About My Religion

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 thousands of comments to articles posted by others concerning various topics. I figure it useful to readers 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…