We had a district study meeting Sunday morning. The meeting was good, but not great. I have soured on the current study material and it's only May. I didn't have much to say. We have a study presentation trio. One person does background. He studies a variety of Buddhist scholars and literature and always has something interesting to say. I usually have the easy to follow personal experience part and another WD does the party-line part. It is a good system.
The SGI is not studying gosho this year, but instead are studying Pres. Ikeda's lecture on The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life & Death.
We're on part 13
Zzzzz Zzzzz Zzzzz Zzzzz
I have begun to read the gosho and will be referring to my personal study in the next months.
Saturday evening the area MD leader called the MD chapter leader and asked to have coffee after the meeting and he was bringing the MD region leader. After the meeting, I was somehow included in this as well as the WD region leader and we went to a coffee shop. The MD area leader ambushed all of us and lectured the MD about his attitude. I was dumbfounded. Hard power all the way. He had decided to try to fix this chapter MD by ambush. The region leaders sat dumbstruck.
The store is very small and we sat a a tiny table near the window. Two feet away was an older woman reading a big book with several empty coffee cups on the nearby table. After about 20 minutes, she came over and stood between the chapter leader and me and said she couldn't figure out if we were talking religion or politics. We laughed and said it's the politics of religion. The two of us proceeded to tell her about our practice, listen to her story, give her a NMHRK card with our names and numbers.
We were told that we were going to have a meeting with all the chapter leaders on Monday. I didn't think that would work due to schedules and the area leader guaranteed that everyone would attend. Of course Monday night everyone was busy. One pioneer woman came, both area leaders (husband & wife), MD chapter and me. This time it was the WD area leaders turn. She talked from personal experience - gave several examples of how she had overcome conflict with other members. It was very soft power and very effective. We set a date to meet and chant as chapter leaders and start to work together. That is what we need.
That is my (abbreviated) story of hard power and soft power.
I am a member of the SGI. I have been a member for just over 20 years. It doesn't seem that long. Well, yeah, maybe it does seem that long. My husband was introduced in February 1986 and joined in March. I needed another year and a half to join.
My husband is a practicer. He likes to practice - whether it's music, sports or his Buddhist practice, he can practice. I'm not like that. I played saxophone all through school. My parents made it clear that I was never allowed to practice at home. The only time I practiced was when I had to audition. I did practice some things, but I have never found that thing I really liked and worked for me. Guess I haven't tried enough stuff yet.
Some people can chant for hours. Some people have these experiences of chanting long hours and fixing some problem - immigration status, graduation status, work status, things like that. I have never done that, but it sounds like a life changing experience.
Then there are those people who chant 2 hours a day for years, but never have an experience. We have those members in our district. I don't chant 2 hours every day, but when it hits the fan, I don't fall apart. I have studied enough to understand that we all need challenges to move forward.
Now, why do I stay in SGI if I have problems with it? Because I have relationships. Meetings are the best source of encouragement I know. Much better than a spa or lecture on tape or retreat. And cheaper,too. The most encouraging thing is watching us grow into happier people. One of our members has had a difficult few months. Every time I see her she is smiling. That is what keeps me in SGI... the people, the relationships. Somehow, I know I will become a better happier person through my Buddhist practice in SGI.
VOV is finally moving along. I'll fill you in soon.
Last night we finally made some headway at our Victory Over Violence (VOV) meeting. We had way too many events happening and no one to do it all. Here is where we started.
1. VOV - This is a program involving activities or exercises in a small group setting. This is a youth to youth program. It will take place in schools. After our friend, an SGI member, was murdered, our district wanted to do something for our community. There have been nine murders in Salinas this year. All but one (our friend) are gang related. We want to help the young people of this city find a way out of the cycle of violence. One of the members of our district is a 5th grade teacher and she sees and hears about violence from her students. She was involved with VOV in the SF bay area a few years ago. She will help us through the process.
