How did tobin and the duke make their final approach to the waffle house?

Did any one have saddharma pundarika sutra in Hindi which is written by ram mohan das?

That Sutra is not written by the man you think. I am not sure if this man states that he wrote this, but that would mean he is very old, at least, 1, 200 years old.In fact, the Lotus of the True Law, as it is called in English, is a standard Buddhist text, and because the original texts of many of the Mahayana texts are lost, this text was probably composed by several writers.Here is a link, directly to the book I ordered, many years ago, from India. It is a valid translation, and it is free for anyone.http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/lotus/index.htmIt is the mainstay of the Nichiren tradition (12-3th centuries) and the lay organization of that group, who were excommunicated from the main temple in Japan, by the High Priest, the Soka Gakkai, around 1991. That teaching is read, in small portions, morning and evening, by members of the SGI, around the world.The SGI is in the US and even in Africa, where they have infiltrated at least 16 different countries, they are also in Canada, and all around the world. While proclaiming they are Buddhist, the lay organization, run by President Ikeda, fails to include practices like meditation, talks about emptiness, the Four Noble Truths, Refuge, and many teachings that were directly given to us from the Buddha himself.Japan has had many interesting schools of Buddhism rise from its soil. It has a rich and profound number of traditions which have all coalesced with Buddhist thought. Those traditions are rich and powerful because they have included a sex-positive and homo-erotic view of the world. In some aspects, views upon women were not so positive, and yet the Buddhist Tientai and Nichiren traditions, for example, opened the debate about the role of women, and helped ease the burden of women, to some extent.The entire history of the Samurai, for example, is another example of the sex-positive ideas and beliefs that would later influence Buddhist monasticism. Unlike their Catholic friends, who were shocked at the relationships older monks had with younger male monks, the Japanese Buddhist traditions shifted profoundly, becoming very different from other traditions; in this light, it is easy to see how these ideas, shaped by shamanism, the Samurai, and potent Taoist practices helped shape a variety of Japanese religious traditions we can still call Buddhist but which differ so greatly they are sometimes hard to identify.Certainly, the vows and other factors influenced the behaviour of the monks, across the centuries, ideas which are way too complex to examine here, but it would be important to note how monks, who lived simply with vows to guide them, and which they were required to obey, came to play the important role in all of this.We should also consider the fact that vows vary significantly among the different Buddhist schools; and those "schools", including Taoism, Shingon, and shamanism, certainly would and did have an impact on the lives of monks and nuns, in Japan. While we are not totally admitted into their world, nor capable of entering those instituitions of monastic life, the very existence of varied "schools" definitely impacted their lives, making for incredibly bizarre, sometimes seemingly immoral, but always fascinating interpretations of those Buddhist vows.Though the entire debate about these sects is rather shocking and makes for good reading material, the decision of Nichiren to suddenly curse every other, and any other Buddhist school would have appeared highly illogical, even slanderous. Create a schism in a monastic community and you have again broken, completely, some of your monastic vows, and they need repairing. I cannot imagine how Nichiren, if he still maintained his vows, while living on an isolated Sado island, without the presence of a monastic community, could and would come to his monthly confessions.This would have been hard because in order to maintain his vows, he would have needed the support of his peers, and yet he had none. How he dealt with this is probably a paper for a thesis, and would be exciting. Did Nichiren simply shut himself off from the rest of the world? How could he confess if there were no monks to share those confessions with, a vital part of the process? Did he internalize his shame at having been shunned by the nation? Or was his resolve so strong, that he failed to notice the loss of his community?And what about the lineage? Could his lineage have been preserved? Or, was he, as its founder, not subject to those rules? However, Nichiren spent the rest of his life preaching against every different Buddhist school, which explains why he was banished to live on an island.As a Buddhist, I openly declared that I would not kill insects, people, etc., This is called taking Refuge. As a monk, I also took other vows, however, even though SGI members are not monks, they should know that they cannot eat lobster in a restaurant because if you eat fresh lobster, it was taken from a tank, and then dropped into a boiling pot of water, just for you! These rules of conduct, for Buddhists, are of no importance in the SGI movement. As such, issues like abortion, abuse, even simpler issues such as the eating of living fish in sushi restaurants, are not addressed, they are completely ignored, and at what price?In addition, going fishing, eating mussels, or raw clams, etc., is wrong. Slapping at flies, killing worms while digging in the garden, all these are behaviours that monks and laypeople must be aware of. For the SGI, these seem to belong