Don’t know exactly what prompted this extravagance but I decided to attend three Nichiren Shu services today.

I got up at 6am to do my own personal service so that I would have time to join Rev. Ryusho Jeffus’ Myoshoji service at 7 am. And I was immediately happy I did so because today was the Jukai, Taking of Vows, for two long-time members of Ryusho’s virtual sangha, Davie Byden-Oaks, from London, and Neal Oldham, from North Carolina.


Joining Ryusho in Syracuse, NY, were Myoshoji regulars from Portugal, Czech Republic, France, England and the United States.

Following that I had time for a quick nap before joining Rev. Shoda Kanai of the Las Vegas Kannon Temple for a Shodaigyo service at 10:30am.

This was my first time visiting Las Vegas. I tried to join last week, but I had difficulty getting the password for the Zoom session right. This time everything went as expected and I enjoyed the change of pace with the Shodaigyo service.

The day’s final service was at 12:30pm with the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Rev. Ryuei McCormick and Shami Mark Herrick held the annual Nichiren Shu Founding Day Ceremony, marking the date on April 28, 1253, when Nichiren, from atop Mount Kiyosumi, greeted the rising sun with 10 Daimoku.

As with all services involving Ryuei, guests from as far away as Georgia and Oregon were treated to an excellent discussion of the Vimalakirti Sutra, a part of his ongoing Buddhist Study Program lectures.