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St. Nichiren was attacked by Lord Tojo of Chiba and his vassals in a placed in Chiba prefecture called Komatsubara. The Saint suffered a wound on his head and two of his disciples were killed. This was a great persecution before the execution at Tatsunokuchi. It is said that the reason for this persecution was that Lord Hojo, the manor lord, was a Pure Land faith’s follower. It also seems that a power struggle between the manor lord and a strong supporter of St. Nichiren was a related caused. For an innocent priest to be suddenly attacked was a serious and unimaginable incident. Of course, unlike the present, the faith…

A Tree Planting Ceremony at the Honolulu Myohoji in Nuuanu—a Healing Spot in Ancient Hawaii Have you heard about the Ohia Lehua, which is a tree that is native to the Hawaiian Islands?   In Hawaiian, the name of its flowers is “lehua,” which means “hair.” The tree blooms with fine and beautiful flowers. While many of the flowers are red, there is also orange, yellow, white and so on. There is also a love story about the Ohia Lehua. Long ago, there was a young man named Ohia and a young woman by the name of Lehua. They were deeply in love. It just so happened that that one day,…

One of the roles functions of the temple is to be teach people about the importance of life. People simply say that “I am living. “ But, such thinking is mistaken. We have to say I am being sustained Our life is one part of Mother Nature, and it is being ruled and controlled by God and Buddha. We can understand this when we think about the great earthquakes and natural disasters that occurred suddenly in history. The mistaken thinking is the cause for suicide. It also is the cause for thinking lightly about the life of another. Life is the possession of no one. I am being sustained. This…

St. Nichiren was exiled to Izu of Shizuoka prefecture on May 12, 1271. In a small boat, St. Nichiren was taken from the coast of Kamakura to Ito of Izu, but through the plan of an evil official, before landing at he was left on some nearby rocks. When the tide ebbed, the rocks were exposed, however, at high tide, they were covered by the sea. St. Nichiren was in danger of drowning, but he was saved by a fisherman who happened to be passing by boat. Over the next few days the fisherman and his wife looked after the Saint. Later, there was news that the feudal lord of…

St. Nichren studied the entirety of Buddhism over a period of twelve years in Kyoto, Nara and Hiei-zan. And he understood that Buddhism and the true intentions of Shakyamuni Buddha are in the Lotus Sutra, and he resolved to spread the Lotus Sutra to the people of Japan. Before announcing the results of his studies in the town of his birth, St. Nichiren trained himself for 100 days at Ise.   He did this to make his pledge to the protective deity of Japan, Amaterasu Omikami of Ise, that he will spread the Lotus Sutra throughout Japan. He later traveled from the Grand Shrine of Ise to Seicho-zan in his hometown…

Buddhism in America has a history of 150 years. Today, Buddhism is a modern religion. The present state of the religion is that American Buddhism is growing. In America, Buddhism is growing artificially and also in terms of its influence on society. In 2011, the number of Buddhists was three million. (One percent of the American population.) Of that number one million five hundred thousand Buddhists are immigrant Buddhists (from Japan, China, Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Korea, etc.). The other one million five hundred thousand are converts who were raised as Jewish or Christians. (Converts to Japanese Zen, through the influence of Dr. Daisetsu Suzuki. Also Tibetan Buddhism through the…

What is most important, above all, for Nichiren Buddhism, the Nichiren-shu and the Honolulu Myohoji is faith. The point is that are you really believing in Shakyamuni Buddha, St. Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra? Or not. Let me share with you a example about faith. The Odaimoku, which we chanted today, it could be likened to a rope. As you all know, this world is a world of suffering. There are still conflicts in this world. There are bad people. There is a great amount of stress and frustration in this world. There is no telling when we might fall ill. There are also many things that don’t go the…

The other day, I was interviewed by the Hawaii Herald. I expressed my hope to revolutionize Hawaiian Buddhism. It is said that present day Hawaiian Buddhism is declining. I earnestly pondered over the cause for this. And the reason is that Hawaiian Buddhism placed too much emphasis on socializing. To socialize is to meet friends, to share a meal, and while having tea, to speak about experiences and to deepen friendly relations. Of course, socializing is important for the lives of human beings   Yet, socializing can also be done at Zippy’s and Mac Donald’s. The temple is a place to learn. The true role of the temple is to learn…

    We all chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. And we all know that the basic meaning of Odaimoku is, “I devote myself to the Lotus Sutra.” However, odaimoku also has another important meaning.      In a letter to Abutsubo, St. Nichiren said that the body is composed of the five elements of the universe, including earth, water, fire, wind, and space. These five elements are also the five characters of the Myo, Ho, Ren, Ge and Kyo.      St. Nichiren is teaching us that the body, which is composed of the five universal elements and the environment the five universal elements are essentially the same. For example, the…

To chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is to praise ourself and to respect another, gratitude and purification, and to realize Truth through word. I believe that you have more or less understood why we chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo through these three interpretations. However, honestly speaking, why we chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo cannot be understood by an intellectual understanding. Nevertheless, the Myoho of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is, as the characters indicate, the wondrous teaching (Dharma). It teaches us that the wondrous teaching cannot be understood by thinking with the human brain. To truly understand Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, there is no other way than to practice it. It…