Sunday was something of an East meets West day of practice. I began the day with a 10:30am online kito blessing service from the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada, with Rev. Shoda Kanai demonstrating the mystical powers of a priest who has completed two 100-day Aragyo ascetic practice training. I followed that at 3pm with a two-hour lecture and Q&A session that sought to reach westerners whose scientific view of daily reality has stunted their ability to imagine something more.

The lecture was sponsored by Rissho Kosei-kai International of North America and featured Dr. Dominick Scarangello. The title of the lecture was “Actualize Your Inner Potential By Modeling the Lotus Sutra’s Bodhisattvas,” but the main emphasis was to encourage westerners to use their imagination.

In the concluding slide of Dr. Scarangello’s presentation, he said:

What I’ve been trying to do so far is to draw upon modern scholars and philosophers to make the case for the value of interacting with the Lotus Sutra’s symbolic personifications of the teaching and engaging the sutra’s mythological stories in the sphere of the imaginal.

And I think if we can be open to this practice, more of the teachings of Founder Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai will make sense to people in contemporary western cultures.

Founder Niwano was convinced that Buddhism is rational and compatible with modernity, but there is very much of the imaginal in his approach to practice, and I think it’s those aspects of his teachings and guidance the prove difficult for people in other cultures today.

The contrast between the Kaji Kito blessing and the academic discussion of contemporary western cultures couldn’t have been more stark. I found it fascinating.