Transcript-ish
Hi,
I’m M. LaVora Perry and this is Lotus Sutra Buddhism, April 10th, 2025.
So I'm going to be sharing a story today. But before I get into it, I want to read a passage from the Lotus Sutra from the 16th chapter, “Lifespan of the Thus Come One”:
“The scriptures expounded by the thus come one are all for the purpose of saving and emancipating living beings. Sometimes I speak of myself, sometimes of others; sometimes I present myself, sometimes others; sometimes I show my own actions, sometimes those of others. All that I preach is true and not false.”
So that’s another way of saying that everything we go through as Buddhas — because that was Shakyamuni Buddha talking, but in the Lotus Sutra, he taught that we’re all Buddhas. Our life is eternal. Our true self is enlightenment. And so everything that we go through is for the one purpose of awakening us to this truth about ourselves. And that awakening is an ongoing process. It’s not something that happens and then it’s over. We’re constantly reawakening ourselves to that. And I chant the title of the Lotus Sutra in order to do that, which is Nam — Sanskrit for “devotion” — Myoho Renge Kyo. That’s Japanese for “Wonderful Law of the Lotus Flower Teaching of the Buddha.” So I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo every day to awaken myself.
So I’m going to tell you this story. I’m still learning from it. The other person involved, I’m learning from him. So what you’re going to see next is a Facebook Live video that I recorded yesterday right after the culminating event in my story occurred:
I don’t like guns. I don’t like weapons. I don’t like the idea of killing someone. However, now we’ve got these white supremacists who want to kill black people and we’re on the verge civil war. That’s just the reality in this in this country. And in Ohio, you don’t have to have a permit or a license or anything to get a gun. This is the wild wild west. But you can choose to get a concealed carry license, which means you can carry a concealed weapon. You already can here. You can carry a concealed weapon. You can go in the gun store; buy a gun; answer a few questions; and have a gun. But I wanted to take the concealed carry class so that I can, you know, get educated on using the weapon.
And so now I want training. I am the one who said to my friend, “Do you want to take this gun class with me, this concealed carry class with me?” And she said, “Yes.”
So it was supposed to be on Zoom. To do the concealed carry class in Ohio you have to do six hours of classroom instruction and then two hours on the range shooting. It’s supposed to take place all in the same day. So the teacher had told us… His name is Duane “Doc” Dixon. And the name of his company is Premier Self-Defense Concepts. And I had wanted to go to a black-owned instructor to support black businesses. And also, you know, honestly, I’m just not comfortable with white men with guns being around me given the climate that we're in right now. So this person was recommended to me — Duane “Doc” Dixon, Premier Self-Defense Concepts.
So Sunday, we do the Zoom class. And, basically, what he did was had us read material from the Ohio concealed carry handbook, and then watch a bunch of videos — YouTube videos. And he really did not do instruction. He did not engage us with the material we read. He was off camera. He did not talk to us about the videos we watched. We were, like, on our own. And then, when we were done, he gave us the test. You have to take a test and you have to pass it in order to go to the range.
So what I did, because I was, like, all on my own, you know, reading this material, you know, and watching these videos. So, for the test part, I wrote my answers out as a way of retaining the information. Because I had gotten no instruction. So this was my way of, like, self-instructing myself. You know, I’ll write it out my… It’ll be in my body. You know, help me learn it.
So, when it was time to turn in the test he wanted us text him — to take a picture and text him the test so he could grade it. And I did that. So he talks back to me. Now he’s back on screen. He’s like “You didn’t listen. I said just turn in the letters.” So, apparently, he had said just turn in the letters — like 1-A, 2-B — like that. You know, just put the letters. The answers, you know, the answers were A B C D, like that. So he only wanted that. And I had turned it in all written up. And so I was like, “I’m sorry.” He said, “How are you going to have a gun if you’re not going to listen?” And I was like, “I’m sorry.” So I ended up apologizing three times. And, finally, the third time I’m like: “I apologized three times. And actually you haven't been teaching us.”
And that’s really like the nut of how things began to unravel, because nobody else had mentioned that fact. And, meanwhile, my friend had texted me saying, “This video thing ain’t working for me. I’m just going to forfeit my money because I need instruction and he could have sent us these materials a few days ago and we could have had them read.”
At the end of the class, now it’s time to go to the shooting range. And he said, “You’ll get an hour to get to the shooting range.” So, he called me and said: “You don’t have to come.” And I said, “Well, you know, I want to come to the range.” He said, “Well, your friend wants…” My friend had not passed the test. And I was pretty sure, I thought I got 100 on the test. But I didn’t know what I got, because another thing he didn’t do was go over the test. I mean, that’s how you would do, right? He would, you know, he’d talk about the videos with us. We’d do that. He’d talk about the writing. We take the test, and then we’d go over the test. So I didn’t know whether I passed or not. He gave us no discussion about the test. And now he’s calling me, telling me not to go to the range. So I said, well, you know, “Why?” And he said, “Well, your friend wants you to be there with her.” I said, “Okay, fine.” So, he said, “I'm going to call you and let you know when you can do that.” I’m like, okay, fine.
So he doesn’t call. So Monday I texted him. I was like, “Well, when are we going to have the range thing?” Because, again, this was all supposed to happen on one day. He said, “I’ll get back to you.” Well, he didn’t. So I text him in the morning. He says, “Well, I want you to do one-and-a half to two hours of classroom time.” And I said “Why?” I said, “Did I pass the test?” And he said, “Yeah.” I said, “Well then I don't want to do classroom time.” Because that’s not how it’s supposed to go. You do your classroom time for six hours. Now, again, we didn’t really get that. And then you go to the range. And I’m like, “I don’t want to do…” I don't want to use up my time that way. I did what I was supposed to do. He told me I passed the test. So I should have went to the range. He says, “Well, I don't want you to go to the range because you don’t listen.”
