Sometime ago a brother asked me to write a lecture on the Black Presence in Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism or rather his question was; did Nichiren Daishonin ever write about racism? I personally defer such questions to the Nichiren Shoshu Priests. I think that if was an SGI member who asked me that question. To that SGI member why don’t you have the courage to ask your master Daisaku Ikeda to answer such a question? If you cannot get an answer for Ikeda then ask your senior leader. To my Afro-Centric brothers and sisters there is a lot of Black history in Japan but don’t expect the Nichiren Shoshu Priests or Japanese leaders to answers such a question.

Little by little step-by-step we will expose the African Presence and influence in Japan. I am sure that for Black people learning such things make Buddhism even more exciting and interesting. Please understand that many Japanese people will be really pissed off at the thought of you telling them about some relationship to Black people. I do not have to tell you how some White people will take the matter; many White people will really be pissed off. Please understand that White Historians and Japanese Historians wrote Black people out of history and when you try to put Black people back in history they will call you a racist.

The Daishonin writes, "only Buddhas know the true entity of all phenomena". If we look at the conditions of Black people worldwide we should understand that Black people act the way they act because of their thinking. What did the Daishonin say about this? In the Gosho "On attaining Buddhahood" reads "if the minds of living beings are impure, their land is also impure". The Daishonin also writes in the Gosho "To have a profound knowledge of this world is itself Buddhism".
 
Let me shut up and get to my lecture. For those of you who have the “Major Writings” volume I please turn to page 37 on the Gosho “Letter From Sado and read the first paragraph and skip to the first line that reads “Nichiren, who in this life was born poor and lowly to a Chandala family”. Please skip down to the footnote #14 that reads Chandala (Chandala): The lowest caste, lower than the caste system, in India, comprised of those whose profession required them to kill living creatures. The Daishonin was born to a family of fisherman.

If you as Nichiren  Buddhist read the explanation of a Chandala you will just run right past the word Chandala and never give it a second thought. If you ask most Nichiren Shoshu Priests they will tell you very little about a Chandala. On the other hand if you ask a brother who is into his African history he will give you a whole dissertation on the word Chandala. I challenge you to ask your Priest about the word Chandala.  The Japanese Priest are not going to give you the "Real Deal."

The Daishonin writes "Nichiren, who in this life was born poor and lowly to a Chandala family". The Daishonin did not say I was born lowly to a fisherman family, the Daishonin said that I was born lowly to a Chandala family. In Japan during the time of Nichiren Daishonin Japan did not have the "Worst in-humanity to man" system of a Chandala. The Chandala story is histories worst existence and cruel treatment of one human of another human in mankind's history.

What really piss me off more than anything is that when we as Black people talk about these issues others make us themselves victims and try to make us feel guilty by calling us racist by our bringing the subject up. This is my case and point a few days ago a Nichiren Shoshu Priest had the nerve to tell me that our website is racist became we bring color or race up.

For every Priest, Japanese, White man and Black man Nichiren Daishonin brought race up in the Gosho! Whoaaa!!! I know that you are shouting and saying that Nichiren Daishonin never brought up race. To a Japanese man this may be true, to a White man this may be true, and however to a Black man who understands his Black history Nichiren Daishonin brought up race in the Gosho . Just like the preacher say "hold me back, I am getting hot".