Category Archives: Blog

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Family Memorial

This April is the first anniversary of Mary’s father’s death and the third anniversary of her mother’s death. Today, following the annual celebration of the Buddha’s birth at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, Rev. Igarashi said memorial prayers for Richard and Mary Buchin.

In the photo Mary holds the memorial tablet for her parents that normally resides on our family altar. The tablet was placed on the church altar during the memorial service.

The memorial service normally includes recitation in Japanese of the Yokuryoshu, which includes selections from Chapter 2, Expedients; Chapter 3, A Parable; Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma; and Chapter 11, Beholding the Stupa of Treasures. For this service, I requested that we chant the portion of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata, normally chanted during the traditional Sunday service.

I requested the change for several reasons. First, I don’t know the Japanese verses or even the English translation of them. More important, both Mary and my son, Richard, know the Jiga-ge. Finally, on the family altar I have a copy of a quote from Nichiren’s Letter to Hōren that reads:

“As you read and recite the ‘jiga-ge’ verse, you produce 510 golden characters. Each of these characters transforms itself to be the sun, which in turn changes to Śākyamuni Buddha, who emits the rays of bright light shining through the earth, the three evil realms (hell, realm of hungry spirits and that of beasts), the Hell of Incessant Suffering, and to all the directions in the north, south, east, and west. They shine upward to the ‘Heaven of neither Thought nor Non-Thought’ at the top of the realm of non-form looking everywhere for the souls of the departed.”

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 56-57

Rev. Igarashi “decorated” the quote for our altar.

Blog, History of Japanese Religion

Personal Faith or Just Heritage and Formal Observance

Flower offering
A member of the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church congregation cut these Bird of Paradise and Chrysanthemums flowers from her garden and created this offering for the Nov. 8, 2015, service.

This blog post was originally published Nov. 8, 2015, and is reprinted here as the last quote from the History of Japanese Region book.

For the past several weeks I’ve been publishing quotes from History of Japanese Religion. Today’s quote from the book concerned a battle fought in Miyako in 1536 between followers of Nichiren and soldier-monks of Hiei in alliance with Ikkō fanatics. The Nichiren followers were driven out of town after 21 of their great temples were burnt down.

Shouts of “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,” the slogan of the Nichirenites, vied with “Namu Amida Butsu,” the prayer of the Ikkō men; many died on either side, each believing that the fight was fought for the glory of Buddha and that death secured his birth in paradise.

This history of Japanese Buddhism written in 1918 stretches from the passion of warring monks to the then modern view:

For the people at large religion was rather a matter of family heritage and formal observance than a question of personal faith.

Today, I attended the Komatsubara Persecution service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, surrounded by people who have been followers of Nichiren and members of Nichiren Shu for generations. The church in Sacramento was founded in the early 1930s, and many members can tell you the various addresses in downtown Sacramento where the church was located before the current church was built in 1970 in south Sacramento.

During the Dharma talk at the end of the service, Ven. Kenjo Igarashi explained that it is important to remember and celebrate the various trials and tribulations suffered by Nichiren because it was these trials suffered while propagating the Lotus Sutra during the Latter Day of the Law that prove the sutra’s predictions. And they also illustrate Nichiren’s need, and by example our own, to expiate bad karma.

In the late 19th and early 20th Century, there was a revival of Nichiren Buddhism. As History of Japanese Religion described the time:

On the part of many of its enthusiasts, it amounted to a religion of hero-worship, which remains still a force in the religious life of the Japanese. But many of the followers of Nichiren have narrowed down the horizon of Nichiren’s spiritual vision to the limits of chauvinistic patriotism. Thus, the movement has subsided to a great extent, but it is yet to be seen whether Nichiren’s profoundly religious ardour will inspire coming generations.

Attending Nichiren Buddhist services in Sacramento, California, nearly 100 years later, I’d like to think Nichiren’s “profoundly religious ardour” has indeed inspired many generations. And while for some it may be just formal observance and ritual, it remains vital and alive for many others.

