How Nichiren Shonin stop the racist Japanese and Whites Nichiren writes in Gosho” Banishment from Sado “Nichiren is the son of a chandala family who lived near the sea in Tojo in Awa Province, In the Gosho “Letter from Sado Nichiren Shonin writes: How much more true this is of Nichiren, who in this life was born poor and lowly to a chandala family.” No matter how some racist Japanese put it Nichiren Shonin identified with the Black people of India who were Chandala who were not allowed to even hear Sanskrit let alone speak it.

We know based on scientific evidence that the word Mandala is not a Sanskrit word. Let us now give you the meaning of the word “Mandala.” In the SGI dictionary they write: Mandala; An object of devotion on which Buddhas and bodhisattvas are depicted or on which a doctrine is expressed. Many Buddhist schools regard a mandala specific to their respective schools as the embodiment of enlightenment or truth. It was rendered in Chinese as “perfectly endowed” or “cluster of blessings.” When this word was translated into Chinese, had not yet been invented.

Please understand that before Sanskrit was invented the Buddhist teachings were translated from Indian Prakrit to Chinese. How could Nichiren Shonin call the world Mandala a "Sanskrit Word" when it was not a Sanskrit word? The Lotus Sutra was first translated from Prakrit not Sanskrit by Kumarajiva. The SGI dictionary makes it clear that the world "Mandala" was rendered into "Chinese" as "Perfectly endowed" or "Cluster of blessings." The SGI dictionary says nothing about Sanskrit. Sanskrit came hundreds of years later.


Our lecture today is called "The Mandala of the Lotus Sutra."  We at the Proud Black Buddhist World Association are members of the "Rainbow Tribe." Members of the "Rainbow Tribe" use the Mandala of the "Rainbow Tribe.

We who are "Proud Black Buddhist" are introducing Buddhism to the Black Community. What is new and can be misunderstood in the African/American community is the concept of a Mandala. We are introducing the concept of a "Religious Tool." When you attempt to reach your "Ultimate Spiritual Reality" while you may not know the name of the reality you may just use the word "GOD." We in Buddhism take the word "God"a bit deeper and use the Buddhist term Dharma. Dharma is the Buddha's eightfold path.

Let us bring a Nichiren Buddhist definition to explain how god is inside of you. In the Gosho or writings of Nichiren Shonin called "The True Aspect of the Gohonzon" it reads: "Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. The body is the palace of the ninth consciousness, the unchanging reality that reigns over all of life's functions. "

 
Let me bring Buddhism to a level that you especially in the Black community can understand it is only a matter of culture and not race. Nichiren writes that "The body is the palace of the Ninth Consciousness." Imagine going in the hood and Preaching to some Black folk that the body is the palace of the 9th Consciousness. I am not making a joke but I heard Asian Priest say ; " The Body is the Palace of the 9th Consciousness."  Now let me break this down to you in "Black Dialect" or in "Black Rhythm."

Let us bring a Nichiren Buddhist definition to explain how god is inside of you. In the Gosho or writings of Nichiren Shonin called “The True Aspect of the Gohonzon” it reads: “Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. The body is the palace of the ninth consciousness, the unchanging reality that reigns over all of life’s functions. “

Let me bring Buddhism to a level that you especially in the Black community can understand it is only a matter of culture and not race. Nichiren writes that “The body is the palace of the Ninth Consciousness.” Imagine going in the hood and Preaching to some Black folk that the body is the palace of the 9th Consciousness. I am not making a joke but I heard Asian Priest say ; “ The Body is the Palace of the 9th Consciousness. Now let me break this down to you in “Black Dialect’ or in “Black Rhythm

Touch, Taste, Sight, Hearing, Smell or your five senses come into your Conscious mind, is the 6th level, the Sub Conscious level is the 7th state. Now the 8th level is called our Karma storage. This is culturally difficult for most people to understand. It is the Lotus Sutra that teaches that we live in 3000 worlds in a momentary state of existence. Understanding 3000 Worlds or life conditions is very difficult even for me who is a Buddhist let alone someone who is just learning Buddhism. What makes it difficult is because the 3000 worlds deal with dimensions.

Time is a dimension and space is a dimension. Our average brain capacity is not equipped for most of us to deal or understand Time and space dimension. The Lotus Sutra teaches us that we live in 3000 worlds in a momentary state of existence. This means that the Past, Present & future exists in a single moment of existence. Scientist and brilliant people can understand the dimension of the past present and future.

Now we come to the 9th realm where Nichiren writes: “The body is the palace of the ninth consciousness.” We in our language do not have a word that explains the 9th Consciousness. For the sake of this lecture we can call this state “The God Realm.” To be more scientific we in Buddhism call this realm “Myoho” or “Mystic or unexplainable.”

Now let us move to our “Smartphone's” our “Smartphone are smarter than we are in that the phones does many functions better than us. You can loose directions or trying to find someplace and use GPS and the Smartphone will take you not only where you need to go the Smartphone will tell you how long it will take you to get there.

You can function without a Smartphone, however we humans advance and we use tools to help us function better in life. Shakyamuni preached his highest teachings in a sutra called the “Lotus Sutra.” The Lotus Sutra is very difficult to understand. Nichiren Shonin who was born this month of February (Black History month) February 16, 1222 designed, created or rather put into effect “The Mandala of the Lotus Sutra.”

Please understand that I as a Black man bring to you “The Mandala of the Lotus Sutra.” Let me explain something we are the “Proud Black Buddhist World Association we bring a dynamic to Buddhism that no other Buddhist sect can bring. It was James Brown the 1st person to bring “Funk” or Soul.” People say that Buddhism has nothing to do with color but that is not true every ethnic group bring their own “cultural expression.” There is Nichiren Shu, Nichiren Shoshu and SGI Buddhist. We are Nichiren “Soul Shu” and with our Buddhist faith we bring our unique “Cultural Expression.”