At 8:27 am on Aug. 11, 2020, I received word that Ryusho Jeffus Shonin had died at the Syracuse, New York, VA Medical Center. It has now been 500 days since.

In Ryusho’s book, The Parable of the Magic City, he explains that a yojana is both a measure of distance – the distance an oxcart can travel in a day – and a measure of time – one day for each yojana. And as used here, it is a measure of endurance.

As Ryusho put it in his book, “I wonder what you could accomplish in your life if you made a commitment from today for 500 days to practice on a regular consistent basis towards the achievement of some change in your life? Would you be able to travel the entire 500 days without giving up or abandoning or forgetting your goal and effort?”

Currently I am working on what I call my 800 Years of Faith project. I am marking the 800th anniversary of the birth of Nichiren in 1222 with a yearlong discussion of the topic of faith. On weekdays I will re-publish quotes from Nichiren and other writers that I have gathered here from books I’ve read. On the weekends I will publish 500-word essays on the topic.

As of today I have drafted 77 of these essays. Most of these are products of my 32 Days of Lotus Sutra practice. Using the background and commentary I’ve gathered here, I’ve worked my way through the entire Threefold Lotus Sutra to craft essays on faith related to each chapter.

There are 106 weekend days in 2022 and so I have invited a number of Nichiren priests, shami and others to contribute. I’ve had some interest expressed but haven’t received any essays.

The goal is to fill all 106 weekend days. Ryusho would appreciate this project.