Recently I have reconnected with yet another old and dear friend. She’s French-Canadian, you know - from Canadia.
She must have felt I was being evasive because she wrote “so then to find out what you do as a minister I should read Fraughtwithperil?” “ACK!” I replied. I also told her that FWP is like declaring Jihad on Nichiren Buddhism. Not totally true, but damn, it sounded good.
(Think Greg, must write about Buddhism, think think think…)
My loyal readers stretched all over the globe must have thought I’d given up thinking about Buddhism with all the ninja-ness going on this year.
Not true, Buddhism is life, Buddhism is everywhere, in everything. I didn’t really mean that, I’m stalling for time….
tick tick tick tick (sounds like a Pink Floyd song)
And what does it mean to be a Buddhist? That really is the question. We of the Nichiren faith, and certainly in the Soka Gakkai are so dug into sectarianism I fear often we fail to think about and understand what a Buddhist really thinks about and understands.
Fact is, it doesn’t really matter what we think, our beliefs as human beings basically have no affect on the universe as a whole. And this is an important subject to ponder since religion - the core beliefs, fears and superstitions we hold in our hearts as people, have such a dramatic impact on how we live our lives….
I’m vamping here…. Hold on, something’s coming to me…
Self Discovery
Sure, it’s my term, but it sums up the basic tenant of Buddhist living - pursuing our lives as a learning and evolving individual. Remember that we are surrounded by those who’s lives are such that they have and will continue to view the world not as it is, rather as they wish it to be. Read Rev. Ryuie’s blog “Greetings from Idiot America by Charles Pierce” for moron that. But it’s certainly a serious subject because those who hide behind false Christianity are a dangerous and self-destructive breed of human, in my honest opinion.
It all boils down to the law of cause and effect. Believing that my actions have an effect of the greater whole and largely determine the future effects experienced in my present lifetime and beyond, this is another key point to being Buddhist. Not every teaching of Buddhism emphasizes this, but generally speaking Buddhists believe in the law of cause and effect, to some degree anyway…
Nichiren Daishonin left us some very tangible and helpful tools. The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, Nam myoho renge kyo, and the Gohonzon which we use as a tangible externalization of the Lotus Sutra. We Nichiren Buddhists are a lucky group, but the workings of Ten Chi Jin, (for my friend, that’s Ninpo not Buddhism) which is the workings of Heaven, Earth and Man remain unchanged regardless of the existence of Nichiren, Shakyamuni or any other philosophy or religious system.
Religion, simply put, exists in the mortal flesh of us human beings. It’s a tool we use to live fulfilling lives and not necessarily an accurate reflection of any greater universal truth or reality….
A fellow Ninja recently reminded us (on another discussion group)
"Martial arts is like religion; it makes good people better, and bad people worse"
Ouch..
What do you all think???
Rev. Greg, Shidoshi
My buddy Greg suggested that sharing my daily frustrations with living in Japan for four years would be a good thing.
I doubt that, but I'll do it just in case.
To be very honest, this is going to have a lot of anger and obscenity in it.
On the other hand, if you dont live in Japan, even for a while, you might never see japan as a real place. Remember that what I say is only my opinion. I am just one man.
There are things I love about Japan. The Bujinkan, the tattooing guys, some other people. I am married to a Japanese girl and her family is great. There IS goodness here. I guess what I want to say is that it aint all good, contrary to a large and well funded public image campaign by the Japanese government over the last 30 years.
Here we go:
You have probably been taught over and over again about the many rules one should follow to avoid insulting or offending or being impolite to the Japanese people. You probably assumed that they did the same thing concerning you.
You were wrong. They don't care if they offend you, they only care about whether or not you offend them.
Ever since the September 11th Terror attack tapes were played on TV here, over and over again, the Japanese people have learned two phrases of English, which they try to use whenever possible, despite the fact that they have no idea what they mean.
"Oh my God." and "Holy Shit."
I've had Japanese English teachers, 40 plus years of age, say these phrases in class and then throw their heads back in light hearted laughter. If I had known how to say "you disgust me" in Japanese, I would have.
The best I could do was "yuwanai de" (don't say that ) in an angry voice.
Believe you motherf***in me, if I started cracking jokes about Hiroshima, they'd all get serious and explain to me how I shouldn't joke about something like that, as though I were some moron, because they would never be smart enough to realize I was being sarcastic and facetious.