not to the adherents of Buddhism, but to someone else. This is one of the problems I have with the SGI.Likewise, one of the most important roles of a Buddhist is the practice of meditation. And, yet, even here, the SGI has done away with it. So too is the importance of the concept of emptiness, which students of Buddhism should come to understand. If they do, it will, along with meditation, lead them to enlightenment, to the great awakening. Without understanding the concept of emptiness, and without meditation there can be no awakening.Buddhism is not an organization whose members are concerned with world peace, per se. It is about awakening, and loving other people and their awakening. Likewise, Buddhism has always been offered to people, and not forced upon them. It has likewise not been quartered like beef and sold to people as though it were a magical tool which could change their lives, and yet the SGI spends much of its time and indoctrination implying that anything is possible, once one has purchased the almighty "scroll-in-the-box". That kind of introduction is misleading and, in my opinion, it unjustly portrays the real goals of Buddhism.The Soka Gakkai grew enormously in Japan in the 1940s, shortly after the bombing of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today, though split from the monastic tradition, Nichiren Shoshu, SGI continues to attract new members around the world. Realistic figures are hard to come by because many people simply stop practicing, or showing up.A friend's mother lives in Nara, Japan, and her stories of the intimidation she was subjected to, for years, after she divorced her husband, are sad reminder of many other stories I have heard. More surprising is the amount of power that members hold over other members, leaving many family members virtually alone, when they decide not to attend public affairs, district meetings, etc.After a relationship of nearly five decades, my friend's mother was left all alone, forced to deal with the trauma of not just a divorce, but retaliation and bullying from SGI members who disapproved of her divorce, even though she had been living unhappily with a man with paranoia and an extreme mood disorder). Not only did she lose a husband and the security that that had come to mean, but she lost financial assistance that he had provided for the family, and lost face in her SGI community (he was a respected leader in the long line of "leaders") of friends, on whom she had been told she could rely on, for years.Though just an example, this is a common outcome when one invests in a community that cannot meet any expectation once a practitioner decides to step away from the SGI. Unfortunately, there are court transcripts and accusations against the "highest leader" with details far darker and sadder than my friend's mothers' story.If you thought that AMWAY or AVON was just an accident, think again. These campaigns are very well planned out. Imagine my surprise, a few years ago, when I stepped off a sidewalk in India to find a huge poster of President Ikeda!India is a beautiful country, but given the caste system, I again saw how SGI was positioning itself to take advantage of the system and its cracks. The caste system includes millions and millions of hearts that are mired in the dust of poverty and hopelessness. SGI quickly saw this as an opportunity to recruit new members.It is a complex issue, and a sensitive one, but I think that most people can understand how in the SGI we have a system that systematically works its way from the bottom, to the top. We are responsible, as human beings, for elevating the lives of all human beings, but the manner in which SGI is approaching the Indian people is rather, to be quite frank, unnerving.Given that so many of the millions of people cannot and do not have adequate access to Hindu prayer, teachers, etc., it must be very exciting for some of these people, waiting on the sideline, waiting to get in. And what is it that they are getting into? SGI offers its brand of Buddhism to them, which is no more than a false promise that is practiced just several countries away, a bit further south, in Singapore. There, some burn golden paper, hoping that satiating their deceased will bring them luck.But we cannot and should not offer the Indian people, especially those who have had nothing, for centuries, the magical gold coloured paper, the magical mantra, because their are no miracles, and once again. For a few rupees, quite certainly far too many rupees, even for these people, the poorest of the poor, SGI is offering these people a false god, a golden cow, and not the Buddhism of Gautama Buddha.Let me mention that when I was a full fledged member of Nichiren Shoshu of America and Canada, we were also endoctrinated with strange magical promises. Later, we behaved no different than the Mormons, or the Jehovah's Witnesses, going door to door, prying our way into people's wallets, their minds, when what we should really have been doing was prying our way into their hearts. Buddhism has always been a philosophical teaching, and it is preferable if people are drawn to the teachings, and that we not go door-to-door selling it, begging for a return!It was in 1993 that I left. I had been a member for 7 years. I left without looking back, because I knew that no one would be standing there, and I was right. No one came, no one called, the only reaction was admonishment, from time to time.I believe and say the Soka Gakkai is a cult because of my many experiences, but also because I am a keen observer, and I kept an eye out on many of the other members, especially those who were not so happy with the manner in