Practitioner’s Episode 11 - Nichiren Shu Episode 2: “The Four Aims (Siddhantas) of Buddhist Practice” with Rev. Ryuei McCormick
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Hosted by filmmaker Yujiro Seki, Carving the Divine TV is a series of Q&A sessions with Buddhist scholars and practitioners. These Q&A sessions explore the basic concepts of Buddhism, the history of Buddhism and of course Buddhist sculptures/sculptors (bustuzo/busshi) so that when viewers finally watch the documentary Carving the Divine - Buddhist sculptors of Japan, they will get the maximum value of the documentary.
I've heard from many of you how much you enjoyed the interview with Nichiren Shu priest Rev. Kanjin Cederman:https://youtu.be/9F5LXLc9nfI. I am grateful that he provided us with a really nice overview of Nichiren Shu in a short period of time. Today, we will delve a little bit deeper into one of the most important practices of Nichiren Shu, Odaimoku. We have invited one of the most important accomplished Nichiren Shu priests, Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick. We are going to talk about The Four Aims (Siddhantas) and how Nichiren Shu practitioners utilize odaimoku to achieve each of the aims. It sounds like a big idea, doesn’t it? But, don’t worry - we’re going to break it down! Whether you are a Nichiren Shu practitioner, a different kind of Buddhist or non-Buddhist, learning about all aims (siddhantas) can really help us reorient and reexamine how we approach our lives.
We will be asking important questions such as:
Who is Nichiren?
What is Odaimoku?
What are the four siddantas/the four aims?
How can we utilize Odaimoku to achieve these four aims?
Ryuei Michael McCormick has been practicing Nichiren Buddhism since he was introduced to the chanting of the “Sacred Title” (Odaimoku) of the Lotus Sutra when he was in high school over thirty years ago. In the spring of 2001, he completed Shingyo Dojo at Kuonji Temple on Mt. Minobu and was fully ordained as a Nichiren Shu priest. He is currently serving as minister to the San Francisco Bay Area Nichiren Sangha. He is the author of: Lotus in a Sea of Flames, Lotus Seeds: The Essence of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon, and Open Your Eyes: A Nichiren Buddhist View of Awakening. These books, other writings, and information about his Sangha can all be found at https://www.nichirenbayarea.org.
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