A note on Nichiren Buddhism

I read the following piece on a description for a youtube video. it changed my whole perspective on the practice of Nichiren Buddhism.

“Years ago I was lead to believe that to practise Nichiren’s Buddhism correctly, one had to attend meetings and belong to an organisation. Nowadays I’ve come to understand that anyone, regardless of whether they become a ‘member’ of a group or not, can benefit from their own personal practice. The reason for this is that the Law Itself represents the identity of what some now refer to as the ‘unified field of all consciousnesses’. In other words, it’s the essence behind all existence and non-existence, the ultimate creative force behind planets, stars, nebulae, people, animals, trees, fish, birds and all phenomena, manifest or latent. All matter and intelligence is simply waves or ripples manifesting to and from this core source. Consciousness (enlightenment) is itself the true creator of everything that is, ever was and ever will be, right down to the minutest particles of dust, each being an individual ripple or wave. The big difference between chanting ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ and most conventional prayers is that instead of depending on a middle man to connect us to our state of enlightenment, we’re able to do it ourselves by tapping directly into it by way of self-produced sound vibration. On the subject of ‘what or who is God?’, when we compare the concept of ‘God’, as a separate entity that is forever watching down on us, to Nichiren’s teachings, the true omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of what most people call ‘God’ is our enlightenment, which exists nowhere else but within us. When the disciples asked Jesus where the Kingdom of God is, didn’t he tell them that it was within them? Some say that ‘God’ is an entity that can never be seen. I think that the vast amount of information that is constantly being conveyed via electromagnetic waves gives us proof of how an invisible state of what many call ‘God’ could actually exist. It’s widely known that certain data being relayed by way of electromagnetic waves has the potential to help bring about extraordinary and powerful effects, including instant global awareness of something or mass emotional reaction. As well as many other things, it’s also common knowledge that these waves can be used to detonate a bomb or to even enable NASA to control the movements of a robot as far away as the Moon or Mars. However, none of this is possible without a receiver to decode the information that is being transmitted. Without the receiver, the information would remain impotent. In a similar way, it’s very important for us to have our receiver switched on, so that we can activate a clear and precise understanding of our life, all other life and who we and all else that exists truly is. Chanting ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ helps us to achieve this, because it allows us to reach into the core of our enlightenment and switch it on. That’s because, as I mentioned before, the sound vibration of ‘myoho-renge-kyo’ represents the combination of the three major laws that underlie all existence. ‘Myoho’ represents the Law of latency and manifestation (Nature), and consists of two alternating states. One state of ‘myo’ is where everything in life that’s not obvious to us exists. This includes our stored memories when we’re not thinking about them, our hidden potential and inner emotions whenever they’re not being expressed, our desires, our fears, our wisdom, happiness, karma, and more importantly, our enlightenment. The other state, ‘ho’, is where everything in Life exists whenever it becomes obvious to us, such as when a thought pops up from our memory, whenever we experience or express our emotions, or whenever a good or bad effect comes forth from our karma. When anything becomes apparent, it simply means that it has come out of the state of ‘myo’ (dormancy/latency) and into a state of ‘ho’ (manifestation). It’s the difference between consciousness and unconsciousness, being awake or asleep, or knowing and not knowing something. The second law, ‘renge’, governs and controls the functions of ‘myoho’ — ‘ren’ meaning cause and ‘ge’ meaning effect. These two laws, ‘myoho’ and ‘renge’, work together simultaneously and underlie all spiritual and physical existence. The final and third part of the tri-combination, ‘kyo’, is what allows the law ‘myoho’ to integrate with the law ‘renge’. It’s the great, invisible thread of energy that fuses and connects together all Life and matter, as well as the past, present and future. It is often termed the Universal Law of Communication. Perhaps it could even be compared to the ‘string theory’ that some scientists now suspect exists. Just as our body cells, thoughts, feelings and all else are constantly fluctuating within us, everything in the world around us and beyond is also in a constant state of flux, in accordance with these three laws. In fact, more things are going back and forth between the two states of ‘myo’ and ‘ho’ in a single moment than it would ever be possible for us to calculate or describe. And it doesn’t matter how big, small, important or trivial anything may appear to be, everything that’s ever existed in the past, exists now, or will exist in the future, exists only because of the workings of ‘myoho-renge-kyo’. These three laws are also the basis of the four fundamental forces and if they didn’t function, neither we nor anything else could go on existing. Simply put, all forms of existence, including the seasons, day and night, birth, death and so on, are moving forward in an ongoing flow of continuation, rhythmically reverting back and forth between the two states of ‘myo’ and ‘ho’ in accordance with ‘renge’ and by way of ‘kyo’. Even stars are dying and being reborn again in accordance with the workings of ‘myoho-renge-kyo’. ‘Nam’ is like a password or key; it allows us to reach deep within our life and fuse with or become one with ‘myoho-renge-kyo’. On a more personal basis, nothing ever happens by chance or coincidence, it’s the causes that we’ve made in our past, or are presently making, that determine how these laws function uniquely in each of our lives from moment to moment, as well as our environment. By facing east, in harmony with the direction that the Earth turns and rhythmically chanting ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ repeatedly for a minimum of ten minutes daily, any of us can gain actual proof of its effects in our life. By building up a force from within, it allows us to pierce through even the thickest layers of our karma and reach directly into the ultimate wisdom of our and all other life. Unlike the fantasy of a magic wand to make our problems vanish, chanting ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ awakens our innate wisdom and brings to the surface our hidden potential, a much clearer realisation and understanding of our good and bad karma, and positive ways that we can both cope with and change our negative circumstances into positive ones. It also allows us to see and understand things outside of ourselves more clearly and, by way of the electromagnetic forces of which we are all a part, helps us to connect with, or draw towards us, any external circumstances or help that we need. Proof of this effect soon becomes obvious to anyone who chants ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ on a regular basis. Of course, the more sincerely we chant, the more powerful and faster its effect will be.