This is for those who aren’t fulfilled by their jobs. Corporations tell us in their job adverts that this is where you can "develop professionally," you can "make an impact," and all that shit.
I've been working corporate jobs for 20 years and haven't liked a single one of them. It used to take my whole energy and I didn't have enough left in the tank at the end of the week. Now I'm doing a less stressful job, but I still hate doing it. Every day is groundhog day.
Do you really just take it on the chin, though you spend at least 40 hours a week doing something that doesn't fulfil you?
This is directed more to single people with no mortgages. If you have a family, you probably think that at least you'll put your kids into an education, and it's worth grinding it for them.
But for those of us who don't have that obligation, what's the point? Is it just about having enough time and mental energy to enjoy the things we really like in our off-hours? Is that supposed to be enough? Me, personally, I'm working towards another career which may or may not pan out but at the end of the day I want to serve others while making some money from it.
I've been wrestling with these thoughts a lot lately. The idea that you grind away, day after day, year after year, just to eke out some enjoyment on the weekends or during a few weeks of holiday seems like such a bleak prospect. I'm a minimalist with no long-term commitments but I don't have any other skills.
What keeps you going? Is it the hope that one day you'll find something better? Or have you accepted that this is just how life is, and you find your fulfilment outside of work? Do you just grumble all day at work, while simultaneously doing a decent enough job not to get fired and hope your boss won't add you to the "lacks enthusiasm" and the "disengaged behaviour" pile?
I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. How do you deal with the grind, and what keeps you motivated? I imagine that if you're anything like me, you're saving less than you used to, too, so you have fewer things to enjoy.

Maybe it's annoying when you're 20 and look 15. But when you're around 30, I envy the people who can still easily pass for 22. They always seem happier than those of us who look a few years older than we actually are. I think there are also studies that show people who look younger score higher on cognitive tests and experience age related problems such as hearing loss at a much slower rate. Also they live longer too. This is part of why many scientists are trying to study the differences between chronological and biological age
I seem to have gotten the poor end of the stick. My dad is late 50s but looks under 50. Mom is early 50s but looks mid 40s. Brother is 33 but looks 23. Otoh I'm 28 but look 35. I'm not fat or bald, but I have wrinkles on my face, smile lines, and crows feet.
Oh well 🤷🏻‍♂️

I know that this is an older car and realize it’s a known issue but I’m hoping anyone has advice.
We also bought a 2011 GMC Terrain 2.4L second hand 6 months ago without knowing of the oil consumption issue.
The car drove fine the first 5 months but as we crossed over 80k threshold it’s starting to consume more and more oil. At this rate I’m worried it’s not going to last another 5 months.
I see that it’s a known issue by GMC but there’s no recall?? I don’t understand. What is GMC doing to fix this defect????? Why is it falling on the consumer to troubleshoot and work around??
I also can’t seem to understand the GMC oil consumption test either and if the warranty is still good by the dealer and how this applies to us as we bought from a small independent used car sales lot.
Not many recent posts on this issue.
Has anyone found a fix?
Can anyone provide advice to prolong this car other than trading in? Used car prices are so high and a brand new car is out of reach for us right now. We thought we had found a good deal on this low mileage used car at 9k but were badly mistaken.
HELP.

