This is not a Gosho study, but it does address idols.
It's hard for many in the last week to not have noticed the felling of an Idol. Even people who are not sports fans have had little chance to miss the fall out at Penn State.
I'm sure that the events don't need recapping, re-hashing, raking over.
It's big - there are many issues - many people involved - much commentary - and people referred to as victims.
There are so many examples of Blogarrhoea with people explaining why they understand how certain people acted the way they did.
There are just as many with no wriggle room allowed for all concerned.
It's either The Idols were just Human and need to be understood, or the Idols have come crashing down and prove just how corrupt sports is when it gets into bed with Money. Conspiracy theorist are apoplectic with glee.
There is also a smaller amount of discussion of the children affected and how the rage and anger around the whole story can in many ways add to their victim status, and make it all so much harder. I hate to think about those who will try and turn them into Celebrity Victims for mass consumption.
So often it is being asked why were the Graven Images - The Idols - operating with their eyes wide shut? Why JoePa - why did you not pick up the phone and call the police? Why did witnesses not come forward? Why did one witness see it and walk away? The Phone - The Phone - Why did you not make the call?
What do you do when you as a Nichiren Bud get faced with this sort of challenge. Do you chant and hope for the best, look for a Gosho on how to deal with child molestation? No doubt some would seek guidance.
How do Nichiren Buds make sure they have eyes that work when you just can't believe your own eyes?
How do you make sure that Graven Images and Idols don't cause undue influence over the decisions you make, and which can affect not only your own life, but the lives of so many others.
?
28 comments
At the risk of becoming a member of the Blogarroea, having personal experience with sexual assault and abuses within my own cult of faith as opposed to the cult of sports, I see both supported buy the same issue of where the organization becomes more important than any individual within it and it is all to easy to sacrifice an individual for the sake of the supposed greater good regardless of the heinousness of the crime.
Joe, you make a key point. I have no experience with the cult of sports either. I witnessed abuses and shady behavior in my cult of faith, too.There were people who stepped forward and complained. It was usually the complainer, however, who was reprimanded or marginalized.People said, "If only Sensei knew what was happening, he would do something about it." People wrote letters to Sensei. People chanted and prayed their hearts out that Sensei would "do" something. People had a childlike belief that "daddy" would step in and set things right. But "daddy" knew of the abuses, and "daddy" did nothing. Just as Paterno did nothing.The people I'm referring to in my cult of faith were full-grown adults who should have known better. Many did finally take what remained of their dignity and self-respect, and left the cult.The victims in the Penn State case were children with no one to advocate for them. Truly disturbing that they were failed by "daddy."
In the Penn State case, its not a question of seeing - the problem is that too many people saw, and did nothing.At the risk of offending someone, somewhere, or cheapening the Penn State tragedy, or demeaning the subjects I am about to raise...I think you can see the same question at work in the choice between the practices of shoju and shakubuku. In the former, one might discern wrongs, but one does not confront them directly, choosing to instead edify by example. In the latter, one sees wrongs and undertakes to confront them directly. Nichiren counseled not to choose one exclusively over the other, but to adapt to the circumstances.Is this a question of threshold? Or cost/benefit?We live in a world of grays, and we can't possibly fight every wrong we see. We have to pick our battles. I would hope that if you saw a man raping a 10 year old boy, you'd say something, put your neck out, job be damned, to make sure it was stopped. What about lesser wrongs?Is the question one of threshold, in which case, if one sees a certain class of wrong, one is compelled to act, or cost/benefit, in which case, one always balances the cost of acting against the benefit?At least for Nichiren, given the time (Mappo) there was a class of wrongs (slander of the Lotus Sutra) which categorically demanded corrective action. Within that framework, a lot of things we might consider "wrong" might be tolerated - ie. being a samurai and having to kill people for your vocation. So long as one kept faith and honored the rules of society, one could hope for amelioration of karmic retribution. I don't think Nichiren ever asserted absolution, though. Or did he?
James Howard Kunstler's blistering opinion:
He kinda has a point, you know.I'm wondering where Nichiren would advocate such self criticism and flagellation?From the quotation it would seem that some wish to link Child Sexual abuse to Earthquakes and Tsunamis! - or maybe in a modern setting Climate Change and Economics?