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A Worldwide Saṃgha

Sunday, March 3, 2019, online service with Rev. Ryusho Jeffus

Enjoyed attending the online Myoshoji service this morning. With services at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church and the meetings of the Oakland Nichiren Shu Saṃgha, I don’t have as many opportunities to attend these online sessions.

Today we had two couples in France, a young man in England as well as attendees in North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa and Ohio. It was one of the best-attended services I’ve participated in.

In an effort to help out those in France, Rev. Ryusho Jeffus tried out typing his Dharma talk live and having Google Translate display it in French. The French participants said it helped.

Using Google Translate to help attendees in France follow the Dharma talk.

These services are an excellent opportunity to learn about Nichiren Shu and participate in a gathering of like-minded people. The schedule for services are available on the Myoshoji Calendar.

d3b, d4b, Blog, LS Biography

Odds and Ends from The Lotus Sutra: A Biography

This is a followup to yesterday’s post about The Lotus Sutra: A Biography with a few additional ideas I want to save for later retrieval.

On the fate of the 5,000 arrogant monks who walked out in Chapter 2, Expedients, of the Lotus Sūtra:

For Zhiyi, and for many readers over the centuries, the Lotus Sūtra has two major messages. The first, found in the first half of the sūtra, is that there are not three vehicles; there is one vehicle, which will eventually transport all sentient beings to buddhahood. The second, found in the second half of the sūtra, is that the lifespan of the Buddha is immeasurable. These two doctrines are generally compatible with the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, allowing Zhiyi to continue to uphold the supremacy of the Lotus. But if everything is said in the Lotus, what is the purpose of the Nirvāṇa? Here, those five thousand haughty monks and nuns who walked out in the second chapter of the Lotus Sūtra come to the rescue. The sūtra does not explain what became of them, but Zhiyi explains that they returned to the assembly that surrounded the Buddha’s deathbed. The Buddha thus compassionately reiterated the central message of the Lotus Sūtra to those who had missed it the first time. It was also important, at the moment of his apparent passage into Nirvāṇa, for the Buddha to reiterate what he had declared in the Lotus: that like the wise physician, the Buddha only pretends to die; in fact his lifespan is immeasurable. (Page 56-57)

On the great merit earned by the grasshopper.

Discussing Great Japanese Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sūtra (Dainihonkoku hokekyōkenki), completed in 1044 by the monk Chingen:

Grasshopper on a lotusOne of several anthologies of miracle tales about the Lotus, this collection includes rather standard Buddhist stories of miracle cures (a blind woman regains her sight by reciting the Lotus), divine retribution (a man who ridicules a reciter of the Lotus loses his voice), and deaths attended by heavenly fragrances, beautiful music, and auspicious dreams. In one story, a monk memorizes the first twenty-five chapters of the Lotus but, despite repeated efforts, is unable to memorize the final three. He eventually learns in a dream that in a previous life he had been a grasshopper who perched in a temple room where a monk was reciting the sūtra. After reciting the first seven scrolls of the sūtra (which contain the first twenty-five chapters), the monk rested before beginning the final roll. He leaned against the wall and inadvertently killed the grasshopper. The grasshopper was reborn as a human as a result of the merit he received from hearing the first twenty-five chapters of the Lotus. When he became a monk, however, he was unable to memorize the final three chapters because he, as the grasshopper, had died before he heard them. (Page 79-80)

On how Nichiren judged the six Buddhist schools of Nara.

