A profile here at Medium becomes a repository of one’s opinions about many things. This is the first prose article I have posted, though I have posted over 500 comments to articles posted by others concerning various topics. In the future, I plan on posting more articles, but I figured it would be useful for any reader to know that I am a man of faith. I have practiced the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin together with the organization known as the SGI since 1973. I was born in 1955. This practice has a profound philosophic basis, but ultimately I do it because Nichiren suggested it would benefit me. That was and continues to be the starting point of faith for me. The practice consists of chanting the phrase Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo ideally in front of a scroll called the Gohonzon. It is used as a focal point while chanting. The scroll is an expression of both the process and victory of attaining enlightenment in one’s present form. Fusing with this expression while chanting enables one to attain that same victory. Nichiren, emphasizing the nature of the Gohonzon’s power, writes: “Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo” (“The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon,” WND-1, 832). He also describes this process as not suppressing desire, but properly channeling it: “Today, when Nichiren and his followers recite the words Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, they are burning the firewood of earthly desires, summoning up the wisdom-fire of enlightenment.” …

Merciful Lies

Tell me some merciful lies
I miss you
I’ve been trying to forget you
But I can’t
I just can’t because I love you

Tell me you have met the man of your dreams.
A younger, more beautiful man.
A man also willing and able to take care of you and your family.
A man who is a tender lover
A man who makes you regret not having a good lover all these years.

Tell me some merciful lies.
Tell me so I can stop imagining you alone.
As you care, and care, and care some more, for everyone else.
While you neglect yourself.
While the years roll by
While the good men age and become unattractive
While your heart hardens and your skin dries
And eventually, love itself becomes too…