by Masuo Nezu

In 1994, the year when the Hoju Vocational College for Women in Tokyo was opened, Dr. Reeves delivered a special lecture to the students, together with Dr. Malcolm Sutherland, a former president and dean of Meadville/Lombard who held those positions when Founder Niwano was awarded his honorary degree from the school. At that time Dr. Reeves said, "The Lotus Sutra is a message for the whole world--a message of harmony through respect and generosity which is needed by the entire world."

"Founder Niwano is one of the great rediscoverers of the true meaning of the Lotus Sutra," he said, "a person of our time comparable to great discoverers of the meaning of the Lotus Sutra of other times and places, especially, perhaps, Vasubandhu of India; Kumarajiva from Central Asia; Zhiyi of Tiantai Buddhism in China; Saicho, the founder of Tendai Buddhism; and Nichiren Shonin in Japan. . . . For Rissho Kosei-kai, part of what it means to be an organization of laypeople is that ordinary people can share the profound meaning of the Dharma through their own devotion. . . . The Lotus Sutra has come from the Buddha, through others, to (Founder) Niwano, to Rissho Kosei-kai, to you for sharing with others throughout the world. . . . So I salute you this morning--as vehicles of the Wonderful Dharma, the Buddha's children, as young bodhisattvas, even as buddhas!"

After the lecture, the Hoju students were quite excited about hearing this testimonial from a distinguished scholar from overseas. Their teachers were surprised at the degree of the students' enthusiasm.

Dr. Reeves' lecturing on the Lotus Sutra has extended from Asia to America and Europe. Sometimes papers by him have been presented at the series of meetings of the International Conference on the Lotus Sutra in Japan for scholars of Buddhism and other religions hosted by Rissho Kosei-kai.

Dr. Reeves delivers a Dharma talk to the leaders of Rissho Kosei-kai overseas churches in the Second Group Pilgrimage Hall at its Tokyo headquarters complex on October 12, 1998.

In Japan, in addition to serving as a professor at the University of Tsukuba for several years, Dr. Reeves has held a regular lecture series called the "Dharma Seminar" at Rissho Kosei-kai facilities, which non-Japanese residents as well as Japanese, having seen announcements in the daily newspapers, attended to learn about the Lotus Sutra. He is often invited to speak on the sutra to groups not connected with Rissho Kosei-kai, most recently holding a brief series at St. Alban's Anglican Church in Tokyo. A group of Rissho Kosei-kai volunteers called "LS" (for "Language Service"), who provide assistance in English to participants in various international conferences and to foreign visitors to Rissho Kosei-kai, are also learning from Dr. Reeves at lecture classes. At Rissho Kosei-kai's Gakurin Seminary, Japanese students preparing to be leaders of the organization study the Lotus Sutra in English with Dr. Reeves. Most recently, Dr. Reeves has been giving Dharma talks in English on Sundays at the newly formed International Buddhist Congregation of Rissho Kosei-kai.

The number of such lectures by Dr. Reeves now totals over 400, given in Japan and several other countries. Many have now been published in journals and books. His articles on the stories in the Lotus Sutra are now appearing in each issue of Rissho Kosei-kai's English-language magazine Dharma World. He has also recently completed a new translation from Chinese into English of the entire Threefold Lotus Sutra, a translation which is certain to have a strong impact on English-speaking followers of the Lotus Sutra, as well as on quite a few Japanese. It all began with his encounter with Rev. Niwano.

This series of articles was originally published in Japanese in 2000 under the title Kaiso Zuimonki: Egao no Ushirosugata.