Can any significant good come out of practicing Nichiren's buddhism, or any other kind of buddhism, or any other kind of religion, for that matter? I don't mean soka-style benefit; that may be good, but it isn't significant, since it occurs uncommonly enough to be random.
Note: this entry has been posted partly for testing purposes.
I will try to explore one or two aspects.
You "people" can't fool me. I know you're all really demons or devils or whatever and just emanations of that supreme evil, Yahweh. You demonstrate it with your behavior. You want me to think how nicey nice you are, but beneath the nice, there's no kindness, no concern for others, nothing but selfishness. Why go through the motions? But then "Shakyamuni Buddha" was a fraud, too (Nichiren, on the other hand, was sincere -- sincerely crazy).
You make a big deal about how buddhism differs from christianity, but if the causes are different, why are the effects the same? Or maybe my own bias against christianity is showing here.
Shunning is your SOP, you SOB's -- and I'm addressing everybody, not just the officers of a certain club.
There. That should be a good test.
Moderators: no editing, please! Either leave it alone or delete it.
6 comments
It always amazes me that people that practice inconsistently think that the benefit they receive from their non-practice is inconsistent. Try not missing Gongyo ever, and then you'll see the benefit from practice, and it is not all material. I'm in such perfect rythym that it doesn't even rain hard on me, and I work outside everyday. It does sprinkle on me and I do get wet, but what it boils down to is purity of mind. When the mind is pure, so is the environment.
I said, "There's no kindness, no concern for others, nothing but selfishness." You prove my point.A monster is bad enough, but a robotic monster is worse.
How can you possibly interpret a lack of kindness from my comment? Am I off the mark or what? Do you do Gongyo every day without fail?When I talk about purity of the mind, that kindness and mindfulness is inclusive, but reality is also reality.
I ask myself the same questions all the time. No good answers so far.To Markp's point I do "feel" better when I make sure I recite gongyo and chant daily. Yes, I know this.Still, knowing this, I do not recite gongyo every single day without fail. I do get rained on, and hailed on, and snowed in.Some part of me sees and knows the subjective benefit of daily chanting, but there is some pain at the heart that keeps me from consistent daily practice. Is this because it feels futile, knowing that if I skip a day or two my life is subjectively going to the dogs?Or am I testing limits? I feel that I am devoted to the Lotus Sutra, I have chanted the chants. What I want to know: is the the Lotus Sutra devoted to me? I am not asking for worship or special treatment. I am asking for some glimmer to show me that all my gongyos were important, all my daimoku counted and my status as a votary of the Lotus Sutra does not depend on whether I got it together to do gongyo on any one particular day.
Several friends and I went through a period of deliberately not doing daily gongyo practice. The point was to cleanse ourselves of superstition. "If I don't chant today, something bad might happen." This is a common attitude that we all shared. It is obviously painfully superstitious as well.Skipping gongyo to get past a habit of fanatical practice and superstitious belief can be beneficial. After a period of skipping, do not beat yourself up that you do not chant as frequently as you would like to. The old saw is that chanting is like eating; when you feel natural hunger, you will eat.Many before you have struggled to find a natural rhythm of practice. Routine but not habitual. Ordinary but sacred. Robust but not fanatical. Give yourself room to experiment and find what is right for you.
It is actually the opposite that is true in regards to bad things happening. The more you chant the more your karma manifests. That's the whole point, because in order to attain enlightenment you first must overcome your karma.Stop practicing and your karma manifests at a slower pace, so SGI got that entirely wrong.I practice everyday because I like being in rythym, and having experienced life with practice then life without practice, I now choose practice and I've never been happier. I look forward to Gongyo, however, let me dispel another SGI and Shoshu misconception. Guess what? This practice can be modified to fit your life. It's not a slander to modify Gongyo to fit into your life more easily. I do a modified Gongyo everyday, in that in the am I chant for about 15 minutes and then do A,B,C. Then I read all the prayers. That gets morning Gongyo down to 25 minutes with 15 minutes of chanting. In the evening, I typically do A,C during my commute in the car. By modifying the practice you can maintain a consistent practice instead of an inconsistent practice. We are not priests and we don't have the time they do to do the full Gongyo, but when I do have the time I will probably go back to the full monty.