He seems to have arrived at this conviction [of the supremacy of the Lotus Sūtra] through something of a process of elimination, but only after a serious survey of the Japanese sects of the day. He began with the belief that the word of the Buddha was superior to that of the various Indian Buddhist masters, such that one’s allegiance should be to a sūtra rather than to a treatise (śāstra). This immediately eliminated five of the six “Nara schools” of Buddhism, which were based on various Madhyamaka (Sanron), Yogācāra (Hossō), and Abhidharma treatises (Kusha and Jōjitsu), as well as on (in the case of Ritsu) the monastic code (vinaya). Among the Nara schools, that left only Kegon, based on the Flower Garland Sūtra, which Nichiren rejected. He already had an antipathy for Pure Land, but he was attracted to Shingon, famous for its doctrine that it is possible to “achieve buddhahood in this very body” (sokushin jōbutsu), that is, during the present lifetime. He found what would prove to be for him a more compelling doctrine in the Tendai sect, which, based in part on Zhiyi’s famous doctrine of “the three thousand realms in a single thought,” proclaimed that all beings are endowed with original enlightenment (hongaku). Nichiren eventually decided that the Tendai sect, with its conviction that the Lotus Sūtra was the Buddha’s highest teaching, was the superior form of Buddhism, although he felt that in the centuries since its founding, its purity had been diluted by the admixture of other practices, especially devotion to Amitābha. (Page 82-83)

On the topic of Nichiren Shoshu.

“We recall that in Nichiren Shōshū, the dharma in the three jewels is not the Lotus Sūtra; it is the three great secret doctrines: the honzon, the daimoku, and the kaidan.” (Page 221)

On SGI as a separate Buddhist organization

We find in the charter no mention of slandering the dharma (or the consequences of doing so), no mention of shakubuku, and no mention of the Lotus Sūtra. (Page 211)

Blog, Books, LS Biography

The Lotus Sutra: A Biography

I was introduced to Donald S. Lopez Jr.’s book, The Lotus Sutra: A Biography, through a review published in the Summer 2017 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly that I found on LionsRoar.com.

Paul L. Swanson’s review concludes: “In short, this book is a biography of a book, one that admits in its final pages that one cannot ultimately answer the question of what that book really is. It is a challenge that Lopez leaves with the reader.”

That was enough to prompt me to purchase the University of Michigan professor’s contribution to Princeton University Press’ Lives of Great Religious Books, “a series of short volumes that recount the complex and fascinating histories of important religious texts from around the world.”

And, having read Lopez’s book, I think Swanson missed the point Lopez makes at the conclusion. Here’s what he says:

But where, in the end, is the Lotus Sūtra? It is a text marked with fissures and cracks, like the earth split by a rising stūpa, like the earth rent by bodhisattvas emerging from beneath the soil. Is it a fractured whole, or is it assembled fragments? Perhaps it is a puzzle that can never be put back together, leaving just its name. Nichiren wrote, “Now in the Final Dharma age, neither the Lotus Sūtra nor the other sūtras are of use. Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō alone is valid.” We recall that in Nichiren Shōshū, the dharma in the three jewels is not the Lotus Sūtra; it is the three great secret doctrines: the honzon, the daimoku, and the kaidan.

And so the Lotus Sūtra that we have been seeking seems to have disappeared. Perhaps it was never there. This text that seemed to lack any particular doctrine, this text that never seemed to begin, has become a source of short phrases (such as kōsen rufu, “wide propagation”) invested with meanings that would have been incomprehensible to its authors, as is so often the case with sacred texts. Among some of its modern adherents, we are left with something as vague (though laudable) as world peace.

Perhaps we have become those strange beings mentioned in Chapter Seven, called lokāntarika, “those between the worlds.” Perhaps it is time to return to the text, to live in the darkness of the fissures that seem to scar it. By returning to the text, by reading the Lotus Sūtra (as the sūtra itself exhorts us to do), by exploring its cracks and fissures, those of us who, in the words of the sūtra, have been living in “the dark places between the worlds, where the rays of the sun and the moon have been unable to penetrate”, may recognize each other as the many different readers of the many different readings of the Lotus Sūtra and say to each other, “How is it possible that sentient beings have suddenly appeared here?”

“By returning to the text, by reading the Lotus Sūtra…” That’s the only message worthy of concluding a “biography” of the Lotus Sūtra.

