Hello, my dear Pawn.

A Pawn is a person used to advance another's purposes. A tool. A hostage.

We are all the Pawns of authority.

Let me give you an example. Let's say that some badass fool in your neighborhood is victimizing a person who is weaker. You can't do anything about it except call the police. Or maybe send your brother who is a bigger badass to whack some sense into the first badass. The point is that you have to bring in an authority that is bigger and stronger than the perpetrator in order to stop the victimization. This is how it's done. This is common sense.

But what do we do if the police (or the bigger badasses) abuse their authority? We appeal to a higher authority of the courts. And what if the courts and the politicians and the entire power apparatus and entire social structure are unjust? We appeal to the authority of God, or a higher power or the power of the masses, say in an election. The biggest number wins -- sometimes. We are emotionally geared to fight authority with greater authority.

And yet the weak are still victimized by those who are bigger and stronger. Vicitmization continues and yet we continue to place our faith in external authority. This is why we are Pawns.

Without Pawns, authority has no power. Without Pawns, authority would be washed away by the rain of equality, the rain that nourishes all lives equally and individually. This is the rain described in the Lotus Sutra. It is the rain of the Mystic Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. It is not an authority that is imposed on people -- it is the very fluid of life.

A Buddhist is the opposite of a Pawn. A Buddhist knows that there is no external authority, no higher power, to appeal to or to appease. A Buddhist knows that the only way to change the world is to change his or her own heart/mind. When one person can see that he or she is inseparable from and equal with all, it's is like a nuclear reaction that triggers a chain of similar reactions in that person's surroundings.

It all comes down to one person. That person is you. You have everything you need -- right this moment -- to change the world for the better. Not through coercion or violence or even force of argument. You change the world right now by acknowledging and living the truth that there is no greater authority in your own life than you yourself, and the same is true for each individual.

This kind of "authority" does not mean bossing yourself around with judgments and neuroses -- rather it means trusting your wisdom, trusting that you naturally know how to process and use the "fluid of life" the cool, clean "rain" of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. This is the point at which "authority" is transmuted into real power, the truest power that exists. This transmutation is called human revolution.

True power cannot be imposed on others, even if you try. If you are trying to impose authority on someone else, then it is not true power.

So let's go back to the badass victimizer in your neighborhood. What should you do? Cower in your house? Just chant about it? Call the police? Step up to the perpetrator and say what's on your mind? The answer is that YOU have to come up with the answer based on your wisdom regarding the situation. Perhaps a solution that no one has ever before considered will emerge from your life. Chant with courage. If you don't stand up, who will?

Do you see the difference between a Pawn and a Buddhist? Yes, it's quite clear. It often happens, though, that we think we are Buddhists when we are actually Pawns.

Some people exploit Buddhism -- or what they call Buddhism -- and turn it into a Pawn factory.

Some "teachers" will play heavily on a person's sense of inadequacy or weakness. People are encouraged to recognize their "unenlightenedness" more and more until they are convinced that they are screwed up, powerless and rotten. These "teachers" elevate themselves higher and higher by making their followers feel lower and lower.

These teachers essentially enshrine authority as the object of worship. To question authority is labeled arrogance. People devote themselves to authority and think that they are practicing Buddhism. But this is not Buddhism; this is Pawn perpetuation.

There is also another way of Pawn perpetuation that is maybe more subtle. It involves using authority to fight authority -- replacing one "authority figurehead" with yet another authority figurehead -- yet the net effect is to perpetuate authority, thereby perpetuating Pawns.

This is how it works. There are people who are part of a sangha, or community of Buddhist practitioners, who have grievances with what they perceive to be authority in the sangha. There are elements of the sangha, they say, that smack of it being a Pawn factory.

So what do they do? They employ exactly the same tactics as any other authoritarian: they belittle those who disagree with them, calling them True Believers, implying that those who have a different understanding of faith are dupes, incapable of thinking for themselves. (See how they bait and tear others down?)

These anti-authoritarian authoritarians organize themselves into a group of dissenters and seek to gain converts and rally like-minded practitioners. They rely on scriptural authority -- the same sacred writings, the same leadership guidance -- just with a different interpretation. They oppose the norms of, say, Japanese culture and campaign to replace them with the authority of "American" culture, as if this would be less arbitrary and more "Buddhist." In short, they want to remake the sangha according to the authority of their values, which they claim are democratic and not authoritarian at all.

"Do it our way. It's for your own good and the good of the sangha."

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss -- except the new boss is wrapped in stars and stripes.

Nichiren Buddhism does not impose any authority or external control. It centers on the absolutely free will of each person. The prime point of the Soka Gakkai has always been and will always be the human revolution of one person.

Have no faith in authority. Have no faith in collective action. Have no faith in the reformation of systems and structures. Have no faith in demagogues, especially when they claim they're not demagogues. Have no faith in good ideas. Have no faith in the proud past. Have no faith in conventional wisdom or punditry. Have no faith in the benevolence of beuraucracy. Have no faith that might makes right. Have no faith that the meek will inherit the earth.

Have faith in the future. Have faith in chaotic uncertainty. Have faith in the power of your own life.

Have faith in one.