How can I be so sure? Because a middle aged Japanese teacher once explained to me how an atomic bomb was once dropped on a city in Japan.
(no joke)
I said " I know, WE dropped it...Pearl harbor...remember?" She said "wakainaio" (I dont know what you're talking about) I'm sure she didnt.
One day, at the post office, during the post 9-11 days, the lady behind the window pointed at a box of presents I was mailing home to my family in ******. She said "white powder?" Ha ha ha ha ha. She and her fellow postal employees had a nice chuckle. I do believe making a joke about terrorist acts in a federal building is a federal offense these days, aint it? Well not in Japan, where everything that happens OUTSIDE of Japan is one big f***ing joke.
They love to talk about the 24.
What is the 24 you may ask.
The 24 people who died on 9-11 in New York.
The 24 JAPANESE people who died.
They couldnt tell you how many total humans died, they have no idea...
(And they dont care. Racism here is so deep and so wide they dont even recognize it as such. They all KNOW they are special, better than all other people on the planet Earth...)
The Japanese just dont get out enough. They need about a million Puerto Ricans to immigrate and take over all of their baseball teams. Please dont take that as racism. They just dont have any significant minorities. The Koreans and Chinese make up about 1%
English.
I am an English teacher.
I teach people who dont want to learn English.
The teachers dont want their kids to speak it. The parents dont want their kids to speak it. Truly, I am a joke.
Remember how in middle school you never gave the answer when the teacher asked, even though you knew it, because you didnt want the other kids to think you were a nerd? Dude and Dudettes, that is Japan, adult Japanese society, in a nutshell.
Culture is an awesome force, ladies and gentleman. It is more than just colored glasses that give you a tinted view. IT is also a pair of hearing aids that changes meaning and blocks out certain words.
To the Japanese, whom I like to compare to American teenagers (14-15 years old), their self identity and self definition is a major concern. If they dont have themselves defined in some way, every day, well they just have to commit suicide.
They will eat nauseating food they dont like because they believe that Japanese people eat it and they are Japanese so they have to eat it. You wouldnt believe how many times I have heard Japanese people say "doing this (whatever) makes me feel so Japanese."
The hard part about this for me is, part of the "recipe for a japanese person" is that they dont speak english. Im not joking. My wife is Japanese, but she speaks English fluently. Except in public. On the train. When she is surrounded by Japanese people who can hear her, she suddenly couldnt speak English to save her own life.
The English teachers I work with KNOW the correct pronunciation for english words, but will talk to each other in the classroom with that same old japanese pidgin pronunciation. They do it in front of their students too. "Eh, bee, she" (A,B,C) The message is loud and clear " English is only for foreigners, we dont expect you to actually speak it"
So, I have students who have studied english for ten years or more, and they cant put together basic sentences. They cant even recite the alphabet correctly. After ten years of English....
Now, get one of them young, say 5 years old, and take them to America for a year and the will come back to Japan FLUENT in English. However, they will be stared at by every Japanese person within earshot if they speak english once they come back to Japan. Some of these "Returnee" kids, (They have to have labels of course) never get back into the Japanese group identity and have to move back to the country they stayed in. Dark sheep. their families dont speak of them very often.
This happens more than you would think. People go to America on vacation and never come back. OR they come back, pack their chit and go for good.
There is a large, well-funded and never ending anti-American propaganda campaign on TV here in Japan.
The negativity runs 24-7.
the rumor mill runs round the clock with new os the latest horros of American life.
"Did you hear the news?" "American police will shoot you if you put your hands in your jacket pocket when you are being arrested"
No joke. My wife told me that one...
They are worried now about being shot when they are being arrested. It tells you something about their minds doesnt it?
They aren't worried about criminals hurting them, they are worried about getting hurt BEING criminals...
I had one of my students tell me that it was rude to speak english in japan. She was 17 years old. That was only less disturbing than their teacher who told me " People who look different tend to be bad" (He was explaining to me why Japanese high schools have, in their school dress code, a requirement that all students must have black hair.)
I'm not joking.
I guess all of this only points to the higher mystery of Budo. How could something so wonderful be found here?. Hatsumi Sensei is a rare person, but amongst the average Japanese, he is a God-like person. That doesnt mean that the Japanese like or respect Hatsumi Sensei. 99.99% of Sokes students are WHITE.
