The Zen-Tantric Wing of the Republican Party versus one tiny dancer (post-election update) -]

[Disbasing Zen Stories]

Toxic Zen Story #30: The Zen-Tantric Wing of the Republican Party
versus one tiny dancer (post-election update).


>>>> addendum on October 2nd, 2012 (Before the first Presidential Debate):


The Republican Tea Party Right Finally Focuses All of Their Hatred
Against
the Middle Class, the Minorities and the 47 Percent (effectively, the
SGI)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear with me on this story, it is relevant.

Back in 2000 I was a men's division district leader in the SGI. In our
infinite wisdom, my women's division co-leader and I instituted an all-
out campaign to disassociate temple members in the territory
encompassing our district, with some notable successes. The unexpected
effect of this cause was that large numbers of powerful youth division
leaders appeared out of nowhere, or just stood up from the local area.
Ultimately, the result of this was that our formerly moribund district
blossomed and eventually split into four district meetings, all of
which are currently thriving. This is actual proof of the effects of
Soka Spirit and Courageous Heart activity.

One of those young women's division leaders who showed up was a young
and physically perfect ballerina from the East Coast, to join the
city's professional ballet troupe. She was as wonderful inside as she
was outside, perfectly kind, perfectly poised, perfectly friendly and
encouraging to everyone around her: an example of the kind of noblesse
oblige that you rarely see associated with someone of such profound
physical and mental talents, and with such astonishing beauty. She was
a natural, to become a great youth leader of the SGI.

It is a little-known fact that professional ballet dancers (and
dancers generally) are injured at twice the rate of players in
professional sports (although the cranium is mostly spared). Every
ballet dancer has a collection of injuries they are constantly
nursing, some small and nagging, some career-threatening. Although
most professional dance organizations have some kind of physical
therapy available, most of them are extremely light on health plans,
if they have one at all. Most professional dancers are terribly
underpaid as well, so if they have health problems, they have to ...
well ... suffer in silence, because to show any weakness in practice
or performance is to lose out in the struggle for the advancement of
your career. They typically have several teaching jobs on the side to
get by, in the same way that classical musicians and other artists do:
they take students and foster new artists.

In her early twenties, our ballerina developed an extremely aggressive
breast cancer. Everyone was very supportive, and I encouraged her with
the story of my ex-wife who had developed an aggressive breast cancer
(many lymph nodes involved), and who went through aggressive
chemotherapy, surgery and breast reconstruction while never stopping
her exercise routine and running, with the result that she was still a
survivor 25 years later. Our ballerina went back to the East coast,
did the same and returned to her ballet troupe, looking as perfect as
ever. She went on to be one of the soloists, doing important roles and
teaching many students. She also dabbled in Jazz dance, Blues dance,
and danced and acted in a professional stage musical.

Later, her cancer came back, she fought it back and danced again. It
came back again as fourth stage cancer (metastasized), but she went
into remission once more and danced soli again. Through it all, it was
hard to tell when she was sick. In the same way dancers show perfect
poise when they are suffering the most, she danced through her life
without complaint. A dancer's dancer. Her struggles with health
insurance must have been profound, as her cancer came back again and
again, but you never heard about it from her.

She also excelled in the SGI, rising to be a young women's chapter
leader, raising many young women and leading in activities involving
dance, such as the Rock The Era youth activity in Long Beach,
California a couple of years ago. After that activity she found a post
as an assistant leader of a dance troupe in the South, where she could
pursue her choreography.

Our chapter had a little party before her departure: she was in top
physical form and I have never seen such a perfect physical specimen
of a human being. I envisioned her future: director, choreographer,
carving out her niche in the dancing world and making her mark,
married and raising some beautiful and perfect little dancers of her
own.

To understand the great Buddhas (such as our ballerina) requires faith
in the Lotus Sutra, because the jewel of Buddha wisdom can only be
purchased at the price of faith in the Lotus Sutra.

What are the characteristics and virtues of a Buddha? The
characteristics of a Buddha are the characteristics of a Bodhisattva,
who leads herself and others to the enlightenment of the Lotus Sutra,
the Buddha's highest teaching. The virtues of a Buddha are three,
called san-toku in Japanese:

http://www.sgilibrary.org/search_dict.php?id=2392

... The benevolent functions of sovereign, teacher, and
... parent a Buddha is said to possess. The virtue of
... sovereign is the power to protect all living beings, the
... virtue of teacher is the wisdom to instruct and lead
... them to enlightenment, and the virtue of parent is the
... compassion to nurture and support them. Nichiren (1222-
... 1282) interpreted the following passage of the "Simile
... and Parable" (third) chapter of the Lotus Sutra as
... expressing the three virtues: "Now this threefold world
... is all my domain [the virtue of sovereign], and the
... living beings in it are all my children [the virtue of
... parent]. Now this place is beset by many pains and
... trials. I am the only person who can rescue and protect
... others [the virtue of teacher]." In several of his
... writings, Nichiren described his role or mission as the
... votary of the Lotus Sutra in terms of these three
... virtues. The first line of his treatise The Opening of
... the Eyes reads, "There are three categories of people
... that all human beings should respect. They are the
... sovereign, the teacher, and the parent" (220). Near the
... conclusion of the same work, he states, "I, Nichiren, am
... sovereign, teacher, and father and mother to all the
... people of Japan" (287). Because these three virtues are
... considered the virtues of a Buddha, the above passages
... are seen as an indication that Nichiren intended The
... Opening of the Eyes as a declaration of his role as the
... Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law who expounds and
... spreads the teaching that can lead all people to
... Buddhahood.

The Buddhas exemplify the causality of the Law, and never, ever do
anything by accident or luck: it is all cause and effect.

The greatest weapon of a Bodhisattva is their vulnerable and easily-
crushed humanity, which is the very heart of the compassion of a
Buddha. This is because of the profoundly evil causes created by those
who do the crushing, who commit the great evil act of conspiring to do
harm to one who practices the Lotus Sutra: a "votary" of the Lotus
Sutra. These profoundly evil causes incur enormous and swift karmic
retribution on those participating in the conspiracy to subjugate and
crush the votary of the Lotus Sutra. From these effects, permanent
change comes to society.