Well, Nichiren did attribute famine and impending Mongol invasion to Japan's turning away from the values of the Lotus Sutra.Gee, will the horrific Penn State abuse scandal cause an actual earthquake? Seems unlikely.It should cause a moral earthquake, as Kunstler suggests, shaking collegiate sports and our culture of "fake warriorship" to the very foundation.Will it? Somehow, I doubt it. I just read that the judge in the case volunteered at the charity that was used as a cover for child sexual abuse. What are the chances that justice will be done?
... that there is a great deal being mixed up here and thrown into the melting pot.As I see it the central issue is the failure to deal with the sexual abuse of kids - and sport is a rather minor side issue - as is PSU as an institution. I've been battling all week with various groups who want to bring in everything from How a "S"ertain person is proof that all Homosexuals are child molesters and need to be jailed - to what is the correct way to turn Sandusky into a verb! I have even read of on recipe for a cake related to the whole mess. Free speech aint always what it's cracked up to be! P^) My original question was:"How do Nichiren Buds make sure they have eyes that work when you just can't believe your own eyes?How do you make sure that Graven Images and Idols don't cause undue influence over the decisions you make, and which can affect not only your own life, but the lives of so many others?"
I don't believe you can divorce your questions from the fact that institutions exercise powerful influence over individual choices. For example, why do good cops turn a blind eye to bad cops? To get along, to not break the code of silence. It's part of the institutional norm in the military, on sports teams, in religious groups, etc. How can nichiren buddhists avoid succumbing to institutional pressure? Maybe it would help if every last one of us ditched cultic organizations and mindsets. What answers do you propose regarding your own question?also, i think if penn state had had a losing football program, people would not have been as keen to cover up the crimes. That says something about college athletics.
Before answering me own questions, I'm wondering where Nichiren - or the Entirety Of Buddhism for that matter - promotes "cultic organizations and mindsets"?I agree with your inference that they exist and are clearly an issue - but why have they ended up on Nichiren Buddhism in the first place?
What do you mean -
I'm still confused - you brought this question up in the context of the Penn State matter. Best I can gather from reading the indictment, McQueary and the janitor had no questions about what they saw. The questions that are coming up are what responsibility does a person have to report sex abuse of a child and what is the nature of one's culpability when they don't act adequately. There might be deeper questions about society like in the article Brooke cited, but I don't think there was anything about people not believing what they saw.I don't think you're questioning the nature of the eye faculty, eye consciousness, and all that minutiae breaking down the nature of moment to moment experience, and whether it is reliable or not, either. What do you mean in your second question about Graven Images and Idols? These are problems in the Abrahamic religious traditions that have more to say about their ideas about the Divine and mundane than problems with autonomy in the Buddhist context. I gather your question is something more along the lines of "How does one avoid losing the independence to judge and take actions to external authorities, especially artificial ones?I suppose you just avoid it. You do your best to cultivate an independent mind. If you do what the good books tell you, you cultivate mindfulness, compassion, vigor, etc. But then, that's an authority telling you what to do. F That.Cue the Rage Against the Machine. http://youtu.be/8de2W3rtZsAP^)I believe that the full question was:"How do Nichiren Buds make sure they have eyes that work when you just can't believe your own eyes?"I believe that the context and subject framed was with reference to Nichiren Buddhism - and The Penn State debacle was but a lesser vehicle to carry the main issue. P^)It's my question! I know what I asked! P^)I find it interesting that even direct questions get re-framed!
I think the assumption of your question is a stretch. Maybe we first have some questions with definition, but there are non-"cultic" Nichiren groups. Most, especially outside Japan, just don't hear about them because they don't make much effort at outreach. I can count the Nichiren groups that make serious efforts at outreach on one hand - SG, NShoshu, NShu, RKK, and that's about it. There's some guys on the net flying the Hokke Kempon flag, but I would not characterize them as an organized effort on the part of the HK establishment.In any event, some things to consider on the subject--the Treasure of the Sangha and the Vinaya rules governing it. Remarkably corporate for a set of rules composed before the Common Era.-Buddhist devotional literature, especially Tathagatagarbha Mahayana strains of thought.-the treatment of the Sangha under Japanese laws dating back to the 7th century.-the nature of Kamakura Buddhism.-the Kyoto Nichiren community and the emergence of the Fuju Fuse movement in the Warring States to Tokugawa periods.-the subjugation of Buddhism under state control during the Tokugawa period and the revenue models available to ecclesiastical institutions.-the militarization of Japan from the Meiji period through 1945.
