Search found 103 matches
- Sat Jun 08, 2013 8:43 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: Four noble truths
- Replies: 51
- Views: 13115
Re: Four noble truths
This thread may be of interest: http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=10249
- Thu Dec 06, 2012 8:47 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: Went to a Rissho Kosei Kai service today.
- Replies: 14
- Views: 5269
Re: Went to a Rissho Kosei Kai service today.
Okay. That's it. I crown you, Queequeg, king of this forum. Not only do you have an amazing knowledge of this topic, but your synthesize it very well and present it in a well written fashion.
- Thu Dec 06, 2012 4:45 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: Dharma and long-term economic recession.
- Replies: 45
- Views: 14026
Re: Dharma and long-term economic recession.
Your writing is often more succinct, and just pain better written, than anything I can find in books. Why aren't you writing books yourself? :shrug: Not if you're a charmer . :facepalm: OK, humoring... All you need is Sandaihiho - Three Great Hidden Dharmas - 1. Gohonzon (Object of Veneration/Devoti...
- Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:57 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Interesting. Thank you.
- Sun Nov 25, 2012 11:57 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Thank you. I have a book of meditations by the Dalai Lama. But the Dalai Lama isn't a teacher of Nichiren Buddhism. (I did find a clip on YouTube, though, of him chanting the Odaimoku, which was great to see. )
- Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:36 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Thanks for the response. :smile: In the first illustration, you say that the West doesn't have a problem mixing spirituality and materialism -- but has trouble with spirituality, period. In the second illustration, you say that Christianity is mixing spirituality and materialism all the time. I agre...
- Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:30 pm
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Are you denying that Christianity does basically teach that there is a difference between the physical world and the spiritual world, and that the spiritual world (heaven, which you go to after you die) is better than the physical world?
- Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:10 pm
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
At the risk of sounding humorless (I'm actually watching Family Guy as I type this), I would wager that we can assume that when a book titled "Japanese Buddhism" says that in general the Japanese affirm the world and do not seek a way of escaping it, the book is referring to a religious co...
- Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:57 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Yes, everyone is different. For me, I was exposed to Buddhism as a child in Japan. I don't know if the form of Buddhism practiced by the people I knew was Nichiren Buddhism. But it makes sense for me that my childhood experience in Japan was perhaps the happiest experience of my life, and the style ...
- Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:45 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Thank you for the response. Here is the quote from the book which I paraphrased above: "In general, the Japanese affirm the world and humanity as they are and do not seek a realm or a state of existence that rejects or transcends the natural world. Several reasons can be given for this mindset....
- Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:33 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Phew! Thank you very much for the very interesting response. "This is what I'm talkin' 'bout." :) So, what you write here is related to what I mention in another thread I started: that Buddhism in Asia is part of a cultural fabric that is foreign to many Western convert Buddhists: http://w...
- Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:22 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Thank you everyone for the responses. They are all interesting in their own way. I can't help but feel, however, that somewhere along the line there was a miscommunication about my question. I wasn't asking for directives with regard to my own practice, nor was I necessarily looking for ways to prac...
- Thu Nov 22, 2012 11:00 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
....a Christian saying that perfectly illustrates what I'm addressing in this thread: the belief prevalent in the West that a desire for material benefits is non-spiritual.
- Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:55 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
My perspective is that Nichiren Buddhism gets "bashed" for something that I think is representative in the Asian cultures: focusing on being successful and happy in the material world. Camel in the eye of a needle, that kind of thing. :smile: Which is, to my knowledge, a Christian saying....
- Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:52 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
I used the term "the west" because I was quoting an earlier comment by another member of the forum. That's the term they used. Prior to studying Buddhism, I studied Judaism. That included taking a class called "An Introduction to Judaism" taught by the Oregon Board of Rabbis. My ...
- Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:18 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Thank you for the response. I should probably state upfront that I think it's fine to have material desires, and I think it's fine to chant for their fulfillment -- and this is what brought me to Nichiren Buddhism to begin with. I had respect for other schools of Buddhism and found them interesting,...
- Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:43 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
Re: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
Thank you for the responses, everyone. I suppose my question wasn't precisely worded, so that's my fault. I wasn't thinking of specific examples. I was just thinking of the theory of mixing the spiritual and the material, and that this seems "un-holy" to the Western mind. And I am basing t...
- Thu Nov 22, 2012 1:20 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
- Replies: 33
- Views: 11390
The West's conflict with mixing spirituality and materiality
I don't know if the title makes any sense, and I don't remember the exact quote. But a member of this forum (I think it was Queequeg) posted a while ago that in the West there is a conflict in mixing spirituality with the material. There was some reference made as follows: people were selling figure...
- Sat Oct 27, 2012 9:40 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: Chanting Experiences
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2403
Re: Chanting Experiences
I feel it's turned my life around. As I've mentioned on previous threads, I was raised Catholic. There was a point in my Catholic upbringing where I really felt a faith, a sense of there being larger forces at work. Something happened to ruin that for me, and I lost faith in Catholicism. It's kind o...
- Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:16 am
- Forum: Nichiren
- Topic: The Life Span of the Tathagata
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2111
Re: The Life Span of the Tathagata
I actually saw a book that had the Four Noble Truths translated into a mathematical equation.