Think of that old man in his World War II Japanese prison cell,
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, being martyred by a government of Zen-Shinto
terrorists out to dominate and wreak havoc and genocide upon the
world. He dies nobly, not bowing to evil, and soon after his death a
terrible whirlwind is reaped by those in the conspiracy to crush his
spirit and steal his few remaining years from him. Their Zen-Shinto
dreams of world domination are thoroughly reduced to the ashes of a
total and abject, dishonorable defeat. The Western military
(personified by General MacArthur) that crushed the tormentors of Mr.
Makiguchi and freed the votaries of the Lotus Sutra to spread that
Soka Gakkai practice to what is now one in six families in Japan ...
was identified by his disciple and fellow prisoner Josei Toda as a
Shoten Zenjin, or Buddhist god or deity. However, Buddhism is not
Shinto, the Buddhist gods are not superior, but are simply functions
of the life of a Buddha, in this case Mr. Makiguchi and Mr. Toda (who
also suffered from prison losing much of his health), nonsubstantiably
functioning after the death of Mr. Makiguchi to fulfill his intent to
free the nation and establish the freedom of religion allowing the
Soka Gakkai to spread. The highway to world peace that was his life
was paved over the dominion of his enemies with its foundations
constructed from the wreckage of their corrupted dreams.

This is the Buddhist way. A single Bodhisattva can change the world,
which functions as their life (sovereign for the people) to fulfill
their noble intent (teacher and parent to the people).

The last time I saw our ballerina she had a different hairdo style,
and I hugged her and asked if everything was OK, "Just fine," she
said.

Later I saw one of the young women she fostered on the street and she
talked about her, noting that she had been bald when she saw her (the
new hairdo was a wig, unbelievably thick-headed of me not to perceive
that, but perhaps she wanted it that way.)

Then in early Summer, I got an email for some daimoku tosos (Nam-Myoho-
Renge-Kyo chanting sessions) for our ballerina's health: she had gone
back East to get treatment and it was serious. And then one Monday
afternoon, while I was chanting and thought about her, I had that
bright pure feeling inside that you get when you chant a lot of
daimoku. I found out later that was when she passed away.

She died at the age of 33 in June at her family home in Washington,
D.C., surrounded by loving friends and family. People chanted for her
and with her right up to the end. After she passed away, her aunt
rearranged the body, and marvelled at her lightness. When she
unwrapped the sheet from her feet, she saw that her dancer's feet were
perfectly pointed. She had died "en pointe."

Like I said, the Buddha's wisdom (perceiving the truth) is purchased
at the price of faith in the Lotus Sutra. So you have to have faith to
believe the rest of this story.

As she suffered and died over the first half of this year in
Washington D.C., change came to that city. Ten days after she lay down
her perfect head and died breaking all of the hearts of those who
loved her, against all odds and to the utter disbelief of all the
pundits: the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,
John Roberts somehow found his heart and saved the Affordable Care Act
(Obamacare) from certain death.

I thought about this, and if Gingrich and the Republicans had not
destroyed the earlier version of the ACA (Hillarycare), she might have
received just enough and better care to survive, to have a different
outcome. Now, that's a conjecture, but it is no conjecture to realize
that all of her underpaid and undercared-for dancing community all
over the country, all those tiny dancers of hers would in two years
get the healthcare they had always richly deserved, for the beauty
they bring to our society. She had deserved better, and now they would
get what she had deserved and had to fight for.

And then I thought, that will only happen if President Obama is re-
elected and a Congress is elected that will properly fund the ACA.
This means that those men with all the money and power behind the
Republican Party simply have no idea what they are up against. During
this period they had selected and coalesced behind what everyone
agreed was their least favorite candidate, Mitt Romney, who had vowed
to eradicate Obamacare on his first day in office.

I watched as they prepared for their convention in a hurricane, losing
the one day that held the tribute to the military, while Romney's
acceptance speech was rewritten a half-dozen times, somehow forgetting
to add in the missing tribute to the military (scratch one loyal GOP
faction). Then he picked Paul Ryan as V.P.: the chief architect of the
destruction of Social Security -> private accounts, Medicare ->
vouchers and Medicaid -> sent to the states (scratch the other loyal
GOP faction, seniors). Then Romney himself replaced his wonderful 1/2
hour film with Clint and the chair. He laughed in support of Clint
backstage, and his loyalty was rewarded with Clint stating that anyone
that was dumb enough to pick him to give such an introduction deserved
what they got. Romney's loyal support of his V.P. pick was rewarded by
Paul Ryan parading up and down his campaign bus referring to Romney as
"Stench":

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81618.html

In quick succession came the drop in the polls, the recriminations of
right wing pundits Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh who said Romney
needed to get tough, the attack on the embassies, the "Shoot first,
aim later" speeches as the Americans were dying, then the 47% video,
and a full chorus of recriminations from all the right wing pundits:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81419.html

Then came the big swings in the polls and of course, no one knows what
comes next. Having a scientific bent, however, I can speak of the
"maximum likelihood" of where this trend line appears to be leading,
and what it means.

Mitt Romney is by all accounts, a truly wonderful person, holding
aside the effects of his policies on the middle class, the minorities
and the 47% (which includes the arts community and the dancers who are
the treasures, of our treasured ballerina.) He and all of GOP appear
to be doing their utmost to fulfill the living and dying wishes ... of
one tiny dancer.

Our ballerina is two in appearance, but one in essence (Nini-funi):

Both a small Bodhisattva, but also a great Buddha (Sovereign, Teacher
and Parent).

Both a dancer's dancer tragically dying en pointe at 33, but also like
the Washington Redskins' running back Alfred Morris (#46) rushing
through the line to drive the football over the line unstoppably for a
game-winning touchdown as the game clock runs down to zero.

They simply don't have a chance against her.


>>>> addendum on November 11th, 2012 (The Sunday after the election):


I spent a few months on the phone bank for the Democrats calling swing
states (Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Colorado and Nevada) using their micro-
targeting dialer.

