Linda Johnson is Vice WD Leader Southern California Zone, SGI-USA.
Linda Johnson Q &A on Feb. 24, 2002 at SMCC
1. QUESTION - How do we introduce more people to the practice in 2002?
RESPONSE - Since September 11 introducing people is not only essential it is crucial [entscheidend/äußerst wichtig]. More seriousness [Ernsthaftigkeit] is required [nötig]. We need to pray to be able to introduce people who are truly seeking and want to change their lives. The most meaningful way is to challenge ourselves more and go for all our hopes and dreams and achieve them. Achieving them is crucial.
Pres. Ikeda has called this the Century of Women. At a meeting recently I saw all types of women, various ethnic, racial backgrounds, shapes, ages, etc. As I looked at them I saw each just as she was, a precious human being. Now is the time for women to take a more active role. In the US and other cultures women have been pioneers. We have used our lives to nurture children, husbands, others so they could achieve their hopes and dreams and put ourselves last. Now it is time to pioneer [vorkämpfen/Weg bereiten] a different way. We must not just support. Now we must nurture [erziehen] by example.
Always look to see the possible - to achieve dreams, to bridge gaps [Lücken füllen] in society. It is time for us as women to use faith to achieve our dreams and faith to set the example so others can see that nothing is impossible.
When we do this then introducing others is natural. They will see that we don't have an absence of problems. They will see how we transform our problems.
Nurture by example. Everyone is looking for answers. We already have the answers in our own lives. We bring out those answers by chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Chanting enables us to manifest our limitless potential. This is not a superficial potential. We must grow and challenge ourselves to introduce others through our shining lives. There is an urgency [Dringlichkeit] since September 11. Nichiren Daishonin's philosophy teaches us how to transform our destiny.
2. QUESTION - After chanting for so many years how do you have a vibrant practice versus a "maintenance" practice [routinierte Ausübung]?
RESPONSE - I have now been practicing for twenty six years. To some people in this room I am still a baby in this practice.
Freshness comes from the spirit to challenge ourselves to grow meaningfully.
Pres. Ikeda has urged us to "find the one thing that seems the most impossible" and then throw ourselves into our practice and absolutely achieve victory. When you do this you see the rest of your life open.
Confidence [Zuversicht/Vertrauen] is an effect not the cause. You get confidence following your action/victory from challenging the impossible.
Pres. Ikeda says that you cannot live life doing only what is easy for us. We must challenge to do that which we least want to do -- if not we will be a slave to our own fundamental darkness.
Practice does not get easier the longer you practice but each year if more fulfilling. It is not easier because we are polishing our lives.
As we get older we get past the easy stuff and down to core issues of our lives. Unless we break through in our lives we won't be able to move forward.
Pres. Ikeda says there is a fundamental evil which is the source of all our suffering. It is a negative belief system about ourselves. We must discover this, face this and win over this evil. Why is this so difficult? Because it is scary.
Here is what I found out about my negative belief system. My mom was great. My dad was a total alcoholic. As a child I was neglected [vernachlässigt] by my dad. He didn't call. He didn't send birthday presents. I internalised that this neglect was my fault - something was wrong with me that my dad didn't want me or love me. This negative belief system has effected my entire life especially my relationships with men. This negative belief system then transformed into I was not worthy to have what I want.
It seems an eternity ago but it was just last month that I was asked to go for training for zone women's leaders in Japan. I had been fighting to get this meeting. Most of the women zone leaders are not staff such as the men's zone leaders. These women are working, raising families, giving their all for Kosen Rufu. They give so much that they need more nourishment for themselves. Women are the glue of the organization. Pres. Ikeda said yes to the meeting. I scheduled in [einplanen] the date. At the last moment the date was changed. The new date was schedule for the same day as the last day of mandatory [obligatorisch] supervisor training for my job. An SGI person told me, "Oh, well, you were in Japan recently. Don't feel bad. You can go again another time." I felt so discouraged. No one could encourage me. I was having a pity party for one[“Selbstmitleidsparty” für mich alleine]. What I had to do was to own my own reaction. I had to chant to see what this had to do with the other parts of my life. I needed to see the interconnectedness [gegenseitige Verbindung] with myself as a child and my belief of my unworthiness.
For the first time, on that day, I GOT BUDDHISM. I GOT ESHO FUNI. [“got” im Sinne von “ich habe verstanden”] Our life is a visible manifestation of our mind. The environment mirrors back. I wasn't worthy of what I wanted. When we separate the environment from ourselves we are disempowered. But I empower my life when I work on what's making me unhappy and chant and take full responsibility. I chanted "I must take full responsibility to change belief systems in my life." I have to battle with this whenever it raises it's ugly head and then use it positively to develop myself. So since I had never really asked anything special from my job I decided that I needed to ask now. I explained the change in dates for the Japan trip and I was told there was no problem, to go with the rescheduled date.\ When we are in a "maintenance" practice we are not challenging ourselves. In life there is no neutral. We are either going forward or backward. We need to constantly have new goals to revitalize our practice. We have to ask are we running away from the painful reality of our own lives.
