No irony deficiency here. Just after posting the comment below, as I continued listening to this podcast--and I love your work, Eric, if you see this... and tune into (i.e., listen carefully) to virtually all of your podcasts--so please don't misunderstand--I heard your comment about the Nam Myoho Renge Kyo "cult girls" you brought into the cave, to chant with you and David Wilcox. I have wanted to share more with you about the extraordinarily profound practice of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, but having huge respect for you and your work, including your artistry--and, absorbed as you are in your work, and the Course in Miracles--I did not expect you to give it much credence. "Nam," the first word of "daimoku" or great invocation, in the practice is translated as "devotion"--to whatever entity serves as the container for our devotional energies---in any religious context; it can be a girl friend, a career, or a ham sandwich. Without engaging it--chanting (NMRK is one aspect --it is impossible to grasp the profundity, elegance and power of these teachings, and they might seem merely like an intellectual "trinket," fad, or "cult." Nothing could be further from the truth. In tandem with the liturgy of NS, or "gongyo" and study--and seeking guidance, in the process of fusing one's life with the primordial Life of the True Buddha--the True Entity of Life, and the eternal Object of Worship for Observing One's Mind, you'll discover its benevolent Mystic power...otherwise beyond brain function. "Chudo,"---the Middle Way in Buddhist teachings---means to "strike or to tap" while "sin" means to miss the mark. And there you have the essential difference, underlying all monotheistic teachings, all provisional Eastern philosophical constructs and Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. You will not encounter a more transformational ethos or spiritual practice. At the time you discoveredt his practice, it may have been prior to the lay organization getting the boot, for commercializing and contaminating the teachings. A whole power play was going on back then initiated by the SGI (lay organization, based in Japan). Buddhism is nothing without the Master/Disciple relationship and impossible to grasp without cultivating it, with consistency, devotion and humility. Please forgive this lengthy post. After considering how to share this with you for the last year, that you actually uttered Nam Myoho Renge Kyo during this podcast was nothing less than mind-blowing. Check it out, Eric. There is a temple in Flushing NY and when you chant to the Gohonzon--and it will take discover that it is the direct path to the Buddha realm and to embracing the Mystic Truth which has always been within your life. Thanks for allowing the space to share this with you. And for all the inspiration over the past few years.
Hi there, Marcy. Yeah no judgment and no insults intended. We had a great time and it was an enlightening experience. I will follow up on the history of organization. Thank you.
No offense taken. There is a precept in NS Buddhism called the Diamond Chalice--that once you hear NMRK, the Mystic Law, in whatever context--you will hear it again. Not because there are more people doing it, but because it's in your life. My purpose is to shine a light in that direction. I would encourage you also--and please bear with me--to have a direct experience of the practice and of the temple. Yes, your journalist hat is important, but the SGI is history--political machinations behind the rise of the Komeito Party, etc. I would deeply deeply encourage you, rather than putting on your journalistic hat, to wear no hat at all. You will not have wasted your time. Gratitude and appreciation for your work.. (I'm a Pisces as well and my 75th birthday is tomorrow. You've given me a great gift. (And yes, the yugas, but it goes deeper......)
just FYI for you and anybody listening. For me journalism is not a hat. As a journalist, I serve as the witness at all times. I’m with what you’re calling me journalist hat, which is a way to evade direct involvement and standing among the subject matter of the world. The journalist hat life to think of itself as being different than what it is witnessing or writing about. So I’ll remember to include that in my journalism book as the thing to not wear.
Now it's my turn to apologize. That was glib. You have no idea how deeply I listen to and reflect on your podcasts and how seriously I take your work. I may have misinterpreted then your comment about "following up on the history of the organization" as an intention to research the history of the SGI (if I'm correct about what you meant) from a journalistic POV. All fine, as you'll make some interesting discoveries. My purpose, for the little it may be worth, was to encourage you to explore the theoretical underpinnings of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism--I think you would appreciate them, even if only intellectually --but more importantly, to have a direct experience of chanting NMRK to a Nichiren Shoshu Gohonzon. Simple to begin, difficult to continue, but any effort, in any mindset, will open up windows and doors in your life, and then take the roof off. I'm a fan either way, and continually amazing that you manage to take time to respond to listeners in real time.
The antidote, and direct path is here, although this will seem partial and perhaps dogmatic without engaging it. Trite but true----We cannot find fundamental solutions, using the same thinking that created the problem. The process utterly transcends brain function although on the basis of engaging the practice, it can be gradually understood. nstny.org
Eric, Thank You!! Listening to everyone share made me feel like this is the Home I have been searching for and not knowing what or where it was… I’m a 68 year old child and have found home! Thank You Everyone!! Love & Light Cathy
I don't trust Elon Musk or even Donald Trump, I trust God, who is currently using human beings we believe to be far more flawed then ourselves (it's easy to feel it should be us better folks, we are actually worthy🤔 but God doesn't seem to care about our opinions on that) in order to free not only the American people but the whole world from a LOT of extremely oppressive bureaucracy. Be dismissive of these happenings if you want to, but it is absolutely an amazing thing to stop funding incredibly corrupt boondoggles like the US Agency for International Destabilization. The whole world is sick & tired of exported color revolution & propaganda to convince their populations that a majority of them support insane unreality. And yes, ruminant meat is usually incredibly healing for people sick from eating the SAD.
Nobody ever seems to get my biting humor- or as my literature teacher put it, my sardonic wit- through black words on a white screen. They usually just seem annoyed or insulted.
I have been Cassandra my whole life, expecting apocalyptic totalitarian doom my entire life, but that mysteriously started melting away over the past several years & slowly began to feel more & more optimistic, despite all evidence to the contrary.
