Mentor and Disciple

Kosenrufu Gongyo, World Peace Prayer, was held today at the DC Community Center. The agenda was predictable – experiences, chorus, readings, etc.

Some of the speakers apparently think that yelling as loud as possible is the same thing as enthusiasm. My ears still hurt.

The theme was Mentor and Disciple. This is a concept the SGI has been trying to shove down our throats for years. The constant barrage of M & D speeches might indicate that the campaign to instill this in the general membership has not been a great success. The gist of it is that we, as practitioners of Nichiren’s Buddhism, should revere SGI President Ikeda as out mentor in matters of religious practice. This is ok, I think, until it becomes a tool to influence the members to follow the SGI-USA plan of action. There’s no leadership or mentoring there, just encouragement to follow without thinking. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the authoritarianism of the preSGI organization, NSA (Nichiren Shoshu of America).

Another concept being talked about, dialog, gets a lot of lip service. but there’s not much room for dissent in SGI-USA. You follow or you don’t. Nobody really cares.