(England) Hi all, I'm almost certain my landlord is just being ridiculous/dramatic but he seems so sure of his ability to do this that I'm starting to doubt myself.
We are on a lodgers agreement (though the landlord doesn't actually live in the house) and there is no mention of the garden in the contract. He simply did a "video inventory" where he just walks around the house showing everything, and the garden is included in this video inventory.
About a month AFTER we'd already signed the contract and moved in, he emails us saying the garden is our responsibility: lawn needs to be mowed weekly & hedges kept to the height they are in in the video inventory. We find this quite silly since we weren't told about the garden nor agreed to it before signing the contract and moving in, but decide to do it anyways since we live in a town where the rental market is nuts. We mow the lawn regularly in summer, and do some basic maintenance e.g. cutting down tree branches that have grown over the fence into the neighbour's garden, clearing plants when they grow over the path. It has been quite lush recently due to the warm weather and rain, but haven't done a huge amount recently due to term time, and our plan was to trim the hedges in one big go soon.
The landlord returns after a year away and sends us an email reminding us of our "responsibility" to maintain the garden, and says he will now have to charge us for his time trimming the hedges or take from our (DPS-protected) deposit because the garden waste now "requires a car and multiple trips to the recycling centre." After receiving this email, we think it's absurd but in order to maintain a good relationship with him we start cutting down lots of plants the same day.
When we read the email, we interpreted it as a warning in which IF he needs to come back and do more garden work, then he would charge us. However, it seems that he has taken it as notice that we WILL be charged, and has returned today to continue trimming the hedge with a giant gardening bag.
I simply don't see why we cannot gradually trim down the garden, and dispose of our garden waste in our fortnightly brown bin collections instead of "needing" him to drive to the recycling center? Why does he seem to think the entire garden needs to be cut and disposed of in one go? Is it just so he can try and charge us extra/take from our deposit? (We are not at the end of our tenancy, it's a rolling monthly contract and neither party has given notice, so I don't know why he's threatening to deduct from the deposit.)
Hypothetically, what's stopping us from just letting the garden grow however, as long as it's somehow returned to the state when we move in when we end the tenancy?
I'm also almost certain he simply can't charge us for his time, because he's legally meant to live here too (since we're lodgers), the garden isn't in the contract we signed, and we also haven't agreed on any rates so who knows how much he's planning to ask us to pay!
Would appreciate any insight on the matter, or any advice on how to go forward if he really does go ahead and bill us and we refuse to pay it? Housing in my town is very hard to come by so despite several other issues with the house/annoyances we have just sucked it up in order to stay.
Thank you in advance.

"What distinguished the Indian system from that of the ancient Western world is the absence of slavery. The caste system made formal slavery unnecessary in ancient India." - from The Two Classes of the Four-Fold Caste System, by Sudheer Birodkar.

In Nikken's Threefold World, which is "the world of unenlightened beings who transmigrate within the Six Paths" [Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Humanity and Heaven] ... the 1st chapter describes the structure of Nikken's World of Heaven.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Roles

1. The Hindu Caste System and Brahminism
2. The Nichiren Shoshu priesthood and Nikken Abe

Part II: The Actors

1. The First Rank of Nichiren Shoshu (Brahmin Caste - Priests and Teachers)
2. The Second Rank of Nichiren Shoshu (Kshatriya Caste - Warriors and Proxy Rulers)
3. The Third Rank of Nichiren Shoshu (Vaishya Caste - Farmers, Merchants, Artisans, etc.)
4. The Fourth Rank of Nichiren Shoshu (Shudra Caste - Laborers)
5. The Fifth Rank of Nichiren Shoshu (Untouchable Caste or Eta - Polluted Laborers)
6. Definition of Heaven (Ten)
7. Getting Some Help
8. The Survivor Gita

As Nikken Abe's successor Nichinyo moves ever closer to the moment that he will no longer be the high priest of Nichiren Shoshu ... those interested in the future occupants of Taisekiji will have in mind a question ... how will events unfold ?
What I will attempt to do in this polemical series laced with satire, is to give a view from which the seeming random or enigmatic quality of the various moves made by the priesthood, can be revealed to be more predictable and easy to understand.
In the analytic method that I have chosen, the grid for analysis, is the Hindu caste system.
The theme that will be employed to portray the flow of events to come is the "Survivor" series from CBS.
Think of it as the "Survivor Gita".

1. The Hindu Caste System and Brahminism

First, let's get a cursory understanding of what the phenomenon of "Brahminism" is all about.
From "The Caste System and the Stages of Life in Hinduism", by Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D, (abridged):

The Bhagavad Gita says this about the varnas (color):
Brahmins (white) - Priests and Teachers: The works of a Brahmin are peace; self-harmony, austerity, and purity; loving- forgiveness and righteousness; vision and wisdom and faith.
Kshatriyas (red) - Warriors and Rulers: The works of a Kshatriya are: a heroic mind, inner fire, constancy, resourcefulness, courage in battle, generosity and noble leadership.
Vaishyas (Brown) - Farmers, Merchants, Artisans, etc.: The works of a Vaishya are trade, agriculture and the rearing of cattle.
Shudras (Black) - Laborers: The works of the Shudra are service.
Untouchables (Outcastes - no color) - Polluted Laborers.
[chapter 18, Juan Mascaró translation, Penguin Books, 1962]
Associated with each varna there is a traditional color. These sound suspiciously like skin colors; and, indeed, there is an expectation in India that higher caste people will have lighter skin -- although there are plenty of exceptions (especially in the South of India).
So, there are these visibly separable classes of people, which perform specific functions, and which form the basic hierarchical structure of ALL theocracies, explicit and implicit.

