October 2009

American Members Receive Focuses of Devotion

In a ceremony on October 4 at the Rissho Kosei-kai Dharma Center of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, twenty-five members of the Dharma Centers of Oklahoma and Los Angeles received icons of the focus of devotion and the Dharma titles of the founder and cofounder. Rev. Kotaro Suzuki, director of Rissho Kosei-kai International at the Tokyo headquarters, and Rev. Shoko Mizutani, director of Rissho Kosei-kai International of North America in Irvine, California, were present, as well as about 40 other members.

After the sutra recitation, Rev. Suzuki presented the focuses of devotion and Dharma titles, which had been entrusted to him on September 27 at the Fourth Invocation Ceremony in the Great Sacred Hall in Tokyo. It was the fourth such ceremony under Rissho Kosei-kai's new guiding principle adopted in 2008 of installing focuses of devotion and Dharma titles at the home altar of every member.

Rev. Suzuki then addressed the gathering and quoted from President Nichiko Niwano's speech in Las Vegas in August at the fiftieth-anniversary celebration of Rissho Kosei-kai's dissemination in the United States: "Everything we receive and accept are gifts from the Eternal Buddha, who permeates the universe." Rev. Suzuki emphasized the importance of diligent study of the teachings in an awareness of always being embraced by the Buddha's compassion.

One recipient, Mr. Jean Rose, an Oklahoma member, testified to his experience of the faith, describing his joy in encountering the Dharma.

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