It was amazing: I would call Republican women and almost always they
were voting for Obama, or their husbands would pick up and arrogantly
refuse to let me talk to them. I knew they would vote for the
President anyway.

I participated because of our ballerina: I could not let her intent
fail to materialize. I had to do whatever I could to preserve the ACA
for her dancers.

It was loud in the room with the other callers, so I would put my
other hand over my cell-phone to make it quieter (and to cover my
quiet daimoku in between calls.)

When the President misfired in the first debate, I worried but never
lost hope: a large number of volunteers arrived in the days after that
failure, and they stayed to the end. Obama rebounded in the last two
debates: Bengazi's "acts of terror" Rose Garden redux and Romnesia.

As yet another hurricane disrupted Romney's momentum in the last week,
accompanied by motown corporate rebuttals of his off-shoring charges,
Obama looked Presidential and we doubled down to make up the lost
popular vote from the hurricane states. And then it was over when Ohio
was called before midnight, Eastern time. All that worry was
unnecessary, it was never really a close contest.

I felt profoundly good in that way that you do, when you have
accomplished something difficult for someone who cannot do it for
herself. I felt this in spite of the clear knowledge that the causes
for this had already been made and guaranteed by someone else's
sacrifice. A truly fine person, a person of real quality, who would
never allow grinding reality to interfere with her discharge of her
responsibility as sovereign, teacher and parent to her troupe.

____ Background for Toxic Zen Stories _____________

https://groups.google.com/group/alt.zen/msg/b4ad0ce368728934?hl=en

___________________________________________________


The answers to these difficult questions lie with the basic structure
of the Republican Party.


. Sweeping Generalization:

. Republicans Love Principles, but Despise Humanity.


From the Democrats.Org website:

. In 1844, the [Democratic-Republican] National Convention
. simplified the Party's name to the Democratic Party.

From www.bartleby.com/65/re/RepublcnP.html:

. The name [Republican] reappeared in the 1850s, when the
. present-day Republican party was founded. At that time
. the crucial issue of the extension of slavery into the
. territories split the Democratic party and the Whig
. party, and opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
. organized the new Republican party. Jackson, Mich., is
. called the birthplace of the party (July 6, 1854) and
. Joseph Medill is credited with having suggested its name,
. but these distinctions are also claimed for other places
. and other men.
.
. By 1855 the new party was well launched in the North.
. Anti-slavery Whigs such as William Seward and Thurlow
. Weed were dominant in the new grouping, but elements of
. the Know-Nothing movement, together with the Free-Soil
. party, abolitionists, and anti-Nebraska Democrats also
. supplied strength. The party's national organization was
. perfected at Pittsburgh in Feb., 1856, and its first
. presidential candidate, John C. Frémont, made a
. creditable showing against victorious James Buchanan. The
. party opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and
. the extension of slavery, denounced the Supreme Court's
. decision in the Dred Scott Case, and favored the
. admission of Kansas as a free state.
.
. Generally belligerent toward the South, the Republicans
. were regarded by Southerners with mingled hatred and fear
. as sectional tension increased. They were successful in
. the elections of 1858 and passed over their better-known
. leaders to nominate Abraham Lincoln in 1860. The party
. platform in 1860 included planks calling for a high
. protective tariff, free homesteads, and a
. transcontinental railroad; these were bids for support
. among Westerners, farmers, and eastern manufacturing
. interests.
.
. Lincoln's victory over Stephen A. Douglas, John C.
. Breckinridge, and John Bell was the signal for the
. secession of the Southern states, and the Civil War
. followed. Union military failures early in the war and
. conservative opposition to such measures as the
. Emancipation Proclamation caused the party to lose ground
. in the Congressional elections of 1862. But despite
. mutterings against his leadership, Lincoln, renominated
. on the Union (Republican) ticket in 1864, defeated Gen.
. George B. McClellan.
.
. Although a separate ticket headed by the radical Frémont
. withdrew before the election in 1864, the cleavage within
. the party between radicals and moderates widened as the
. war progressed. Radicals such as Benjamin F. Wade, Henry
. W. Davis, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Edwin M.
. Stanton advocated a punitive policy for the South, while
. Lincoln and the moderates were inclined to leniency. The
. division was made complete when, after Lincoln's
. assassination, his successor, Andrew Johnson, adopted a
. moderate program of Reconstruction. Johnson, a Jacksonian
. Democrat from Tennessee, had been added to the ticket in
. 1864 to strengthen the idea of a Union party. Ultimately
. his policies and attempts to implement them antagonized
. his supporters among the moderate Republicans and paved
. the way for the triumph of the radicals in the
. congressional elections of 1866. The height of radical
. power was reached in 1868 with the impeachment of
. Johnson, which was defeated by only a one-vote margin.
.
. The nomination of the war hero Ulysses S. Grant assured
. Republican success over the Democrats led by Horatio
. Seymour in the presidential election of 1868. The
. radicals were supreme under Grant, but their excesses and
. the open scandals of the administration created a new
. schism, leading to the formation of the Liberal
. Republican party. Its candidate, Horace Greeley, although
. supported by the Democrats, was not popular enough to
. defeat Grant in 1872, and corruption became even more
. widespread.

From the Reconstruction era of the reign of Radical Republicans to
now, there have been many shifts in the Republican Party.

The Party of Lincoln has now, for many elections in a row, effectively
created a pattern of election victory by denying the voting rights of
African-Americans as their basic strategy. This seems wildly
paradoxical.

Looking back in history to the period after the Civil War and the
assassination of Lincoln and replacement of Johnson in favor of Grant,
one could easily make the declarative statement of position of the
Republican Party platform:

. "The only thing wrong with Radical Reconstruction
. ... was that it didn't go deep enough and last
. long enough to finish the job."

Those basic principles have gradually shifted from Reconstruction
time, to the complete embrace of Southern political movements
embodying racial oppression, which were formerly the province of the
Democratic Party under Lyndon Johnson before he passed the heroic
Civil Rights legislation with Martin Luther King, Jr.

