Altered Doctrine
Charles Eicher
Blues) wrote:
> Here's a story that might illustrate the above point. It's a true story
> about a rich socialite who had a Picasso painting. For thirty years, it
> was her pride and joy. Then she fell on hard times, contracted cancer,
> and had to sell her priceless art objects to pay her medical bills. She
> called an appraiser in to appraise the Picasso. It was then that she
> learned that she had an excellent imitation, a fake. This devastated her,
> but she did not keep the painting that she had loved for all those years.
> She accepted the irony and got rid of it. I heard this story from her
> son-in-law, who also published it in a magazine.
A true story? Balderdash. I've heard dozens of variations of this story.
None of them are true.
My favorite version ends with the socialite disbelieving that it is a
fake, and she takes it to Picasso personally for verification. She asks
him "Is this a real Picasso painting?" He signs it for her, over the
original signature, and he says "Now it is!"
----------------
Charles Eicher
cei...@inav.net
----------------
Bertha D. Blues
when?".....it's been an ongoing process for the last 500 years, since the
emergence of the so-called "dai-gohonzon" in the 1480's (200 years after
Nichiren's death), the many forged documents and writings, claimed to be
Nichiren's or Nikko's, etc. However, the Taisekiji "sect" (or the Fuji
School) was very small for most of its history. From High Priest #15
through #23, these priests were supplied by the Kyoto temple of Yobo-ji,
and the doctrines were very "mainstream" during those 150 years. The
doctrines of "Nichiren as True Buddha" date from the 17th century and the
claims of a "dai-gohonzon" (from the 15th century) are much later ideas
and have nothing to do with orthodox Nichiren Buddhism. Historical
criticisms of Taisekiji are abundant and quite easy to document. Of
course, members of SGI/NST are not made aware of such facts, for obvious
reasons.
Taisekiji did not have any real clout until after WWII, when the Soka
Gakkai turned this sleepy little country temple (with only 70 branch
temples in the boondocks) into the megalith that it is today. Many of the
ideas that are "Soka Buddhism" do not have much to do with traditional
Buddhist thought and they were really developed in the last 50 years, as a
kind of pseudo-Nichiren veneer, over a "New Age" pop-Buddhism that Toda
was so good at marketing to a war-torn, displaced populace. (Basically,
farmers who became urban dwellers right after the war, and who needed to
replace their "village society" . Few intelligentsia joined the
movement.)
As for the gohonzon that you received from Nichiren Shoshu or
Sokagakkai.......it is quite different from an authentic Nichiren
gohonzon. It doesn't even look like the so-called "dai-gohonzon".
Perhaps you can judge for yourself by seeing a copy of a real Nichiren
gohonzon. For a Westerner, it may be difficult to compare the two, since
we don't understand kanji. But the real difference is felt when you chant
the full seven character so "Namu Myo Ho Renge Kyo" to a real Nichiren
gohonzon.
Here's a story that might illustrate the above point. It's a true story
about a rich socialite who had a Picasso painting. For thirty years, it
was her pride and joy. Then she fell on hard times, contracted cancer,
and had to sell her priceless art objects to pay her medical bills. She
called an appraiser in to appraise the Picasso. It was then that she
learned that she had an excellent imitation, a fake. This devastated her,
but she did not keep the painting that she had loved for all those years.
She accepted the irony and got rid of it. I heard this story from her
son-in-law, who also published it in a magazine.
The point is that her "fake"Picasso did not invalidate all the other
authentic Picasso's. Nor did it diminish her own worth (and rather noble
courage in facing her illness, which was the point that her son-in-law was
trying to make). Likewise, your own inner connection to the Lotus Sutra
is not belittled by "protecting a meaningless piece of paper, all these
years". In fact, you are too harsh on yourself, though you have a right
to be mad if you were duped. We all hate to be lied to or taken advantage
of. It's like finding out that your spouse is unfaithful.
Kempon Hokke International is not a "third party" of either SGI or
Taisekiji. In fact, we have nothing at all to do with them. However, a
lot of people who join Kempon Hokke (a bona fide Nichiren sect, dating
from 1384, in Kyoto, founded by Nichi-ju) have come from SGI (we knew them
as NSA in the `70's) because so many people have left that organization
but are still seeking a connection to orthodox Nichiren Buddhism.
Basically, we are finally providing the information that has been withheld
for so long from Americans (and from Japanese who aren't in the habit of
scholarly investigation, etc.). We are simply spreading the light of
knowledge about Nichiren Buddhism, and revealing the hoaxes and deceptions
that have plagued Nichiren Buddhism . A lot of it comes from Japanese
attitudes about things, a lot of it stems from the intricacies of Japanese
history. Most of it stems from ignorance, on the part of laity and
priests alike.
If you were addressing the survivors of the Holocaust, would you say, "who
makes you the spokesperson?". If you were questioning the survivors of
the internment camps in America, would you say, "How did your organization
come about?" "Are you ex-Hiroshima residents/members?" The answer is
that the network of orthodox Nichiren believers came about naturally, as a
result of many years of abuse. SGI (NSA) and Taisekiji are a network of
victimizers (the "leaders") and the victims who are now independent,
healed persons (the ex-NSA, as you call them, though we do have many
members who never had the NSA experience at all). When you learn about
the truth, the natural tendency is to try to dispel the lie. In that
sense, we can be compared to a "Ralph Nader" kind of group, or "Common
Cause". It's important to make the truth be heard.
Most importantly, the true benefit and wonderful freedom of chanting
cannot be experienced within the SGI/NST framework. In a true sense, the
religion of Nichiren has never been spread here in America before. People
like yourself deserve to know what Nichiren really was talking about.
If you'd like to read more let me know, there is a great information
packet that can be sent via snail mail. Give us your address and we'll
send it on to you. There is no "hounding" to go to a meeting. We don't
have them.
Stephanie
srb...@primenet.com
(Charles Eicher) wrote:
>
> A true story? Balderdash. I've heard dozens of variations of this story.
> None of them are true.
>
> My favorite version ends with the socialite disbelieving that it is a
> fake, and she takes it to Picasso personally for verification. She asks
> him "Is this a real Picasso painting?" He signs it for her, over the
> original signature, and he says "Now it is!"
>
Good eyes for "urban legends", Charles! The obvious tipoff is that there
aren't that many "rich socialites" around without adequate health
insurance to get them thru the most expensive of operations...
Well, Stephanie can't be blamed too much for falling for this one, as it
_does_ have the ring of truth to it, and she was just using it to make a
point.
BTW, did you hear the one about the lady who was visiting Tijuana and
happend to see the cutest little abandoned Chihuahua doggie going thru
some garbage in an alley? No? Well, it seems she snuck it across the
Boarder when she returned to her home in Los Angeles and.....