Spirituality is the foundation and center of my life. It is air, water and food to me. I am a Buddhist and the particular Buddhism I practice, Nichiren Buddhism, we chant a phrase called Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which helps us bring out what we call our Buddhahood, which is a life state characterized by wisdom, courage, compassion and life force. Chanting enables me to face my challenges head-on no matter what challenge I am going through, and I honestly love it because I love the sound of chanting. I participate in activities at my local Buddhist center every week and find so much joy in doing these activities. When I was in college I joined an interfaith council group and really loved engaging in dialogues about religion and spirituality with people, and when I was in college I loved going to the chapel because it was such a spiritual place. As I’ve reflected on my own spirituality I have seen spirituality in so many aspects of my life. When I was in college we had an evening service called Vespers, and individuals would read passages from The Bible and we would play music for the audience. Every time I heard the chorus sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Stille Nacht” I got goosebumps and always had tears in my eyes. I really loved playing in the orchestra during Vespers, and growing up and playing in orchestras we always played at churches (the churches had great acoustics).
There have definitely been times where I didn’t respect other people’s views on religion and even tried to argue with them, but I think reflecting on my own religious faith made me think about what kind of dialogue I wanted to conduct with people: a dialogue where we find common ground or a debate where I constantly shut down the other person’s beliefs just because they don’t align perfectly with mine? Going through this process of inner transformation, or human revolution, enabled me to deepen respect and find more common ground with others. One of my music instructors invited me to a service at their church because they were playing there, and had I still held onto my arrogance I would not have been able to enjoy a beautiful church service and be in the calm and stillness of that cathedral, listening to beautiful trio music that my instructor and other musicians were playing. I think reading the writings of my mentor, Daisaku Ikeda, helped me to approach interfaith dialogue with more respect. I’ve also had some pretty good discussions with one of my friends, who is Jewish, about Judaism and Buddhism and we ended up talking about the perspectives of life and death in these religions. It was a really meaningful conversation. As I’ve had these dialogues with others, I’ve thought about the deeper purpose of religion and spirituality and I’ve come to understand that religion and spirituality help us give meaning to life and help us navigate those tough issues, namely the issue of life and death. I have learned that no matter what religion or belief system we practice, we will all deal with grief and death at some point. I really started to delve deeper into my Buddhist practice around the COVID-19 pandemic because I was going through a serious crush on someone, dealing with loneliness, depression and anxiety, and other issues. The real issue that was causing me a lot of despair though was grief. So many people lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic in such a short time and I was asking myself: Why are so many people dying? Why did this happen? I started deepening my understanding of the Buddhist view of life and death around 2021 when I was facing this anxiety around my own mortality. I wondered if I was ever going to live a happy life, and frankly I was so miserable that I didn’t feel like a happy life even existed. But studying Daisaku Ikeda’s writings about life and death as well as The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (a collection of letters written by a reformer named Nichiren to his followers) I gradually started to gain a deeper appreciation for my life. I think practicing religion in a community is helpful because when I am sad, I can always count on my fellow SGI Buddhist community members to encourage me to not give up, and by taking on leadership roles in the organization I have grown so much from encouraging other people. I also have continued to share about my Buddhist practice with people when I go to the store or to get a coffee. Even if the person may or may not be interested, sharing about chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo brings me joy. It’s not always easy to share about my Buddhist practice but I always break through something deep in my life when I do.
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