Hitler. It makes as much sense to use this word “sensei” as “insegnante”, “professeur”, or “leraar”, all equal in meaning but likewise have no place in Buddhism in the USA.

I got into a discussion with someone who works at a SGI publication, who believes that this Japanese word “sensei” has been incorporated into the American lexicon. And they sent me examples of other words they too believe to be akin to this: crikey (which spell check automatically challenges), sushi, igloo, Creole, and fiesta. I happened to be in Salt Lake City at the time, which, so far as I know, is still part of the United States. So I made up a sentence using all these words, which are supposedly recognizable by Americans across this nation:

“Crikey, sensei is eating sushi in an igloo during Creole fiesta!”

I canvassed about twenty locals over two weeks when the opportunity presented itself by repeating this sentence and asking if they understood what I was saying. Everybody knew what sushi and fiesta meant; no brainer. Most knew that an igloo was either where Eskimos live or it was what kept their beer cold. Creole, which I thought most people would know, was about 25% understood to be an American Indian tribe or jambalaya. Two people knew crikey, which was the least recognized word. “Sensei” was recognized as a “karate” teacher by about half. The rest had no idea what it meant. It never had a religious connotation nor ever as a mentor. It definitely didn’t mean Daisaku Ikeda. Not in Utah.

I'm basically writing in an effort to clarify issues surrounding Nichiren Buddhism as presented by the organization I belong to, SGI; a religion and a practice which professes that it's goals can only be achieved through a faith in which it has no deity. I ask questions that challenge the laity (that's me) with the burden of proof. I know that's what the infrastructure of the organization is supposed to do. And they do encourage people to deepen their faith by actual proof. But, and I guess I just discovered what I'm writing about next, we really need to re-define faith. That word is also bandied about a lot because Nichiren uses it, or we define whatever word he used 800 years ago as “faith”. But we in our Western/Christian society equate “faith” with a suspension of disbelief. So we have a tendency to not prove, but accept. And I think that’s why the usage of the word “sensei” or the phrase "our mentor” is endemic of a larger problem. Or, to put it another way, in an effort to encourage people, the organization has relied upon what has become intrinsic to the culture of origin but contains no external validity with regards to Buddhism. Anyone in a position of organizational responsibility that refers to Daisaku Ikeda collectively as "our mentor" in public, in print or on video, removes the burden of proof from the individual, which inhibits what is commonly referred to as “human revolution” and postpones the misnomer “kosen-rufu” that much longer. Stating, or worse assuming, that everyone thinks alike is not leading anyone anywhere except to a cul-de-sac where conformity is also mistaken for unity.

That being said, in researching this topic I was directed to a CD of archival articles from both the World Tribune and Living Buddhism. Although I completely disagree with his usage of “our mentor”, the author of this article, a man for whom I have great respect, petitions for common sense and the shedding off of the cloak of Japanese culture so intrinsically married to this Buddhism. I am resurrecting it to share. For in it he addresses several of the issues that so many of us currently wrestle with. And ironically this is from 2000, the year I re-engaged myself to SGI.