An explicit Brahminist theocracy would be the Vatican, where the Pope and Cardinals = Brahmins, the Bishops = Kshatriyas, the Priests tending the flocks = Vaishyas, the Monks, Nuns and the Laity = Shudras, and finally the poor = Untouchables, except for once a year when the Pope washes a foot or two.
An implicit Brahminist theocracy would be the a 10-year-old high tech firm, where the Founder and the Board = Brahmins, the corporate officers and top managers = Kshatriyas, the middle management and technical leads = Vaishyas, the line managers and churn and burn salaried workers = Shudras, and finally the hourly, temp and out-sourced workers = Untouchables.
You get the picture. The need, which is held by all humanity, to improve their own and their family's condition ... is used to betray and undermine their own humanity and render the effect of slavery within a system that appears personally voluntary, however socially coercive it may be in reality.
Ross goes on ...

The twice born [Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas] account for about 48% of Hindus. The rest are Shudras and Untouchables. The Shudras may represent the institutional provision that the Arya made for the people they already found in India. The Shudras thus remain once born, and traditionally are not allowed to learn Sanskrit or study the Vedas. Their dharma is to work for the twice born. But even below the Shudras are the Untouchables, who are literally "outcastes," without a varna [color], and were regarded as "untouchable" because they are ritually polluting for caste Hindus. Some Untouchable subcastes are regarded as so polluted that members are supposed to keep out of sight and do their work at night: They are called "Unseeables." In India, the term "Untouchable" is now regarded as impolite or politically incorrect (like Eta in Japan for the traditional tanners and pariahs).

These kinds of divisions of people only become more bitter, over time, as more and more distinctions need to be drawn to demonstrate clearly that one is not a part of a lower group. (Like the insanity of "Colored" water fountains in the South, when I was a child.)
Following the ritual tenets of animality and thereby preserving the pecking order become the overriding preoccupation of anyone desiring a better life. These demonic activities will ultimately attempt to occupy 100% of all human effort, since this particular evil is determined to undermine humanity's true mission of Kosen Rufu.
Ross finishes with ...

The Untouchables, nevertheless, have their own traditional professions and their own subcastes. Those professions (unless they can be evaded in the greater social mobility of modern, urban, anonymous life) involve too much pollution to be performed by caste Hindus: (1) dealing with the bodies of dead animals (like the sacred cattle that wander Indian villages) or unclaimed dead humans, (2) tanning leather, from such dead animals, and manufacturing leather goods, and (3) cleaning up the human and animal waste for which in traditional villages there is no sewer system. Mahâtmâ Gandhi referred to the latter euphemistically as "scavenging" but saw in it the most horrible thing imposed on the Untouchables by the caste system. His requirement on his farms in South Africa that everyone share in such tasks comes up in an early scene in the movie Gandhi. Since Gandhi equated suffering with holiness, he saw the Untouchables as hallowed by their miserable treatment and so called them "Harijans" (Hari=Vishnu). Later Gandhi went on fasts in the hope of improving the condition of the Untouchables, or at least to avoid their being politically classified as non-Hindus. Today the status of the Shudras, Untouchables, and other "scheduled castes," and the preferential policies that the Indian government has designed for their advancement ever since Independence, are sources of serious conflict, including murders and riots, in Indian society.

If you had a difficulty in understanding precisely what tied together the "Gandhi, King and Ikeda" exhibits around the country ... perhaps the point will become abundantly clear after reading this article, since all three of these men fought to end the exploitation and oppression of a large number of hard-working common people, who supported a parasitic caste system.
Gandhi, King and Ikeda are the three Anti-Brahminist heroes of the Common People, for the modern era.
Some argue that the SGI has Brahminist tendencies, and like all human organizations, that is surely exists ... but it is also true that those tendencies are sporadic, impermanent and rapidly shifting as the SGI undergoes it's own human revolution with the broadening of the Soka Gakkai activities to include all places where Dai-Rokuten-No-Mao (the Devil King of the 6th Heaven, or arrogant authority) might appear in the leadership of any organization, or group.
But let's go a little further in understanding the phenomenon of Brahminism. And then we will talk about the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood, Nikken and his successors.
From "The Two Classes of the Four-Fold Caste System", by Sudheer Birodkar:

The Brahmin-Kshatriya combine was thus the appropriating section as against the Vaishya-Shudra combine who represented the productive section. But although the two appropriating and the two appropriated sections of society performed different functions like the ritual worship undertaken by the Brahmins, warfare by Kshatriyas, cultivation by the Vaishyas and menial work by the Shudras they were essentially two broad economic categories with antagonistic interests of sharing the social surplus product which only the Vaishyas and Shudra created.

