When I lead Daimoku chanting at my temple I always tell people as we begin to “chant with great joy and confidence.” I do this because I’ve experienced the difference. I can feel the difference from chanting with joy and confidence deep down in my life. Even if my voice is weak, as it sometimes is now as I age, in my mind, in my heart, I hold the thought of strength, confidence, and joy.

When we can approach our practice with the thought that what we are doing is huge, it is phenomenal, it is significant, it is powerful, and we are doing this thing and we are a part of it and we are making it happen in our lives, that is when we can begin to approach the tremendous joy that the Lotus Sutra holds for us. The Lotus Sutra is there waiting for us to enter and enter in a big way.