which they were being treated. Most often, those people were ignored, or labelled as "heavy" meaning negative, and eventually, they were forced out. Many left in anger, many fought to survive, like fish out of water, gasping for air, their little mouths puckered, their eyes red and drained of all salt. There were no more tears, and, with some, madness followed. Short bursts of withdrawal. Long nights alone. Prolonged periods of self-doubt. For seven years I did nothing, participated in nothing "Spiritual". And yet, as I told a friend, years later, "Even though I didn't practice any rituals, I felt I was more of a "Buddhist" in that seven year period than I was when I was with Nichiren Shoshu." It sounded a big ego-filled, but I was being sincere. It was a revelation, or as Oprah says, an "Ah-ha moment."To be a member of the SGI meant to part ways with reality. It was a new reality. In part, a cult is a strange thing: it entices you to feed on it, thus it provides sustenance, and then it turns on you, demanding more and more and more and more of you! Now YOU are up at all hours of the day, feeding her; and then you have discovered that the cult has a hunger no one, no thing, can ever feed.I pondered this: How did that happen? Well, I think I put my trust in people and I had some minimal expectation that they are who they say they are---this was before FaceBook. Quite simply, I am a very trusting person, and yet at the time I needed something to hold on to; I was also inquisitive, and I had always loved Buddhism, and had proudly proclaimed myself an atheist at the age of 14, so Buddhism made sense, and a group, well, I was wary of all groups, but I jumped in. It helped round me out, gave me a new mask I could wear, and I could say, "I am a Buddhist."For a while I even enjoyed doing the street work, where we simply went out to universities and invited people to come to a "meeting". Seemed harmless enough, but after a while, I began to see that we weren't interested in helping people. We weren't in it at the heart level, at the helping, compassion level. Not at all. We were interested in introducing as many people as we could, and in selling as many "Gohonzons" as we could.I call it the "scroll-in-the-box" because that is what it was. A simple 9 in wide by 18 in parchment with Japanese text on it. We call it a mandala, and at the center, in Japanese, in fantastic calligraphic lettering was the mantra Nam-Myoho-Renge-kyo. At first I didn't want to buy it, it was a piece of paper."Why can't I just chant at home?" I would often ask, and I was told that if I bought it, i was making a connection, I would have better results, etc. I was told a thousand things, so eventually I gave in and bought it. And then I was told that I needed a box to put it in, and then candles, tons of candles, and boxes of expensive incense, and bells and this and that. One friend, a young Hispanic attorney, new to Boston, ordered one that must have cost $7,000 or more. You could walk into it. The doors opened with a remote. He had a tarantula in a box. I assumed he had great karma, great looks, and must have been a great attorney. People "like him" who could afford things like that, yeah, he was a winner, and would always be! Two years into the practice he drove his motorcycle off the bridge, falling some more than 150 feet off the Tobin Bridge. So much for superstitions about increasing the size of your karmic wealth!One day a senior leader announced that we were going to go to participate in a parade in Philadelphia. How patriotic!! But what did that have to do with Buddhism? It was billed, of course, as a way of bringing patriotism to the people, but for the life of me, I still couldn't understand what travelling for three days and staying in a dumpy hotel. (It turned out to be a college dorm, which was empty, since it was summer. I was beginning to see a pattern here, with the university as a theme.)At first I argued that I wasn't interested, didn't care about politics, and couldn't care less what Philadelphia thought of me or my gymnastic-ladder assembly skills. Now that I think of it, I am sure this was all politics, and felt the way I felt when I learned that the owner of Dominos Pizza was a Pro-Lifer, and funded Republicans.I tried to argue that I didn't have the money, which was true, and all I got was a really nasty lecture about how if I didn't change my karma today, by going on this trip, I would never be able to afford anything, never be able to live the way I wanted to live, etc.I wasn't convinced, and could see through that stupid rant, but I wasn't smart enough to put my finger on what had just happened. It was that kind of scenario that repeated itself, time and time again. Even though I really didn't have money, I remember forking over hundreds of dollars just because I was being sold a dream that my life would suddenly change, and all I needed to do was to hand over my rent money, my food money, my clothing money.I could tell you other stories, how I saw young men passing out from heat exhaustion in a field (on another college campus on Long Island) while practicing gymnastics for some up-comming parade in Manhattan, Boston, or Dallas. But I think you get the picture. Forced to fork over food money, forced into trips I neither wanted nor could afford to take. Forced to get up at 5:30 to let strangers into my house so that we could chant.In 1987 I spent the summer living by the edge of a huge waterfall near Quebec city. I had decided, the previous summer, that I wanted to live in Canada. My parents are French Canadian and I had learned and spoken French as a boy and had packed a few belongings, my bike, my "scroll-in-the-box" and was homesteading for the summer.In the autumn, I received a phone call from one of my senior leaders in the SGI. He was a talented music teacher at a popular Boston music school and he was going to perform at a popular jazz club in one of the city's oldest clubs. I was excited and invited he and his girlfriend to come and spend the week with me. I was just a half hour out of the city and had a lovely view of the St. Lawrence and was surrounded by islands and lush farmlands. They agreed.Back in Boston, a few months later, I greeted my friend again, over dinner. After dinner I cleared the table and he pulled out a black briefcase and a few of the Buddhist periodicals that are regularly sold. It took less than a minute, and I thought he'd gotten the message I wasn't buying any magazines that month, but I was wrong. He continued badgering me, dragging out his list of marketing tools, trying to get me to buy the magazines. Seeing that he wasn't going to stop, I cut him off. Leaning toward him, I stared straight into his eyes and told him that I just didn't have any extra cash that month, but also that I just wasn't interested in reading these magazines.Finally, I'd just had it, and I abruptly cut him off and told him that yes, I was angry. I was angry that he was sitting in my house, on my time, and that he simply didn't respect my decision that I didn't want to buy a magazine! And furthermore, why did I need to have an excuse, or give a reason? I didn't. And that was the end of our relationship, and my stint with a Japanese Buddhist cult called the Soka Gakkai.Groups like the SGI not only strip you of your dignity, but they have already been working on those around you, and my friend, who had become a puppet in their hands, was completely brainwashed.Cults thrive on finding open-minded and smart individuals, and that's the reason why college campuses were the one choice place to meet and stalk our next victim. The rest of the work occurs behind closed doors, in groups, like bees in a colony, working together to convince, cajole, or just plain bully people into making the decision which is important to THEM, not to you.If I have helped anyone today, by sharing my thoughts with you, then that makes me happy. When your gut tells you something is wrong, just go with it, and RUN! You don't need to stick around to see if your realization is true or not. That's what I did, and that's what lots of compassionate people do, our compassion and curiosity get the best of us.In spite of the demands, the inability to empathize with my position, my views, my ideas, my worry is that those who are unfamiliar with Buddhism will see SGI as a viable group. I just want to make one suggestion. Go and get a book about Tibetan Buddhism and read the parts about compassion, sometimes called Bodhichitta. Just go to a library and read about Bodhichitta, and see if that works.Buddhism isn't about getting the right sports car, landing a Hollywood audition, expanding your modelling portfolio, or even "being in the right spot at the right time," a quote SGI members often use to groom their next victims.It's true that we all want to be happy. But as long as we remain ignorant about the impermanent nature of all things, and ignore the happiness of others around us, and clutch at financial or molecular possessions, we will never come to terms with the fact that we are capable of experiencing our own inner bliss.The grimmer message that the President of the SGI gives us is a picture of a Buddhism that is far removed from the teachings of the Buddha, where enlightenment, meditation, emptiness, and the Ten Perfections, are never mentioned, and certainly not practiced.Though harshly criticized by SGI friends when I later became a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan tradition, I really understand how those friends were brainwashed. Like me, they too were victimized. Sadly, they were taught that monks consider themselves above regular citizens, and this is absolutely false. I can assure you if any of those friends had the chance to meet the scores of Tibetan monks I have met in India, they would solidly refute the teachings of President Ikeda, whose only reason for behaving in such a manner was to try to maintain control over as many students as he could. And we must ask ourselves, is this the behaviour of a teacher?President Ikeda decided his best bet to win his "minds" race was to slander the High Priest, going so far as to have US detectives invade the Department of Defense to plant felonious documents. A messy affair, with players like Janet Reno, the US Attorney General, and her legal offices in Florida.Given the long list and continued assault against monasticism itself, (monks, by the way, are allowed to marry, in the Nichiren tradition) the motivations of President Ikeda are somewhat clear. The ex-communication came after many years of unpleasant actions and behaviours by President Ikeda, not only against the priesthood, but in the manner in which he conducted himself as the leader of millions of practitioners seeking to improve their lives.Like Nichiren Daishonin himself, forced into isolation because of his attacks against all other Buddhist sanghas, I hope that SGI members will see, with their third eye, what a horrible cause Mr. Ikeda has made. Likewise, I hope that they will recognize what a disfigured and inaccurate accounting and representation of what renunciation really is, and that they will adjust their practices.Hopefully, as people become more open minded, they will examine the evidence in both the US and in Japan, and remain open to examining the Buddhism of the historical Buddha. Then they will