Dai-Rokuten-No-Mao is defined as the function of rapturous exploitation of the efforts of others, while grinding those others underfoot.
There is always a gloating rapture present. (Remember the gleeful pictures of those happy Southern men standing around a burning black corpse in the lynchings of last century? Remember how much they are enjoying themselves proudly in the Abu Ghraib pictures? It is the same function, the same demon.)
And there is always a hierarchy being enforced, which is a denial of the Lotus Sutra's universal equality.
Birodkar goes on ...

... Dana along with dakshina (a voluntary payment made to Brahmins for religious services which they rendered), has been represented as an offering to the clergy at our innumerable religious rites. Thus the spiritual clasp of the clergy on the general population came to play a vital role in appropriating the surplus in favour of the clergy, rendering coercion unnecessary and in perpetuating social practices which had lost relevance with day-to-day life.

The reference to day-to-day life and social relevance is indicating that those activities which were initially tribal social functions involving redistribution of food in an agrarian tribal culture, were no longer serving the function of allowing farmers to survive a bad year, or a flood in one part of the locality not affecting another part.
Birodkar goes on ...

The clergy firmly rooted in the minds of the masses, ideas about Karma - faithfully carrying out of duties assigned to each person on virtue of being born in any particular caste. Ideas about rebirth fostered a belief that sufferings of this life were a result of deeds of one's past lives and the faithful execution of duties that fell upon one in one's present life would hold a promise of rebirth in a higher caste. With their minds enmeshed in such dogmas, the masses mutely accepted a secondary status in the social hierarchy for centuries together.

The idea of waiting until the next time around, instead of enjoying this one and only precious instance of YOU, which will not recur in anyone's religious tradition ... this is the worst slander of humanity: wasting one's life, voluntarily, for the foul rapture of another.

2. The Nichiren Shoshu Priesthood, Nikken Abe and His Successors

There are many complaints about the behavior and activities of the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood, related to their pursuits of having a good time with bad women and expensive food, drink and parties with the member's money. It is not my intention to defend those activities, but my view of those activities is frankly, sociological. Impossibly bad and flagrantly unacceptable social behavior is to be expected when great evil is enthroned.
So, I do not expect Nichiren Shoshu priests, especially the priesthood elite, to behave well. This is secondary. It is an effect or symptom, or think of it as the warning label on a pack of smokes, or the nuclear symbol on a container of Plutonium. (It lets you know that you should keep your distance, for safety.)
Indeed, in all cases when the correct practice of Nichiren's Buddhism is considered, secular issues fade into insignificance.
From Nichiren Daishonin's Gosho "On Prayer", WND p. 345:

It makes no difference if the practitioner himself is lacking in worth, defective in wisdom, impure in his person, and lacking in virtue derived from observing the precepts. So long as he chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, they [the protective functions] will invariably protect him. One does not throw away gold because the bag that holds it is dirty; one does not ignore the sandalwood trees because of the foul odor of the eranda trees around them; and one does not refuse to gather lotuses because the pond in the valley where they grow is not clean. If they ignore the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra, they will be going against their vow.

The issue is the correct practice. THAT is my complaint against Nikken and his Nichiren Shoshu successors like Nichinyo.
From "Moral Philosophy and Dealings With Priests", written by myself (sorry about the self-quote):

1. Nichiren Shoshu and the Hokkeko have always called themselves followers of Nikko's Fuji School, but from the beginning (1912) they have followed priests that disobey the 25th Admonition against sexual abstinence, and they have followed priests that were trained by Nichiren Shu (5 Senior Priests) at Rissho University - disobeying the 2nd Admonition, and hence according to Nikko they are not his followers, but are instead followers of the Five Senior Priests. (Nikko would have kicked them out of the Fuji School just for training at Rissho.)

