*An important note added on 2/14/04 - I incorrectly state in the following blog that the sokagakkaiinternational@yahoogroups.com list, which I openly criticize, does not have published guidlines regarding moderation critieria - apparently it in fact DOES have said guidelines. Also I must mention that this list is not an official SGI sponsored list. Not sure why that's important to have to say, but it's been said. Why am I adding this to an already written blog? Because it was suggested that my evil anti-censorship rant should be removed (censored) from even THIS forum. Censorship is not something that just happens, it is in fact a function of human life, a nasty tumor that grows and regrows after ever surgical removal. Of course if anyone has anything to say about me, they are more than welcome to say it to me. antizen@ultimanet.com *

The first and original Nichiren Buddhist discussion list (I dont even know what to call them these days) was started back in the early 90s by Bill Norton, then Palo Alto California SGI vice territory chief and Sun Microsystems minion. He set up zadankai originally as a daily guidance list going out to other Sun Micro SGI members. He didnt intend for the original alias to be used for discussion so after a while he built a separate list which he named zadankai, with the original list continuing on as daily guidance. The first zadankai was zadankai@nirvana.sun.com . A few short years after its inception zadankai was handed over to yet another minion where it was maintained faithfully throughout the 90s. It was eventually transferred to egroups.com which then became yahoogroups.com.

Zadankai has had its ups and down. There have been stormy periods which have weathered disgruntled members who have used and abused zadankai to vent their own negativity. Around 1998/99 zadankai was infiltrated by non-SGI spies who began cross-posting SGI members posts to use as fodder for the SGI/temple wars. Many other lists developed, some being the direct efforts of those who found fault with zadankai, yet their own list efforts were mostly short-lived and lay unused today like beached dead rotting whales on a polluted coastal shore with their most recent posts dating back years.

Theres a reason for this. Its the same reason zadankai survives on, rotating participants, sometimes seeing members filtering back after fighting it out on other lists. The reason is moderation. All other lists are moderated. Zadankai has never been moderated. It is an open list which supports open dialog.

Moderation is merely a comfortable word for censorship, nothing more.

Many discussion lists on the web are moderated for good reason. Nancy Thomsen, long-time SGI leader and business owner in Salinas subscribes to a print shop owners list. The purpose of this list is very specific. If someone posts something completely off-topic the moderator will usually send them a reminder asking them to get back on topic. Even this list doesnt censor however.

How strange was it to find that the Nichiren Buddhist list, SokaGakkaiInternation@yahoogroups.com is not only moderated, but posts deemed inappropriate are just removed without warning or notice? I had this happen recently, to my shock and surprise. This list, populated by members of SGI and other Nichiren groups, a religious philosophy practically built on the principle of dialog , is moderated by a handful of individuals who, following no published guidelines on what is appropriate or not, routinely removes posts silently, without notice to the author.

When did this become an all right thing to do? When did censorship become an acceptable behavior in the Soka Gakkai? I wonder that the very existence of the moderated option offered upon setting up these groups somehow deluded the creator of SokaGakkaiInternational into thinking it was an acceptable behavior to censor individual posts in accordance to his personal judgment.

My sense is that as in many things in religion we allow ourselves to don the uniform of some alternate reality, casting aside principles that we previously would not have questioned, in ourselves or others. Once adorned with the robes of religion we naturally become or own worst enemies, free from common sense and reason. We allow our faith to recreate us in an image that doesnt really exist and is instead our own twisted and assumed creation.

Zadankai continues on to this day. Neither moderated nor censored yet still restricted to SGI members only by vote from its current members. Zadankais membership has swelled in past years to the staggering membership of 120 plus members, while at other times dipping below 90. SokaGakkaiInternational on the other hand has literally hundreds of members. Many members of zadankai are also subscribed to SokaGakkaiInternational and have less energy on the subject. Thats ok with me, everyone has their cross to bear.

In the end however censorship is censorship. While its not so big a thing to have an occasional combative post quietly erased offline (yes, I can be somewhat combative) I do believe it is so big a thing that there are these handful of censors who have allowed themselves to think that moderation is something different than censoring, and that these censors may also hold leadership positions in SGI. Remember, doing something in the name of the greater good of the community is a concept that knows no limit, including genocide and holocaust. Exaggerated? History would disagree. Morals and ethics evolve within a specific society of people - principles never change.

Think dammitt. The rules dont change just because we choose to go Buddhist trick-or-treating in our new Buddha-suits. Lifes basic rules, as well as common sense and reason remain intact, regardless of what some may think.

At least so it is on zadankai.

Rev. Greg Dilley, shidoshi