Post WW2 Japanese society and the emergence of shin-shukyo.Not an exhaustive list of subjects to consider. Libraries could be filled on the subject.I will stipulate that I can't read your mind.Read the question again - grammatically, on its face, the question is confusing - The subject of the question is "Nichiren Buds". How do "they" make sure "they" have eyes that work, when "you" - "just can't believe your own eyes".Are you, the questioner, telling me that I can't believe my own eyes? I don't think I agree with that premise. In any event, what does my ability to believe my own eyes have any bearing on how Nichiren Buds make sure they have eyes that work.In the context of Penn State, its even more confusing.Just looking for some clarification. Please give me a heads up if you're just playing "guess what I'm thinking."
Joe - I can't disagree with the sentiments you have expressed. I think far too many have tales of woe to support your view. Evidence is Evidence after all. Some will no doubt wish to brush it all off with reference to karma - but that is a whole different debate - and game of excuses. So I'll make it easier- as in "What Would Nichiren Do?".God - I feel so Betty Bowers! - http://www.bettybowers.com/Let's face it, the culture and world we all live in is very different to 700 years ago in feudal Japan.Either there is Universal Truth in Nichiren Buddhism that fits with and articulates our world, and how we live and act, or it's all a sham.So, lets put Nichiren in down town PSU circa 2002 - and lets make him a sports coach - in a locker room - and hearing and the seeing things!Lets also remove the 700 year difference and he ain't even Japanese any more - he's a 20 something all American Boy making his career in sports.But then again - even if he was a Japanese 700+ year old monk - what would Nichiren Do? What would Nichiren have done if he found Shijo Kingo at it with a child?I have to say, that in so many ways, I'm "Offended" by what was allowed to happen! It just offends me as a Human.So OK - tell me to go chant about it - it's just me being a un-reconstructed male in the wrong millennium - It's my Karma - and I need to change me to change the world - for Kosen Rufu!But before I fall to me knees and chant like never before - tell me - what would Nichiren Have Done?
This is getting tedious, ten2one. Why do people do crappy things? Why do people let other people get away with doing crappy things? Why are nichiren buddhists sometimes the doers or apologists of crappy things?Beacause human beings are awash in the three poisons of greed, anger, and stupidity. Because human beings inhabit the ten worlds, and not all those worlds are characterized by good citizenship.Got a better answer?How can we maintain our ability to perceive right from wrong and behave accordingly? We develop a conscience. We live lives directed and informed by conscience. Nichiren didn't have much to say about developing a conscience. Or did he?
I think that looking at words is confusing the issue. Words are often a bad way to communicate. So lets make it simple. Forgive me if I am not fully acquainted with all folks here on Buddha Jones. I have a way with words that can get in the way! I have in the past been a BuddhaJones frequent flyer (admittedly using a different passport) - but then my travel privileges got reduced. Now I'm back, I'm still getting re-acquainted with my fellow passengers flying BJ airways - and wondering when Auntie will be coming around with the Drinks Trolly ! ... and where is Beryl? So let me make it simple - on a human level - and very direct!There you are - you see a child in a shower and something that is more than ??????? - you are a Nichiren Buddhist - very devout and sincere - and you do what?Maybe I'm looking for a simple answer in a complex situation?Or maybe I'm looking for some clarity that removes complexity and just makes good old plain common sense?Does that make me a bad Buddhist?