From the end of Nikko Shonin's 26 Admonitions:
"I have set forth these 26 articles for the sake of the eternal salvation and protection of humankind. Those who violate even one of these articles cannot be called disciples of Nikko."
In 1969, Daisaku Ikeda founded Soka University to train the future leaders of the Soka Gakkai, among others. This was a necessary move, because of the corruption seen in attitudes of Japanese Academics, and their determined resistance to recognizing the Soka Gakkai as a valid religious organization and worthy of respect. Witness the academic quotes in the LOOK Magazine article (1963) by the President of Rissho University, Rev. Shobun Kubota, D.T. Suzuki of Zen, and other academics, that the Soka Gakkai "can not be Buddhism".
' The Rev. Dr. Shobun Kubota, vice-president of Rissho University of Tokyo, concurs. "The principle of Buddhism," he says, "is to restrain man's desires, such as sex, hunger, wealth and fame, but Soka Gakkai promises the possession of these desires. It uses man's weaknesses as a tool for its own expansion. It has the same characteristics as Nazism. Finally, it is a corruption of Buddhism."' - LOOK Magazine, September 10, 1963
This from academic Buddhists who signed up unanimously, institution by institution, to bear the Shinto Talisman, and promote Imperial Way Buddhism and Imperial State Zen militarism for the God-Emperor. In support of that self-same Nazi Reich, while Makiguchi and Toda alone bore the brunt of oppression to the end. Such evil-doers call themselves Buddhists. Their tongues should rot in their mouths.
Soka University has created at least one academic environment where the Soka Gakkai can be viewed with objectivity by students. This was and remains an absolute good.
Nichiren Shoshu continued to allow the training of their future leaders by the Nichiren Shu Minobu Sect at Rissho University, even though they were aware that this was a slander of Nikko's school, and made them not followers of Nikko.
Excerpts from http://www.geocities.com/smimoza/vol275.html, the "Fake [High Priest]" Newsletter: "My view of the teachings of Nichiren Shoshu has been polluted with Minobu's wicked teachings," Nikken confessed at the opening ceremony for the Fuji Gakurin School (Dai- Nichiren, May 2000 edition).
Fuji Gakurin is the school that Nikken started to belatedly replace Rissho University as the source of priest trainees for Nichiren Shoshu. Apparently, he only took this action after people started talking about the 26 Admonitions publicly (Living Buddhism article by Daisaku Ikeda in 1998). The sad fact is, that Nichiren Shoshu has violated all 26, most by the letter of the admonition, but all 26 by their intent.
In relatively short order after being rebuked in 1998, Nikken officially opened the Fuji Gakurin School on April 10th, 2000. Many attended and heard his statements: Nichijun Fujimoto, Nichiyu Yoshida, Nitto (Juken) Ohmura, Nichijo (Gikan) Hayase, Nissho (Shinei) Yagi, Chief of the Overseas Department Kotoku Obayashi, Chief of the Public Relations Department Kogaku Akimoto and Vice Chief of the Study Department Kosho Mizushima.
Nikken went on to state that "he had been contaminated by Minobu's teachings"...
"I once attended the University run by Nichiren-shu. The hardest thing for me in my campus life was that the teacher said many false things about the teachings and history of Nichiren Daishonin. I had always thought that I should refute these false ideas. However, I cannot say that that was my true intention, because I was only a student."
"When we constantly hear false things, we will be caught up in false ways of thinking, or I can say, we will be trapped in it. As I recall my early days, false ideas did exist in my view of Nichiren Buddhism, especially regarding the legitimate teachings of Nichiren-shoshu. At that time, I was not able to straighten out my thoughts sufficiently from the viewpoint of faith, action, study.... If I were young now, I could study with you, young fellows, in these classes, taught by these engaged teachers."
But his distorted views from Rissho were not left there at the University.
We are reminded of Nikken's words on October 8th, 1985, when he attended the completion ceremony of Komyoji Temple, Hachioji City, Tokyo. Kotoku Hirayama, the chief priest of the temple, asked Nikken, "What is the biggest obstacle you had in your practice?" Nikken answered, "It is that I could not truly believe in the Gohonzon. I cannot believe truly now. I have to really try."
Also, we are reminded of Nikken's statement that "Daigohonzon is a fake" from the Kawabe memo. This statement seems to be influenced by the author of "view of wood honzon is false", Minobu priest Bentetsu Yasunaga, who is an associate professor at Minobu's Rissho University and chief priest of Zenshoji Temple.
'In recent years, the exchange of Minobu priests and Nikken sect priests has become more frequent. Monks of the Nikken sect make pilgrimages to temples of Minobu sect with Hokkeko members, or they invite Minobu monks to Taisekiji. General chief of the Hokkeko federation, Kisoji Yanagisawa, made a pilgrimage to Kuonji Temple, the general head temple of the Minobu sect. We [the Fake Newsletter] have mentioned this issue before, and even "Emyo," one of organ papers of Nikken sect, could not argue against this. Taisekiji priests Kaido Seki, Jikei Maekawa, Kosho Mizushima, Sonfuku Ochiai, Gishu Funabashi, all made visits to Minobu's temples themselves. They later made excuses during lectures at their temples or in their temple newsletters, saying, "We went and saw the temple but did not chant."...etc.'
The proof of Rissho's heritage is on their own website, the page on "History of Rissho":.
'Over 120 Years of Tradition and 70 Years of History as a Modern Educational Institution'
'No other institution of higher education in Japan has a longer tradition than Rissho University.'
'Our founding dates back to 1580 when the "Iidaka- Danrin School" was established to educate student priests of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism. The school took its name from its location, Iidaka Town, which is now Yoka- lchiba City in Chiba Prefecture. Some of the ancient wooden structures have been carefully preserved and form part of the Hanko-ji Temple. These structures include the lecture hall, gate, drum tower and bell tower, which are designated as "Important Cultural Assets" by the Government. The school closed its gates in 1875. During its 295-year history, it produced a great many talented figures who made prominent contributions to promoting Buddhism and education in Japan.'
'Shortly before it [Iidaka-Danrin School] was closed, the "Nichiren-shu Shukyo-in" (Nichiren Religious Academy) was established in 1872 at the Jokyo-ji Temple in Takanawa, Tokyo, to succeed the "Iidaka-Danrin School" in modern times.'
'In 1904, the Academy was moved to Osaki,Tokyo, the present site of the main campus of Rissho University.'
'Authorized by the Government ordinance concerning colleges issued that year [1904], it opened its gates as "Nichiren-shu Daigakurin" (Nichiren Religious College).'
'When the Government issued an ordinance concerning universities in 1924, the University was reorganized into Rissho University with Faculty of Letters newly opened. Its doors were opened to both Nichiren priests and ordinary students.'
Hence, Nikken is more than simply an enemy of the Soka Gakkai and a very bad High Priest at the Fuji School.
Nikken is clearly not a follower of Nikko's School and never has been at any time. He is a follower of the Five Senior Priests and a minion of Minobu, in spite of what his conscious mind tells him. Consciousness is, after all, only one of Five Components.