2. "Transforming the Human Spirit” exhibit – This is a freestanding exhibit sponsored by SGI. It involves more logistics, but less member support. It needs a large venue, transportation from and back to SF, docents prepared to answer questions about the exhibit and SGI, security and a lot of promotion. This will give the men and women something to do toward this project and will reach a greater portion of the population.
3. Gandhi, King Ikeda + Book Donation – Our area recently started using the Marina Library Community Room as our meeting place of choice. The room is brand new, has a beautiful view and costs $10.00 per use. It is perfect for us. Some region leaders came to a meeting at the library, told someone up the leader ladder and then someone decided to put the GKI exhibit in the library lobby the same time as the Monterey Jazz Festival and donate 1,000 books to the library. Danny Nagashima (SGI-USA general director) will attend and Herbie Hancock was invited because he will be at the Jazz Festival. The entire western zone will support this movement.
At the beginning of the night, we had to figure out how to deal with these three projects. We are a small area and this was getting overwhelming. After an hour and a half of going around and back several times, four of us were able to stop the “brainstorming” and state what we want to do.
The youth division wants to put on assemblies at five middle schools in Salinas during October. These will consist of a very short introduction and then break out into small groups of no more than 10 students.
We will not be involved in the “Transforming the Human Spirit” exhibit.
We will support the GKI exhibit and book donation.
This is a milestone for our committee. We made a decision, we all agreed to it and we have an action item for the next meeting. One of our teachers is going to talk to the high school district about our program and then we can move on from there.
What we lack most in this committee is structure. No one is in charge, and everyone gets confused and starts on his or her own agenda and we spend most of our time explaining what we already discussed to each other. As we continue with this process, leaders will emerge and we will have a great success for our city, our area and ourselves. Our district goal is that every member to have a breakthrough experience this year. This project will give us all a chance to work together and use it to change our city’s karma.
I can’t wait.
That's what I need to do. Make time. I have several entries in mind, but haven't made time to write. So tonight, I just stayed at work to work on some personal stuff. I am in charge of the Area calendar. I try to get it complete before World Peace Prayer the first Sunday of the month. This usually involves sending a few nice yet harassing emails to get dates. This month I haven’t even started the harassing and some districts have sent in their dates. So I put the calendar together and sent it out for review. It takes a bit of time because I make it color-coded by chapter. That way I can just look at the green dates and ignore the blue and purple. Also, May is contribution month so there are additional meetings for that. That is done for now.
Last Wednesday we had a meeting to review the May Contribution activity. My MD leader was late; we carpooled, so I was late. There were three women from the region, our two area leaders, a chapter MD and a district WD there when we arrived. They were watching a video. If you are in SGI I’m sure you will see this video. After Matilda Buck talked about the significance of contribution, there was an experience. A hair stylist decided (a few years ago) to save her tips and donate $10,000 to SGI during May of the following year. She started saving the cash and when she had $500, she put some rubber bands around it and put in a safe place – presumably not a financial institution. Soon she had indeed saved $10,000 and it wasn’t even May yet. So now, she has $10,000 in cash “in a safe place.” Anyone else see a problem with this? When May comes around, she has become attached to the money and won’t give it up. We assume it is still in cash. Then she received guidance and held on the cash for another year before finally donating it. I guess the point was that she needed to let go of her attachment to money or that money.
I remember my YWD days. I went to Sunday practice – remember those days? Anyway, one day the territory YWD leader is up there talking about May contribution. She said we should contribute every Sunday at practice because we (girls) can’t hold on to money. I was probably 29 - 30 years old. I couldn’t believe my ears.
Many years later, this same woman was involved with Boys and Girls Club (now Elementary School Division). My husband and I took our two daughters to a meeting. Our oldest was probably six and her sister was about three. This woman had all four of her kids there. She had the gall to tell us that our younger daughter was too young and we had to take her out even though this woman’s 3 years old could stay. Picked up our daughters and left - never went back. We never understood why it was so important to remove our three year old. Ah, the good old hard power days.
Hey, I got way off track. I’ll have to finish tomorrow.