Bowling Club 
Thu Oct 30, 2008 at 13:22:50 PM PDT
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(Beryl, I'm sensitive to your comments and agree with them. I'm promoting this thread because the discussion is interesting. - promoted by deardenver)
You gotta see this. Tricycle magazine breathlessly reports that it was "very lucky to get an interview with" Daisaku Ikeda, a "very important international Buddhist figure and president of SGI, whose members, spread across the globe, number 12 million.." Fact checkers were out to lunch when it came time to verify that membership statistic.
But the laughs don't stop there..
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Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 14:06:02 PM PDT
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Continuing my thoughts about "chanting works"....
In the Bowling Club, "experiences" are a big part of the Nichiren Buddhist hard sell; "experiences" are the centerpiece of every proselytizing meeting and publication. An "experience" is the story of how a chanter chants for something -- a job, a girlfriend, a role in a movie, whatever -- and how, through somewhat mystical means attributable to Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, the person gets what he or she wanted or something even better.
As I said in my earlier post, I'm more skeptical of these stories than I used to be. Even so, the efficacy of chanting has been "proven" to me over and over again. What I'm reaching for is a new way to talk about "experiences."
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Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 15:10:46 PM PDT
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Many chanters say that if you chant namu-myoho-renge-kyo, it "works." Can you feel your Buddhist practice working? Does your scalp tingle? Do your clogged sinuses miraculously drain? What does it feel like when practice works?
For some of us, "working" means getting stuff we're praying about -- material stuff such as money, jobs or opportunities as well as "spiritual" stuff such as insight, equanimity or desired personality traits.
Arguably, acquiring (or wanting to acquire) "spiritual" things is fundamentally a materialistic approach -- what Chogyam Trungpa called spiritual materialism.
So when we say that chanting "works," are we necessarily talking about material gain? Or is the "benefit of practice" something more, um, ineffable?
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Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 13:48:29 PM PDT
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Mmmm. We Nichiren Buddhists love our celebrity chanters -- from Eve Ensler to Duncan Sheik to Orlando Bloom and beyond....
Add Amy Winehouse to the list. (Hat tip: Tricycle blog.)
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Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 13:18:52 PM PDT
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( - promoted by beryl)
Spiritual seekers are vulnerable. We're generally open to new ideas and experiences. When I encountered the practice of chanting many years ago, I embraced it without question. I chanted. I started to notice a difference in my life. I opened up more and more.
If there's one mistake I made in those early days, it was to confuse the practice of chanting with the organization that promoted the practice of chanting.
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Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 12:18:28 PM PDT
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From an old edition of BuddhaJones, parodies of the Bowling Club's official newspaper:
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Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 12:13:26 PM PDT
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From an old edition of BuddhaJones, parodies of the Bowling Club's official magazine:
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Wed Jul 30, 2008 at 00:24:35 AM PDT
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( - promoted by buddhajones)
Are you a member of a group that supports your spiritual development and, in Buddhist terms, your movement toward liberation? Or does the group stunt your spiritual growth? Here's a quick comparison to help you tell the difference between a group that holds you down and a group that helps you soar.
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