Unfortunately, I don't think having a losing program would have had much of an impact... There's just too much money involved in college football, especially at a place like Penn State. College ball has been having all kinds of problems for the last few years - Florida, Miami, USC, Ohio State, etc. nothing like this child molestation thing, but enough to show the world what kind of money is involved. Sadly - there's not much - whether college kids with broken necks and disfigured bodies or loss of ethics and morality - that is as valuable as a big time division 1 football program.After the NCAA gets through with Penn State, Penn State will hire a new coach to "redeem" the program and the school. The coach will have a recruiting budget from the school and D-1 athletic scholarships to give out. Boosters will make sure Penn State looks good to promising high school athletes. And here is why it won't stop: the school counts on the football program for the revenues - TV contracts and the Alumni support encouraged by a successful program - to fund academic programs that might otherwise get cut because of budget constraints.Football, directly or indirectly, pays for the seminar on 19th Century American Literature. And that's why these people running these schools can't just shut down the athletic programs no matter how problematic they are.
what does it matter, ten? We can't know what nichiren would have done. We can only speculate. He never urged his followers to emulate him as some paragon of virtuous behavior. That's a different religion you're thinking of. The one with the jesus. Nichiren pointed us to the lotus sutra, not to himself.What matters is what would YOU do.So what would you do?
So it's just ten worlds - three poisons - and should I add eight winds to that as well? Does that mean that Eyes Wide Shut is the way to go?It seems that many questions are being thrown about, which often does not further debate or dialogue.Yes - it is a known tool in many dialectic methodologies - but sometimes the questions just get in the way! Mea Culpa!
Its a winning program because the school needs it to be a winning program. Its part of the Penn State business model. If it was a smaller program, it would probably be a losing program, because less money - ie. less pressure to keep the enterprise rolling... off topic... and that's that on that.
... this gets more like a Zen Koan master class by the minute! Does anyone know where my tail is? I think it will be easier to just start eating it!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11...i'd like to think i would have decked that man and saved the kid in the shower, then returned to stomp him down the drain.i'd like to think my buddhist practice would save me from my brutal tendencies.what would i have done?
In the article I cited above, David Brooks refers to certain psychological phenomena where individuals fail to act/react in the face of horrendous acts. Normalcy Bias, Motivated Blindness and Bystander Effect are referred to.Brooks proposes that in the good old days we had moral systems that guided us, gave us protocols on how to act in situations. I tend to agree with his overall premise. I believe that it is a tragedy that we no longer have a universal morality, and worse, we seem to have accepted a deep moral relativism which in the end may just be the institutionalization of the tendency observed by some researchers Brooks quoted - "When it comes time to make a decision, our thoughts are dominated by thoughts of how we want to behave; thoughts of how we should behave disappear." Does Nichiren practice provide a framework and protocols of action that can help us live a moral or ethical code? More specifically, would Nichiren practice enable, or rather compel, us to action in the face of an atrocity? How about just a minor evil? I think this gets at Ten2Ones's question even as its not his exact words.I'm not sure. The first problem is that even as we all nominally practice Nichiren Buddhism, I'm not sure we practice the same path. This makes our conversation difficult. We are generally independents here, and the last thing we seem to tolerate is any suggestion that there is a way that Buddhism ought to be practiced if its at variance with what we already assume to be the "right" way to practice. Tentatively, in light of this lack of uniformity, I would have to answer that Nichiren Buddhism does not provide the protocols to deal with child rape before our eyes. There may be ways to practice that are useful in making us the idealized adults we would like to be, but I don't think we can say that this is a standard feature of Nichiren practice until we agree that there is a certain way that it ought to be practiced.
Interesting discussion. As I understand Nichiren Buddhism, it requires practitioners to do three things to embrace the Lotus Sutra:1. Take refuge in and uphold the Gohonzon.2. Take refuge in and uphold the daimoku.3. Recognize that everywhere you are is the kaidan, or place of practice.IMO, Nichiren gives little advice on how to build or maintain a religious community. In one gosho, he says that believers should transcend all differences among themselves. This is often interpreted as a "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" dictum, and I don't think the Nichiren community is better for interpreting it in this way.In other letters, Nichiren makes it clear that a believer's loyalty should be to the Lotus Sutra, not to communities or to individual people. If one has to reject one's parents, spouse, and children to maintain faith, so be it. Nichiren counsels Shijo Kingo against making waves with his lord and his peers. Nichiren counsels a "go along to get along" approach.Nichiren himself was a thorn in the side of religious and political leaders of his day, so he obviously didn't take his own advice about going along to get along.I've said before that I'm becoming involved with Unitarian Universalism. I love that it's a covenant-based community. Instead of insisting on conformity to doctrines or religious beliefs, UUs agree to agree on a basic set of principles regarding how individuals in their community will relate to and support one another, and how they will relate to spiritual and religious teachings from various traditions. It's a constructive approach, IMO -- and I find it refreshingly sensible and uplifting after being involved in the discordant Nichiren community for so many years. Maybe I will write more on this later.My main point is that Nichiren didn't give much practical advice for living one's life. The three dharmas that he defined (gohonzon, daimoku, kaidan) are practical (IMO) and applicable in my life -- although not in the same way as a series of "Thou shalt nots."I feel that as long as I embrace the 3 dharmas, I am a Nichiren Buddhist. But you probably have a contrary opinion.