THAT is my problem with Nikken and Nichiren Shoshu priests, in general. It is not that they hang out with bad women or good women.
Nikko's intent on that is absolutely clear in the 25th Admonition:

25. My disciples should conduct themselves as holy priests, patterning their behavior after that of the late master. However, even if a high priest or a priest striving for practice and understanding should temporarily deviate from [the principle of] sexual abstinence, he may still be allowed to remain in the priesthood [as a common priest without rank].
(from Living Buddhism 4/1998)

Nikko did not want the priesthood to be a self-sustaining community, where priesthood positions could be handed down to the kids, like a family business. He clearly intended that every priest should come from a family of lay believers, or spring forth spontaneously from the new membership.
This is abundantly clear, since abstaining priests cannot even donate to a sperm bank for artificial insemination. THEY CAN HAVE NO CHILDREN.
Frankly it is not my concern that that imposes an unhappy restriction on priests. Nichiren, Nikko, Nichimoku and Nichikan followed all 26 Admonitions abundantly well, and I only need to have those four priests in my life. I don't need any false priests that are lay-person wanna-bes.
And I am not the author of these restrictions, Nikko is. Argue with him (heh).
For myself, I have ABSOLUTELY no argument with Nikko, I follow all 26 of his admonitions, even the 2nd and the 25th: I will not lower his standards on training at Nichiren Shu or in accepting a priest who does not practice abstinence. PERIOD. Never. Not for anyone.
I will accept a priest that has never had any contact with, or priest-training from a follower of the Five Senior Priests (Nichiren Shu or Shoshu, or any other slanderous funeral Buddhism), and who practices abstinence and follows all 26 Admonitions of Nikko. From an excommunicated (Gakkai) family or off the street (common mortals are the true Buddha, according to Nichiren), either source is fine.
It is Nikko's undying determination in action ... that having violated any of the 26 Admonitions in a clear and obvious way ... one will then proceed to violate all the rest, including Admonition #1, which requires us to practice Buddhism in exactly the same way as Nichiren.
They may erect statues of Nichiren at Taisekiji and worship them, in the same way that the Tendai and Nichiren Shu worship statues of Shakyamuni, but there is ultimately no difference between these two slanders. Idolatry is not Nichiren's Buddhism. The Gohonzon is the "supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvīpa."
From "The True Aspect of All Phenomena", WND p. 384:

A common mortal is an entity of the three bodies, and a true Buddha. A Buddha is a function of the three bodies, and a provisional Buddha. In that case, though it is thought that Shakyamuni Buddha possesses the three virtues of sovereign, teacher, and parent for the sake of all of us living beings, that is not so. On the contrary, it is common mortals who endow him with the three virtues.