As a postscript I want to delve into Lopez’s quote from Chapter 7: The Parable of the Magic City. I did not recognize it at first since in Senchu Murano’s English translation of the Lotus Sūtra it looks like this:

The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:

“When Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, five hundred billion Buddha-worlds in each of the ten quarters quaked in the six ways, and all those worlds, including those intercepted from the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds, were illumined [by great rays of light], and the living beings of those worlds were able to see each other for the first time. They said to each other, ‘How did you appear so suddenly?’

Lopez’s quote comes from Leon Hurvitz’s “Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma,” which is an English translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese with additional material taken directly from Sanskrit. This is the same portion of Chapter 7:

The Buddha declared to the bhiksus: “When the buddha Victorious Through Great Penetrating Knowledge attained anuttasamyaksambodhi, in each of the ten directions five hundred myriads of millions of buddha worlds trembled in six different ways, and in the intervals between those lands, dark and obscure places that the glorious light of the sun and moon could not illuminate were all very bright. The living beings within them were all enabled to see one another, and all said: ‘Why has this place suddenly produced living beings?’

Making explicit that the universe without a Buddha is “dark and obscure” – the intervals between Buddha worlds – helps reveal what enlightenment means for the universe.

I am currently on my 39th trip through Senchu Murano’s English translation. I’m looking forward to taking up Hurvitz’s “Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma” for a cycle or two and gaining further insight “by returning to the text, by reading the Lotus Sūtra.”

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Tsuito-e and New Year Party

Richard, Alexis and Mary enjoying their luncheon bento boxes.

Turned this year’s Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church’s Tsuito-e service and New Year Party into a family affair. The Tsuito-e service is a memorial service for deceased members marking an everlasting membership in a community of believers. This is followed with the New Year Party put on by the Fujinkai (women’s group). The luncheon acts as a Fujinkai fund-raiser and as an opportunity to thank those who helped out in the various church activities during the previous year.

This was apparently the first time my wife attended the luncheon and certainly the first time my son and his girlfriend attended. Perhaps we can make this into a family tradition.

Ven. Kenjo Igarashi accompanied his sermon with a chart illustrating the 10 worlds possessing the 10 worlds.

Ven. Kenjo Igarashi used the opportunity of the large crowd at the service to offer a quick overview of Ichinen Sanzen, a shorter version of the lecture he gave last year on The Logic of 3000 Realms.

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Nichiren Buddhist Sangha in Oakland practice/discussion Sunday 13th

Altar in Mark Herrick’s Piedmont home where the Oakland Sangha meets
Heading back to Sacramento, having taken Amtrak to Oakland to attend the “Nichiren Buddhist Sangha in Oakland practice/discussion Sunday 13th.” The traditional Nichiren Shu service and discussion meeting was held in the Piedmont home of Mark Herrick. While not as convenient as last November’s service at the Bay Area Thelemic Temple across from the Lake Merritt BART station, it was no trouble getting a Lyft ride to and from the Oakland Jack London Amtrak station.

I would like to find a way to fit regular trips into my practice since I really appreciate the opportunity to take part in Ryuei McCormick’s discussions on Buddhism.

Amtrak waiting to return to Sacramento
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Daily Gosho

Beginning this morning and continuing for the next four years or so I’ll be publishing a quote each day from the Writings of Nichiren Shōnin. As with this site in general, the purpose here is to provide a place to store things I’ve found useful for later recall.

As I begin I’m reminded of the opening to Śāntideva’s A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening:

2 Nothing new will be said here, nor have I any skill in composition. Therefore I do not imagine that I can benefit others. I have done this to perfume my own mind.

3 While doing this, the surge of my inspiration to cultivate what is skillful increases. Moreover, should another, of the very same humors as me, also look at this, then he too may benefit from it.

The quotes from Nichiren’s writings were gathered during last year’s 100 Days of Study project with intention of eventually publishing them. Some quotes are short but many are substantial.