And this is really when things began to go downhill, because I’m like, “Dude, you didn’t teach.”
And, you know, so I turned… I said, “I turned in the written part because you weren’t teaching anything.” And it just got, you know, worse and worse. Where he’s telling me to; he’s telling me; he’s literally telling me to “Shut up!” He told me, “See. That’s your problem. You think you can tell me what you want to do and whether you should go to the range or not. It’s not for you to say that. I’m the teacher. I get to decide. You don’t listen. You’re going to be dangerous with a gun because you don’t listen.”
Now, this man, this hit me today: What he was doing was deflecting. He did not teach the class. So rather than like, you know, really take responsibility for the fact that he didn’t do his job, he’s going to make it seem like the problem is I didn’t listen because I turned in a handwritten test. I actually did more work, versus handing in the letters he wanted to a test he wasn’t even going to go over. So, yeah, I got pissed off.
So now we’re having words and he’s shouting at me. And, I admit, I’m shouting back. I’m like, “Look, give me…” Because he said…So then he’s like, “I don't even want you to come to the range because you’re dangerous. Because you’re irrational.” I said, “Okay, cool. Give me back my money.” He said, “I don't do refunds. You know I don’t do refunds.”
So, for a minute, I was like (to myself): “Okay, fine. I’ll just give up the money. I’m going to go where my son went to get his gun lessons,” which was Workman Firearms. And, again, who you want to avoid, if you’re in Cleveland, is Duane “Doc” Dixon of Premier Self-Defense Concepts. Do not do it. And, so, and then I thought about it, like, “I should get my money back. This man did not teach me. And he was supposed to take me to the range. I did my part. I came and went to the class.” It wasn’t even really six hours because, you know, I described to you what we did: We read and we watched videos by ourselves. I did the thing and I took my test and I passed it. That’s all Ohio says. Now he’s labeling me as, you know, irrational. So I said to him, “I want my money back.”
So today has been a day of me trying to get my money back. And I was texting him. I had told him yesterday — I said, “I’m going to, I’m going to report you to the sheriff.” Because I went online to see what you do when a concealed carry teacher doesn’t do their job. And they were like first try to resolve it with the teacher. Then you can talk to the sheriff. Then you can go to the attorney general. My question was specific to Ohio. So, I said, “I’m going to call the sheriff on you.” He said, “I’m going to call the sheriff.” So we’re back and forth and stuff. And he’s telling me to leave him alone. But I am not going to leave him alone because I want my money back and I'm not going to let him get away with it. I’m like, “No.”
And that was the whole issue. He’s used to not teaching and used to no one telling him: “You suck. You didn’t teach.” Not just you suck. Not you just taught badly. You didn’t teach. And you took our money.
So after I did the attorney general thing, I said (to myself), “You know what? Let me call the sheriff.” I had already been in touch with the sheriff’s secretary. So I called her today and I’m like… I left her a message and I explained to her what happened and I said, “Now this man is saying that I’m irrational and everything because what I am is pissed off because he’s keeping my money.” So, instead of, like, what he’s doing is like throwing it off on me because I want my money back because he didn't do his job…You know, deflecting, taking the focus off of the fact that you did not do what I paid you to do. And, yeah, I’m pissed off about it because I want my money back. And I do not want you teaching me. I’m not even asking for (range time) because now I don’t trust him and he would have a gun.
So I left (the secretary) a message and then I thought about it. I said, “You know what? I have the text from my friend saying, “This is not working for me and he’s rude.” And then I had a message from somebody else on Facebook — and I scratched out her name — saying how horrible he was and that he had yelled. So, after I (left the secretary the voicemail), I took a screenshot of those messages and I sent them to her by email. I said, “This is regarding the voicemail I sent you. These are other students.” So now it’s not just me. I got proof that I’m not the only one that says there’s something wrong with this man. He shouldn’t really be teaching at all.
And then I texted him again and I said, “This is what I sent to the sheriff.” When I contacted the sheriff, when I left the voicemail, and, also, you know, followed up with an email sending the screenshots, I gave his (Doc’s) phone number so that he could directly be contacted.
Less than an hour ago, I went upstairs to chant about this. And as I was chanting, I was like really chanting for him. And, you know, really chanting that my Nam Myoho Renge Kyo would reach his life. Because, obviously, something’s wrong. I mean, when people do these kind of things it’s like hurt people hurt people. So somewhere in his life there’s, you know, in childhood, in all likelihood, there was deep trauma. And trauma doesn’t mean you were beat. Trauma could just mean you had parents who didn’t attend to your emotional needs. That’s the most common kind of trauma — childhood emotional neglect. And a lot of parents — I was guilty of doing it to my kids — don’t connect on an emotional level with their children; my parents didn't do it. You know, it’s very common. It’s how the world is the way it is. You know, if families had have been healthy families, we wouldn't be in the situation we’re in right now.
So I was chanting like, you know, this man is, this is his trauma speaking. And, I was, you know, really chanting for his healing and also for myself. Like, he’s teaching me something. And so I really connected that way. Like, you know, yes I want my money, but that wasn’t at the top of my mind. And I wasn’t even planning on chanting that way. I just said, you know, “Let me chant about this.” “But what came up at the top of my mind was his trauma. And I really, like, reaching his life.
Then I just got this text: “In three to five days, I will refund you your money because you have some issues. Please do not contact me any further. Have a great life.”
>Smile<
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is the prayer practice of Nichiren Buddhism. Here it is being chanted by Deva Pramal, Mitten, and Manose:
The Buddha’s quote is from The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Chapters, Translated by Burton Watson (2009). You can read it, the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, and the Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism online at NichirenLibrary.org.
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