Kathy Ruby, a longtime SGI-USA member in the Washington DC area, was kind enough to answer a few questions from site editor Lisa Jones.

LJ: First, a little bit about you: Many members know you from your online efforts over the years to refute Nichiren Shoshu and defend SGI. You and your husband Terry also have a website featuring faith experiences by SGI members. What inspires you to make the efforts that you make online?

KR: We actually have several websites -- you can see them listed at www.gakkaionline.net dead link. But the Gakkai Experiences site (of which Terry is the moving force) is my favorite. I've read (and edited) all the experiences at least once, but they never fail to move me.

Building websites has become my favorite obsession. It sticks me deep in the world of Absorption, with touches of Bodhisattva. Big fun!

Why are Terry and I active online? The efforts I make online seem right to me, especially when I view my options through the viewpoint of the Gosho. I've never heard of Nichiren Daishonin failing to speak out for what he knew was right. So I'm just taking the Daishonin seriously and speaking out.

IMO, standing up to the detractors of this Buddhism is a terrific opportunity. For years, I went to study meetings and didn't get much out of them - Nichiren's life seemed kind of academic to me. I couldn't imagine having the chance to live as he did, to be persecuted, and stand up for what's right. Now, since the split with the temple, the opportunity is there to do the right thing. You have to seize that chance, because it doesn't happen that often. What if your crucial moment came and you weren't prepared?

LJ: Do you feel that you've accomplished what you set out to do?

KR: I'm still trying, believe me. I don't do as much online refutation as I used to - it's hard to find the time anymore, because it's a very research-oriented, intensive activity. In order to consolidate my resources, I built the Temple Issue Resources website at http://www.gakkaionline.net/TIResources/ dead link. Someone can go there, click on a topic, and find refutation material. It's still very much under construction. I am working now to get more scans of original material from Japan.

I guess if I had accomplished all I set out to do, I could just retire. But I'm not there yet.

LJ: What advice do you have for SGI members who are finding info about Buddhism online?

KR: In some ways, the Internet is like anyplace else: you have to be cautious and ask yourself what are the agendas of the people you run into. You can't see their faces, so you have no visual cues to go along with their words.

Secondly, there are lots of different Buddhist groups; there are, in effect, a lot of different roads to Buddhahood. Some of these routes will take you on long journeys off the beaten path; others will take you on an expressway. Keep that in mind when you encounter other sects. I am loath to discourage someone from examining other faiths. Just be an educated consumer. That's what Josei Toda said: Try all the religions you want but be sure to try this one.

The Internet is a much more SGI-friendly place than it was when I first got online in 1995. I can remember using a search engine to find info on SGI and finding very little truthful or positive stuff.

LJ: Other members know you as one of the most vocal opponents of IRG dead link. Some people say that they never would have heard about IRG if you hadn't written an experience about it that appeared in SGI-USA's Justice Chronicle e-mailer. Why do you feel that it's important to refute the organized "Reform SGI" movement?

KR: I have observed the various incarnations of the "reform SGI" groups for the past few years. The development has been fascinating and tragic, as well.

Briefly, everybody has problems with the SGI organization -- as Americans we're programmed to dislike organizations. But the so-called reformers place the blame on shoulders of unspecified SGI leaders and staff members and call upon them to make changes so the organization will improve. This is a backward approach and places the average member in the role of victim.

The place to make changes is in yourself, then in your group and your district. Otherwise, you are saying, in effect, that other people have control over you. That is not Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. After all, President Toda attained enlightenment while he was imprisoned. Buddhists are people who control their own lives, no matter what the obstacles, no matter what the situation. No matter what.

People who have associated themselves with IRG, and its newer versions, develop this sense of victimhood, of being controlled by other people. In time, they come to believe that chanting is just a thing that they do, not a way to overcome obstacles, not a dynamic part of life. From this point, it is not much of a leap into the empty formality of Nichiren Shu or other forms of funeral Buddhism. I have seen this pattern of hopelessness emerge again and again among the so-called reformers.

I have posted some of things I've written about IRG and the subsequent "SGI Reform" group on a new website: http://www.gakkaionline.net/KRuby/essays.html dead link.