Those Southern political movements range from the extreme views of
former Klan members (who are not at all blind to racial differences)
to those of the Christian Coalition (who are fairly blind to racial
differences).

Hence, the rise and subsequent fall of Trent Lott as Senate Majority
Leader, and the failure of Patrick Buchanan's attempted independent
run for President, which did not create a new movement, or even a
tectonic shift in Party direction. And the movement of Lee Atwater and
his disciple Karl Rove had played itself out by 2008, nearly
destroying the Party of Lincoln that betrayed its founder.

Those events could be viewed as the unseen hand of of the founder,
which still is alive in the Republican Party: SOME principles have
been unnacceptable to the Republican Party membership.

But now with the Tea Party resurgence in response to the election of
the nation's first Black President (and the Birthers, the Deathers and
generally the enemies of Roosevelt's social policies), Lincoln the
moderate is now truly dead for the Republican Party.

Although the principles of Republicanism have shifted over the last
150 years, the absolute focus on Party Loyalty has not. This has been
the major defining element of the Republican Party: Loyalty to the
principles which are held by the Republican leadership.

So, how can this be? Loyalty to principles that have so drastically
shifted over time?

The answer is that the shifts are always small or are larger under a
powerful leader. Given enough time, small shifts can undermine
mountainous canons and forge entirely new ones, which are held with
the same fervency and loyalty, as that which was directed towards the
previous canons, which are now unrecognizable to the faithful.

All of this comes from personal loyalty to the party leaders.

Those are traditionally the only persons who can change the canons of
the Republican Party acceptably. So, after Ronald Reagan, Republican
fiscal conservatism included embracing huge deficits wholeheartedly.

Indeed, after Reagan, if a Republican did not embrace large deficits
as fiscal conservatism, this was treasonous towards the memory of
Ronald Reagan, and called him into question. Which is basically why
George W. Bush beat John McCain in the 2000 Republican Primary.

John McCain clung to the fiscal policy of the pre-Reagan Republican
Party, which made him a traitor to Reagan. George W. Bush was loyal,
and so he won.

And once John McCain turned tail on his own beliefs and supported Bush
in the 2004 convention speech to the Party faithful, he was
salvageable politically, but had sold his maverick soul. The McCain of
2000 was truly dead. And dead men may vote in Chicago, but they cannot
win the Presidency.

But then the Tea Party arose after Obama's attempt to resuscitate the
economy after being handed a near-depression. The Teat Party was upset
with the Keynesian solution, suddenly regaining their 'religion' on
deficit spending. This overturned the leadership of the part for the
first time in over a century, and created an entirely new situation
for the party.

In another example of how things were before the Tea Party, Reagan
established the standard of appropriate retaliation, when in October
23, 1983, 241 Marines in Beirut, Lebanon were killed by a single truck
bomb. This was a spectacular catastrophe engineered by the White
House, who wanted a visible (and unprotected) presence in the large
barracks there. The bombing was ostensibly done by a Hezbollah
offshoot, the Free Islamic Revolutionary Movement, which was backed by
Iran and Syria.

Reagan, impotently preserving Arab relations, did not retaliate in
Lebanon and TWO DAYS LATER attacked Grenada (October 25, 1983), whose
communist regime, supported by Cuba, on an isolated and tiny island
constituted an imminent threat to some American medical students.
America kicked ass !!! This provided a much needed tough-guy role for
Reagan after getting the marines murdered in Beirut.

Rumsfeld WAS unfortunately paying attention. From 60 Minutes:

. The top counter-terrorism advisor, [Richard] Clarke was
. briefing the highest government officials, including
. President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,
. in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
.
. "Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq....We all
. said, 'but no, no. Al Qaeda is in Afghanistan," recounts
. Clarke, "and Rumsfeld said, 'There aren't any good
. targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets
. in Iraq.' I said, 'Well, there are lots of good targets
. in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with [the
. September 11 attacks].'"

Clarke was not in unity with the Zen-Tantric Republican group mind.
But then, of course, he might have correctly viewed the invasion of
Iraq as far more dangerous and costly than the invasion of Grenada.

Which is NOT how the NeoCons were viewing it, trapped as they were in
the Reagan group-think of 20 years before. THIS IS THE ROOT OF THEIR
MISTAKE AND IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

[It also explains why no one in the White House could see 9/11 coming
from the source of that other Zen-Tantric believer in Al Qaeda: see
"Toxic Zen Story #22.8: Green Dragon Zen and Physical Zen in the
Palestinian struggle, from Yasser Arafat to Usama Bin Ladin: Suicide
Bombing."]

So ... working hand-in-hand with their Zen-Tantric brothers in Al
Qaeda, who had superceded Saddam Hussein as the most powerful agents
of that shared evil in the Middle East ... the NeoCons have:

. 1. Removed Bin Laden's biggest competitor, Saddam Hussein.
. 2. Let Bin Laden and Zawahari slip through into Pakistan.
. 3. Tied down the American armed forces in an endless
. struggle in Iraq.
. 4. So that they could not be used to get Bin Laden, because
. even though we knew where he was, it would take an
. Iraq-sized invasion to get him, and we could only do the
. one in Iraq FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE.

That is some astonishing kind of unity of minds, a real group mind-
meld.

The result of that kind of foolishness was the political setbacks for
the Republicans in 2006-8, opening the opportunity for Obama's virtual
destruction of Bin Ladin's Al Qaeda by the simple use of the tools
that George W. Bush already had on hand: CIA-style intelligence, drone
attacks and the use of Special Forces.

There is a term for this particular kind of crazy and suicidal unity,
in Japanese. It is called "wagoso", which is the absolute and
unquestioning unity of believers that closely follows the minds of the
priests in support of the temple of their sect.

It is this "wagoso" that allowed the Japanese government to gain the
unwavering support of an entire country to support the Pacific War
under Imperial Way Buddhism and Imperial State Zen.

They did it by simply approaching the local priests and forcing them
to accept the Shinto Talisman to be placed in the Temple altars and
family shrines, etc.

