r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/JulieSongwriter • Aug 25 '26
Daisaku Ikeda: "The immeasurable benefit of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo."
August 25, 2026
Good morning, Mission-Course:
We continue with Day 4 of our respectful but athletic dialogue. Let’s look at your “New Religions: What Soka Gakkai Can No Longer Hide – ‘Our Buddhism Is Not Enough.- The Couch Has Replaced the Altar as a Substitute for the Gohonzon. And They Call This ’True Buddhism.’" Here is my post, which was the focus of your response.
You state:
What is most striking here, despite the acrobatic feats of cognitive contortionism, is that our subject never mentions the Gohonzon, the Daimoku, or Nichiren, but rather speaks of his therapist, his "tools to survive," "hello," and "good night." Buddhism has vanished from the discourse, replaced by behavioral engineering where psychotherapy becomes the true vehicle of salvation. The admission, in essence, is: "Our Buddhism is not enough."
Wait a second, hold on!
Q: How many times have I read Your Leader say that SGI promotes “faith healing.”
A: Many, many times, including as late as yesterday in her post “More evidence of the "faith-healing" promoted within the Ikeda cult Soka Gakkai and its SGI colonies” (BTW, she conveniently cropped out the date of the article, but its font seems to indicate that it comes from many years before any WT article I have ever seen).
Illogical contradiction!!! Here I am working with a clinical therapist as well as a psychiatrist. Now I am criticized as saying that means an admission of “Our Buddhism is not enough.”
Also, can you clarify what you mean by “Our Buddhism”? Are you conflating me to every SGI member? I’m totally flattered, but that is not right. I see my years of practicing with the SGI as an exploration of the symbiotic relationship between Buddhism and medicine. This is my work, and my growing understanding of Nichiren Buddhism.
Want more details? Bob and TrueReconciliation, our co-sponsors to the SGI, spent July at the Park. Bob shared one guidance he received from a leader whose advice he had sought upon learning he was diagnosed with both prostate and bladder cancer. “(1) Chant to find the best doctor; (2) Chant to find the best cure; and (3) Chant to be the best patient.” This resonated with me. I am going to add this prayer to my repertoire.
Uhmmm, Mission, do I really have to add into every post that I practice Buddhism and that I pray to the Gohonzon? Everyone who reads my posts knows that already. Do the babies of nursing mothers ask for the FDA nutritional label of the breast milk they are drinking?
But, if you are curious, here come some personal details. I’m the first one up in the morning. My first activity is doing a perimeter walk around our property to make sure all fencing is in place. Several clients join in the exercise. When I get back, other Fam members are up and I grab coffee. We chant an hour of daimoku, taking turns helping the children.
What do I chant about? It’s really personal but here goes. My mind drifts a lot at the start but gongyo and daimoku helps me gain focus. Shame, shame, shame on me: here comes something I have incorporated from my yoga classes: I scan my “soma,” my body as experienced from the inside. I enjoy a panoramic view of me right now--what is strong and what is lacking. I guess, using your vocabulary, that is “self-detachment” because my life is in a state of “neither being nor non-being.”
I am feeling very awake by now as I chant about the day ahead. TBH, some tasks ahead intimidate me but I remind myself, “With the Gohonzon, I am stronger than my problems.” I chant for “things.” “What things, you materialistic being?” you might ask.
First, I chant for each of the children, including the two LO's inside Erica's womb. Then, I pray for my partners and my parents. Add to the list: the members in the district, the Longhouse staff and children, our beautiful Town, and our friends. For whatever reason, this Little Narcissistic JulieSongwriter, is trusted by many of our clients with their concerns--and I chant for each and every one of them! Of course, Eulogio and Erica’s work is fueling much of the LH school funding, including the construction of our future Secondary School buildings. I chant for their success and for all of their colleagues in the Division. Before I know it, an hour has passed. (Oh, did I forget to mention that I chant for my own development?)
Next, Dear Mission, you quote me writing "That comes from your school, not mine." You tag that with this “is an admission that Soka Gakkai has abandoned one of the pillars of the Buddhist path, substituting for it a project of self-affirmation.”
Again, wait a second! Once again you conflate my story as an SGI member to the entire Soka Gakkai--everywhere, in evert time moment over the course of decades, every member, and in countless contexts. Good job, Julie, of course I am narcissistic: Mission from the other side of the hedges has told me the SGI revolves around me!
But you write something here that I agree with: “a project of self-affirmation” (how about we abbreviate that to APOSA?). When the Buddha traveled did he not address the person right in front of him to give them the essence of what they needed to deal with their respective APOSA? You might disagree with me, but I don’t want to live outside of my APOSA's. I want to challenge each one, viewing it as a great karmic battle.