SGI is a radical organization. Most of the experiences and realizations I've had with SGI can't be put in words. Here's an analogy (stolen from Kurt Vonnegut) that begins to explain it: Suppose there was a place where all the different kinds of truths fit together. Say there were a thousand people, all with radically different opinions. Even though they agree on practically nothing, as practitioners of Buddhism in SGI, they can practice together in harmony. Their chanting together is harmonious and they can work together to hold encouraging meetings and introduce others to Buddhism. Logically, I can't really explain how it works, but I've seen it in action many, many times.

The closest English words for it might be "common ground." SGI members have a common basis for very deep communication and understanding.

But when you are online and read the IRG message board, you start to dissect the organization and you lose that commonality. Your communication becomes solely cerebral, not from the heart. It all reduces down to "My district chief is a jerk." Well, of course, he's a jerk. But that need not affect your practice. It need not affect the organization either, except to note that SGI is big enough to include jerks as well as cool people like you.

LJ: Do you feel that the IRG has been successfully refuted?

KR: IRG is basically dead. Most of those folks moved onto SGI Reform - which is also basically dead now. Most of the message board action is with the new NSA board, which at least is honest enough to say it's not associated with SGI.

LJ: Some former SGI members recently formed NSA, an "independent Nichiren sangha" -- what are your thoughts on this?

KR: I'm working on a response to NSA. It should be posted on that essays site soon. Basically, I'm amazed at the brief period of time it took to get them talking about statues and where to purchase them (less than a month). It's like you leave the SGI, so it's time to start changing your basic practice. Cause and effect is truly profound.

LJ: I know that you are a proponent of the "big tent" idea of SGI, where there is room in the organization for all kinds of people and views. Do you feel that the SGI leadership is failing to maintain a big tent?

KR: I feel that SGI-USA is a big tent, but it is the responsibility of all of us to make sure that it stays a big tent and becomes a bigger tent.

Here's an example: In my area, we had one of the first same-sex weddings about 10 years ago. We have long-time leaders who are gay. Now, if the gay SGIers were to stop being active and stop attending meetings, then no amount of open-mindedness by the heteros will maintain an authentically gay-friendly atmosphere. You gotta be involved -- that's essential.

Another point: "Diversity" does not simply mean differences along racial, ethnic, and sexual preference lines. That is way too simple. Diversity means openheartedly accepting people with different opinions than ours. For every person who thinks SGI should take certain political stands, there's a person who thinks we shouldn't take any political stands - or that we should take the opposite stand! That's why the SGI organization is always going to have critics among its members. The key thing is not to let these differences keep us from practicing joyfully together.

LJ: Do you feel that "independent practitioners" have been duped in some way by people who wish to destroy the SGI?

KR: There is no question that there are individuals and groups that wish to destroy the SGI. Representatives from these anti-SGI groups actively participate in the so-called SGI reform forums and their interest is definitely not to create a new and improved SGI. Weak, new, uninformed, or complaining SGI members are easy prey to these spiritual predators, who regard each new "independent" as a blow against the SGI. After going independent, it's not much of a leap into empty formality.

Just chanting is not all there is; there's more to it. What is the intent of one's actions? As Nichiren Daishonin writes: "However, there is a difference if one chants the daimoku while acting against the intent of this sutra."

And: "The real meaning of Shakyamuni Buddha's appearance in this world lay in his behavior as a human being."

Nichiren Daishonin left us Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and the Gohonzon -- it's obvious to me that he is the Buddha of the Age of Mappo -- so how did he behave? That's the key; the Gosho shows us his behavior as a human being. We have to keep our intent and our behavior in the forefront as we examine how and with whom to practice.

LJ: Do you feel that the SGI is splintering -- and is this a good or bad thing?

KR: Well, SGI is intact -- it's people who are splintering off. It's an interesting thing because practicing alone is mostly a Western idea. You would practically never see members in Hong Kong or Japan doing this, because they understand and appreciate the value of the sangha. I find that, without outside stimulus, we may become stale and simply recycle our own old ideas. Hearing others' POV is critical to be able to better understand, challenge, refine, and adapt what we believe.

LJ: Do you think that the SGI has been effective in using the Internet as a tool for supporting people who practice Nichiren Buddhism?

KR: No. Those of us involved in online efforts have had no help from the organization. Maybe from a few individual staff members, but never from the organization itself. Not even when we asked for it. SGI-USA has shown a real cluelessness about the Internet, its importance, its relevance, its power.

But that is improving now -- the redesigned SGI-USA website is an example. While I have issues with how the site is organized and its overall design, it does have an audio file of Gongyo, it has the searchable Gosho, and it even has children's activities. It's a lot better.