Spent much of the day yesterday helping out with the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church Mochi sale. Specifically, I helped moved the flats of rice from the steamer to the grinders. It was fascinating. Still researching the best ways to cook it. My favorite site so far is The Expat’s Guide to Japan.

Today was billed as a Buddha’s Parinirvana Day service but instead was a year-end Kaji Kito purification service and memorial. The service was followed with a church meeting that continued the discussion started in November about requests from the Nichiren Shu hierarchy in Japan. I will be assisting in drafting a response to send to Japan. In theory this needs to be accomplished before the end of January.

Attended the Myosho-ji online service today and tried out one way of recording the session. With the exception of places where my deskstop takes over the screen momentarily, it works fairly well. The screen capture program Snagit offers a video capture, saving in mp4 format with the option to upload directly to YouTube. Below is the video.

Ryusho Jeffus Shonin also posted this talk on Medium.com. Below is a link to the talk.

Overcome Setbacks

The Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church was founded more than 75 years ago. The church members are honored to have had Ven. Kenjo Igarashi attending to their spiritual needs for 26 years and hope to have him continue to do so for years to come. So you can imagine the reaction when Ven. Kenjo Igarashi told a meeting of church members that new requirements promulgated by the Head Office of Nichiren Shu may force him to resign his position.

On Nov. 4, 2015, the Head Office of Nichiren Shu announced:

As previously announced, according to the Nichiren Shu Bylaw revisions implemented on April 1, 2015, all previous overseas missionary points administered under the district head system are now administered directly by the Head Office of Nichiren Shu and will be known as an “International Propagation Point”. In order to prevent discord between Nichiren Shu policies and international propagation point propagation, the International Section of the Nichiren Shu Head Office has set management regulations for international propagation.

The requirements for incorporation articles and directory of the board of trustees is noncontroversial. What’s troubling Ven. Kenjo Igarashi is the requirement that he, as the Kokusai Fukyoshi of the Sacramento Church, have a contract with the church’s trustees:

Exchange of a written agreement between board of trustees of the international propagation point and the appointed Kokusai Fukyoshi. When a Kokusai Fukyoshi is assigned to more than one international propagation point, agreements must be signed and exchanged by each assigned point.

Complicating this is the fact that Ven. Kenjo Igarashi travels routinely to Chicago and Los Angeles to hold scheduled services for Nichiren Shu followers.

The problem is not so much the idea of a contract but the specific nature of the document requested:

Agreement Conditions
1) Duration
2) Place of Work
3) Duties of Kokusai Fukyoshi
The phrase “An appointed head, assistant or associate Kokusai Fukyoshi must be the religious
leader” must be included in the agreement.
4) Work Hours
5) Work Breaks?
6) Holidays
7) Vacation
8) Salary
9) Salary Payment
10) Leaves of Absence?
11) Termination
12) Confidential Information
13) Agreement Renewal
14) Jurisdiction
15) Consultation

Work hours? Work Breaks? Holidays? Vacation? Ven. Kenjo Igarashi wants nothing to do with this. He became a priest to serve Nichiren Shu followers. He didn’t volunteer to participate in aragyo, a 100-day ascetic practice, five separate times in order to qualify for additional vacation time.

A footnote in the Head Office memorandum suggests the requirements for existing Kokusai Fukyoshi may be less strict:

Regarding the written agreement between the board of trustees and the appointed Kokusai Fukyoshi, please follow the recommended format of this documentation as much as possible. The Head Office understands that there are many cases in an agreement between a temple and Kokusai Fukyoushi. We think the important thing is to exchange a written agreement between the two.

The unanimous consensus of those church members in attendance Sunday was that a way should be found to allow Ven. Kenjo Igarashi to continue to serve the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. The deadline for submitting the required documents is Jan. 30, 2016.

International Propagation Point memo and contract outline

It is always a pleasure to attend Myoshoji services with Ryusho Jeffus Shonin. In fact a large portion of the discussion after the service focused on the value of having trained priests to act as the “good friends” who are necessary to the practice of the Lotus Sutra.

A recording was made of the discussion following the service and if I can get a copy and edit it, I’ll put some of it here. Until then, I’ll just say that I’m very happy to have met so many good friends this year.

Couldn’t resist creating a simple web page with a rain effect and some verses from Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs.

This is viewed best in Chrome or Firefox. It’s not so good in Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge. Tested on Android phones and tablets and worked as designed.

The web construction inspiration for this comes from Typanus.net Codrops

Attended services online at Myoshoji with Ryusho Jeffus Shonin and a couple of regular sangha members. While I would always rather attend a local service, I really appreciate being able to attend these services.

Following the service, Rev. Ryusho discussed faith and doubt. Next time I’ll remind him to record his talk. I don’t want to put words into his mouth that didn’t come from there so I’ll just talk about my reaction to what he had to say.

In the last year my position on “faith” and in particular what it means to be a Nichiren Buddhist has shifted 180 degrees. For more than 20 years, I believed in a magical power of chanting without hardly any appreciation for what powered the Daimoku and why it was important.