3. QUESTION - Could you talk about practice for others?
RESPONSE - We need to practice for others to become ABSOLUTELY happy and not just minimally happy. Many people practice just to "benefit me." If they practice that way their lives are less joyful because they don't understand Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism.
In "Discussions on Youth, Part II" and from the Gosho "On Prayer" it says that the prayers of a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra will never go unanswered. It says PRACTITIONER not just someone who chants or does gongyo. Who is a practitioner?
The Law of Life is absolute. Our faith and practice can be explained by the example of the bell. If you hit a bell with a chop stick [Eßstäbchen] you get one sound. If you hit it with a gongyo bell stick the depth, tone, resonance is totally different. The point is the resonant quality will always be in relationship to how we strike [schlagen] the bell or how much we manifest as a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra. It is the power of your faith – how much you believe your prayers will be answered as you are chanting. The power of our practice is the degree for which we use our lives for the happiness of others. This is the way to absolutely tap [anzapfen] the power of the Law in our own lives. Please remember that we also need our own goals. Faith is invisible. It is revealed [zum Vorschein bringen] through our behaviour as a human being. You must go for every hope and dream. Others are watching you. Buddhism is great because of what we can become. Purpose [Absicht/Ziel] makes such a difference. If you have a flamenco dancer who only wants to be famous and admired the result is transitory [flüchtig, vergänglich]. However if you are a flamenco dancer who wants to show through example of struggles and performance that anyone can unlock such potential in his/her own life then that purpose will absolutely show the power of the Law of the Universe in our own lives. The purpose is "I must make a difference in my own environment." Let us all pledge [versprechen, geloben] to face our problems and to prove that nothing is impossible with Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
4. QUESTION - Could you give us a perspective on the Daniel Pearl situation?
RESPONSE - I would like to use the example of a woman in New York. She lived with her children near the World Trade Towers. She ran out of her building. Her building was left standing. When she returned there was this thick dust over everything. There were two things that she noticed that were different with her apartment than with the others in her building. The first was that in the dust in her apartment there were no body parts. The second was that there was no dust around her altar. It was if a line had been drawn around the altar. She determined to chant to make sense of this from her own life. She realized that many times we think that we are only one human being. She realized that Osama bin Ladin was (also) 'only one human being' (albeit [obgleich] negative) with a lot of connections. His one life became a very powerful force for destruction. Nonetheless he is an example of the power of one human being. As she chanted she determined that as one human being she could make a difference with her life and connections. She would become more powerful than Osama bin Ladin and become a powerful force for peace in response to the acts of terrorists. We have to remember that each of us has a negative side. The negative side never takes a rest. That is why is need to battle every day, do gongyo and chant. We have to make ourselves stronger than our weaknesses and so that we are never swayed by [beeinflussen lassen] our negative side. Because of Daniel Pearl there is an urgency to help as many people as we can. We must change our inside and uproot [ausmerzen] negativity, prejudice, hatred that destroys from within and without.
5. QUESTION - How do we know a person's capacity when trying to introduce them to the practice?
RESPONSE - The definition of faith is to believe in ourselves. Our wisdom is what exists inside our own lives. We all have a million questions. We need to stop looking outside our own lives. In order to tap into our wisdom chant first instead of using mental strategy.
Become the master of our own minds. We have 9 levels of consciousness [neun Bewußtseinsschichten]. The first five are our senses, the sixth is our conscious mind [Bewußtsein], the seventh our unconscious [Unbewußtsein], the eight karmic storage [karmisches Lagerhaus] and the ninth our fundamental core [Kern] Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. If we just use our mind we keep landing in the eighth – karmic storage and can't change the areas in which we lack fortune (for others these might be easy but not for us). The question is how do you change lack of fortune into having fortune. When we just use our minds we perpetually [ständig, ewig] go back to karmic storage. Nothing happens. To penetrate [ergründen, eindringen] the ninth level we need to chant. Chant first. In twenty six years of practice not one time did I get benefit [nutzen ziehen] from using my mind. It is important to chant to develop wisdom in our lives. Once you tap the wisdom in your life you will know the difference between that and using your head. Pres. Ikeda says that before he meets with a person he first chants and conducts [führen] the dialogue he'd like to have with that person. After the actual dialogue, he goes back to the Gohonzon and chants to open up that person's life and to drive home the points he wants to get across […chantet, um das Leben des anderen dafür zu öffnen, dass er die Dinge, die Präs. Ikeda wichtig sind, zu verstehen]. The important thing is to use the strategy of prayer.
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