Longhouse School

(From r/LoHeidiLita) I am including this post because Junior’s comments about his school resonate with our Longhouse Project. Junior is a tenth grader who has an academic scholarship to attend a very distinguished private school. FYI, Junior, along with many of the key people at Longhouse Elem are members of the Nichiren Buddhist group, “Soka Gakkai International” (SGI).

…We had a great SGI Buddhist discussion meeting last night. We studied the topic of “Equality in Buddhism” and talked about The Dragon King’s Daughter and her transformation to a Buddha in an instant.

OK. But here is when it got interesting. We have some teachers in our district and some retired teachers. Then there were some students: me, Sopie (my GF), Apie (Sopie’s sister), and Carlito (my brother who is in middle school). There are all types of problems in schools today. And it doesn’t seem like any of the mayoral candidates are talking about it. So, can the school system change “in an instant” just like the Dragon King’s Daughter? What would that mean to all of us? Buddhism would say “Yes.” We talked and talked.

One of the members here is a retired music teacher. She is very elderly, I mean like in her 90s but you would never know it. When she found out that Apie and Sopie were attending the Bais Yaakov school in BK, she tried talking to them in Yiddish. They answered her back very fluently (I guess). It was so cute! The member was a music teacher and asked them if they knew such or such song. The girls did! And they began to sing together! We clapped along. It was a very happy meeting!

Our Central Figure was our vice MD Region Leader. He lives in Riverdale, too. And he is also a retired schoolteacher. He wanted us to study more closely these two paragraphs of the article:

Many pre-Lotus Sutra teachings denied this potential to certain groups, including women and evil people. And even those who acknowledged universal Buddhahood often taught that it would require countless lifetimes of arduous Buddhist practice to achieve it.

Thankfully, the Lotus Sutra breaks through these limitations, teaching that anyone can immediately awaken to our Buddha nature through sincere Buddhist practice. Nichiren Daishonin made this path accessible to all, empowering each person to shine with the dignity and limitless potential that we equally share.

He said this is really very simple. It’s a pre-Lotus Sutra way of thinking that our schools cannot change or it would take countless years. “The Lotus Sutra breaks through these limitations.” And that means it’s true for our schools as well. Talking to the students and working teachers, he said don’t think the big picture because you can get overwhelmed. Stay present in the moment and don’t give up hope, not even for a second.

I saw everyone looking straight at him and nodding their heads. He had everyone laughing when he talked about having to call an exterminating company to get rid of a colony of ants that had invaded his house over the summer. The exterminator told them that ants leave behind them an invisible trail for other ants to follow. As teachers and students, when we succeed, we are leaving an invisible trail for others. I think this makes a lot of sense.