Quote
The members told her to try their practices for 90 days as a trial run.
“They told me that if it didn’t work, I had nothing to lose,” Manivong said.
This is the fascinating part - it takes about 90 days for a practice (whatever it is) to become a habit. So the SGI, under the guise of encouraging people to test it out for themselves, is actually setting up the ideal framework for this "trial" to become a habit. And we all know how difficult it is to stop something once it has become a habit!
Quote
She said the methods make this form of Buddhism different because it is about changing oneself from within, while traditional temple Buddhism seeks external help.
False. This person has a misunderstanding of what Buddhism is, probably because of having absorbed the SGI's twisted perspective. That is a mischaracterization of Buddhism.
Remember how Makiguchi (or was it Toda?) described the gohonzon as "a machine that produces happiness"?? THAT's "external help"! Chanting overwhelmingly is focused on activating external help. Pot kettle.
I'm reminded of the study from a coupla years ago that found that people who got their news from Fox News not only had *less* knowledge about world events than people who didn't, but the Fox Newsies were more likely to be misinformed.
Quote
the chant “nam-myoho-reng-kyo,” which Manivong translated as devotion to oneself, mystic law, the lotus flower and the voice or teaching of the Buddha.
This is interesting - I have never heard a translation that includes self-centeredness before.
Quote
A major symbol of Nichiren Buddhism is the lotus flower. The flower blooms in muddy water, which represents overcoming situations and problems.
The lotus flower not only blooms, but also seeds, which represents simultaneous cause and effect in life.
And yet the lotus is one of the oldest motifs found in Buddhism and Buddhist artworks. Huh - funny. You mean Nichiren didn't invent or discover the lotus which everyone had previously overlooked (soon he'll be portrayed as an early biologist/botanist - just you wait!), the way President Ikeda invented the fife to honor the founding of the Kotekitai???
Quote
Manivong said this event parallels SGI’s goal in preventing violence. She said one of SGI’s main goals is to abolish nuclear weapons by 2030.
And yet the SGI condones and supports the US's imperialist war-invasions of other countries. That's an odd way to prevent violence and seems like the opposite of working to abolish weapons of any kind.
Quote
Labelling of disappointment, or because my desires are not fulfilled:
1) The desire was badly formulated: it was not clear, was ambiguous,
too big, too small, unreachable … etc.etc.,
Once I met a woman SGI member who told me that, when you're chanting for something, you need to be really really explicit and detailed in your "request" (what was that about not seeking "external help", again??). She said she was chanting for a Cadillac, and at some point down the road, a guy gave her a toy Cadillac. So she got her Cadillac O_O It was HER problem for not being more specific, you see. I am NOT kidding!!! It's that same "monkey's paw" kind of backhanded-punishment-for-asking that you find in Christianity - how many times have you heard SGI members say "Be careful what you ask for"?? WHY should it be dangerous to ask?? Unless you will be punished just for having the effrontery to ask, of course. THIS IS NOT BUDDHISM!
Quote
5) for more: the protection of the Gohonzon appear to the adept, who
does not know that, now if he was satisfied his desire, that would in
some way harmful to him,
More of the same. "You can't have what you want/need because it would be bad for you." Who's in charge of our lives here, again?? As a famous Hollywood starlet said upon hearing the Christian criticism of her decision to pose nude for Playboy, "If it's a mistake, I'll learn from it. If it's not a mistake, I'll profit from it." And profit she did!
This attitude infuriates me just as much as the "good Christians" who refuse to give the homeless money "because they'll just spend it on alcohol/drugs." Wow - judgmental much?? Who are YOU to decide for these other people?? Are you their daddy?? Are they children?? I give homeless people MONEY! THEY will choose how to use it - that's what empowered individuals do! If they need alcohol or drugs, so be it. Since proper medical care that might alleviate those needs isn't available or accessible to them, let them self-medicate. They have that right. Besides, if you give to an organization, only a portion ever reaches the needy (if any - religious groups are the most inefficient, most likely corrupt organizations around). If you give the money to the homeless people, they get 100% of your gift. Ah, but you don't get any tax deduction then! Where are your priorities? Do you want to help someone else or get more for yourself??
Either you can chant for whatever you want, meaning that you will get whatever you chant for (Theresa Hauber explicitly stated this in her experience about trying out the practice - says she made a list on a piece of yellow legal paper, front and back, and she got every single entry), OR you can chant as much as you like, but that doesn't mean you'll get anything you chant for. People get stuff in life, particularly if they're trying to get it. They get stuff without having to chant. So if YOU have to chant just to get the same stuff other people are clearly getting without needing to chant, what does this say about YOU?? Are you THAT much of a loser? Is life THAT much stacked against you? Why is it that the "Buddhist gods" and the "protection of the gohonzon" don't make your life any better? Why are you having to runrunrun on that wheel just to barely keep up, never actually getting ahead, watching others who don't practice pass you by because they've put their efforts into good common sense activities instead, getting education, accumulating work experience, seeking additional training, learning new skills, while YOU sit there on your ass, mumbling magic words that you expect to bring you the same benefit without your having to put in that kind of practical effort??