Robin Beck

Catching Errors

In case no one noticed, I occasionally commit the sin of typos. Since I know what I intended to write, they are hard for me to see. I also have vision issues. Unlike some people, I like to find out when I am wrong. That way, I can correct myself. Sometimes, when I am copying and pasting, the file cabinet messes up. This can happen with pasting links. For example, I searched the 5 kanji for Kyoto Myorenji, and found one good hit. I then pasted in a link for Chiba Myorenji. Someone caught that, and told me. A few years ago, I spotted three errors on the Map of the Prayer Gohonzon,; well 2 con the map, and one in the notes. It was overall excellent done work by S. Maltz, with some 'bugs'. Of that, I wrote:

Some time ago, I started drafting a detailed study of this mandala. I decided there is no point in repeating the work. There, are, however, I think, three translation errors that may cause some confusion. In this regard, I expect there are some errors in the work I have done here. It is my hope that someday someone with more access to information will catch & correct them.

That stands. If a link takes you to the wrong place, let me know, if yiu have time. One time, I was sleepy, and mismatched about 6. I caught those myself, a few days later. n Other things may be conflicting opinions, or conflicting sources. In those cases, I will check them out, and comment or correct as I see it. The main thing is to do what the Buddha said, -- "See for yourself."

The errors on the Map of the Prayer Gohonzon stood for several years. No one seemed to notice. Another thing, for years, two documents from Nichiren's last days have been passed off his will. They contain conflicting information concerning the desired disposition of Nichiren's Buddha Statue and Annotated Lotus Sutra. No one on line, that I know of, has tried to reconcile those, except me. Nichirenshu seems to cite both as valid records of Nikko. We are not going to get these things sorted out over night. I have some more on those, maybe I will post it at some point. I also have more conflicting opinion on what became of the statues.

All that said, one or two tell me I should not do this, because I am not qualified and might make errors. Others think this is slander. I shall not trouble myself to silence those opinions. If anyone tries to silence me, they are wasting time and doing something in the wind. What a certain Hokkeko member posted at E-Sangha, about me, could easily be construed as a threat:

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

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."

At best, in context, those are the words of a sadly deluded bigot. It is taking Nichiren's words out of context, and twisting them in a perverse manner. Whatever little slip I committed to get banned, I suspect a poorly worded phrase spun when I should have been sleeping, can not possibly compare. Now back to work. I have a few things to do here first, then I plan to post some more on the Nichiren Mandala Gohonzons.

Posted by rbeck at October 31, 2007 05:00 PM