No irony deficiency here. Just after posting the comment below, as I continued listening to this podcast--and I love your work, Eric, if you see this... and tune into (i.e., listen carefully) to virtually all of your podcasts--so please don't misunderstand--I heard your comment about the Nam Myoho Renge Kyo "cult girls" you brought into the cave, to chant with you and David Wilcox. I have wanted to share more with you about the extraordinarily profound practice of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, but having huge respect for you and your work, including your artistry--and, absorbed as you are in your work, and the Course in Miracles--I did not expect you to give it much credence. "Nam," the first word of "daimoku" or great invocation, in the practice is translated as "devotion"--to whatever entity serves as the container for our devotional energies---in any religious context; it can be a girl friend, a career, or a ham sandwich. Without engaging it--chanting (NMRK is one aspect --it is impossible to grasp the profundity, elegance and power of these teachings, and they might seem merely like an intellectual "trinket," fad, or "cult." Nothing could be further from the truth. In tandem with the liturgy of NS, or "gongyo" and study--and seeking guidance, in the process of fusing one's life with the primordial Life of the True Buddha--the True Entity of Life, and the eternal Object of Worship for Observing One's Mind, you'll discover its benevolent Mystic power...otherwise beyond brain function. "Chudo,"---the Middle Way in Buddhist teachings---means to "strike or to tap" while "sin" means to miss the mark. And there you have the essential difference, underlying all monotheistic teachings, all provisional Eastern philosophical constructs and Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. You will not encounter a more transformational ethos or spiritual practice. At the time you discoveredt his practice, it may have been prior to the lay organization getting the boot, for commercializing and contaminating the teachings. A whole power play was going on back then initiated by the SGI (lay organization, based in Japan). Buddhism is nothing without the Master/Disciple relationship and impossible to grasp without cultivating it, with consistency, devotion and humility. Please forgive this lengthy post. After considering how to share this with you for the last year, that you actually uttered Nam Myoho Renge Kyo during this podcast was nothing less than mind-blowing. Check it out, Eric. There is a temple in Flushing NY and when you chant to the Gohonzon--and it will take discover that it is the direct path to the Buddha realm and to embracing the Mystic Truth which has always been within your life. Thanks for allowing the space to share this with you. And for all the inspiration over the past few years.
Hi there, Marcy. Yeah no judgment and no insults intended. We had a great time and it was an enlightening experience. I will follow up on the history of organization. Thank you.
No offense taken. There is a precept in NS Buddhism called the Diamond Chalice--that once you hear NMRK, the Mystic Law, in whatever context--you will hear it again. Not because there are more people doing it, but because it's in your life. My purpose is to shine a light in that direction. I would encourage you also--and please bear with me--to have a direct experience of the practice and of the temple. Yes, your journalist hat is important, but the SGI is history--political machinations behind the rise of the Komeito Party, etc. I would deeply deeply encourage you, rather than putting on your journalistic hat, to wear no hat at all. You will not have wasted your time. Gratitude and appreciation for your work.. (I'm a Pisces as well and my 75th birthday is tomorrow. You've given me a great gift. (And yes, the yugas, but it goes deeper......)
Nichiren Shoshu is the ticket. The website is very basic. Will send a video link later.
just FYI for you and anybody listening. For me journalism is not a hat. As a journalist, I serve as the witness at all times. I’m with what you’re calling me journalist hat, which is a way to evade direct involvement and standing among the subject matter of the world. The journalist hat life to think of itself as being different than what it is witnessing or writing about. So I’ll remember to include that in my journalism book as the thing to not wear.
Now it's my turn to apologize. That was glib. You have no idea how deeply I listen to and reflect on your podcasts and how seriously I take your work. I may have misinterpreted then your comment about "following up on the history of the organization" as an intention to research the history of the SGI (if I'm correct about what you meant) from a journalistic POV. All fine, as you'll make some interesting discoveries. My purpose, for the little it may be worth, was to encourage you to explore the theoretical underpinnings of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism--I think you would appreciate them, even if only intellectually --but more importantly, to have a direct experience of chanting NMRK to a Nichiren Shoshu Gohonzon. Simple to begin, difficult to continue, but any effort, in any mindset, will open up windows and doors in your life, and then take the roof off. I'm a fan either way, and continually amazing that you manage to take time to respond to listeners in real time.
The antidote, and direct path is here, although this will seem partial and perhaps dogmatic without engaging it. Trite but true----We cannot find fundamental solutions, using the same thinking that created the problem. The process utterly transcends brain function although on the basis of engaging the practice, it can be gradually understood. nstny.org
Eric, Thank You!! Listening to everyone share made me feel like this is the Home I have been searching for and not knowing what or where it was… I’m a 68 year old child and have found home! Thank You Everyone!! Love & Light Cathy
I don't trust Elon Musk or even Donald Trump, I trust God, who is currently using human beings we believe to be far more flawed then ourselves (it's easy to feel it should be us better folks, we are actually worthy🤔 but God doesn't seem to care about our opinions on that) in order to free not only the American people but the whole world from a LOT of extremely oppressive bureaucracy. Be dismissive of these happenings if you want to, but it is absolutely an amazing thing to stop funding incredibly corrupt boondoggles like the US Agency for International Destabilization. The whole world is sick & tired of exported color revolution & propaganda to convince their populations that a majority of them support insane unreality. And yes, ruminant meat is usually incredibly healing for people sick from eating the SAD.
Nobody ever seems to get my biting humor- or as my literature teacher put it, my sardonic wit- through black words on a white screen. They usually just seem annoyed or insulted.
I have been Cassandra my whole life, expecting apocalyptic totalitarian doom my entire life, but that mysteriously started melting away over the past several years & slowly began to feel more & more optimistic, despite all evidence to the contrary.