Only two Buddhists in all of Japan completely resisted this effort by
the Imperial State Zen to distort Buddhism into a war machine, they
were Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda of the Soka Gakkai.

Interestingly, George H.W. Bush, was friendly to the Soka Gakkai and
the follower of Josei Toda, President Daisaku Ikeda, when the older
Bush was President of the United States. His son, George W. Bush, also
sent some nice messages to the SGI.

No family is all bad, or all good. So there is still a possible
redemption for the Republican Party, if they can cling to their
highest original principles and reverse the course of their mistaken
leaders and their gradual accretions that have undermined the good
principles of their founders. This is what Lincoln called, "Listening
to the better angels of their[our] nature."

Until that time, we cannot expect the Republican Party, as a group, to
rationally weigh the evidence. As individuals, Republicans are like
any Americans, generally very wonderful people. Tea Party to the
contrary.



>>>> addendum on November 4th 2008, election day:

Barack Obama's Difficulties Become An Asset,
And A Liability To John McCain.
--------------------------------------------

Because of Obama's 'alien-ness' problem, being pitched first by the
Clinton campaign and after that by the McCain campaign ... His
campaign would not allow him to be seen or photographed in connection
with anything weird (slander of the Lotus Sutra), such as Buddha
statues on his desk (like John Kerry), or walking hand-in-hand with
the Dalai Lama (both John McCain and Lindsay Graham both did), or in a
Buddhist Temple receiving money from a priest (Al Gore).

No matter how hard they campaigned, nothing broke their way (Gore,
Kerry, McCain). They made one mistake after another, wrong action and
wrong inaction.

Good Heavens: the choice of Sarah Palin. People will endlessly ask
over the years, what could have possessed him? It was like he was a
different person. Not the John McCain we know, the 'happy warrior'.
The hero of the Hanoi Hilton, crusading against torture, and in the
end, giving into pressure ON TORTURE.



>>>> addendum on the May 2012 finale of the primaries of the 2012 election:

The Republican Field boils down to Mitt Romney
----------------------------------------------

What a rollercoaster it's been, huh? If only Huckabee had run, but
with his arms permanently locked in a manlove embrace with his
favorite supporter, Zen-man Chuck Norris, he could not make a move and
survive it. Now, he's irrelevant.

Zen-man Norris was a big supporter of George H.W. Bush's 2000 fatal
campaign, and a great friend of the dying Lee Atwater. Everyone
getting pulled into the same black hole, you'd think they'd wise up.

Romney could have been a wise selection, because the Mormons keep
their distance from slanderous Buddhists (Zen, Tantric, Tibetan,
Nembutsu, Hinayana), and anyone like that who generates weird vibes.

But Romney did not seem to possess enough corruption to raise the
blood of the Republican Tea Party Right: he did not satisfy that red-
meat taste they've developed for Christian Zen types (with martial
arts kick-ass skills like those of Chuck Norris or the special forces
guys they enshrine on the altar and worship).

Romney did not seem to subscribe to Christian Zen, but the Mormons
have been able to morph their religion when politically necessary
(bans on multiple marriages, acceptance of other races). Maybe they
will adapt to the red state fascination with the Zen martial arts,
too. Black-belted mormon missionaries, anyone?

Romney's last potent contender was Gingrich, the last and strongest of
the Not-Romneys. And he had a history of being involved with kinky new-
age stuff that had generated those explosive results in his family and
professional life, leaving a trail of bombed-out personal
relationships. But he also possessed that red-meat life-corruption
craved by the Tea Party and the conservative wing of the Republican
Party. Presidential nominee Gingrich was not to be, however, he was
Romney-boated in Iowa and buried just before the election in a sea of
false TV ads. Romney raised his hands to protest his involvement in
those ads and said, "Not me!", similar to the job losses due to his
vulture capital outfit Bain.

Finally the forlorn hope of the religious red states was Rick
Santorum. Seemed like a nice guy in that sweater-vest, someone you
could have a beer with, but as dumb as a post ... oh, wait ... wasn't
there another Republican guy like that, just recently? Started a war
in Iraq?

In spite of all these possible choices, Mitt was the man selected to
take out Barack Obama. In the process of defeating his adversaries, he
had become toxified, but you hadn't seen too many Zen men in his
supporters and crew, they were mostly out "helping" his adversaries
(Chuck Norris campaigned for Newt Gingrich). That has apparently
guaranteed his much maligned rise to the nomination.


>>>> addendum on October 2nd, 2012 (Before the first Presidential Debate):


The Republican Tea Party Right Finally Focuses All of Their Hatred
Against
the Middle Class, the Minorities and the 47 Percent (effectively, the
SGI)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear with me on this story, it is relevant.

Back in 2000 I was a men's division district leader in the SGI. In our
infinite wisdom, my women's division co-leader and I instituted an all-
out campaign to disassociate temple members in the territory
encompassing our district, with some notable successes. The unexpected
effect of this cause was that large numbers of powerful youth division
leaders appeared out of nowhere, or just stood up from the local area.
Ultimately, the result of this was that our formerly moribund district
blossomed and eventually split into four district meetings, all of
which are currently thriving. This is actual proof of the effects of
Soka Spirit and Courageous Heart activity.

One of those young women's division leaders who showed up was a young
and physically perfect ballerina from the East Coast, to join the
city's professional ballet troupe. She was as wonderful inside as she
was outside, perfectly kind, perfectly poised, perfectly friendly and
encouraging to everyone around her: an example of the kind of noblesse
oblige that you rarely see associated with someone of such profound
physical and mental talents, and with such astonishing beauty. She was
a natural, to become a great youth leader of the SGI.

It is a little-known fact that professional ballet dancers (and
dancers generally) are injured at twice the rate of players in
professional sports (although the cranium is mostly spared). Every
ballet dancer has a collection of injuries they are constantly
nursing, some small and nagging, some career-threatening. Although
most professional dance organizations have some kind of physical
therapy available, most of them are extremely light on health plans,
if they have one at all. Most professional dancers are terribly
underpaid as well, so if they have health problems, they have to ...
well ... suffer in silence, because to show any weakness in practice
or performance is to lose out in the struggle for the advancement of
your career. They typically have several teaching jobs on the side to
get by, in the same way that classical musicians and other artists do:
they take students and foster new artists.

