Today, while there were no services at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, I was able to attend the monthly purification service held by Rev. Shoda Kanai from the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada.

Yes, attending a service in person is better, but I’m truly grateful that I live in a time when we can use technology to transport ourselves to distant places. (And someday that won’t just be a Zoom session but real physical transport.)

This value was underscored by Rev. Kanai’s bestowal of Mandela Gohonzons to three people as part of the service. One person was able to attend the service and take jukai vows to join Nichiren Shu and two others took those vows online and will receive their eye-opened Gohonzons in the mail.