Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō

sometimes it makes me mad because sometimes I'm like, could they be a little bit more culty? Like, how come nobody misses me when I'm not there? I went to one meeting of a cult, which was Nam-myoho-ro.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo people.

Oh my gosh, yes.

And they

this is because you are tapping into that broader perspective of eagerness about life and when you feel eager about life you're sort of wanting to express your eagerness in some ways you see and so the only thing that's problem is that other people don't do it so much and they don't understand it when somebody else does they accept it with little children who are still pure in their connection or in untrained dogs that are pure in their connection but they don't accept it in people that are supposed to know better than to be so happy you want to talk to people

I also have some spiritual mentors who have told me that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the rhythm of the universe and that this will bring me benefit.

And I want to ask you, Abraham, is that true?

The reason that we can see the benefit to you or to anyone is because when you find a symbol, even a verbal symbol, that has no attachment or previous meaning to it.

It is a feeling of fullness, born from a mysterious rhythm, a kind of flight toward the infinite, lived in a sharing, an exchange, whose source is our interior world.

Today's guest, Michael Damani of Chicago, went all in on music after he began chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in his early 20s.

He shares how his Buddhist practice helps him connect the depth of his heart to the work he creates and the people who hear it.

Welcome to Bootability, Michael.

Everybody's, you know, in New York.

And...

And he starts telling me about, you know, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

He starts telling me about Buddhism.

Well, I've been practicing on and off as a Nishin Shochu Buddhist for 40 years.

So every morning I chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and also prayers in the ancient Japanese version of Sanskrit, which I do repetitively.

And the reason I do it is because it works.

It keeps me in some kind of harmony and balance.

Gongyo soon commenced.

Though many of the participants didn't speak Japanese, their voices harmonized beautifully and vibrantly as they recited the sutra and chanted Daimoku together.

After Gongyo, Tada Yoshi Mine delivered a report on the centre's establishment from the purchase of the building to the opening that day.

This was followed by greetings from America Headquarters leader Nagayasu Masaki, Soka Gakkai Young Women's Division Planning Department leader Yumie Fujiya and others.

I would like you to joyfully advance in your activities, making friends wherever you go and becoming people who are respected and loved by all.

That is the way to spread Kosundrufu.

I am always sending you Daimoku and I will continue to do so.

I hope you will feel my prayers.

The assembly is still in session.

When we chant Namu-myoho-renge-kyo in front of the Gohonzon, we're participating along with the Buddha and the entire assembly gathered there.

Unpacking these riddles, we learn we're the 50th person and the first hearer at the same time.

On one level, we're the figurative 50th.

Retreats were never central to lay Nichiren practice.

At the heart of Nichiren's ministry was encouraging everyone to have a daily practice they could carry anywhere, chanting Namo Myoho Renge Kyo at home, in the market, in the fields.

So, if home is where practice lives, why does it so often stall there? because nobody else is arranging anything.

We have to do all the work, manage our lives and still make time for practice.