craig

Kent's excellent article!

Part 1
Greetings to all, and thank you for your patience with my delay in replying.
The press of business, travel and other responsibilities prevented an earlier
reply. Before I begin, please bear with a few introductory remarks.

I went to Japan in 1991 in order to obtain first-hand information regarding the
dispute between the SGI and NS, and to be able to determine the truth for
myself. The SGI/NS issues were obvious and easy to resolve, and I left the SGI
shortly thereafter. However, an unintended consequence of that trip was
discovering how much of my understanding of Buddhism was based on the
interpretations of others. Upon returning to the U.S., I resolved to cast away
all everything I thought I knew, delve into the teachings and come to my own
conclusions.

People have questioned my conclusions about various matters, and I have no
problem with sharing how those conclusions were reached. But the research,
opinions and conclusions expressed here are my own. With that caveat
expressed, I shall begin.

My inquiry began by assuming that everything I knew was wrong, except the 3
proofs. Those seemed an inarguable way to evaluate religion. I read a variety
of sutras and teachings, both eastern and western, but they did not compare to
the profundity I had seen in the Lotus Sutra. So I finally went full-circle
and began studying the Lotus Sutra again.

At this point, let me cite my sources relevant to this discussion:
1. "The Fire in the Lotus" by Montgomery.
2. "The Lotus Sutra", by Burton Watson
3. "The Lotus Sutra", by H. Kern
4. "The Threefold Lotus Sutra", trans. By Yoshiro Tamura, commissioned by
Nikkyo Niwano, President, Rissho Kosei-Kai. Henceforth, referred to as "The
Lotus Sutra".
5. Kempon Hokke Kai references include:
A. Materials posed in the NichirenNet, hereinafter "KHK"
B. Lectures by Rev. Sorin Yasuhara, hereinafter "Yasuhara"
6. Nichiren Shu references include:
A. Manual of Nichiren Buddhism, by Rev. Senchu Murano, Head Priest of Myochoji
Temple, Kamakura, Japan, hereinafter "Shu"
B. Lectures and guidance by Rev. Murano, hereinafter "Murano"
7. A Dictionary of Buddhist Terms and Concepts, NSIC, 1983, hereinafter
"Dictionary"
8. Various Gosho and writings of the 6 elder disciples. I will cite these by
name, and indicate whether I've used Nichiren Shu (Shu), Nichiren Shoshu (NS)
or Kempon Hokke Kai (KHK) translations.

In the interest of brevity and readability, I am not going to include specific
page number citations or web address citations in the text. I will be happy to
supply these to interested readers via e-mail upon request.

Continued in part 2
-----------------------------------------------


To reply by E-mail: jqpublic@netnitco.net
__________________________________________________ __________

http://www.cebunet.com/nst
http://www.cebunet.com/sgi
http://www.cebunet.com/budhismo
Overwhelming Evidence About the SGI CULT:
http://www.cebunet.com/sgi/issues.htm
Spanish SGI information:
http://www.cebunet.com/sgi/saftermath.htm

atheramari

Craig, Im not impressed.

D

alias

Whew, that's a relief!

marcinmd

Kent's Big Adventure:

No bigger collection of pseudo-scholarship will you ever hope to find in your
life then Kent's personal musing about Buddhism that Craig keeps reposting over
and over and over..

Craig uses it as spam whenever anyone in Nichiren Shoshu loses a debate or
looks bad, because Kent's essays apparently impresses Craig. It's pretty long,
that must be what Craig likes best about it, going on the , "if its really
long, the guy must know what he is talking about" ...theory.

Ever see the Movie Mr. Bean? Bean pretends to be an art scholar (much like Kent
is pretending to be a Buddhologist) but eventually has to give a real live
lecture about the painting "Whistlers Mother." Not really knowing anything
about the painting, he tells the audience
"Well..In the first place.. Its..ahhhh..Big.. Its VERY BIG.. And that's a very
very good thing. Because if it were small, then it would be hard to see."

Kent draws all kinds of conclusions as if he has "researched" the subject in a
scholarly manner. His little made up lecture is a collection of half truths,
quarter truths and untruths that Mr. Kent has sewn together into a quilt that
fits his own bed. At least Mr. Bean was charming as he made stuff up.

Mr. Kent tries to write in a style that mimics scholarship and he then has the
nerve to draw scholarly conclusions as if he has examined the do***entation,
which of course he has not , since I bet he has no access to the Japanese
records and couldnt read them if he did. Nor can he even read the great
scholarly commontaries.

Just a "quickie" as Stoney would say. There are no' actual scholars', ya know,
qualified people who are trained and can read all the evidence or lack of
evidence on all sides of these issues.... that agree with anything Kent has
concluded. If there is, I'd love to know his or her name. Of course Kent or
Craig dont know any names of real live Nichiren Buddhist scholars much less any
that come anywhere close to agreeing with Kent's Quarter Baked pseudo-
conclusions.

He has done nothing but back fill the many holes and gaffs and blunders of
"Nichiren" Sho Shu doctrines, filling them up with the lamest personal logic
and the oldest most worn and disproved hack excuses and calls it objective
****ysis.

Kent is faking it. And Craig doesn't know enough to tell the difference and so
he uses Kent's little missive as a smoke screen whenever his sect gets into
trouble on the arbn to distract from the fact that they get badly whipped so
often on the facts and the issues.

Marc J. Strumpf

alias

..
"MarcInMD" <marcinmd@aol.com>stupidly used his real email address on usenet

Thank you for your uninformed and biased opinion. The fact that you have
been posting the same message for over six years only shows that you are in
a rut and hold a grudge and does nothing for your credibility whatsoever.
--

atheramari

Craig says:
Whew, that's a relief!


~~~

It sure was, is and always will be.

%

d

marcinmd

Thank you for your uninformed and biased opinion. The fact that you have
been posting the same message for over six years only shows that you are in
a rut and hold a grudge and does nothing for your credibility whatsoever.
--

If you say so. Btw. I'd be happy to debate Old Kent again. I have in the past.
Where is he? He hasnt died too has he?

alias

I wouldn't know. I don't know Kent. He was from before my time on ARBN. I
know you've been playing your broken record since late 97 when I came on
ARBN. How long has it really been that you wake up every morning, go to your
computer and type the same thing every day?

derekjuhl

This comment is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

"I have some interest in Russian Orthodoxy and also Zen. I have
studied both over the years and I have taken classes in a local Zendo
on how to meditate several times but probably not for at least five or
six years, I am on their mailing list though. I even taught meditation
to my prison class when they asked to learn that sort of thing. More
recently my study of Russian Orthodoxy is what I have been more
interested in. It violates fuju fuse so I have back burnered my HBS
activities until I am finished. I have not converted to Christianity.
The similarities with Buddhism are amazing to me, both being Eastern
religions and really looking at this unhindered has helped me
understand the questions that most concern me. Looking at those Life
and Death sorts of questions thoroughly are more important to me than
a moment of embarrassment on arbn, which can always be fixed by
clicking the unsubscribe button if need be." Marc Strumpf 3/28/03,
ARBN

Derek Juhl

kurt

Glad I have Marc plonked. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I just got
back from Tozan where I time with Kent. He's doing quite fine, both in
health and business. Just got married, too!
]
He's also smart enough to not rehash the same stuff he did ten years ago
with Marc.

If he's so inclined, I'd suggested that Marc simply repost what they
debated oh-so-many years ago.