Sept 1 LB Review: SGI in the Faith Healing Business

How exciting! The September 1 issue of Living Buddhism has just been delivered to my e-reader account! Well, let’s see what the organization is writing about today. Hmmmm... Monthly Message from SGI President Ikeda, SGI President Ikeda’s Lecture Series, The New Human Revolution, Vol. 26 by SGI President Ikeda, Selected Excerpts of SGI President Ikeda’s Guidance, SGI President Ikeda’s Message to the Civil Society Peace Forum, Ikeda Wisdom Academy…..

Ah! Here’s an experience that might be interesting, titled I Have No Regrets. And it’s not written by Ikeda! It’s all about a Nagasaki survivor that married a US soldier and came to the United States. Because of her wounds, she walked with a limp.

She was introduced to Nichiren Buddhism while in her 20s, working at a U.S. Air Force base. She meets a woman who tells her (get this!): “that if I started practicing Nichiren Buddhism, I would be able to walk again without a limp.” Amazing how this “woman” could say this without even knowing the cause of her limp!

Of course, after chanting for a couple of months, “people noticed that my limp was gone.” Yeah, it had to be the chanting. Couldn’t have healed by itself, couldn’t have been the result of exercise. And it was never documented what was actually causing the limp!

So she gets married, comes to the U.S. and gets an operation because of “an infection in my ear that had eaten into my skull. My chances for survival were less than 10 percent.”

The couple says that she made it through the operation “due to the power of our prayer.” Of course! It couldn’t have been due to the skill of the surgeons, or modern medical care.

The operation damaged her right eye, causing it to cross. Gee, a few more chants, and this would never have happened! So the couple chanted every day, and started “going to Washington D.C., to do SGI activities. Within six months, my eye recovered….”

Now I wonder if the doctors actually told here the eye thing was permanent, or that it would heal naturally? I suppose we’ll never know. We don’t want to spoil the story.

Years later, she has a heart attack, then is diagnosed with breast cancer (some Karma huh?). So she meets another atomic bomb survivor in the hospital who tells her that “there were special benefits specifically for cancer patients who survived the atomic bombing.” She sends in her documentation to the Japanese government, and learns that her medical expenses are all covered! The she remarks, “This is just one of the many benefits I have received from my practice.”

Funny how no credit is given to the woman in the hospital who informed her of the program, or those in the government who created the program. It had to be the practice!

The most amazing thing about this experience is that there was absolutely no mention of Ikeda anywhere. No quotes, no nothing! I wonder how this got passed the editors? Getting sloppy people! Three complete pages with no Sensei glorification! Heads will roll on this one!