Reader letters to BuddhaJones.com. Letters are separated by blank lines or bold headings.

 

I Love This Website

On behalf of Manchester SGI-UK Buddhists, thank you Lisa. You're welcome here anytime.
Thomas Benson

Lisa replies: Thanks, and cheers to all readers in the UK!


More Dawn After Dark

The dialogue between Ikeda and Huyghe (ISBN 0-8348-0238-4) is full of treasures that are overlooked by most of the people I practice Buddhism with. Here is a gem that I hope you will publish to your site.

"...Religion must adapt to the diversity of human means. Addressing people whose stage of development is not advanced requires a variety of dogmas and ceremonies. In the case of people demonstrating greater development, rites, dogmas, and precepts give way before the mystical drive presented to human beings as their essential vocation.

"It must be said, however, that at a still higher level certain beings can -- and, as a superior duty, must -- try, on their own initiative and through the exclusive effort of their own personalities, to continue the forward journey and attempt to reveal the point on the horizon toward which it is directed. The journey is actually an ascent. And, as in the mountains, whereas less-experienced climbers must be attached to guiding ropes, the one lone climber responsible for his own actions is all the more praiseworthy for remaining alone.

"Each individual must have the ambition to travel far and the prudence not to make excessive demands on himself. Within the full range of possibilities, the human being must find the level most efficacious for his own full flowering."
Tara Green


Regarding Ben Hillcrest

I like Ben's articles because he sounds a bit stupid yet makes a smart point.
With love,
Ben's Sister

Ben replies: Are you still a vegetarian or can I just serve turkey at Thanksgiving and not mess with vegan nut loaf? Call me.


Freedom Is the Future

I would just like to share a few paragraphs of Dawn After Dark I read this afternoon.

"We must not abuse the future in our prejudgments. While I approve of forecasts in principle, I mistrust excesses in making them because they all too often attempt to make the future conform with the present in a dictatorial fashion. Human beings must be free. And the greatest human freedom is the future. Of course we must attempt to foresee dangers, in order to avert them, and tasks, in order to fulfill them; but we must respect the liberty of the future since, in doing so, we will be respecting the liberty of humanity.

"The future does not exist to continue either us or the ideas we have of ourselves. Its purpose is to complete and sometimes to correct us. Consequently, we should not attempt to impose on it our more or less simplistic and arbitrary doctrines. We should pay more attention to what it can teach us than to what we pretend to inculcate in it through planning."

I know where I've been. I know where I'm at. I'm chanting to fulfill my dreams!!
LA from WeHo


Driving It Home

Great article on commuting unavailable (except for the biker). Ironic, traveling so much every day and not going any further in the universe until you stop.
TD


From Frank the Certified Devil

Dear Editor,
I am a devil. I know that because I have letters (certified!) and oral denunciations from various and sundry hi-u-muckey-mucks of several Nichiren 'groups' attesting to my devilish nature and behaviours. At first, when I was excommunicated from my first "lay organization," I was so sad and lonely. Then i noticed that I still had a copy of a Gohonzon, so I didn't feel so sad and lonely any more. My simple devil mind concluded that since the Gohonzon did not burst into a ball of flame in my presence, even devils can chant. And since I had a lot of time on my hands when the lay organization terminated my employment, I could chant a lot more than when I was running around to lots of meetings, and behaving in a most obsequious and fawning manner -- ie, kissing ass, on the job, and otherwise behaving as a twit.

When I began my new career as a certified devil, I initially felt lonely and sad when others with whom I had chanted side-by-side for 10 years, actually crossed the street when they saw me coming. This being NYC, you can imagine that crossing streets is a very dangerous activity, especially when in the vicinity of a certified devil, and of course, NYC Taxi cabs.

Soon after my first devil certification, I received a second! This time, from the Nichiren Shoshu, because, as they hurriedly explained, since I was identified as a devil by the lay group, well, then I was a devil to them. Friends of my enemy are my enemy, so to speak. In the 19 years since my first certified "devil-hood," I have received many more devil certifications, from various and sundry "Nichiren schools." These certifications usually followed my asking one or more apparent (to them) "devil-questions." such as: "If Nichiren Daishonin actually taught that his believers should '...discard all thoughts of self or other, this or that, and practice Myoho Renge Kyo as if with one mind, teaching and spreading Myoho Renge Kyo far and wide throughout this world to all people...,' then I asked, why the hell are you folks fighting among and between yourselves, with each 'group' claiming to be the 'chosen people?' Haven't we had enough of that chosen people crap?" Hoo, boy...immediate devil-certification, persona-non-grata, etc.! Parasite in the lion's bowels, for sure....sort of devil-certification, with honors.

So, here I am, 19 years after my first devil-certification, and still chanting despite the many decrees of buddha-fatwas. It will soon be 29 years since I began chanting...19 of them as a certified devil. How mystic. How sublime.