In her early twenties, our ballerina developed an extremely aggressive
breast cancer. Everyone was very supportive, and I encouraged her with
the story of my ex-wife who had developed an aggressive breast cancer
(many lymph nodes involved), and who went through aggressive
chemotherapy, surgery and breast reconstruction while never stopping
her exercise routine and running, with the result that she was still a
survivor 25 years later. Our ballerina went back to the East coast,
did the same and returned to her ballet troupe, looking as perfect as
ever. She went on to be one of the soloists, doing important roles and
teaching many students. She also dabbled in Jazz dance, Blues dance,
and danced and acted in a professional stage musical.

Later, her cancer came back, she fought it back and danced again. It
came back again as fourth stage cancer (metastasized), but she went
into remission once more and danced soli again. Through it all, it was
hard to tell when she was sick. In the same way dancers show perfect
poise when they are suffering the most, she danced through her life
without complaint. A dancer's dancer. Her struggles with health
insurance must have been profound, as her cancer came back again and
again, but you never heard about it from her.

She also excelled in the SGI, rising to be a young women's chapter
leader, raising many young women and leading in activities involving
dance, such as the Rock The Era youth activity in Long Beach,
California a couple of years ago. After that activity she found a post
as an assistant leader of a dance troupe in the South, where she could
pursue her choreography.

Our chapter had a little party before her departure: she was in top
physical form and I have never seen such a perfect physical specimen
of a human being. I envisioned her future: director, choreographer,
carving out her niche in the dancing world and making her mark,
married and raising some beautiful and perfect little dancers of her
own.

To understand the great Buddhas (such as our ballerina) requires faith
in the Lotus Sutra, because the jewel of Buddha wisdom can only be
purchased at the price of faith in the Lotus Sutra.

What are the characteristics and virtues of a Buddha? The
characteristics of a Buddha are the characteristics of a Bodhisattva,
who leads herself and others to the enlightenment of the Lotus Sutra,
the Buddha's highest teaching. The virtues of a Buddha are three,
called san-toku in Japanese:

http://www.sgilibrary.org/search_dict.php?id=2392

... The benevolent functions of sovereign, teacher, and
... parent a Buddha is said to possess. The virtue of
... sovereign is the power to protect all living beings, the
... virtue of teacher is the wisdom to instruct and lead
... them to enlightenment, and the virtue of parent is the
... compassion to nurture and support them. Nichiren (1222-
... 1282) interpreted the following passage of the "Simile
... and Parable" (third) chapter of the Lotus Sutra as
... expressing the three virtues: "Now this threefold world
... is all my domain [the virtue of sovereign], and the
... living beings in it are all my children [the virtue of
... parent]. Now this place is beset by many pains and
... trials. I am the only person who can rescue and protect
... others [the virtue of teacher]." In several of his
... writings, Nichiren described his role or mission as the
... votary of the Lotus Sutra in terms of these three
... virtues. The first line of his treatise The Opening of
... the Eyes reads, "There are three categories of people
... that all human beings should respect. They are the
... sovereign, the teacher, and the parent" (220). Near the
... conclusion of the same work, he states, "I, Nichiren, am
... sovereign, teacher, and father and mother to all the
... people of Japan" (287). Because these three virtues are
... considered the virtues of a Buddha, the above passages
... are seen as an indication that Nichiren intended The
... Opening of the Eyes as a declaration of his role as the
... Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law who expounds and
... spreads the teaching that can lead all people to
... Buddhahood.

The Buddhas exemplify the causality of the Law, and never, ever do
anything by accident or luck: it is all cause and effect.

The greatest weapon of a Bodhisattva is their vulnerable and easily-
crushed humanity, which is the very heart of the compassion of a
Buddha. This is because of the profoundly evil causes created by those
who do the crushing, who commit the great evil act of conspiring to do
harm to one who practices the Lotus Sutra: a "votary" of the Lotus
Sutra. These profoundly evil causes incur enormous and swift karmic
retribution on those participating in the conspiracy to subjugate and
crush the votary of the Lotus Sutra. From these effects, permanent
change comes to society.

Think of that old man in his World War II Japanese prison cell,
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, being martyred by a government of Zen-Shinto
terrorists out to dominate and wreak havoc and genocide upon the
world. He dies nobly, not bowing to evil, and soon after his death a
terrible whirlwind is reaped by those in the conspiracy to crush his
spirit and steal his few remaining years from him. Their Zen-Shinto
dreams of world domination are thoroughly reduced to the ashes of a
total and abject, dishonorable defeat. The Western military
(personified by General MacArthur) that crushed the tormentors of Mr.
Makiguchi and freed the votaries of the Lotus Sutra to spread that
Soka Gakkai practice to what is now one in six families in Japan ...
was identified by his disciple and fellow prisoner Josei Toda as a
Shoten Zenjin, or Buddhist god or deity. However, Buddhism is not
Shinto, the Buddhist gods are not superior, but are simply functions
of the life of a Buddha, in this case Mr. Makiguchi and Mr. Toda (who
also suffered from prison losing much of his health), nonsubstantiably
functioning after the death of Mr. Makiguchi to fulfill his intent to
free the nation and establish the freedom of religion allowing the
Soka Gakkai to spread. The highway to world peace that was his life
was paved over the dominion of his enemies with its foundations
constructed from the wreckage of their corrupted dreams.

This is the Buddhist way. A single Bodhisattva can change the world,
which functions as their life (sovereign for the people) to fulfill
their noble intent (teacher and parent to the people).

The last time I saw our ballerina she had a different hairdo style,
and I hugged her and asked if everything was OK, "Just fine," she
said.

Later I saw one of the young women she fostered on the street and she
talked about her, noting that she had been bald when she saw her (the
new hairdo was a wig, unbelievably thick-headed of me not to perceive
that, but perhaps she wanted it that way.)