A Japanese reporter asked Soke why that was. Soke told him " Maybe they are better at spotting quality"
You bet your ass.
Why? How? What happened to this country that the land of ninjas is so far removed from what it once was, that now the Japanese people will be happy when all the ninjas die so they can put up a pachinko parlor where the old ninja dojo once stood?
Perhaps, that's why they were ninjas. They were the rare, brilliant individuals who were smarter than the masses of Japanese humanity.
The cultural treasures of Japan are like rats off a sinking ship. The new masters are mostly gaijin. I'm talking here, with personal knowledge, of many Japanese traditional arts including music...
Its almost enough to make me want to cry for the Japanese people.
Something new I've learned about this year, something I didn't clearly understand until recently, the narcisstic personality. It's interesting to me since "narcissicim" is a term so widely misused usually to mean self-centered or vain. Turns out it represents to much more than that.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
An all-pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behaviour), need for admiration or adulation and lack of empathy, usually beginning by early adulthood and present in various contexts. Five (or more) of the following criteria must be met:
· Feels grandiose and self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents to the point of lying, demands to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements);
· Is obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, fearsome power or omnipotence, unequalled brilliance (the cerebral narcissist), bodily beauty or sexual performance (the somatic narcissist), or ideal, everlasting, all-conquering love or passion;
· Firmly convinced that he or she is unique and, being special, can only be understood by, should only be treated by, or associate with, other special or unique, or high-status people (or institutions);
· Requires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation - or, failing that, wishes to be feared and to be notorious (narcissistic supply);
· Feels entitled. Expects unreasonable or special and favourable priority treatment. Demands automatic and full compliance with his or her expectations;
· Is "interpersonally exploitative", i.e., uses others to achieve his or her own ends;
· Devoid of empathy. Is unable or unwilling to identify with or acknowledge the feelings and needs of others;
· Constantly envious of others or believes that they feel the same about him or her;
· Arrogant, haughty behaviours or attitudes coupled with rage when frustrated, contradicted, or confronted.
Summarized from:
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, text revision (DSM IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
-Malignant Self Love Narcissism Revisited
I recently found out that one of my minions quit.
You know who you are. I will hunt you down, there is no place for you to hide.
You see, minions can’t quit. Minions sign a Ninja blood oath to their Ninja master (that’s me) that lasts as long as I wish it to last. Minions can’t just quit.
My other minions have been dispatched to, well, dispatch the traitor minion. That’s what he is, a traitor.
All martial arts masters have minions of some sort, Ninja Masters, even more so. Our Minions are our students and our assistants. Without Minions we cannot truly be said to be Ninja Masters.
Once a student receives their black belt, they can elect to become a Minion, but only after they take the ancient Ninja blood oath of loyalty, and pay their tuition for three years in advance. In exchange they become the personal students of the Ninja Master and can begin to learn the master’s inner martial arts secrets. Of course no Ninja Master would actually teach a Minion everything he knows because then the Minion would be tempted to try and escape, or worse. A skilled Ninja Master will s t r e t c h out the training, for the benefit of the Minion of course.
This is the basic business plan of the Ninja.
Step #1 - Become a high-ranking Ninja
Step #2 - Become a teacher, get Minions.
Step #3 - Retain Minions through the use of a blood oath, ensure loyalty through fear and the promise of special training, have Minions pay lots of money, retire as a Ninja Master. Enjoy the fruits of the fear, respect and stardom that naturally comes from being a Ninja Master with many personal Minions.
Minions who leave without permission are the worse sort of traitors. They are evil. They are bad. Anything that makes the Ninja Master look bad is itself bad.
I have heard it said that this plan is in fact a very poor business model. Critics offer that business in modern times should be based on customer satisfaction and that dissatisfied customers are naturally free to seek out a better service provider. Customer loyalty is based purely on the quality of the service provided, nothing more. These same critics often point out that the martial arts industry is no different than other similar businesses and should be run in the same manner.
What do they know? They aren’t Ninjas. The Ninja Master/Minion relationship is an ancient and sacred bond, based on centuries of secret history and mystical magical aspects never revealed outside of the Master/Minion relationship.
Anyone criticizing the Ninja Master or his Minions is bad.
Enough talk, time to hunt down the traitor Minion.
Rev. Greg, Ninja Master