Kishimojin Interview - One of the Heavenly Deities Protectors

Today I want to talk about Kishimojin. Out of all the heavenly deities on the Gohonzon, she calls me. I think maybe because I was raised by a single mother, no father, and so know first hand the strength of a mother who cares for her child.

The SGI definition: "A demoness said to be a daughter of a yaksha demon in Rājagriha. She had five hundred children (one thousand or ten thousand by other accounts). According to the Mother of Demon Children Sutra and The Monastic Rules on Various Matters, she killed other people’s babies to feed her own children. Terrified and grieving, the people begged Shakyamuni Buddha for help. The Buddha then hid Priyankara (also known as Piyankara or Pingala), the youngest son of Mother of Demon Children. She sought him desperately for seven days, but to no avail. In despair, she finally asked the Buddha where he was. Shakyamuni rebuked her for her cruel and evil conduct and made her vow never to kill another child. Then he returned her son to her. According to The Record of Southern Countries, I-ching’s record of his travels to India and Southeast Asia in the late seventh century, Mother of Demon Children was revered in India as a goddess who could bestow the blessings of childbirth and easy delivery. Worship of her became popular in Japan in the Kamakura period (1185–1333). In the “Dhāranī” (twenty-sixth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, she pledges before the Buddha to safeguard the votaries of the sutra."

Kishimojin, (known in India as Hārītī) is a former demon mother who converted to Buddhism after the Buddha hid one of her many children to teach her the pain of loss. Along with her ten daughters—the Ten Rākṣasīs or Jūrasetsunyo—she took a solemn vow in the Lotus Sutra to protect children, pregnant women, and those who practice and uphold the Buddhist teachings.

In Nichiren's writings, he refers to Kishimojin a few times, and in all of them he mention's her ten demon daughter; in one instance he refers to the ten rāksasis as “the mothers of all demons in the four continents,” and Kishimojin as “the mother of the ten rāksasis,” thus suggesting her power.

In other teachings, Kishimojin is often worshipped independently of the Lotus Sūtra, for example, in esoteric prayer rites to quell disasters and increase good fortune. After Nichiren’s time, as his tradition spread during Japan’s later medieval period and drew followers from a range of social groups, its protector deities diversified, and statues and paintings of Kishimojin began to be enshrined as independent images at some Nichiren temples. Represented in both fierce and gentle forms, Kishimojin was revered as a guardian of Lotus devotees, a destroyer of false views, and a grantor of prayers for this-worldly benefits, such as healing, safe childbirth, and the protection of children. Devotion to Kishimojin within the Nichiren tradition reached its height in Japan’s early modern period (roughly, seventeenth through nineteenth centuries) and drew both on her specific associations with the Lotus Sūtra as well as broader traditions of Kishimojin worship.

That's my knowledge on Kishimojin.

As many of you know, I have cancer again. I'm glad Kishimojin and her ten daughters are in this with me.

Here's a fun video I made imagining a non-Budhist reporter doing the interview. Could happen.


~~ Eso Terry

Cancer Update, Myo Defined.

Hi, thanks for checking in.   I got my pet scan yesterday, and am now waiting on the results.  I've been through this cancer stuff before, five years ago, now I'm a little bit wiser and less scared.  I live my life for today, and accept what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy.  You've heard me talk about "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" before, and it is the "myo" part that means we are all mystic.  Mystic not in a guru-magic sense, but in the interconnection with all things, all matter, all vibration, all love, hate, heaven, hell....

Two things are about to happen in my life, 

1. I get the call telling me that the cancer scares was nothing but an accident, a thing we can't explain, a miracle, it's gone.  Today, as I write, I expect this, for I have a mission in life, and have prayed for all the cancer cells in my body to go away, if it is within the divine law. 

2. I get the call telling me that they need to do a biopsy, the threat is real.

Either way, I'm set to go, rather excited to be honest. For how can we have growth without suffering?  Because, in the end, it is all Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, trust me on this one. 

~~ Eso Terry

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and the Heavenly Protectors

Kishimojin

Sometimes it happens quickly, but usually it takes over thirty minutes; most always before an hour. I'm talking about that moment after chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for a time, and you know the universe is listening. It's that "being in the zone" moment to quote a sports analogy. It's that moment, for me, when I feel the walls around me as nothing more than thin air. The molecules in the furniture around me as floating dust.  Sometimes there is a trumpet, violin, or another instrument accompanying my vibrating body. Sometimes it is an undescribtive sound, the sound or sense of feeling of vibrating in key to the universe. 

