This is the dialogue of a Phantom City dust particle with a realized Ganges Sand. Dust particle, Charles Dathan Mokuren, exchanges views from the provisional world of the Lotus Sutra with Ganges Sand bosatsu, Gakkoken O, a solitary bodhisattva from Jakkodo, the world of hommon. This dialogue took place in the Northeastern region of the Milky Way Galaxy on a quarantined planet known as Terra, in the saha realm of the five components, in the Kalpa of Continuance in the ninth kalpa of decrease. This coming out was a directive of the World Honored One Himself. It's a tough job in a nasty part of the universe, so that's why He called on two of his special forces.
DP: It’s fabulous to finally meet you, an esteemed Ganges Sand. I’ve travelled for aeons from the Phantom City just to meet you. I consider this a once in a lifetime opportunity.
GS: The pleasures all “mind.”
DP: Cleaver, okay, let me lead off with a question. Why does the Dalai Lama have so much compassion?
GS: I…I don’t know.
DP: It’s because he doesn’t work in a damn restaurant!
GS: What are you, some kind of idiot? The Dalai Lama is wonderful. You, sir, speak irresponsibly.
DP: Oh, lighen up, Swami, it was a joke!
DP: I’ve been here in this saha world for nearly sixty years. It’s a mess. For more than thirty years, I worked for what I believed was “world peace” in a Buddhist organization known as the Soka Gakkai International. There is little peace and there’s hardly an interval between wars. One of the most striking ironies was the building up of May 3 2001 within the organization. For decades, we looked to this date as a benchmark for world peace. We used to sing in our song “Forever sensei,” “Keep chanting, keep chanting, we’ve got just twenty years to go.” Then on September 11, 2001, Muslim extremists flew jet airliners into the World Trade Center, the day before that ever-important SGI anniversary of September 12, marking the Tatsunokuchi persecution. That was the act that led us into the war in Afghanistan, then Iraq.
On a personal level, obstacles appeared in my own life, one after another, as if what I was doing – on a spiritual level, generated a blizzard of new obstacles to be overcome. I was assured that to practice exactly as the organization prescribed, truly agonizing experiences would ensue, but I would triumph over all of it and sometime, before the end of my life, I would attain Buddhahood.
GS: Apparently, you reconsidered.
DP: I recalled Nichiren saying, “Buddhism is reason.” It didn’t seem reasonable that after so many years, perpetual misfortune could be construed as benefit or proof of a supreme practice. It seemed like punishment.
GS: Hendoku Iyaku means changing heavy karma into manageable karma. It does take obstacles to develop character, wisdom, and strength. At what point did you discover that the heavy karma you were trying to overcome might in fact be the result of your current practice?
DP: That realization didn’t come until I stopped my affiliation with the SGI. Then, after fretting over what might happen to me because I left the group, my life began to improve.
GS: What makes you think that the improvement in your life was a result of leaving the SGI? After all, you stopped doing the prescribed practice that is alleged to prompt ancient bad karma to appear in the here and now, so it can be expiated.
DP: Someone who tried to get me to come back to the organization told me that it was the King Devil of the Sixth Heaven that caused my obstacles to disappear, and as long as I no longer practiced in the SGI, I would be free of obstacles. I would be living a life of delusion and that obstacles were the proof of authentic practice. As long as I stayed away, the Devil would protect me. Hey, I thought I was supposed to be looking to you for answers.
GS: Think of me as your kutai therapist.
DP: Okay. There was a period of time, maybe a couple of years, where I was unsure of my decision to leave. It was like drug detox. But then, I began to read widely outside of the approved SGI literature. My meditation became deeper and insightful. It was then, that I fully awakened to the doctrinal contradictions that I had ignored for decades. I realized that I had allowed myself to be brainwashed into a very contrived teaching that centered itself on the mentor instead of the dharma. One realization led to another, until the mirage disappeared.
GS: Feel better, grasshopper?
DP: Yeah, I do.
GS: Listen up then. Nothing you did was wasted. You survived and now you can really do some good.
DP: You’re like my higher self, aren’t you?
GS: Something like that. Actually, any separation between us or anything else is an illusion. Existence is all one vast entity with different characteristics. Here, is the same as everywhere, or anywhere, for that matter. Every atom is the center.
DP: Riddles?
GS: No, I'm your higher self, which could not be revealed until you went through all that trouble. It’s like a baby bird cracking it’s shell, so it could grow, then fly.
DP: Well, if you don’t mind me asking you, Mr. Oracle, a few choice questions, I’d like to know your thoughts on a few things.
GS: Thought is a byproduct of the lesser ego. I’m with Crowley when he said that “thought is untrue.” But I will comply.
DP: Here’s a question. I was so locked into the guidance of Daisaku Ikeda, I kind of lost my own identity. Is he really the reincarnation of Nichiren Daishonin? How should I feel about this mentor-disciple mandate? For a while, I was terrified that if I doubted him or left the organization, I would fall into the hell of incessant suffering.
GS: You are a disciple of the Eternal Buddha, Shakyamuni. Your master is the dharma of the Lotus Sutra. The reincarnation of Nichiren would not have smoked four packs of Seven Star cigarettes daily, nor would he have allowed huge posters of himself to be paraded before the members, as if he were the center of attention. Daisaku Ikeda is worthy of respect, although Nichiren would surely disapprove of the cult of personality that has evolved in his name, putting the Eternal Buddha and the Lotus sutra into the background, while exalting this man. He has become a wealthy man from the member's sincerity and generosity - they are, after all a "captive market.".
To be continued.