Two Buddhas

03/20/2025

The 10 - 10 - 10 Method. A short 5 minute shodaigyo medittion that is easy to learn and remember.

https://youtu.be/2RGd7A3vyTo

An easy to learn and remember 5 minute meditation to restore peace, ease, calm and balance.

03/20/2025

It's not you. Things really are upside down and % #&@-ed up.

03/20/2025

Session #26 is live. Learn about Spatial Awareness!

https://youtu.be/CAxAdIr9VJA

Welcome to session #26 of our thirty (30) session introduction to meditation course!We’ve covered all foundational skills of meditation. In our last 5 sessio...

03/20/2025

Want to feel better? Try meditating. Its easy and free!

03/19/2025

03/19/2025

The Journey is the Growth

03/18/2025

I'm not a priest. And I’m not a lay person. I'm a Dharma Teacher of the Lotus called a "Renshi." Ren from Renge or Lotus Flower and Shi for teacher.

I hear you, deeply. What you’re describing—the barriers, the lack of connection, and the sense of being on the outside looking in—is something I’ve encountered not only in my own journey but in many conversations with others. Unfortunately, you’re not alone in feeling this way.

I spent years walking the path toward priesthood in Nichiren Shu, and I eventually chose to step away before completing the final stage of formal ordination. My heart simply could not reconcile the deep, vibrant calling to chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo and share the Lotus Sutra’s teachings with the institutional rigidity and, at times, disheartening attitudes that I encountered.

What you mentioned about Sanghas with conditions, or priests who seem more focused on titles and robes than on encouraging others, resonates painfully with my own experience. It’s unfortunate, but some parts of the priesthood culture across various Nichiren schools can feel like closed circles, as if more energy is spent on preserving formality than on embodying the dynamic spirit of Nichiren Shonin himself.

But here’s what I’d like to say from my heart: Nichiren’s teachings are far larger than any institution. His call to chant the Daimoku and help all beings awaken is something no human-made hierarchy can contain. Your longing to spread the Dharma and your earnestness in practice show me that you already embody the spirit of a true Bodhisattva, regardless of whether you wear a kesa or hold a formal title.

I now dedicate myself to fostering open-hearted communities where Daimoku is at the center, where anyone—regardless of title or background—can take up the practice and deepen their connection with the Sublime Dharma. This is the spirit behind what I now call Ren Buddhism: to return to the heart of Nichiren’s teaching with warmth, courage, and a refusal to exclude.

Please know that you’re not alone. There are others of us, all around the world, quietly (and sometimes loudly!) creating new spaces where the sincerity of chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo comes before formalism.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, Nichiryu Byakuren Mark Herrick

Send a message to learn more

03/18/2025

A fresh and lit approach to the Lotus Sutra.

Relatable and relevant without having to slog through all the usual jargon and religious dogma. Finally a book on the Lotus Sutra that focuses on what these crazy stories mean to me in the 21st Century.

03/18/2025

Your words shape your reality

03/17/2025

Trust Your Inner Voice

03/16/2025

Happines is in the small things.

03/16/2025

The Eternal Buddha, as Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, is the dynamic ground of my very breath and heartbeat, and chanting it is how I let the Eternal awaken within me, for the sake of all beings.

Send a message to learn more

03/15/2025

The Light Within You!

03/14/2025

Struggles aren't Roadblocks

03/13/2025

Session #25 Loving Kindness

Welcome to session #25 of our thirty (30) session introduction to meditation course, today we put everything we learned and practice from the previous four sessions on Loving Kindness together. A desire to want the best for people. Including ourselves. This comes from a place of strength. Not sappiness or sentimentality.

https://youtu.be/jAUc8IFGM2E

Welcome to session #25 of our thirty (30) session introduction to meditation course, today we put everything we learned and practice from the previous four s...

03/13/2025

The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, WND Vol. 1, #14:

"​[believers] who put their faith in the Lotus Sutra should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo sixty thousand, a hundred thousand, or even ten million times a day, and after that, if they still have some time to spare, they may now and then murmur to themselves the name of Amida or one of the other Buddhas."

Nichiren never said not to chant the names of the Buddha, nor did Nichiren ever say not to sit in silent meditation. He did say that chanting the Sacred Title [Daimou] was the primamry practice, and the practice that illuminates all others.

I encourage Nichiren practitioners to broadne the aperature of the knowledge of Buddhism. Remember dogma is the final fetter to awakening.

Send a message to learn more

03/13/2025

Chanting the Names of the Buddhas.

How the Sacred Title [Daimoku] honors and illuminates the various Buddhas.

03/12/2025

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tricycle-talks/id695108281?i=1000698868684

Podcast Episode · Tricycle Talks · 03/12/2025 · 46m