"A common mortal is ... a true Buddha". And Nichiren and Shakyamuni are endowed with the three virtues of sovereign, teacher, and parent BY the common mortal, who is the true Buddha.
If Nichiren and Shakyamuni are somehow "special people", then we cannot match their accomplishment, and attain their Buddhahood.
They are NOT special humans. And we CAN attain their fierce determination for Kosen Rufu, which is no more and no less than their Buddhahood.
Indeed, we MUST attain that determination, or we shall surely fail to accomplish the ultimate intent of the Thus Come One (our true self).
This is why it is a slander for common mortals to worship statues of provisional Buddhas (they are all just humans, not objects of devotion).
This is why we have the Gohonzon, which reflects the Thus Come One inside our very own Sense Field = Six Components in Three Realms.
This is why we do shakubuku. The common mortal (true Buddha) we shakubuku endows the three virtues upon us, and that is our provisional Buddhahood. Without shakubuku, there is no Buddhahood.
So ... slander of Buddhism will always identify itself, by raising one person over another: over the common mortal. In the end, slanderers of the Law all make the same appearance, by worshiping statues of someone or other. (And, by the way, appreciation of your mentors: those who helped you along ... is NOT worship, it is merely showing your gratitude. We need to discard that fallacy.)
Next in Part II, we will apply the grid of the Hindu caste system to the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood. We will talk about some of the priesthood's socially unacceptable behavior, but really ... I only mention these instances to show pattern and connections between priest families.

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Season 4 has put Diablo in a great place today and I finally feel like I'm not playing a beta version of the game anymore.
I want to call out some challenges today with ideas to resolve them including QoL improvements, see below:

• Group Finder (having the ability to group up and play in game without relying on third party platforms, just feels super dated.)
  
• Non Real Money Auction House (having the ability to list items and have them transacted while not online is a much better experience then relying again... on third party sites and inboxes to negotiate prices etc)
  
• Pinnacle Items / Currency (The game is missing pinnacle chase item/s, I know originally this was the uber uniques but the game needed mid level tier rare chase items to begin with so I understand why these drop rates were increased but now that we have all this, it would be cool to see some pinnacle uniques and uber uniques in the game, even if its just 1 of each. Last Epoch and PoE have stuff like this and it makes the grind feel super rewarding if they existed and you were able to see one in a season)
  
• PvP seasonal rewards and modes (The reason pvp is dead is because it's not balanced and it's boring as we are not getting seasonal pvp rewards since launch, the game needs actual pvp modes that scale our dps evenly with some sort of competitive ranking system)
  
• Seasonal Gems (gems that are drops only that have additional affix or potentially mixing 2 colour gems together to create a random affix, adding some more depth to the gem system would be cool, I like the way it's changed now but needs more depth)
  

QOL Improvements much needed

• When activating nightmare sigils, they should just auto tp you to the next one if your already inside of one so you can chain farm.
  
• When tempering a repeatable affix, the recipe should stay pre selected, it feels tedious to keep re-selecting when attempting re-rolls.
  
• Masterworking materials should have a smaller drop rate of the previous currency from lower pits to avoid grinding backwards in difficulty.
  
• Enchanting on console needs to be pre-selected on the enchant button when re-attempting an enchant, the extra navigation to find the enchant button again is tedious.
  
• When resetting a dungeon, if you are in town with your TP still inside the dungeon (i.e duriel) it should still let you TP back to the dungeon but at the start, you shouldn't have to leave dungeon and then port to town it seeks tedious.
  
• Skip the shop animation, it's repetitive and boring after a while.
  
• Change the endgame boss mat farming to be more efficient, reduce the amount of repetitive boss kills by allowing us to provide multiples of 9 in one go to increase the material reward, seems pointless to kill beat or zir like 100 times to get andy mats when the items are not exciting because they are not 925 ilvl.
  

There is probably more but this is all I could think of right now.
Enjoying season 4 very much, keep up the great work!