PERSPECTIVE
ADVOCATING THE UNIVERSALITY OF BUDDHISM
BY DAVE BALDSCHUN
LA TUNA CANYON, CALIF.
I believe we have been given a specific mandate by our mentor, SGI President Ikeda, to create an organization unlike any in the world—including the Soka Gakkai in Japan. Just a few weeks ago, in his message to the women’s conference at the Florida Nature and Culture Center, he said, “Please have an enjoyable, bright and cheerful time, in a manner befitting America” (Feb. 25 World Tribune, p. 3). During his visit here in 1990, he said, “I would like the SGI-USA to be a model for the rest of the world” (March 1990 Seikyo Times, p. 7).
During that visit he also said: “From the outset America has been a country to which people from around the world have flocked, leaving their homelands for one reason or another. They came to this country searching for a new home. It is the task of the kosen- rufu movement to breathe life into America’s purpose of building a new home for these people” (March 1990 Seikyo Times, p. 72). The next year he returned to this country and said: “The United States above all serves as an all-important stage for the whole world. It is an exciting and dynamic stage of vast dimensions” (November 1991 Seikyo Times, p. 21).
In 1993 he talked about a “new American Renaissance” and asked that we “march forward, carrying high the Stars and Stripes and the tri-colored SGI flag” (March 1993 Seikyo Times, p. 50).
Building an organization that is particularly American in character is an ongoing process. One of the ways our progress has become evident is in the language we use. We define who we are by the way we speak. Twenty or thirty years ago, we were strongly influenced in our speech and behavior by the immigrant Japanese who pioneered the organization. Our debt to them is immeasurable and a large part of that debt lies in our responsibility to further develop the SGI-USA. They didn’t intend for the organization to be an isolated Japanese colony. And so we have continued to change as our diversity and numbers grew.
The use of organizational jargon has been one of the most obvious changes. We realized that to prove the universality of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism, we must be able to convey it in plain English. I believe that this is a key component of our mentor’s desire that “the United States become the central stage for the SGI’s worldwide activities” (November 1991 Seikyo Times, p. 51). Therefore, we should continue our “language revolution.” The longer we continue to use foreign words to talk about Buddhism, the more difficult it is to propagate it to a wider audience. Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and reciting passages of the Lotus Sutra to our object of devotion are difficult enough for new members to get used to. Why make it even more confusing by peppering our speech with foreign words? Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism may have originated in Japan, but I don’t believe it is a Japanese religion. The teachings of the Daishonin transcend national and ethnic boundaries.
There are still a few words that we have not gotten out of the habit of using such as shakubuku, gosho and sensei. And there are some words that are formal titles of groups that we should translate such as byakuren and gajokai. The word shakubuku is a specific method of propagation that the Daishonin talks about in his writings. Although the term is not translated in the most recent compilation of his works, we misuse it to refer to any type of propagation or even people as in “He is my shakubuku.” There is no book in English called the gosho. It was translated to The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, which contain his letters and theses.
A curious thing happened during SGI President Ikeda’s visit in the early ’90’s. The women’s chorus had finished singing a Japanese song and after thanking them and praising their singing, he said that in the future it would be more appropriate for them to sing American songs. In an unusually direct manner, I believe he was imploring us not to mimic Japanese culture. That is why I don’t believe we should refer to him as sensei. In this country, the most likely place one would encounter the word sensei would be at a karate or kung fu school. The connotation in that setting is one of unquestioning obedience to the master of the school, a connotation that in no way applies to our mentor. Besides demonstrating the universality of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism, I believe we must prove the universality of our mentor as well. When signing in at the 1975 gathering in Guam for the founding of the SGI, President Ikeda put “the world” as his country of origin. He is truly a global citizen, and we do him a disservice when we treat him otherwise.
Speech habits are hard to change but I believe we must continue to be responsible for the way we portray our organization and mentor to prospective members, the media and general public. President Ikeda is planning to attend the opening of Soka University in Aliso Viejo, Calif., next year. It is an event that will be covered by national and possibly world press. The image of him entering to shouts of “sensei!” from hundreds of American members does not strike me as responding to his vision for our organization. Another quote during President Ikeda’s 1990 visit concerns change: “Change, unceasing change, is one of the distinguishing characteristics of America. Change occurs more rapidly here than it does elsewhere. This could be said to be an indication of the vitality that this country possesses. Similarly, Buddhism holds that everything is in a constant state of flux. Thus, the question is whether we are to accept change passively and be swept away by it, or whether we are to take the lead and create positive changes on our own initiative. While conservatism and self-protection might be likened to winter, night and death, the spirit of pioneering and attempting to realize ideals evokes images of spring, morning and birth” (March 1990 Seikyo Times, p. 52).
These suggestions may seem radical to some, but I believe they are inevitable. The more we are perceived as an American organization, the wider the entrance we provide to new membership. Our mentor made an even more radical suggestion in 1996 when he said: “I propose that we come up with an alternate name for the SGI to make it more accessible and familiar to a large number of people both inside and outside the organization. For example, we might use the organization’s initials to create a catch phrase like ‘Social Good Institution’” (July 12, 1996 World Tribune, p. 12). As his disciple, I am compelled to ponder what he is saying to us by such statements and take action accordingly.
END

“Stop this day and night with me, and you shall possess the origin of all poems;
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun—(there are millions of suns left;)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books;
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me:
You shall listen to all sides, and filter them from yourself.”
Walt Whitman

Posted by joeisuzu at May 6, 2008 05:48 PM