This essay is part of an ongoing series of translations from a recent volume of inspirational writings by the late founder of Rissho Kosei-kai. Dharma World will continue to publish these essays because of their permanent value as guidance for the practice of one's faith in daily life.

Nikkyo Niwano, the late founder of the Buddhist association Rissho Kosei-kai, was an honorary president of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP) and was honorary chairman of Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan) at the time of his death in October 1999.

In our daily lives, we usually exchange greetings with others without giving them any thought; but in making the effort to communicate directly from the heart, we can strip away the trappings of the ego and develop pure selflessness.

Nichiko Niwano is president of Rissho Kosei-kai and the Niwano Peace Foundation, a president of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP), and vice-chairman of Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan).

A retired American minister reminds us that governments will often claim a religious basis for their conflicts, but the roots of the problem lie in the poverty affecting much of the world's population.

Robert Edward Green is minister emeritus of the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Stockton, California. He retired in 1996 after thirty-five years in the active ministry and twenty-two years as minister of the Stockton church. He now serves as president of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of California and Hawaii.

In all human history the name of India's great Emperor Ashoka, who reigned ca. 265--238 b.c.e., stands almost alone as a monarch who was so greatly influenced by the Buddha's teachings that he adopted them not only in his own life but also in the benevolent way he ruled his people.

I. Loganathan is president of the Buddhist Society of India and of the Gautama Buddhist School, Karnataka State, India.

Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki is the Ingraham Professor of Theology at Claremont School of Theology in California, teaching in the areas of process theology, feminist theology, and Christian doctrine. Author of many books and articles, among which is a forthcoming book entitled, Divinity and Diversity: A Christian Affirmation of Religious Pluralism.

As if in response to what many see as the most basic need for world peace in our lifetimes, Eva Ruth Palmieri interviewed a multicultural teacher of intercultural relations who practices what he preaches: "Only by overcoming one's own prejudices can a person live successfully."

Eva Ruth Palmieri worked for the Embassy of Israel to the Vatican for several years and has a deep personal interest in interreligious dialogue.

This article represents the first installment in a new series of essays devoted to stories in the Lotus Sutra. Written by an American researcher on Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra, it offers fresh insights into how we can incorporate the teachings found in the sutra's dramatic stories in our daily lives.

Gene Reeves, former dean of the Meadville/Lombard Theological School in Chicago, recently retired from teaching at the University of Tsukuba, where he taught Buddhism and American Studies. He is currently doing research, teaching, and writing on the Lotus Sutra at Rissho Kosei-kai in Tokyo.

The story of a mother's struggle to understand why her son refuses to go to school and why she has so much trouble dealing with it, through which she also learns how she can be a better mother, and how she can give others their freedom by giving them love.

Katsue Ishii is a member of the Toshima Branch of Rissho Kosei-kai in Tokyo.

These masterworks of the Kamakura period (1185--1333), believed carved by the sculptor Jokei, still serve as guardians of the deities on the altar of the Saikondo at the temple Kofuku-ji in Nara.

Takeshi Kuno, formerly a director of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Property, is now director-general of the Institute of Buddhist Art Research in Tokyo.

At the age of 80, Sakyamuni Buddha set forth on his ﾞnal journey, during which he visited the prosperous city of Vesali, where he and his disciples stayed in the mango grove of the courtesan Ambapali. After hearing his teachings on mindfulness, she invited him and his entourage to a meal at her home, and later donated her grove to the Buddhist Sangha.

The late Hajime Nakamura, an authority on Indian philosophy, was president of the Eastern Institute in Tokyo and a professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo at the time of his death in October 1999. This series is a translation of Gotama Buddha, vol. 2, Tokyo, Shunjusha, 1992.

This is the sixty-forth installment of a detailed commentary on the Threefold Lotus Sutra by the late founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, Rev. Nikkyo Niwano.