My goal is to give myself something to ponder each day, something to perfume my own mind.

WONS, Blog

The Need for Study

I recently completed reading Santideva’s The Bodhicaryavatara: A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening. This book was the subject of the Nichiren Shu service and lecture put on my Rev. Ryuei McCormick in Oakland that I attended on Nov. 25. I’ve already used portions from the introduction to help illuminate some of what I’m learning. (See this post.)

I have more than 200 quotes from the Bodhicaryavatara that I consider inspiring and worth taking the time to input into this website so that I can easily access them, perhaps having them randomly appear in order to prompt consideration of these Mahāyāna ideals.

But as I consider this I wonder whether it can be done without distracting from my primary practice of reciting the Lotus Sūtra and chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.

As it happens, I am preparing to start publishing daily quotations from Nichiren’s writings as published by Nichiren Shū. I gathered the quotes during my “100 Days of Study.” In introducing that project I mentioned:

“Over the past few months I’ve been reading books about Bodhisattvas and the Six Perfections from Zen authors, books on the basics of Buddhism and introductions to the Lotus Sutra by authors outside Nichiren Shu. On my to-read pile are books on T’ien-Tai philosophy and the Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School, two volumes of dharma talks by the Most Venerable Nichidatsu Fujii and, for good measure, the Vimalakirti Sutra.

“This is all part of my effort to follow Nichiren’s admonition: “Strive to carry out the two ways of practice and learning. Without practice and learning, Buddhism will cease to exist.” (Shohō Jissō Shō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 4 p.79)”

This blog post was prompted by quotes from two of Nichiren’s letters. These quotes underline my dilemma, illustrating both the need for study and the danger from study.

The Need

The Lotus Sūtra of the fifth period consists of one fascicle of the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning as an introduction, eight fascicles of the Lotus Sūtra, and one fascicle of the Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva as the conclusion, bringing the total number of fascicles to ten.

The reason for my commentaries on the Four Teachings (Tripiṭaka, Common, Distinct, and Perfect) and the Four Periods (Flower Garland, Agama, Expanded, and Wisdom) is to help others learn what the Lotus Sūtra is. For one cannot correctly understand the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra without learning the pre-Lotus Sūtras, although one may study the pre-Lotus Sūtras without learning about other Sūtras.

In support of this, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai stated in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, “When attempting to spread various sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra, the essential part of the teaching will not be lost even if a doctrinal analysis of all the teachings of the Buddha is not rendered. When attempting to spread the Lotus Sūtra, however, the essence of the teaching may be lost if a doctrinal analysis is not made.” It is preached in the Lotus Sūtra (chapter 2, “Expedients”), “Although the Buddhas expound various teachings, it is for the purpose of leading the people into the world of the One Buddha Vehicle.” “Various teachings” here refer to all the pre-Lotus Sūtras. “For the purpose of leading the people into the world of the One Buddha Vehicle” means to expound all the scriptures of Buddhism to reveal the Lotus Sūtra.

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 81

Underscore For one cannot correctly understand the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra without learning the pre-Lotus Sūtras.

The Danger

[A]bsolute subtlety (zetsudaimyō) is a doctrine of revealing the truth (single path to enlightenment) and merging all the provisional teachings for bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddha, and śrāvaka (kaie). Here the pre-Lotus sūtras, which are abandoned as expedient by the doctrine of relative subtlety (sōdaimyō), are all included in the ocean of the Lotus Sūtra. Once entering the ocean of the Lotus Sūtra, the pre-Lotus sūtras will no longer be dismissed as expedient. All the sūtras entering the ocean of the Lotus Sūtra take up the one flavor of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō because of the wonderful merit of the ocean of the Lotus Sūtra. There is no reason why they have to be referred to by other names such as nembutsu, Ritsu, Shingon, or Zen. Consequently, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai said in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, “Just as water becomes salty when it flows into the sea, any wisdom ceases to exist in itself after it is taken in the True Wisdom.” Thus he instructs us that no original names be mentioned. People of the Tendai School generally maintain:

The pre-Lotus sūtras with the first four flavors, which were dismissed in comparing the Lotus Sūtra with other sūtras (relative subtlety), can be kept and any names of Buddhas and bodhisattvas can be recited even after the single path is revealed through the doctrine of absolute subtlety because these sūtras, Buddhas and bodhisattvas are included in the wonderful entity of the Lotus Sūtra. Waters in rivers before entering the sea differ in size, or in cleanliness, but once they flow into the ocean, we can see that it is a serious mistake to distinguish or select water saying that some waters are cleaner than others. Both the dirty water that is undesirable and clean water that is loved stem originally from the same ocean. Therefore, even when we put a special name on some water, water is water wherever it is taken out from, and it is a mistake to think that there is a difference in water. Likewise, it is not a terrible idea to believe in any teaching one likes or comes across.

Thus they accept and believe any teaching which comes to the mind such as the nembutsu and mantras.

When speaking in vague terms, a point of view such as this seems rational, but strictly speaking it is a serious fallacy leading to hell. The reason is that while one person who truly understands the doctrine of kaie may uphold various provisional sūtras or recite any names of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, all other people generally keep or chant them with the usual prejudice without understanding the meaning of kaie. Consequently, such a view can be an evil teaching in which even if a person who understands the doctrine may get enlightened, most people will fall into hell. Any doctrines expounded in the pre-Lotus sūtras and the “ultimate truth” shown in those doctrines are all composed of biased thoughts and convictions. As stated in the second chapter, “Expedients,” of the Lotus Sūtra, “They are astray in the thick forest of wrong views on existence and non-existence.”

Then both those who know the doctrine of kaie and those who do not know it cannot avoid going down to hell if they uphold provisional sūtras and recite the names of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas in them and contemplate the “ultimate truth” of the expedient teachings. Those who are convinced that they know the doctrine of kaie are no less wrong than those who believe that it is possible to put the water of the ocean into a puddle made by a hoof of a cattle. How can they escape from falling into the Three Evil Realms (hell, the realm of hungry souls, and realm of beasts and birds)? What’s worse, those who do not know the doctrine of kaie, basically taking in wrong teachings, are so attached to the wrong views or expedient teachings that they are sure to fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. Even after realizing the doctrine of kaie, they should dismiss such ideas considering them expedient teachings with which enlightenment cannot be achieved. Do not recite or uphold the names and the “ultimate wisdom” of evil doctrines.

Shoshū Mondō-shō, Questions and Answers Regarding Other Schools, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 179-181

This dilemma is especially important here in the United States, where – unlike Japan – there is no foundation of Buddhist understanding. Study is necessary to build that foundation. Or to put it in the context of the Lotus Sūtra, by studying the pre-Lotus sūtras we can correctly understand how these expedient teachings flowed into the ocean of the Lotus Sūtra.

Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō

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Funeral Service

Ven. Kenjo Igarashi

When Rev. Igarashi has a big funeral service he invites me to help. Ten minutes before the start of the service I light the candles on the altar and light the charcoal for the powdered incense offering. Then, two minutes before the scheduled start, I strike the church bell, starting slowly and then progressively faster and then progressively slower until I conclude with two quick strikes.

Today’s service was for Masanao Okamoto, the husband of Fusako. Mr. Okamoto is a former president of the church board. His wife is very active in the church. The two met in the Tule Lake internment camp during World War II and were married in 1947. The couple had been married 71 years when Mr. Okamoto died.

The photo above captures Rev. Igarashi in quiet contemplation prior to the service in a small room adjacent to the altar.

Each time I help out at a funeral, Rev. Igarashi tells me the same thing. He doesn’t like funerals. In the 30 years he has been the chief priest at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church he’s done a lot of funerals. More and more often now the services are for men and women whom he has worked with for many years.