Soka Gakkai

Yesterday, on Wednesday, I went to the meeting to the local chapter of the Soka Gakkai. The meeting was held in one of the member's apartament in the Sheridan Towers. The meeting was a full-house. The people were nice.

It appears to me that the SGI is aiming at the average folk with their own daily problems. There was not much of in-depth Buddism's understanting, just a faith that chants will bring you the answers in life.
During the meeting, and after the chants, the bowl with various buddhist quotations was passed around to be discussed.

Since that was my first visit I dicided to speak about the quote I have gotten and therefore introduce myself.

"We grow strong when tested by fierce winds. They kindle our fighting spirit into vigorous flame. This is the essence of Soka Gakkai spirit."

I spoke of the bodhisattva Fudo-myo-o, a dweler of the realm of hell, that came in the vision to the Nichiren (patriarch of SGI) as he meditated. I stressed the importance of the visualization of the Fudo-myo-o's cutting sword as a way of cutting thru the delusions of this life and achieving clarity thru our meditations.

Fudo-myo-o is a fierce looking bodhisattva sitting in the throne of fire and holding the sword, it is frequently called upon in the difficult moments when one has to get thru a particularly difficult and stressful time. There is no problem in Buddhism to call upon such visualizations, yet we shall remember that the full enlightenment we will achive only after we put all the delusions behind, after we cut thru the problems. Buddha was teaching to his deciples, "be your own lantern"...

I hope that at least some of the people understood.

Today, I studied the life of Hakuin and his struggle with ego. That understanding would help me to transend from the realm of realization to the realm of bodhisattvas.