Robin Beck

Reliable Internet Sources?

Hi, I am back from a break. For the last few weeks, I pretty much limited my on line time to keeping up at the incredibly active SGU, the indispensable SFI, and npx.

Other than those three, and rare visits to the deliberately slow paced information groups, which I helped start {dpx, ksyart, DSG }, plus the Nichiren Shu Yahoo group, and a few other slow paced ones, like irgosho.; I have decided to try to avoid on line Buddhist fora {forums?}. I am still undecided about E-Sangha. It looks like I got banned there anyway. My log in will not work. I have no idea why. Oh well, that makes three. A Nichiren Shoshu list moderated by Michael Cody, the Mike Pegram's Rivals IU basketball forum, and E-Sangha; where I was like member # 5. I had not checked in there for a few weeks anyway. One of the Nichiren moderators thinks maybe it was a glitch, but it has been three days. So if anyone there wonders why I have not said hi, that is the reason. One of the members there, who is Hokkeko, recently told me I was messing with people's faith with my impartial research; which he finds illogical. At one time, he told me it was his mission to discredit me. Battling with sectarian warriors gets old, that is one of the reasons I am cutting back on e-groups. I find myself giving the same responses to the same circular reasoning. It always ends with the sectarian warriors posting something like this:

"You reach conclusions that don't stand the test of logic, and that is the mark of an amateur."

"So here is the admonishment. If you put forth conclusions that are not fully supported by the premises you are messing with peoples lives. You are causing other people to buy into your analysis and possibly causing these people putting off their own enlightenment for lifetimes of suffering. This includes all the people behind all the websites that are putting forth this faulty logic. Have a great [this life], because those that slander will "not have their mouths stopped in this lifetime", and that quote comes from an authentic Gosho."

Evidently, those sort of nasty threats are fine with E-sangha. I decided that I do not want to deal with it anymore. Basically, American style bigoted fundamentalism met Taisekiji dogma. The result is not very pretty. Anyone who disagrees with Nichiren Shoshu Taisekiji gets their tongue cut off. Lovely. There is just no way to have a discussion with such people. The idiot was trying to argue with me over Shonin versus Daishonin; which I have already proven is a non-starter. He seems to still think I am defending the silly and long refuted Kenpon Hokke claims, like whether or not camphor grows at Minobu. I guess he either does not read, or fails to grasp, what actually write? Maybe I am not banned there, maybe it is a glitch. Either way, I had pretty much decided to avoid the place. Now, I have no choice. It is likely for the best.

Overall, I do not have problems with the Internet, I love it too much. There are also other things besides Buddhism I do on line. I simply have found myself streeeetccccched way too far. In fact, I have gotten rather snippy, with people I disagree with, at a couple. If I can not take the time be patient and forbearing, it is time to cut back. I also want to put more of my effort into the work I do here, at FWP.

On a related note, some time ago, I quoted the Maka Shikan. Our own Charles Atkins then inquired about translations. I replied with several links. {Charles, I am not picking on you. I too was once naively cautious about the dangers of the Internet, so I might have given similar advice in the past}. I guess Chuck figured that since I did not grow up in Chicago, I must be rather naive. I actually grew up having conversations with PhDs about the origins of the Universe, since I was two, but that is beside the point.

At any rate, good old Chuck gave me some Senior Leader Guidance about the reliability of the Internet, as if I was unaware of the possible pit falls. The thing is, anyone can get a blog. Moreover, if they are at least semi-literate, they can appear to be credible. Though considering the state of public education, that is no small feat. I am a pretty smart person. I had a 30 on my ACT in 1970, out of what was then a possible 32. That was the highest at my High School until my younger sister got a perfect score, four years later. That was all back before they dumbed it down. However, that is not the point either. I did go through a stretch where illness made me rather dull witted. The thing is, I, and most people, can sort out reliable Internet Sources from nonsense and other crapola. The latter never last long anyway. Those who can not sort it out, would not get much out of real scholarship anyway. If we need someone else to tell us what ia authentic, and what is a sham, then we are counting the wealth of our neighbors.

I had a similar exchange with a moderator at a forum, some time ago. The person had asked for good academic sources on Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra. I made the mistake of offering some {gasp} hyperlinks, probably to the very places I mention below. I got a rather snooty, condescending reply; about how that person was not interested in reading people who blog or have web sites as a hobby. That moderator only wanted published, peer reviewed material in hard copy published format. If only all of Stone's and Habito's et al's work were that accessible! I did try to be polite, but was rather insulted. My kleshas still get the upper hand at times, especially when I am tired. The thing is, the well known experts in Buddhism mostly ignore Nichiren. If they cover him at all, it is generally sloppy and poorly researched. Another thing is, I might have written exactly what that moderator wrote, back when I was an uninitiated cyber noob.

The bad thing about the Internet is that anybody can get a blog and write away. That is also the good thing. They do not need to wait until some University Press thinks their ideas have merit. Or some popular press decides there is a market. We just can not make anyone read it. If we are bad, we are going to pounded by commenters, or else get ignored. In all but the poorly moderated sectors of cyberspace, ideas win or lose on the merits of the ideas, not on the titles before, or letters after, the author's name. By the way, the poorly moderated places quickly lose readers and contributors.

Besides that, the hyperlinks I posted were and are for websites by people whose resources are as good as, or better than, anyone who is published. This is especially true in regards to Nichiren Buddhism. My own material, which has plenty of room for improvement, is better than most of what is published. Most of the published material is no better than what you might find in an old Encyclopedia, or an entry level religious studies survey text. The work by Dr. Lamont is good, but is full of technical errors caused by sectarian blinders. Dr. Jackie Stone is an exception, she is excellent, thorough, and impartial, but might be a bit dry for the average reader. Montgomery's book is out of print, and will not be back. Even he apparently admitted it was full of technical errors. I read Anesaki's book, Nichiren, the Buddhist Prophet, back in college. In 1971, it was the only book specifically on Nichiren Buddhism in the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Library. I recall liking the book, and it made me suspect Nichiren Shoshu was not telling us everything. One thing that was odd though, as Brian Holly mentioned at SGU, Anesaki translated Kaidan as Holy See {shudder}.

The Internet is a vastly superior source for cutting edge Nichiren material. Here are some good sources for Nichiren and Tiantai Lotus material:

Fraught with Peril
Reverend Ryuei Michael McCormick & Ryuei.net
Nichiren's Coffeehouse & Don Ross
Dharmajim Wilson's Sutra Salon
Peter Johnson - tientai.net.
Nanzan University Japanese Journal of Religious Studies
Reverend Jon Prosser & Tendai-Lotus
LBIS - Lotus Buddhist International Society
Nichiren Buddhism Modern Religious Institute
Kavalinka Dharma Treasury

I might add more and embed hyperlinks later. Those were 'out of my hat.' By the Way, Tricycle even has a blog page with big name, hip, trendy, published Zen / Vipassana / Tibetan type writers. I guess it started April 19, 2006. I have been so busy, I just noticed. After reading a few sentences, and getting bored, I think FWP is better. And I am not biased, just ask Ryuei.

Posted by rbeck at October 29, 2007 12:03 AM