Then in early Summer, I got an email for some daimoku tosos (Nam-Myoho-
Renge-Kyo chanting sessions) for our ballerina's health: she had gone
back East to get treatment and it was serious. And then one Monday
afternoon, while I was chanting and thought about her, I had that
bright pure feeling inside that you get when you chant a lot of
daimoku. I found out later that was when she passed away.

She died at the age of 33 in June at her family home in Washington,
D.C., surrounded by loving friends and family. People chanted for her
and with her right up to the end. After she passed away, her aunt
rearranged the body, and marvelled at her lightness. When she
unwrapped the sheet from her feet, she saw that her dancer's feet were
perfectly pointed. She had died "en pointe."

Like I said, the Buddha's wisdom (perceiving the truth) is purchased
at the price of faith in the Lotus Sutra. So you have to have faith to
believe the rest of this story.

As she suffered and died over the first half of this year in
Washington D.C., change came to that city. Ten days after she lay down
her perfect head and died breaking all of the hearts of those who
loved her, against all odds and to the utter disbelief of all the
pundits: the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,
John Roberts somehow found his heart and saved the Affordable Care Act
(Obamacare) from certain death.

I thought about this, and if Gingrich and the Republicans had not
destroyed the earlier version of the ACA (Hillarycare), she might have
received just enough and better care to survive, to have a different
outcome. Now, that's a conjecture, but it is no conjecture to realize
that all of her underpaid and undercared-for dancing community all
over the country, all those tiny dancers of hers would in two years
get the healthcare they had always richly deserved, for the beauty
they bring to our society. She had deserved better, and now they would
get what she had deserved and had to fight for.

And then I thought, that will only happen if President Obama is re-
elected and a Congress is elected that will properly fund the ACA.
This means that those men with all the money and power behind the
Republican Party simply have no idea what they are up against. During
this period they had selected and coalesced behind what everyone
agreed was their least favorite candidate, Mitt Romney, who had vowed
to eradicate Obamacare on his first day in office.

I watched as they prepared for their convention in a hurricane, losing
the one day that held the tribute to the military, while Romney's
acceptance speech was rewritten a half-dozen times, somehow forgetting
to add in the missing tribute to the military (scratch one loyal GOP
faction). Then he picked Paul Ryan as V.P.: the chief architect of the
destruction of Social Security -> private accounts, Medicare ->
vouchers and Medicaid -> sent to the states (scratch the other loyal
GOP faction, seniors). Then Romney himself replaced his wonderful 1/2
hour film with Clint and the chair. He laughed in support of Clint
backstage, and his loyalty was rewarded with Clint stating that anyone
that was dumb enough to pick him to give such an introduction deserved
what they got. Romney's loyal support of his V.P. pick was rewarded by
Paul Ryan parading up and down his campaign bus referring to Romney as
"Stench":

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81618.html

In quick succession came the drop in the polls, the recriminations of
right wing pundits Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh who said Romney
needed to get tough, the attack on the embassies, the "Shoot first,
aim later" speeches as the Americans were dying, then the 47% video,
and a full chorus of recriminations from all the right wing pundits:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81419.html

Then came the big swings in the polls and of course, no one knows what
comes next. Having a scientific bent, however, I can speak of the
"maximum likelihood" of where this trend line appears to be leading,
and what it means.

Mitt Romney is by all accounts, a truly wonderful person, holding
aside the effects of his policies on the middle class, the minorities
and the 47% (which includes the arts community and the dancers who are
the treasures, of our treasured ballerina.) He and all of GOP appear
to be doing their utmost to fulfill the living and dying wishes ... of
one tiny dancer.

Our ballerina is two in appearance, but one in essence (Nini-funi):

Both a small Bodhisattva, but also a great Buddha (Sovereign, Teacher
and Parent).

Both a dancer's dancer tragically dying en pointe at 33, but also like
the Washington Redskins' running back Alfred Morris (#46) rushing
through the line to drive the football over the line unstoppably for a
game-winning touchdown as the game clock runs down to zero.

They simply don't have a chance against her.


>>>> addendum on November 11th, 2012 (The Sunday after the election):


I spent a few months on the phone bank for the Democrats calling swing
states (Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Colorado and Nevada) using their micro-
targeting dialer.

It was amazing: I would call Republican women and almost always they
were voting for Obama, or their husbands would pick up and arrogantly
refuse to let me talk to them. I knew they would vote for the
President anyway.

I participated because of our ballerina: I could not let her intent
fail to materialize. I had to do whatever I could to preserve the ACA
for her dancers.

It was loud in the room with the other callers, so I would put my
other hand over my cell-phone to make it quieter (and to cover my
quiet daimoku in between calls.)

When the President misfired in the first debate, I worried but never
lost hope: a large number of volunteers arrived in the days after that
failure, and they stayed to the end. Obama rebounded in the last two
debates: Bengazi's "acts of terror" Rose Garden redux and Romnesia.

As yet another hurricane disrupted Romney's momentum in the last week,
accompanied by motown corporate rebuttals of his off-shoring charges,
Obama looked Presidential and we doubled down to make up the lost
popular vote from the hurricane states. And then it was over when Ohio
was called before midnight, Eastern time. All that worry was
unnecessary, it was never really a close contest.

I felt profoundly good in that way that you do, when you have
accomplished something difficult for someone who cannot do it for
herself. I felt this in spite of the clear knowledge that the causes
for this had already been made and guaranteed by someone else's
sacrifice. A truly fine person, a person of real quality, who would
never allow grinding reality to interfere with her discharge of her
responsibility as sovereign, teacher and parent to her troupe.

____ Epilog _______________________________________

The Buddha's highest teachings were the purpose of the Buddha's advent
on this earth.

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to drain people's compassion
with discussions of the emptiness and meaninglessness of life which is
just a void.

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to teach people to live in
such a narrow and momentary way, that there would be no context for
self-examination and conscience.

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to possess people's minds with
such illogic as to befuddle their ability to choose correctly between
what is good and what is evil.

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to teach people how to commit
atrocities and genocide, in the exploration of their "infinite
possibilities", or "new states of being".

