So here is my somewhat pseudo-xenophobic rant about how I don't care what goes on in Tokyo. Recently on the boards I have seen people getting their undies in a bunch over what SGI's Komeito is up to, or what traditional practices the Nichiren Shu does or does not uphold with various people urging others to remonstrate with or quit whatever school of Nichiren Buddhism they belong to on the grounds that their parent body in Japan is up to no good. This strikes me as every bit as absurd as those who believe we need to look to the parent bodies in Tokyo before we sneeze or walk out the door in the morning. Both of these views are opposite extremes that share one huge fallacy from my point of view: That Americans should be responsible to and/or responsible for what people do in other countries.

Now I am not an isolationist or a xenophobe, Brahma knows. But there is a good reason that we celebrate the Declaration of Independence. It is because the founding fathers were bright enough to realize that people in other countries should not be calling the shots for those who live here. Likewise, the traditional (but I believe unwarranted) suspicion in this country of having a Catholic president is rooted in the fear that an American Catholic president would take his (or her!) cues from the Vatican. So with all that - why do American Nichiren Buddhists believe that the form of Buddhism we create here in the U.S. must somehow be controlled by Tokyo and/or responsible for how Buddhists in Japan conduct themselves? It is either a slave mentality that makes Americans want to serve someone in another country, or it is the same kind of arrogance that convinces us we need to police the world which makes us want to tell the Japanese how they should conduct Buddhism in their own country - and that includes the interplay between Buddhism and politics.

I have a motto - what works in Japan will not work here, and it doesn't work very well in Japan either. My wife is from Japan and she actually agrees with me on that - esp. when it comes to religion and education (she has a doctorate in Education). What is even more interesting than the fact that my wife agrees with my motto (at least in some applications), but the Nichiren Shu ministers who have supported me and the other American novices (now ministers) tend to agree as well. They didn't say "Oh we agree with your motto," but many of the things they have said actually proves my point. So as a couple of for instances, very early on we American novices were told that we ourselves would have to create an American form of Buddhism. The Japanese ministers told us that they were entrusting us to do it because it is our culture and we understand its needs, values, and sensibilities. Now they taught us the traditional Japanese way of doing things, but they clearly wanted us to discern how that should apply here. There was never any question of just imposing the Japanese style in the U.S. Another for instance was when we were in Japan at Shingyo Dojo. The teachers railed against the ruts that Japanese Buddhism had fallen into since the Edo period (Tokugawa Shogunate) and several times pointed to us as those who were going to create a new and fresh way of teaching and practicing Buddhism. So there was the acknowledgement that things need to be done differently both abroad and in Japan as well.

So the way I see it, the job of Americans is not to mimic the Japanese or kowtow to Tokyo, or ask them if it is alright every time we want to sneeze. Rather, the job of Americans (and I really should say all Buddhists everywhere) is to create a viable form of Buddhism which maintains the integrity of the Dharma while making it relevant to the needs, values, and culture of the local people. The Japanese in turn will have to take responsibility for reforming their own Buddhism, as they themselves know best what is needed in their own culture (thank you very much). The last things I want to see is Japanese telling others what to do, or others presuming to tell the Japanese what to do.

My model for all this is Saicho (aka Dengyo Daishi) who studied Tendai in Japan, but then went to China to meet with T'ien-t'ai teachers face to face and to receive authorization to form a Tendai school in Japan. He was entrusted with the Dharma by his teachers there and then returned to Japan and founded the Tendai school at Mt. Hiei. His successors did return to China to learn more (and Nichiren argued that this was not necessarily a good thing), but the Chinese T'ien-t'ai school never tried to control or direct the Japanese Tendai school - or vice versa. During Japan's imperialistic control of Korea and Manchuria the Japanese Buddhists did presume to reform the corrupt and moribund Buddhism of Korea, but that did not work out at all and in many ways the positive reforms the Japanese were suggesting were rejected out of hand after the Japanese lost their empire simply because the reforms were imposed by Japan and not because the reforms lacked merit. One must trust people to work things out for themselves. That is part of being wise and compassionate and not just showing idealistic idiot compassion (not to mention condescending self-righteous paternalism).

Now there is a kind of caveat to all this. The Sangha does not have national borders, or rather it should not have. We do need to care about one another, help each other, and every now and then critique each other as good friends will. But this does not mean judging each other (esp. when one is not living in the others shoes or zori and does not have all the facts and relevant knowledge of the cultural values and traditions). It does mean entering into respectful dialogue and suspending judgement but asking the hard questions that those within a situation may be unable to ask. Even more than that, I think it means setting good examples for each other - lighting candles rather than cursing the darkness.

So I look to Tokyo and feel gratitude to those who have helped me there (and elsewhere in Japan) and if there are things I can do for them which are helpful and reasonable then I will. But I do not feel that they can or should be responsible for how Buddhism develops in the US, or Latin America, or Europe or elsewhere. Those they have trained and entrusted to teach the Dharma will take that responsibility. Likewise, I do not feel that it is my place to presume to be responsible for how they do things. I will trust that they understand their culture and its needs better than I do (imagine that!). Now if the Sangha I belong to adopts policies, doctrines, or practices as whole which I can not be associated with, then I will speak out and perhaps even reconsider my affiliation. But that has not happened. I extend the same courtesy to those in rival Nichiren schools or groups - I only hold them responsible for their groups or schools universal policies, teachings, and practices, and for the actions of their local groups - not for how Buddhism may or may not work in other countries. I think we all have quite enough to do thinking globally and acting locally without attempting to also control the globe to fit in with our own sensibilities and knee-jerk reactions.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei