"When we scrutinize the sutras and treatises with care, we find that there is a teaching about a precept known as following the customs of the region that corresponds to this. The meaning of this precept is that, so long as no seriously offensive act is involved, then even if one were to depart to some slight degree from the teachings of Buddhism, it would be better to avoid going against the manners and customs of the country."
Many who practice Buddhism lose a sense of themselves in the practice. For decades I watched both the SGI, Nichiren Shoshu and now Nichiren Shu members lose their sense of self by practicing a Buddhism that is so immersed in Asian Culture that they forget who they are. We Black Buddhist should never become marginal.
Also in the Gosho : The Recitation of the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span” Chapters Nichiren Shonin writes about the Buddhist Concept Zuriho Bini.
The Greatest sin that I have witnessed in Buddhism in my over 44 years of Buddhist Association has been observing African Americans to allow themselves to become marginalized in their Buddhism faith. Dr. Martin Luther King and others fought for equality. Where are the African Americans scholars? Where are the bold and powerful Buddhist who engage in policy and Buddhist scholarship? Imagine Joy is a young colleged educated African American woman she like other young Black women cannot find their place in Buddhism. In all of America and all of the world there is not one "African or African American Buddhist Sangha." We the Proud Black Buddhist World Association is America's and the World's 1st Black Sangha.
Being Black and the Buddhist Concept of Zuriho Bini
The Gosho Gift of Rice reads:the sixth volume of the
Lotus Sutra
that reads, “No worldly affairs of life or work are ever contrary to the true reality." Buddhism is no more than our everyday lives and reality. Our Buddhist faith shoud express it selves in our lives. In short Buddhism should express itself in our history and culture.
