Spiritual Meaning of Sharing the Dharma

Minister's October Message

This year, Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhist Center of Los Angeles (RKLA) has been blessed with 32 new members. I sincerely thank everyone for your dissemination efforts—reaching out to others, inviting them into our Dharma family, and walking the path together with your caring hearts.

But what is the true purpose of reaching out to people and growing our community? Is it simply to operate more easily with more people? No. The answer is that each one of us becomes a buddha through the process of our dissemination efforts. How so? What does that even mean? Let us learn and reflect together.

Founded in 1938 in Tokyo, Japan, Rissho Kosei-kai has grown through the compassionate efforts of its members—reaching out to people, listening to their emotional pain and suffering, and helping them discover solutions by applying the wisdom of the Buddha. Members invited others to local hoza (reflective group sharing) and supported each other spiritually as if they were family. In Rissho Kosei-kai, this caring act of reaching out, guiding others to join our community, and walking the path together is called Michibiki, or “guiding people to the Dharma.” (Dharma means the universally shared truth.)

The Michibiki effort is the very way Buddha Shakyamuni himself practiced compassion. The Buddha reached out to people, recognized their suffering, and guided them toward awakening. This means that our current dissemination efforts is a modern expression of the Buddha’s footsteps and the embodiment of our own Buddhahood. Importantly, how each person engages in dissemination depends on their unique strengths. Some may express it by cleaning our Buddhist center, greeting people at the door on Sundays, taking ritual leadership, teaching a class, watering plants, bringing potluck dishes or fixing a broken ceiling. Every form of practice is equally honored. We do not have to do the same thing or compare ourselves with others.

Out of compassion for the emotional pain and suffering of those around us, we reach out and invite people who may be interested in experiencing our Buddhist community. If they appreciate what they encounter and choose to become members, we welcome them as our Dharma family and begin walking the path together, guided by the Threefold Lotus Sutra, which teaches that everyone embodies truth and is a buddha-in-training, and hence, is a bodhisattva.  

This means that becoming a member of Rissho Kosei-kai does not require anyone to abandon their existing religious or spiritual traditions. Rather, the Lotus Sutra honors and embraces each person’s unique background as a seed of their awakening. (You can watch the video to learn more: “The Identity of Religious Truths – Nikkyo Niwano’s Lotus Sutra in Interfaith Context.”)

Each time I meet people who come to Rissho Kosei-kai and listen to their stories, I am deeply inspired by their willingness to learn and practice the Buddha’s wisdom to bring meaningful change into their lives. Let us continue our dissemination efforts. Do you have someone in your life who may enjoy meeting with us? We would love to meet them and walk the path together—both in person and online.

Kyohei Mikawa, Minister of Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhist Center of Los Angeles