Ven. Kenjo Igarashi held his first-ever adult Sunday school class last weekend, May 13. Rev. Igarashi has always been available to answer questions and in the past held Sunday classes for children, but in the 29 years he has been ministering to members in Sacramento, he has never before held a class just for adults. As the organizer of this inaugural session, I’m hoping to make this a monthly feature. The next class will be held the second Sunday in July. (June is out because of the Summer Bazaar.)

At Rev. Igarashi’s request, the class was held an hour and a half before the regular service. This provided an hour for the lesson and a half-hour for his preparation for the service. Sunday’s class was organized without any formal announcement. I am hoping the next class will be advertised in the upcoming newsletter.

For purposes of note-taking I recorded the lecture. I have a longstanding agreement with Rev. Igarashi that allows me to record services and lectures as long as I promise not to publish the raw recording. As a result what appears on this website is somewhat more reliable than ordinary note-taking but not a full transcript. This class actually had a person taking notes in shorthand and another attendee who is a native Japanese speaker who took notes in Japanese. It would be fun to gather those sources to make an even better picture of what we learned.

And what Rev. Igarashi chose to focus on was the concept of enlightenment in our daily life.

(What follows paraphrases to the best of my ability what Rev. Igarashi explained.)

As the graph on the chalkboard in the above photo shows, people commonly see the first thought of enlightenment, that introduction that sparks an interest in knowing more, as the beginning of a long process that climbs higher and higher, passing through the stages of Bodhisattvas until supreme enlightenment is reached.

We think of enlightenment as a distant goal, and so we practice every day, chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. But enlightenment is not far away. It is just under your foot. It is part of daily life. It is not special.

We all have an innate Buddha nature. This is what Never-Despising Bodhisattva bowed to in everyone he met. A person who awakens to the thought of enlightenment, that first step, has the same pure Buddha nature as someone who has been practicing for years.

Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō is the seat of enlightenment.

With that in mind, it is important to realize everyone is different. We have lots of previous lives and don’t know what karma we carry. That is why we practice the Lotus Sutra and chant Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. With this practice we purify our spirit, enabling our Buddha nature to emerge.

Everyone can become a Buddha. This is the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. We are not waiting around to die and be reborn in some distant pure land. We practice the Lotus Sutra in this world and transform this suffering world with Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.