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to teach people how to maim
and kill with their hands efficiently, quietly, loudly, with increased
terror inflicted, or to maximize their subjugation to control the
public sentiments for political ends.

These are all profoundly evil distortions of the Buddha's true
teachings, which introduce infinities in the variables holding good
and evil, removing all shades of gray in the propositional calculus of
value.

Simply stated, the Buddha made his advent on this earth with the
purpose of teaching the compassionate way of the bodhisattva, which is
at the heart of the true entity of all phenomena, which is the eternal
Buddha at one with the eternal Law. Which is how to navigate the sea
of sufferings of birth, aging, sickness and death. He originally set
out on his path, because of his observation of the sufferings of
common people and wanting to understand the source of those sufferings
(enlightened wisdom) and how to transform those sufferings into
unshakable happiness (enlightened action).

When you embrace the void and acausality, your initial intention to
explore Being and essence doesn't matter ... the result is always the
same: chaos and misery, and utter ruination and emptiness to you,
your family, and your country.

But things don't have to be that way ...
___________________________________________________

Nichiren Daishonin writes (Encouragement to a Sick Person, WND p. 78):

. "During the Former and Middle Days of the Law, the
. five impurities began to appear, and in the Latter
. Day, they are rampant. They give rise to the great
. waves of a gale, which not only beat against the
. shore, but strike each other. The impurity of
. thought has been such that, as the Former and
. Middle Days of the Law gradually passed, people
. transmitted insignificant erroneous teachings
. while destroying the unfathomable correct
. teaching. It therefore appears that more people
. have fallen into the evil paths because of errors
. with respect to Buddhism than because of secular
. misdeeds."

Because Bodhidharma discarded the Buddha's highest teaching (the Lotus
Sutra), and due to his lazy nature turned to shortcuts to
enlightenment, he came to the distorted view that life is acausal and
empty, that the true entity is the void.

This erroneous view really comes from a misunderstanding of the Sutra
of Immeasurable Meanings, where the True Entity is described by
negation (the only way it can be): "... neither square, nor round,
neither short, nor long, ..."

The description of the True Entity is logically voidal, but the True
Entity itself is not. Bodhidharma was simply confused, due to the
slander of negligence (laziness), and false confidence. The truth of
life is that at the heart of the True Entity is the compassion of a
bodhisattva for others.

Non-substantiality does not mean empty. Life has value. Humans are
respectworthy. There is a purpose to everything. And every cause has
an effect, so we are responsible for our thoughts, words and deeds.
Zen is acausal. Zen is the greatest poison, which compares to the even
greater medicine of the Lotus Sutra.

Suffice it to say: the purpose of Zen in the world is to corrupt and
undermine everything that is not based upon the truth and the true
teaching. All religions, disciplines, institutions and organizations
which are undermined by Zen will eventually fall after glaring
revelation of their worst defects, sooner rather than later.

If there is some good in your family, locality, society and culture,
or country that you would like to retain, then cease the Zen, and
begin to apply the medicine of the Lotus Sutra to heal the Zen wound
in your life.

"Zen is the work of devilish minds." - Nichiren

-Chas.

. a prescription for the poisoned ones:
.
. The only antidote for the toxic effects of Zen in your life ...
.
. be that from Zen meditation, or the variant forms: physical
. Zen in the martial arts, Qigong, Acupuncture, Falun Gong,
. Copenhagen Convention of Quantum Mechanics, EST,
. Landmark Education, Nazism, Bushido, the Jesuits,
. Al Qaeda, or merely from having the distorted view that life
. is acausal, and that the true entity of all phenomena
. is the void ...
.
. with the effects of the loss of loved ones, detachment,
. isolation or various forms of emptiness in your life ...
.
. is the Lotus Sutra: chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
. at least 3 times, twice a day, for the rest of your life,
. in at least a whisper ...
.
. and if you can, chant abundantly in a resonant voice !!!
.
. Nichiren Daishonin's Gosho and the
. SGI Dictionary of Buddhism are located at:
.
http://www.sgilibrary.org/writings.php
http://www.sgilibrary.org/dict.html
.
. The full 28 Chapters of the Lotus Sutra (and many other
. wonderful things) are online at the SGI website:
.
http://sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/Buddhism/LotusSutra/
.
. To find an SGI Community Center:
.
http://www.sgi-usa.org/sgilocations/
__________________________________

[Keep in mind when reading chapter two of the Lotus Sutra, that it is
the core of the "theoretical" first half of the Lotus Sutra. As such,
it expresses theoretical ichinen sanzen, the theoretical wisdom of the
Lotus Sutra.

When you read this section it can raise in your mind the provisional
view of Buddhism, that enlightenment is attained through worshipping
statues or various practices over many lifetimes, which is incorrect
for this time. In fact, the one and only way to attain the
enlightenment related to the Lotus, is the practice of the Lotus
Sutra, which in the latter day of the Law is chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-
Kyo.]

LS Chap. 2

If there are persons who for the sake of the Buddha
fashion and set up images,
carving them with many distinguishing characteristics,
then all have attained the Buddha way.
Or if they make things out of the seven kinds of gems,
of copper, red or white copper,
pewter, lead, tin
iron wood, or clay,
or use cloth soaked in lacquer or resin
to adorn and fashion Buddha images,
then persons such as these have all attained the Buddha way.
If they employ pigments to paint Buddha images,
endowing them with the characteristics of hundredfold merit,
if they make them themselves or have others make them,
then all have attained the Buddha way.
Even if little boys in play
should use a piece of grass or wood or a brush,
or perhaps a fingernail
to draw an image of the Buddha,
such persons as these
bit by bit will pile up merit
and will become fully endowed with a mind of
great compassion;
they all have attained the Buddha way.

This anthology:

http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=%22disbasing+zen%22+%28%22Toxic+Zen%22+OR+%22Survivor+Gita%22+OR+%2247+U.S.C.+223%22+OR+%22Roshi+Phil+Jackson%22+OR+%22Silk+Road,+Franciscans%22%29&btnG=Search&sitesearch=