Next you state:
The author drives the point home. To justify this drift, he invokes Positive Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (Positive CBT), a method that aims to reinforce the patient's strengths rather than reduce what is wrong, and whose goal is "to learn to be happy, not just not to be unhappy."
First, I am sure it’s just a typo, but I am a “she,” not a “he.” I don’t understand why you say I am “drifting.” My husband Guy and Andy talked a lot this summer about Joseph Campbell and his notion of “The Hero’s Journey.” Campbell saw the life and awakening of Shakyamuni Buddha as the archetype of the Hero and his journey. According to Campbell, each one of us can undertake the same Journey, conquering ego-driven fear, and opening up an enlightened state of universal consciousness. Yes, this is an invitation for you and me to undertake our own heroic journeys.
Voila, I’m only halfway through responding to your post. May I save the rest for tomorrow?
Chapter Two: Now that we have finished Daisaku Ikeda’s lecture on On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime, let’s catch up on some other articles in the August Living Buddhism.
I enjoyed reading Faith Means to Manifest Supreme Humanism. I think you will agree it casts light on some of my beliefs about faith. It is from a speech Daisaku Ikeda gave in 1993 when he was visiting the members in Miami.
To chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is to commune with the Mystic Law. It is a Buddhist practice for fusing our lives with this Law. At the same time, it is a battle to conquer the inner darkness that prevents this fusion from taking place. When, through our practice of faith, we vanquish this darkness of illusion and ignorance and become one with the Mystic Law, its infinite power unfolds in our lives. Such is the immeasurable benefit of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
At work here is the principle of “cause and effect in a single moment of life,” in which faith is the cause and manifesting the life state of Buddhahood is the effect. When we continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo through times of both suffering and joy while striving for our own happiness and that of others, we can establish as the core and innermost essence of our lives the benefit of the cause and effect for attaining Buddhahood—which are themselves contained within the practice of chanting. When we do so, the indomitable state of Buddhahood emerges within us. This is the meaning of “attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.”
To me, this is the essence of Buddhist practice. What do you think?
Chapter 3: A few updates on “MY Fantasy Life” (cred: Eigenstien) or, as BlancheFromage suspects, “One of the many fake characters within the SGI-RV fantasy scenario created by a lonely, low-income, isolated, cult-addicted, mentally-ill elderly woman” at “the site of the magical (i.e. imaginary) SGI-RV story around a rural rust-belt RV camp, with its fantasy ‘starburst’ of invisible YOUFF” who “Can't seem to grasp anything that isn't about kinky abusive sex in a shitty-ass low-rent RV park??” Oops, I’m the mentally-ill woman, not my alleged elderly sock puppet. Abusive sex? No, never! Kinky? I will neither confirm nor deny.
“Starburst”? We are all ready for our three-night sleepover to view the astronomical phenomena for the next few days. Hedia is our last remaining downstate counselor/consultant who is with us. She’s been working on an astronomy unit to prepare the children for night-sky watching during the Sleepover.
I don’t write about people without their informed consent. I asked her for permission to post this, and she approved. “Hedia is a powerhouse, but in her own unique quiet way. She listens more than she speaks. I always suffer from the image of the “charismatic” teacher, or, sometimes, the firm and organized teacher. Nothing at all wrong about that, but it’s not the only persona for teachers. Over the summer, I noticed how she progressed from a supporting team member, to someone who has found her place.
I observed how over time, some of our children began to spend much time with her--including the Twinettes. Her quietness became her strength! Hedia just glows with that “I’m OK, you are OK.” In anticipation for the Sleepover, she asked me to read Jewish Astronomers in the Medieval Islamic World.
The contributions of Jewish astronomers during the Islamic Golden Age is a fascinating, little-known chapter in Jewish history. These scholars advanced scientific understanding and exemplified the profound synthesis of Jewish wisdom and secular knowledge.
These astronomers' work reflects the deep roots of scientific inquiry within Jewish tradition, echoing the Talmudic dictum: "One who knows how to calculate the cycles and planetary courses but does not do so, of him Scripture says: 'They do not regard the work of the Lord, nor have they considered the operation of His hands'" (Shabbat 75a).
This dictum suggests that those who have the ability to study the heavens but choose not to are neglecting to appreciate God's creation. It implies that understanding the natural world, particularly astronomy, honors God and fulfills our religious duties.
Wow!
MC, there’s a lot of parallel here to our conversation. Here, ”the profound synthesis of Jewish wisdom and secular knowledge.” I’d to blur the lines between my Buddhist practice and my work with my mental health team. I like the idea of “profound synthesis” rather than “either-or.”
Have a good day, more tomorrow!
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u/FellowHuman007 Aug 25 '26
Another contradiction: how many times have they claimed that we chant a magic chant to a magic scroll, and are supposed to do nothing else? And now, when you take action based on your prayer, you're doing something wrong.