Today I have a much deeper appreciation of the Lotus Sutra and the goal of that sutra:

Śāriputra, know this!
Seeing with the eyes of the Buddha
The living beings of the six regions, I thought:
“They are poor, and devoid of merits and wisdom.
They incessantly suffer because they are taken
To the rough road of birth and death.
They cling to the five desires
Just as a yak loves its tail.
They are occupied with greed and cravings,
And blinded by them.

They do not seek the Buddha who has great power.
They do not seek the Way to eliminate sufferings.
They are deeply attached to wrong views.
They are trying to stop suffering by suffering.”

Chapter 2, Expedients

Eliminating suffering in my life by awakening my inherent enlightenment is the reason for chanting, not getting stuff.

Again from Chapter 2, Expedients:

Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.

That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.

For Sunday this week I attended the online service at Myoshoji Temple in Charlotte, North Carolina. There were eight participants online and another person at the temple, making it the largest gathering since I started attending.

Following the service, Rev. Ryusho Jeffus gave a dharma talk that responded to a post I made on the Nichiren Shu Yahoo Group. I’ve posted my original post and the one response it generated in my blog here. The talk was followed by a nice discussion of chanting.

It is truly great to be able to attend these online services and thus enlarge my sangha beyond my local temples.

[An earlier version of this was posted on the Yahoo Group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/nichirenshubuddhism

Below are quotes from books that discuss different perspectives on Why We Chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

Rev. Shoryo Tarabini in his book, Odaimoku: The Significance of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, writes:

I am often confronted with the question, “if I chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo will I receive benefits?” There are some people who chant the Odaimoku solely for material benefit and personal gain. The protective and beneficial powers of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo are not only vast and profound, they are limitless. One can chant, when in need for material or even financial benefit and those prayers will be indeed answered.

However, to practice the chanting of the Buddha’s eternal enlightenment for mere material or economic gain is, to say the least, the smallest of the merit and the most insignificant benefit one will receive. And while not negating the necessity at times to chant and pray for certain things when confronted with problems in life, people who – only – chant for everyday material gain, are still at an infant level of their understanding of Buddhism and development. One who instead strives to practice and live in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha, will certainly obtain tranquility and immense satisfaction in all facets of life over time.

Rev. Ryusho Jeffus, in his book, Lecture on the Lotus Sutra, writes:

Buddhism … is not about prosperity practice. Our goal should be to eliminate suffering, and attachment to material gain is an attachment, and bound to eventually lead to more suffering. No thing is immune to decay, even wealth and if not the wealth then certainly the body. The goal of our practice is to become enlightened, to manifest our inherent Buddha potential, and thereby convert our lands into the Buddha’s pure land.

Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick, in “Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon,” writes:

It should be clear that the Odaimoku is more than simply the title of the Lotus Sutra. Neither is chanting the Odaimoku viewed by Nichiren Buddhism as merely a concentration device or a mantra practiced for accruing benefits. It is an expression of the practitioner’s faith and joy in the Buddha’s teaching contained in the Lotus Sutra, the teaching that buddhahood is not only a potential within all our lives but an active presence leading us to awakening in this very moment. The Odaimoku is like a seed that we plant within our lives. Continuing to chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo as our essential daily practice, we nurture that seed so that ultimately the wisdom and compassion of buddhahood can bloom within us and within all beings.

Attended the Oeshiki Service – the Memorial Service for Nichiren Shonin – held at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church.

The entire altar was decorated with pink paper flowers to commemorate that when Nichiren died on October 13, 1282, at the Ikegami Munenaka residence in Ikegami (present-day Tokyo) there was an earthquake and the cherry trees in the garden bloomed out of season.

Ven. Kenjo Igarashi was attired in formal gray robes, including peaked headgear. (Need to learn the name of these.) This is the first service in the 10 months I’ve attended in which he has worn this garment. Another unusual aspect of the service was Ven. Igarashi’s use of English translations for several standard prayers and the Bodhisattva Vows. His Dharma talk focused on the light of the Lotus Sutra that illuminates the darkness. One point he stressed was that this light is not a sharp flash but a soft, soothing light.

Honestly enjoyed this ceremony.

The October issue of Nichiren Shu News, which is published by the Head Office of Nichiren Shu Buddhism and NOPPA, contains a small article by Rev. Ryei McCormick, the assistant priest at the San Jose Nichiren Temple, about his work helping to translate the “Standard Nichiren Shu Ceremonies and Protocols” into English.

He does a wonderful job describing the priest’s role:

The idea is to master the techniques and perform them calmly. This is how we can delight the Buddha and enable those attending the service to joyfully experience the exaltation and intensifiication of their faith. By performing ceremonies with dignity, we can contemplate deeply the principles of Buddhism through performing these practices, by the forms, actions, and utterances of the ceremonies themselves. Ceremonies should never be mere formalities. They are a practice to calm the mind, contemplate the Wonderful Dharma, and lead all beings to Enlightenment.

Formal ceremonies in temples are a major part of the attraction for me to the Nichiren Shu practice.

Read Rev. Ryuei McCormick‘s article, “Thoughts on Translating the Hoyo Shiki: From Form to Principle“