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Okay, to start off I live in Canada. I’m 33 years old and grew up on dirt bikes until I sold them off for college. I have had many bikes throughout the years, purchased lots of used bikes. I also rode street and had a Yamaha R6 10+ years.
I’ve only ever purchased 1 new dirt bike, a YZ250F back in 2008, which I was able to paid cash for at the time. It was honestly the best, and most hassle free bike Ive ever owned.
Last year I was put in a position (laid off and paid a rather large severance) to purchase cheap used bikes for my wife and I to start a fun hobby together. I was laid off from a car dealer service department, so I thought it’d also be a good way to keep my hands wrenching, and keep my mental state good with an old passion of minwhile I looked for other work.
I purchased a running 2011 YZ250F for about 1800$ CAD and a 2017 running CRF450R for $3200 CAD I wanted projects thinking I’d fix them up to ride.
Now once again I live in Canada, so my online parts retailers have insane mark up. US parts have conversion rates, shipping and customs. I have sourced many of my parts used from eBay that are shipped from the US with international shipping. Most parts I purchased were used other than internal engine parts.
Everything for my 2011 YZ250F has been on back order from Yamaha, no stock online for my year range which is why I sourced used lol. I just wanted to ride. It has a new vertex top end kit $370, and valves adjusted by me with amazon AHL shims. It needed a rear suspension rebuild but I cheaped out with used oem rear KYB suspension, which needed a lower bearing once I received it so like 280$ total. New fork seals, cleaned the carb out, new sparkplugs etc. endless hours of my time is what it’s starting to feel like. Now my wife barely rides it, and prefers our YFZ450 atv I recently rebuilt.
My 2017 Honda CRF450R on the other hand I purchased from a younger guy who really wanted cash for a truck he found. When the rad started leaking he thought something was seriously wrong with it, so it was a very easy negotiation and it only needed a right side rad - 80$ for a set of used oem radiators with free included hoses and bonus Connection Works rad braces, no leaks. I Replaced the spark plug, and the dented exhaust was replaced with a used yoshimura RS9 dual full system for $380 and 55$ for new RS9 stickers. It’s worth a pretty penny on marketplace from what I can see, and could sell for an easy profit, like a flip bike.
When I rode for the first time last year, I instantly caught the bug again, and have been riding quite a bit since. The only issue is I honestly think the CRF450R has a bit too much power for me since I’m born again from my 10+ year off road riding hiatus. I recently started riding a bit of track and can feel the young me in my head saying I can do the things I know adult me really can’t anymore. The temptations are what’s going to hurt me, it’s too easy on that bike.
The Yamaha’s fuel line tore at the carbs fuel inlet on our last ride dumping fuel, had no good way to re attach the hose. After getting it home and replacing the fuel line, my carb starts leaking at the fuel inlet nipple to the carb which is only 3 orings but it translates to 2 weeks away and another 35$. I am working again and it’s starting to feel like constant little things, tear down, diagnose, repair, repeat. I can break even if I sold it now at market value.
While I was at the Yamaha dealer today ordering the o rings, the brand new bikes started to catch my eye. Never would have considered one but I do plan on riding as much as casually possible both track and trail for as long as possible. I made the mistake of talking to a sales guy about my situation and honestly he got me pretty stoked on a 2024 YZ250FX, I don’t have very much cash up front I told him, it’s a dream I told him.
He mentioned open ended financing, 72 MONTHS @ 6% with loyalty applied. And with a lil down payment my payments become less than I’m putting into these used bikes I got every month.
The “promotion” ends on may 31st and all I have is the down payment or deposit and good credit. Finance rates go back to 10.99% and 60 months is the longest term after the end of the month.
Would it be wise to finance the longest term to keep the payments affordable while I wait for my current bikes to sell on marketplace? Then I’d still have a full summer to ride before the snow returns.
Once sold I feel like the value of both my bikes would cover a large chunk of the difference anyways? Have one new bike that’s maintenance is known from the start? Or is this unwise financially, and I should just keep what I have?

Our nanny of over 1+ year told us today that she would like to disband the nanny share because can no longer take care of two babies due to her declining health. She said will ask the other family if she could be paid more for one child so she can continue her standard of living. I asked if she would be willing to work with just us if they couldn’t pay her new rate. She said she preferred the other family because they live in a 1-story house and the other baby is more independent (doesn’t need to be held much) so it’s easier on her body. We’re in a difficult situation because I don’t know if I can find someone new in 2 weeks. She has been with us for almost all of my baby’s life so I’m feeling very emotional about this. We offered her money to stay longer but what is the common etiquette for this? My son loves her and is so happy to see her every morning. I understand she has to do this since she can’t watch two babies who are learning to walk at the same time.