| Yokota:
Why
has the SGI been so successful in achieving diversity?
Strand:
The Lotus Sutra is the primary reason. There is a theological mandate within
the Lotus Sutra as practiced by Nichiren Buddhist for embracing diversity.
It is found in its teachings of the absolute equality of all human beings.
In Japan, where there isn’t much cultural or racial diversity, it had remained
a theory. But in America, it had a chance to blossom into reality, into
a fact. Because when the SGI came here, it encountered for the first time
a truly pluralistic society.
The thing that was finally so fascinating
to me about the SGI was that it is in some ways the fulfillment of the
American dream. Not just the dream of financial prosperity, but the American
dream of freedom and justice for all people. The American dream that expresses
religious tolerance and religious plurality. The SGI is not only the only
diverse Buddhist organization in America; it might be fair to say it is
one of the very few diverse religious organizations of any denomination
in America. There are others but they are rare.
I have heard it said that Sunday is
the most segregated day of the week in America, meaning that when people
go to their respective religious traditions, their churches, their synagogues,
their mosques, they are basically segregated. There is little racial crossover,
even within the same faith tradition. For example, the Baptists: There
are black Baptists and white Baptists churches, but rarely do the two cross
the color line in any significant way.
Yokota:
How was your experience of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo?
Strand:
It was quite wonderful, really. In comparison with other chants I have
done, it is very distinctive. The Nembutsu, for example, which is chanted
by Pure Land followers, is a very sedate chant. By comparison, chanting
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is very lively and uplifting — less
meditative absorption and more meditative participation. In general, Nichiren
Buddhism seems to me to be a break from the monastic thinking and tradition
that is so much a part of other Buddhist practices.
When Nichiren began to teach it to
other people there was a sense of its connecting directly to people’s lives,
from one person to another. There was much more of an emphasis on lateral
transmission in Nichiren Buddhism that there was on the lineal transmission
from teacher to teacher found in other traditions. In Nichiren Buddhism
there is of course great reverence for the figure of Nichiren, but to me
it seems a more lateral-moving-tradition — spreading
“sideways” from person to person rather than being handed down from on
high by a master. I found this lateral sharing among equal participants
a very inspiring aspect of the SGI practice.
People act like Buddhism is something
to be passed down from teacher to teacher. Too often, though, what is passed
along is dead — a set of books or attitudes or beliefs
or way of talking or an intangible “something.” But it is still dead
when it becomes only formality. What happens in the SGI is that within
the dead formality of traditional ritual, the living substance of that
ritual is re-created from within by a person who chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
When they chant it, it is reborn again within them. Then what they have
to pass along is living, not dead. But it can’t be passed along unless
someone is willing, through their own chanting, to have it reborn within
their own lives.
Although I’m no expert on this practice,
this seems to me that this must be what soka, or “value creation” means;
this willingness to recreate Buddhism in each one of us, in each new life
that receives it as it is passed along.
One well-known Buddhist teacher said,
“Trying to transmit Buddhism to America is like holding a seed against
a rock and hoping that it would grow.” SGI has figured out how to make
those seeds blossom into a beautiful garden of colorful flowers. And look
how many different types of flowers it has!
Yokota:
Why do you think the SGI has been able to teach this chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
to such a diverse group of people?
Strand:
I think it is no coincidence that the SGI began to develop into the global
religion it is today about the time of its excommunication by the Nichiren
Shoshu priesthood. I am not sure what it means for a very small religious
body such as Nichiren Shoshu to excommunicate a very, very large organization
like the SGI. They did it, but I’m still not sure I understand it.
I know what it meant for the SGI,
however. For the first time, SGI members were liberated
from the requirement of having to “bow to Mecca,” or in the case of Nichiren
Shoshu, “bow to the head temple.”
It’s like the difference between two
types of vines. One vine, like the wisteria, grows out of the ground from
one root. It can only cover so much ground. It can only grow so big because
it is only one vine connected at one place of origin. Other vines put out
floating seeds that are carried by wind and water and thus can spread much
further and faster.
The SGI became like that. Freed from
restrictions, each place it traveled its seeds put down roots and growth
happened. The growth was made authentic by the practice and faith of the
people who embraced it.
SGI members feel directly connected
to the Gohonzon without intermediaries. Something not understood by people
outside the SGI is the connection people have with the Gohonzon. I’m not
so sure I understand myself, but I understand what I see. And I can see
that it connects people directly to their own lives, through their own
practice in there own homes, in a way that is impossible in most other
traditions.
As the expression goes, the SGI practice
in America “has legs.” It moves and grows on its own. It is dynamic and
active because it stresses conversion, the idea of kosen-rufu. Any place
you put it, it takes root and spreads outward. Consequently, it attracts
people who are dynamic and socially involved.
Nichiren Buddhism as practiced by
the SGI can’t help but be passed along because it is so vitally connected
to real life.
Yokota:
Any final thoughts for our readers?
Strand:
Yes. What got me interested in the SGI was the book The Buddha in Your
Mirror, written by three Americans. This was a very helpful book. But
it wasn’t the book itself that got me interested. What interested me was
the fact that three people authored the book. This would never happen elsewhere
in American Buddhism, because Buddhist teachings in this country are still
very personality driven. The Buddhist teachers in this country are in some
ways almost like stars. To have a book written in cooperation by three
people, whom I assume were sitting around and talking to one another and
giving ideas back and forth and then producing a book together in cooperation
– that was truly impressive.
As soon as I read this book, I called
up a friend who is an editor. I said, “I just read this book by these
three SGI teachers or senior members, whatever…” My friend interrupted:
“Three of them, all together? Did each one of them write a separate
part?” I said: “No, I think they just worked on it together. Isn’t
that unusual!”
Later, when I started reading books
by President Ikeda, such as The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, I found
many others were written in dialogue format. I found all this so interesting
because it was so much less ego-driven than the books I was used to reading.
People don’t understand this about
the SGI. In my experience, there seem to be fewer big egos knocking around,
bumping into one another in the SGI. What I was most impressed by was that
so many people seem to be able to work in cooperation with one another.
That’s pretty extraordinary. So much cooperation! That struck me as very
significant.
_________________
See also the Tricycle article
(in pdf) by Clark Strand
Quotes, articles
and media from various publications and websites are used here in a "fair
use" context.
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