October 2009
Rissho Kosei-kai Welcomes Monks and Students from Thai University
In October twenty monks and students from the College of Religious Studies at Mahidol University in Thailand visited Rissho Kosei-kai's Osaka Dharma Center and the Tokyo headquarters. They came on a study tour to gain a better understanding and respect for Japan's diverse religious traditions. They coordinated their itinerary with the Youth League of Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan), chaired by Rev. Yukihiro Hozumi, who is also president-designate of Taiwa Kyodan, based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, in northeastern Japan.
The Thais visited Rissho Kosei-kai's Osaka Dharma Center October 3-4 and had cultural exchanges with its youth members. There they also attended the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Founder Nikkyo Niwano's entrance into nirvana.
They visited the Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters in Tokyo on October 5. They toured Founder Nikkyo Niwano Memorial Museum and worshipped before the Precious Stupa of the One Vehicle, which houses relics of the founder. In the Great Sacred Hall they joined in the daily chanting of the o-daimoku.
After traveling to Sendai, where they visited the headquarters of Taiwa Kyodan, which is also a member organization of Shinshuren, they returned to Tokyo and attended the commemoration of the monthly memorial day for Cofounder Myoko Naganuma in the Great Sacred Hall on October 10.
Mahidol University is a public institution. Its College of Religious Studies was founded in 1999, and the curriculum includes Mahayana Buddhism. Rissho Kosei-kai and the college have had a close relationship since 2001 through cultural exchanges between Rissho Kosei-kai youth members and Thai students who have come to Japan on study tours. In 2008, Dr. Michio T. Shinozaki, director of the Chuo Academic Research Institute and president of Rissho Kosei-kai's Gakurin Seminary, gave a lecture to undergraduates at the college on the teachings of the Buddha based on the spirit of the One Vehicle, the core doctrine of the Lotus Sutra.
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