Oh, and thank you for the hearty laffs while reading the many postings to your website. Obviously, certified devils, such as myself, have a wicked sense of humor. I also possess a goodly amount of patience, tenacity, and determination never to let the bastards wear me down...as we say in the old tongue, "Nil illigitamae carborundum." Cheers and thanks.
Frank Recchia, C.D., NY

Editor's note: In Islam, a fatwa (pl. fataawa) is a legal ruling -- based upon the Koran and the words, actions and tacit approvals of the Prophet Muhammad -- made by a scholar in response to a question.


Dear Brooke St. George

The interview with the tooth unavailable was great. I have had many questions over the years about that tooth, and your article cleared them all up for me. I was particularly delighted at Onikuge's candor and willingness to finally reveal the truth, even at obvious risk to his own career. Congratulations to you for a great interview, and please pass my regards on to Mr. Onikuge.
Andy Hanlen


Thank You, Dr. Rancy

I followed Dr. Rancy Greg McJames' Amazing Three-Day Gosho Diet unavailable. I can now hold the water of a great ocean in a single pore of my skin. My tongue now wraps around Jupiter. I am currently levitating over the state of Michigan like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float. I feel more expansive than I have in years, and the view is spectacular. Thank you Dr. McJames. (Please print this as a testimonial to encourage others.)
Rhonda C.


Pseudonyms Anonymous

You can't fool me, Lisa Jones. I know your writing style, having been an avid reader of your articles in the World Tribune. I'm blowing the whistle! I've found you out! You are using pseudonyms on your site. You wrote lotsa this stuff, didn't you? Disguise yourself to get people to focus less on you and more on what is said. Come on now. Fess up. Were you fired from the World Tribune for writing that article about Buddhist formalities? Then good for you. When you're a journalist and no one wants you fired, you're not trying hard enough! LOL. Love your site. Please keep writing.
Pseudononymously yours,
Arlo Winesap

Editor's response: Thanks for your note. Some contributors (including me) use pseudonyms. (Many thanks to the many contributors!) I was not fired from the World Tribune, but that article did rile some folks. I will try harder. Please click here to read the offending article. unavailable


Daily Scolding

Thank you for my daily scolding! Today is Wednesday, so I chose Wednesday's scolding. I laughed and was inspired, so I had to read all seven. I now feel empowered and enlightened --and I'm not even a Buddhist. No offense, but I think your message transcends religious boundaries. Maybe you think this means that I am a closeted Buddhist and if I could just admit my true Buddhist leanings I would find happiness. Maybe you're right --and maybe you're not. I'll be the judge. But I will definitely come back for more of your wacky, yet sensible, philosophy.
DJ
P.S. I enjoyed the letters to the editor as well. Smart people do surf!


Did my letter to the editor make you mad? If so, I'm sorry. I just meant that, like Shakespeare (yes, Mr. Armstrong, I did learn something in high school), your message is both specific and universal. I actually printed out a few of the scoldings and changed some of the words and gave them to Huck to read. (Sometimes when non-Buddhists see Buddhists references they think it doesn't apply to them -- especially literal-minded men.) Like Tuesday's scolding,"A winner in Buddhism is someone who wants everyone to win" easily transforms into "A winner in life is someone who wants everyone to win."

My favorite though is Saturday's scolding with a universal spin, "Do not complain that the people in your life are not nice to you. ETC." Anyway, you get the drift. I hope you're not mad, because I am extremely proud of you and your website and your empowering, 'anti-dogma' writings.

And now let's talk about me. Specifically the wedding. Which group of hors d'ouevres sound better to you?

1. Cheeses w/water crackers
Artichoke and spinach gratin
Crab croustade
Beef and portabello brochettes
Spanikopita
Spring rolls w/ginger pineapple dip

2. Warm Brie cheese en croute
Smoked salmon mousse w/crisp flatbreads
Smoked chicken quesadillas
Gorgonzola, apple and walnut croustades
Savory muffin squares w/ caviar
Ahi tartar on cucumber rounds w/ wasabi cream

I think I can mix and match too, but then there might be more costs. Let me know what you think. Thanks!
DJ

Editor's response: Not mad. Thanks for the note. I'm voting for #2.


What to Think?

I have been practicing Nichiren Buddhism for several years now...or have I? I almost don't know what to think anymore. Have I been practicing incorrectly all these years? What I mean is that in the past several months I have been reading the Gosho and chanting and suddenly it seems not as clear cut as before. I am seeing areas where I may have misinterpreted Nichiren's teachings. I see where maybe I was holding onto the interpretations of other people and not even listening to my own sensitivities. I mean my intuition. That article on intuitive realization unavailable hit me like a punch in the stomach. It almost made me sick because I felt how I had been ignoring this very natural intuitive voice of mine for so long. I don't think that Nichiren's intent was for us to ignore our intuition. I think he wanted us to understand who and what we are. We are intuitive beings, and I am just now starting to explore what that means. Thank you for that article. Your site is funny, but sometimes it's over my head.
T in Mass.