Not all Nichiren Buddhist take Nichiren's "Heavenly Deities" serious, but I do. There is Brahma, Shakra, the four heavenly kings, and the gods of the sun and the moon. My favorite are the Ten Demon Daughters led by Kishimojin. This is probably because I was raised by a single mother and grandmother.  They were barely surviving on waitress wages, but protected me from a decaying city on the brink of ruins.  

Who are these protectors of believer in the Lotus Sutra?  Here are some basic definitions.

-The Four Heavenly Kings (Shitenno): Deities who protect the four cardinal directions. They include Vaishravana (North), Dhritarashtra (East), Virudhaka (South), and Virupaksha (West), along with their numerous retainers.

-The Gods of the Sun and Moon (Nitten and Gatten): The physical celestial bodies viewed as deities who provide light and sustain life on earth, actively safeguarding practitioners through the hours of day and night.

-The Ten Demon Daughters (Jurosetsuzen): Led by Mother of Demon Children (Kishimojin), these figures from the "Dharani" chapter of the Lotus Sutra transformed from harmful spirits into fierce guardians who vowed to punish anyone who troubles a practitioner of the Sutra.

It's a wonderful thing to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.  It's a wonderful thing to be heard by the universe, or as we call it, the Mystic Law. 

~~ Eso Terry 

Cancer Again? Not With This Lifeforce!

So I'm waiting for the doctor's office to call me about getting a biopsi of this spot on my lung.  I am in the Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care, and so it's not a doctor's office I can call and say, "I'm Here Waiting!" Still, I fear not, for I remember what President Josei Todo once said: "When you go to a doctor...Medicine King is your own life, the doctor naturally cannot help but provide a cure (WLS-6, 21)."

In the letter to Ota Jomyo, Nichiren Daishonin writes, "The sutra known as the Lotus Sutra is good medicine for the various ills of body and mind (wnd-2, 747)." It is here the Daishonin teaches that the Mystic Law is the supreme "good medicine" for overcoming the sufferings caused by illness and other disturbances of body and mind (May 2020 World Tribune).

Conversely, being in a healthcare system (the VA) where the doctors, nurses, staff, etc. are worked very hard with too many patients for the system, I remember the wise guidance Ikeda Sensei once gave in his "bodhisattva Medicine King" lecture, where he states that when you chant, the protective life force functions so that even an ordinary doctor naturally provides the right cure (May 2021 LB). In this article, Sensei goes on to say, "In fact, illness is an important and integral part of our experience of being alive -- an indispensable part of our journey to becoming happy and attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime." 

In this same article, there is the story of when President Toda scolded the young Ikeda Sensei by saying, "Daisaku! You haven't got an ounce of life force! If your life force is weak, you'll be defeated." President Toda then sat Sensei in front of the Gohonzon and "chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with a force that literally seemed to batter the devil of illness into submission."

Finally, my favorite quote I read over and over, five-years ago when I defeated my first battle with cancer, is the one I'll end here with:

"When you go to a doctor, even if he is incompetent, because Medicine King is functioning in your own life, the doctor naturally cannot help but provide a cure (WLS-6, 21)."

Here is a video of when I came home after having the cancerous tumor successfully removed from an eight-hour surgery by a young surgeon who had never done this surgery before.  Yes, Medicine King was alive in my life then, and is still with my faith and chanting powerful daimoku with a lifeforce that will batter this "devil of illness into submission." My Bodhisattva mission is not over yet.  I'll be here January 2030 to celebrate the one-hundredth year of the Soka Gakkai.  This I am sure of. 

~~ Eso Terry  

My Cancer Diary

So the docs found a new spot on my lungs. It is May 27th, 2026, I've been here before. I'm ready for this. Interesting, it was exactly four years ago on this day that I posted "My Cancer Cure" post on here. In that post I wrote: "We all come into this life with a mission, a reason, and when that reason is done so are we...this is why cancer doesn't matter to me, if I still have a reason to live, the cancer will wait. And as I told you before, the blue Buddha came to me in a dream and so I know I am healing and will stay alive as long as I continue my mission. I am chanting each morning that this body which can create a cancer cell, can heel a cancer cell. Therefore, I chant that the recent spots they found on my lungs are smaller than they were the day before, and that they are not cancerous. I then thank the heavenly deities for providing this. I also pray that the medicine king will bring me the knowledge, doctors, cures, etc., that I need...."