learn to discover the complexities of meditation, in all its varied forms. And if asked about the Four Noble Truths, or of the Paramitas, then will exclaim glee, and they will engage their children to explore the kindness which is the result of the Buddha's awakening---his gift to us.The lay organization was ex-communicated, and I am sure that many members were angered by this, and while necessary, it was an act that played straight into President Ikeda's hands. In order to protect a doctrine, and control a temple and finances, the High Priest felt that President Ikeda was out of control.The actions of the Soka Gakkai, however, in regards to actions to slander the High Priest, are distasteful, and yet there are countless other accusations against Mr. Ikeda, which shows the actions of a potentially nefarious organization and the man at the helm. The problems in Japan have included accusations by one of the most senior female officials, who accused Ikeda of sexual molestation. Other accusations have included the death of a senior female official who fell to her death from a high-rise in Tokyo, even murder.SGI owns thousands of acres of land around the world and USA. There they have a university, like the ones in Japan, and boarding schools, which are notoriously difficult to get into, and are very expensive. At the center of all these controversies is President Ikeda.Tina Turner chants, and Curt Cobain's friend chants, as he says in his new book of poems, but I think some are missing the point.Buddhism is about enlightenment, it isn't about basking in our own pool of accomplishments, or massaging our sensitive egos. While most Buddhist groups have remained silent, the fact that SGI members include African Americans, Hispanics, etc., doesn't mean they are a valid Buddhist organization. Sadly, even Buddhist publications continue to sell advertising space to this organization. Today they are only selling their books, but what about tomorrow?While many in the press, usually a piece written by someone who is sympathetic to the cause, have written about the "new face of Buddhism" pointing to the fact that many more African Americans are now part of the Soka Gakkai, I have to wonder if those journalists know that there are African Americans, Latinos, gays, lesbians, Jews, and Asians practicing in traditional Zen, Vipassana, and Tibetan centers. Writing an article about the inclusiveness of certain minorities in a magazine doesn't mean that other groups are racist.That said, why have other teachers and centers been so silent about the real-life story of Nichiren Daishonin and the very real threat that this perceived branch of "Buddhism" poses to all westerners?In our Dim-Sum Age, westerners like picking and choosing. SGI members should know that being a Buddhist means respecting life, and that slapping mosquitos, dropping lobster into a boiling pot of water, and eating clams on the half-shelf are not acceptable in Buddhism. Likewise, we must ask ourselves what it will mean to the millions of Buddhists who miss out on the concepts of minc-consciousness and Emptiness, and whether or not one can call a Buddhist sect without meditation really "Buddhist"?Just as we and other groups are welcoming of all people and have opened our doors wide, we have a moral obligation, or do we, to open this door to discuss the elephant in the room? While I have always considered that chanting for money or a lover or a cruise ship prize to be profoundly unsuitable behaviour for a Buddhist, is there a space where random questions about what it means to be a Buddhist exist? Or will we come to a stalemate where questions that have historically defined Buddhism, but not all Buddhist groups, be ignored?While the goals of "world peace" or kosen-rufu are good motivations, can we equate that goal with seeking enlightenment as the goal of Buddhism?Also, back to the question about Ram Mohan Das. This name comes up often in cult and abuse chat rooms. I have "heard" that he says he is a Tibetan teacher, but one of my teachers has specifically stated that he is not, and he is not supported by the Tibetan spiritual community.Likewise, worse accusations of improper conduct with women surround him. While some say he has helped them, many others say the opposite. It takes many years to become a qualified teacher, especially in the Tibetan community. At times, he has used other names, including the title "Lama". This generally means that one has performed a certain retreat called the Three Year Retreat. Thus one may be called a Lama. If you have questions, keep asking them, and verify your sources.There are books written on how to safely identify teachers, and what qualities they must have. A good instruction is that it takes many years to find a suitable teacher.Some of his reputation comes from his having been around or with certain respected teachers. One of those teachers mentioned that he didn't know who the person was, seated next to him. I can't recall the exact, exact comment, but we get the point.Hanging around an enlightened teacher does not mean that one is then a realized teacher. Yogis don't usually hang out at Starbucks, give benefits, but prefer to hang out in caves. Intellectuals usually are busy writing books. In the Tibetan tradition, monks spend many years studying. Beware the teacher who draws many female students to their side, but no male students. Just be aware.

How did tobin and the duke make their final approach to the waffle house?

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Did any one have saddharma pundarika sutra in Hindi which is written by ram mohan das?

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