What's your experience with Soka Gakkai or Nichiren Buddhism?
Asked by
obvek (
1425
)
July 7th, 2011
from iPhone
I recently received something of an orientation to the practice while visiting family, including some who were raised with the practice. All but one family member felt strongly that the practice had a significant positive impact on their lives.
I haven’t adopted the practice, but I’ve been reading some of the literature. I find it meshes well with some of my personal beliefs and appreciate its populist foundation, but I get hung up a good bit on the “Engrish”, and I’m sort of waiting for the catch.
What’s been your experience? Do you have faith in absolute victory for kosen-rufu?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
2 Answers
They are just Buddhists with heavy Japanese influence.
I don’t have any personal experience with it (I follow another strand of Buddhism), but Buddhism is a very big tent that encompasses a huge array of forms of practice. All are ways of bringing attention to bear on one’s life, so that one can see for oneself the nature of reality. The reality is One, but there is no unique form of practice that has a lock on realizing that reality.
That’s wonderful, because one can then choose a practice for which one feels some affinity. But here’s the thing: all will necessarily lead you to a very challenging place. All Buddhist practices worth their salt will force you to confront your own delusions, and some of those delusions are ones you’re very fond of. You’ll also see aspects of yourself that are not at all pleasant. Most people, frankly, don’t want to deal with all that. They just want Buddhism to give them what they want, without all those uncomfortable bits. But it won’t
It might be worthwhile to look at whatever forms of practice are available to you, wherever you live. Feel free to visit Vipasanna (Insight), Zen, Vajrayana (Tibetan) centers as well. You may find that one form of practice really sings to you more than another. Do keep your eyes open and trust your instincts; some individual groups, even ones based in perfectly valid lineages, may have an unhealthy feel to them. If the people seem weird, or you get a bad feeling about the leadership of the group, trust that instinct and say good-bye.
But when you do feel ready to commit to a practice, whether Soka Gakkai or another, then by Golly stick with it even when the going gets rough.
Answer this question 
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.
Composing members:
0