I go into how I eat raw bitter melon, broccoli, and carrots in the morning. I also go into my faith: "The faith I speak of is the Mystic Law which saved my life over a year ago by alarming me to have my lungs checked. I've told you about it before, how while chanting my chest began to hurt which caused me to go to the hospital where they found a cancer spot. It amazed the doctors that I brought it to their attention so early. I had part of my lung removed and have lived another year without cancer. Now, it looks like there are more spots which could be cancerous.  I am not sure what I have left, if it is to share with you how my faith has saved me again, or how I know by chanting I am protected and will be here as long as I am needed.  Maybe just to share my cure with you, kind reader. The faith I speak of is the Mystic Law. To obtain it all you have to do is chant: Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Give it a try. 

Global Citizen is the bases of Nichirin Buddhism.

This morning I posted my live thoughts on "Morning Buddhist Thoughts" on being a global citizen. The definition of a global citizen is:

Global citizenship is a form of transnationality, specifically the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader global class of "humanity". This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives their nationality or other, more local identities, but that such identities are given "second place" to their membership in a global community. Extended, the idea leads to questions about the state of global society in the age of globalization.

There you have it in a nutshell what I believe being a Nichiren Buddhist stands for, epesecially the line "a broader global class of 'humanity'".  No national politics can justify the starvation of one human being for power.  We see this everywhere today.  Let's fix this brothers and sisters.  Let's chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo together and fight for a better world where the value of life is the number one goal of the world. 

Here is the Nichiren Writing I quoted this morning: 

People have varied tastes. Some prefer good and some prefer evil. 

There are many kinds of people. But thought they differ from one another in such ways, once they enter into the Lotus Sutra, they all become like a single person in body and a single person in mind. This is just like the myriad different rivers that, when they flow into the ocean, all take on a uniformly salty flavor, or like the many kinds of birds that, whey they approach Mount Sumeru, all assume the same (golden) hue.

(WND 1042) 

Click For My Morning Buddhist Thoughts

 

An Extrordinary Home Visit

Jack Smith's life was in the dumps, his car in the shop, job to be cut, and wife has left him. Jimmy Onit is a men's leader, he chants with Jack Smith and everything changes. 

Sharing Your Buddhist Faith For Beginers.

To share your Nichiren Buddhist faith experience, focus on how chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo has positively impacted your life by overcoming challenges, finding inner strength, and contributing to your personal growth, while emphasizing the importance of sharing this practice with others to spread happiness and peace;be genuine, specific about situations where your faith helped, and express your gratitude for the teachings of Nichiren Buddhism and the Soka Gakkai community. 

Key points to include: 

• Personal challenges:

  Describe a specific situation where you faced a significant obstacle in your life, like a health issue, relationship conflict, or career setback, and how chanting helped you find the courage and resilience to overcome it. 
• Transformation through chanting:

  Explain how the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo transformed your perspective on the situation and allowed you to approach it with a more positive mindset. 

  
  

  Positive changes:
• Share tangible positive changes in your life that resulted from your faith practice, such as improved relationships, increased confidence, or a greater sense of purpose. 

  
  

  Soka Gakkai community support:
• Mention the importance of your local Soka Gakkai community and how their encouragement and support strengthened your faith journey. 

  
  

  Kosen-rufu:
• Explain the concept of "kosen-rufu" (achieving world peace) and how your personal practice contributes to this larger goal. 

  
  

  Structure for sharing your experience: 

• Introduction:

  Briefly introduce yourself and how you came to practice Nichiren Buddhism. 
• Personal story:

  Share a specific life experience where your faith made a significant impact, detailing the challenges you faced and how chanting helped you overcome them. 

  
  

  Impact on your life:
• Describe the positive changes you've experienced in your personal life, relationships, and outlook as a result of your practice. 

  
  

  Gratitude and inspiration:
• Express your gratitude for the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Soka Gakkai community, and encourage others to explore the benefits of chanting.  

  
  

  Important considerations: 

• Be authentic: Share your story with genuine emotion and sincerity. 
• Focus on the positive: Highlight the positive aspects of your faith journey and how it has enriched your life. 
• Respect others' beliefs: Be mindful of different perspectives and avoid making forceful claims. 
• Adapt to the audience: Tailor your sharing to fit the context and level of understanding of your listeners. 

I Have Never Been Prouder of My Faith...

 

A Buddhist "Night Before Christmas" or Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo Saves Christmas

 

A Buddhist Talk by Ryan Cuevas

 This is an experience given by a Nichiren follower in Allen Texas.