[PAA-Discuss] Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth

Fri Mar 21 09:46:52 EDT 2008

Alan, your testimony could have been my own, except that I have never chosen to follow only one path, dharma or teacher.
I can't even remember how to spell the names of most of the teachers I've read or studied.
Well, except for Sash - that was the name of the Apache medicine man who was my guru/mentor for many of the years I was in Tyler.

What some people don't get is that many of us can follow a spiritual "quest" without neccessarily following a religion.
My main disagreement with Kris is that I would use the term "organized religion" where she simply uses the word "religion" as if it's all the same.
Some people see a box of cookies and mistake the box for the cookies.

One of my favorite zen stories:
"The teacher points to the moon and the students, like obedient dogs, stare at the teacher's finger and never see the moon."

Randy Scott

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Alán Alán Apurim 
  To: Ron and Kris Graham 
  Cc: Green Core ; Green Discussion List ; Progressive Action Alliance forum 
  Sent: Friday, March 21, 2008 5:38 AM
  Subject: Re: [PAA-Discuss] [770scleaders] Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth

  Ah, politics and religion, hot-buttons of humankind!  I wonder what kind of conflicts porpoises have in their domain.  Are they more intelligent creatures?
     Having examined most of the major religious writings of the world since noticing by age 8 that  I couldn't take the Christian bible literally because it didn't make sense compared to evolution and science, and later theorizing that such writings were heavily tampered with by the self-serving powers of medieval Europe, plus the obvious fact that commonly accepted meanings of words change even within the span of a single lifetime, I read "sacred" writings for what social advice they could offer, and not much more.  Since being introduced to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin about 25 years ago, I have been content to practice a philosophy that has no conflict with science (in fact I'm amazed some of the latest science astrophysics theories that go beyond the "Big Bang" are remarkably similar to Buddhist explanations of our universe).  
     I don't know much about the forms of Buddhism that branched off in southeast asia; the kind I practice came through China and Japan.  We still have the physical writings of Nichiren Daishonin to his disciples, preserved some 750 years, so it's not like it's second- or third-hand distortions as with some religions.  While Islam, Christianity, and Judaism have incredibly long and complex writings that are easily taken piecemeal out-of-context to support any view, and even in Buddhism there are some 82,000 "sutras" or teachings attributed to the Buddha of 2,500 years ago in India, there is one sutra that Nichiren distilled into a simple seven-syllable chant that expresses the supreme Law from which all other "laws" "commandments" or what-have-you, both in man-made philosophies and natural sciences, are subservient.  That law over all other laws is cause and effect.  Nothing that's real and has existence can be apart from all else, therefore it has an effect on that which is around it.  Itis said that , if something is real, it has the aspects of appearance, entity, power, influence, nature, self-cause, relationship, latent effect, manifest effect, and term consistency.  
     When dogmatically implored by some Christians to "worship Jesus," I reply, "I wordship the teachings, which are eternal, not the teacher, who comes and goes."  I then call to their attention that their bible, no doubt altered over the years, seems to omit a sizable part of Christ's life, between early childhood to several years into adulthood.  I ask, suppose he had an uncle who was a wealthy merchant.  Jesus may have spent years traveling on camel caravans to and from India.  Perhaps he learned what he later taught in Palestine from the Vedas and Upanishads, or even encountered mentoring enlightened teachers.  I never interpreted anything he is  alleged to have said in the bible as demanding people worship him personally!
     Since the word "Buddha" means "Realized One," it's true that as sentient beings we can realize that during every moment of our lives, whatever we do (or don't do), our actions or causes create effects in the world around us — therefore by thinking of the consequences of our actions, we can act to make a better world.  Our actions are like the Aboriginal boomerang, they always come back to us, not always in the way we expect, but that's part of the learning process.  When we try to explain or translate the old Japanese words (called a "daimoku") "Nam-m' Myoho Renge Kyo" that we chant as a mantra, among the ideas that emerge are devotion (like a mother cares for a child) to a profound law (the instant karma of cause and effect is symbolized by the lotus flower, which has already-mature seeds when it opens to bloom) through chanting (with the much-deeper implication of vibration, as in the cosmic strings theorized to compose the smallest sub-particles of the atom, indeed, the fabric of the universe that holds it all together in its weave).
     The lay organization, in some 190 countries worldwide, is called Soka Gakkai International (value-building society) and is headed by its third leader since World War Two, the president Daisaku Ikeda.  He continually encourages all members to become the best at whatever they do, and is not an overbearing or dictatorial kind of leader at all.  He celebrates the best of human achievement in the arts and culture of every nation, and regardless of their political structure, makes efforts to open dialogue between people and work towards peace.  He has been awarded many honorary awards by cities and universities all over the world, and is a prolific writer and photographer.  He has had dialogs with a long list of world academic and political leaders, such as Linus Pauling, Arnold Toynbee, Coretta Scott King, Zhou Enlai, and Mikhail Gorbachev.  I have seen many videos of him at meetings in Japan, where he interacts with the audience of SGI members from all over Japan and other nations, as he and his wife lead ceremonies honoring achievements, have music from bands and choirs, and always he exhibits good humor and self-effacing humility.  During major disasters, SGI members have pitched in to help others; and on occasion we have had local activities such as collecting books for study materials overseas where schools had none for students to practice reading development.  As a member of SGI, I have never been pressured to sign over any possessions or any such "cult" activities; and all subscriptions or donations of money are purely voluntary and self-determined by the member's own ability.
     I have endeavored to explain all this to refute your statement that you find "most if not all religion to be oppressive and subjugating" although I actually agree with you in many ways in your generalization, and especially your concluding sentences.
   Alán Alán Apurim   713-868-3945   apurim at gmail.com
  1434 Nicholson Street, Houston, TX 77008-4134

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