I want to explain at this point in this yearlong journey a little about my personal experience with faith. You see, faith has always come easy to me.
Well, not just any faith.
Born and raised in a suburban Protestant Christian environment in Southern California, I spent my late teen years proclaiming myself a born-again Christian. I imagined myself a member of the Jesus Freaks, a 1960s and 1970s counterculture evangelical movement. I remember a day in my senior year of high school when I had ditched classes to hang out at the beach in Santa Monica. A young woman tried to shakabuku me. “Not interested,” I said. “I have everything I need in Jesus.”
But my youthful Christian faith failed to grow, crushed by the weight of my doubts.
That has not been my experience with Nichiren Buddhism.
Perhaps a seed was planted when I first heard the Daimoku on that Santa Monica beach. During the time it was germinating I had a vague interest in Buddhism. I remember reading Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and some other popular discussions of Buddhism. But I never attempted to make Buddhism a part of my life.
It was not until my marriage of nine years fell apart in 1988 that I felt compelled to act on my interest in Buddhism. My marriage had lacked any spiritual aspect and I longed to fill that void. I knew that a co-worker was a Buddhist, and I asked her about her practice. I don’t recall how I knew she was Buddhist. I don’t believe she ever approached me. She was a reporter on the newspaper where I worked as one of the editors.
With this co-worker I attended a meeting in February 1989 at the home of a guy who lived in a apartment across the street from the California Capitol. There I was introduced to Nichiren Shoshu of America, the lay arm of Nichiren Shoshu, and heard again the Daimoku.
After the meeting, as I was leaving, the host asked me if I had any questions.
“No,” I remember saying. “Chant and have faith in the Daimoku. Easy enough.” I thanked him and left.
Unlike my fiery teenage Christian zeal, this faith started as a spring rain, rinsing over me. Over the years as I established my daily practice and participated in activities my faith grew into a powerful river.
Even when I became disappointed with Soka Gakkai and began my search for an alternative, I never had a moment’s doubt about the Daimoku, the Lotus Sutra or Nichiren. My faith was never linked to anything outside me. What others do or do not do doesn’t shape my faith. I have experienced the taste of the Dharma and, as promised, it does taste good. Each day the river of my faith grows deeper and stronger.
I don’t know why, but today my faith in the Daimoku, the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren seems so natural. It feels easy.
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