This reminds me of a simply issue. Nichiren was a Monk! It's such a simple fact that many do not consider it's complexity and significance. He was inculcated with a whole set of precepts, instructions or orders as a monk that come from the pantheon of Buddhism as he knew it in his day.Would the Big N have thought it necessary to restate those to every person he wrote to in personal correspondence? Here's a letter my dear and excellent Shijo Kingo - sorry to restate some basics each time a write - just skip the first 800 pages - you will find what I want to say to you in Italics with multiple cross references. Do haver fellow followers read it too - we must get the word out there! I think not!The view of some Nichiren Buds that all they need is in the Gosho is very wrong headed. Nichiren quoted very freely from other Sutras, so evidently he saw some connection between them and what he was teaching. He did not limit himself to just the Lotus Sutra, something which is evident. I have often asked people if Nichiren was a wise man, a fanatic, a fool? The answers vary widely! Nichiren was apparently unhappy with New Land Buddhist conception, which abandoned precepts and focused upon just chanting Namu Amida Buttsu. If Nichiren's intent was to just change one chant for another, is that not just like changing one sports team affiliation for another - and having a different uniform and alma mater?Odd how celibacy was the norm for Nichiren Priests, until a government decree centuries after his death - and yet I am unaware of any Gosho that tells such people to not use their John Thomas! It would seem that Nichiren did have precepts - but they have been lost due to much silliness and narrow mindedness. I also fear that it leads to madness and worse.
Hate to write these tl;dr posts, but you raise some good points.I agree with your point about the Sandaihiho - if there is anything we can point to as precepts that qualifies one as a Nichiren Buddhist, following those is about as good as anything. And I generally agree that based on the records we have, Nichiren didn't say much about the community of believers. I think 1021 has a point though that just because we don't have such records, can we conclude that it was not on his mind or something he considered important. I'd say the content and volume of letters he wrote to believers about mundane things suggests he was very concerned about his community of supporters, not to mention his decision to retire to Minobu and focus on teaching his disciples.One thing about Nichiren that impresses me is that he was a reformer in the classic sense. He was not an iconoclastic revolutionary looking to overthrow the whole order. He apparently observed the precepts, even as he criticized stubborn attachment to them. His critique of the Buddhist establishment, while broadly directed, was focused on one single point - the failure to place the Lotus Sutra as the organizing principle for all Buddhism and society. Nichiren seemed to be OK with pretty much everything, except this point.As far as practical advice - I disagree that he didn't offer much. There is speculation that the true story of him getting chased from Seichoji on his return from the capitol region was not solely because of his announcement of the daimoku and criticism of the nembutsu, but because he was advocating on behalf of the widow of the imperially designated local steward against the local war lord sanctioned by the Kamakura government in a land dispute. You bring up Shijo Kingo - his advice to stay home when drinking is about as practical as it gets. I'm not sure Nichiren counseled go along to get along - I recall that Nichiren counseled Kingo to stick by his guns in upholding the LS even if that means losing his fiefs. I suppose that counsel can be characterized in a number of ways.I think its interesting that you've found fellowship with the UUs. I'd be interested to hear more about your experiences there. I don't know if your last line is directed at me - but to be clear, I have no opinion, just curiosity. I definitely think that Nichiren had a very clear idea about what he taught but that does not define his legacy and what it means for people who put his ideas into practice in their lives. Being a Nichiren Buddhist is subjective in many respects.