Uplifting Black Nichiren Buddhist Voices

Listening to the transformative experiences of Black Nichiren Buddhists in this podcast series reminds us that Black people have confronted extraordinary levels of oppression over centuries and have survived. These practitioners ask, ‘how do we confront this onslaught beyond expressing fear and outrage?’We are encouraged by these practitioners—by their wisdom and stamina, by their singing and chanting, by their emphasis on joy. Supported by the Crossroads Project funded by the Henry J. Luce Foundation, as well as the Frederick Lenz Foundation and the Fetzer Institute. Produced by Sandra Hannebohm, founder of Twice as Good Media.

This final episode explores the connection between self-improvement and justice. Nichiren Daishonin, the founder of Nichiren Buddhism, believed that Buddhism only has meaning when it effects positive change in society. Rima Vesely-Flad speaks with Michael Belton , a founding co-architect of the association, Buddhists of African Descent, about how this teaching has helped him develop throughout his life. Michael Belton is a Minneapolis-based practitioner who spent forty years in public service, most recently as the Deputy Director for Ramsey County, Minnesota’s Juvenile Corrections Division. He has instituted culturally responsive treatment and programming for communities of color, focusing on culturally rooted responses for vulnerable African American male youth.

“Nam Myoho Renge Kyo,” the title of the Lotus Sutra, is also known as the Daimoku. In this episode, Rima Vesely-Flad speaks with a decades-long practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism, Jacci Thompson-Dodd, about the significance of chanting and other practices of the association, Buddhists of African Descent. Jacci Thompson-Dodd has practiced Nichiren Buddhism for 50 years. She supports women healing from life-altering illness and trauma. Thrivorship®, her nationally recognized program for breast cancer survivors, has been offered by cancer centers and organizations across the country.

Study is a core practice for Nichiren Buddhists, who dive deeply into the Lotus Sutra and the writings of Nichiren Daishonin as a way to cultivate their inherent Buddha-nature. Mahazi Roundtree has been a Nichiren practitioner for 38 years. She is a study leader in the Nichiren Buddhist association, Buddhists of African Descent, and she lives in Harlem, New York, where she is a corporate paralegal by day and a jazz vocalist & bass player by night.

This and the next three episodes feature conversations with members of the association, Buddhists of African Descent (aka BAD) which engages in connecting traditional systems of African spirituality with the basic tenets and principles of Nichiren Buddhism. Thembi is one of the founding co-architects of BAD. She speaks with Rima Vesely-Flad about the significance of Buddhahood for herself and other Black practitioners in America. Thembi (Valerie Geaither) is professor emerita at Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis, where for 25 years she was a professor of Education Philosophy and Family Studies, as well as a co-director of the Center for Community Based Education, Learning and Research. She was also a catalyst in establishing the university’s School of Urban Education.

One compelling teaching of Nichiren Daishonin, the founder of the Nichiren Buddhist tradition, is that each person is responsible for contributing to world peace and justice. He believed that the daily practice of chanting was an essential form of committing to compassionate action, and could generate benefits for society. Bishop Myokei Caine-Barrett Shonin is the first American woman and the first of African-Japanese descent to attain full ordination as a Nichiren priest. Myokei Caine-Barrett Shonin is a bishop for the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Order of North America, and she is the principal teacher of Myoken-ji Temple in Houston, where she actively supports Buddhist practice for people who are incarcerated in Texas prisons.

One tenet of Nichiren Buddhism known as “faith in action” is used consistently in the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, the founder of the tradition. The use of the word “faith,” though seldom associated with Buddhism, has helped a number of practitioners in the West make connections between their Christian heritage and their Buddhist practice. Ben Harris, is one such practitioner who has made the connections between seemingly very different religious traditions. Ben Harris is a former student of Rima Vesely-Flad, and a recent graduate of Union Theological Seminary's Inaugural Master of Social Justice Program. He is former military officer living in the DC Metro area, and has practiced Nichiren Buddhism for nine years.

Buddha-nature refers to the innate potential for every living being to attain enlightenment, and one of the most compelling aspects of Nichiren Buddhism is the teaching that this is already present in every being. The realization of this inherent truth is called “Buddhahood.” In this episode, Rima Vesely-Flad speaks with Dr. Kamilah Majied about using hardship as fuel for reaching the state of mind called Buddhahood. Dr. Kamilah Majied is a longtime member of the Soka Gakkai International lineage, a mental health therapist, researcher, professor of social work, and a consultant for contemplative justice and sustainability. She is the author of Joyfully Just: Black Wisdom and Buddhist Insights for Liberated Living .

The distinctive teachings of Nichiren Buddhism are deeply compelling for Black practitioners throughout the United States. To start this exploration of the significance of this practice for Black Americans, Rima Vesely-Flad speaks with Dr. Ralph Craig about the famous Black Buddhist singer Tina Turner, and her relationship to Nichiren practices such as chanting the Lotus Sutra. Dr. Ralph Craig is the author of Dancing In My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner . He is an interdisciplinary scholar of religion, whose research focuses on South Asian Buddhism and American Buddhism.

Buddhist teachings have always been adapted to the environments in which they're transmitted. This is true of Buddhism as it is embraced by Black people in the United States, as Black Buddhists bring distinctive interpretations of the dharma to our communities. One of the Buddhist lineages that has garnered exceptional attention is a Japanese based lineage, Nichiren. The chanting practices of Nichiren Buddhists interviewed in these episodes carry Black practitioners forward. In their own words, these practitioners tell us what freedom means to them.