This essay is part of a continuing series of translations from a volume of inspirational writings by the late founder of Rissho Kosei-kai. Dharma World will continue to publish these essays because of their lasting 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.

Mindfulness is scrutiny of not only one's individual actions but one's entire inner landscape, oneself as a whole. It means looking at oneself as a whole human being.

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).

One of the most influential Christian theologians today, Dr. Cobb visited Rissho Kosei-kai last May to deliver a sermon on the Christian response to a religiously pluralistic world during a special service sponsored by the organization's International Buddhist Congregation. This is a slightly edited transcription of that sermon.

John B. Cobb, Jr., has been involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogue for many years, and has founded an International Buddhist-Christian Theological Encounter group together with Masao Abe. His theological position is influenced by the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead and is called "process theology," which has many affinities with Buddhism. Dr. Cobb's many important theological works include A Christian Natural Theology, Process Theology as Political Theology, and Christ in a Pluralistic Age. From 1958 to 1990, he taught at the Claremont School of Theology in California, of which he is now a professor emeritus.

There is no "dogma-free" Christianity, but there is the option of an open, tolerant, and emancipating Christianity, this writer says. It is a sound basis for interreligious encounter and understanding.

Andreas Roessler is a Protestant (Lutheran) pastor. Since 1992 he has been chief editor of the Evangelisches Gemeindeblatt fur Wurttemberg in Stuttgart, Germany, the country's largest weekly Protestant church newspaper. For many years Dr. Roessler has been active in the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF). He is the author of several books on Christianity, on the notion of the Cosmic Christ, the question of truth, the fundamental articles of Christian faith, and the basic similarities and differences between Protestant and Catholic Christianity.

This Romanian priest first came to know Rev. Nikkyo Niwano's name in the early 1970s. It was from him that he learned that being a layperson does not mean excluding oneself from the sacred.

Alexandru I. Stan is a theologian of the Romanian Orthodox Church, a professor of Canon Law at the "Valahia" University of Targoviste, and vicar of "Sfantul" Stefan-Calarasi, Bucharest. Dr. Stan received training for the priesthood in Romania, England, and Canada. He has been an active participant in several international interfaith encounters.

Even some who claim to be Buddhists sometimes deny the existence of the karmic law of cause and effect because they regard it as a reactionary obstacle to the progressive future of mankind.

Myoshin-Friedrich Fenzl, leader of the Jodo-Shin movement in Austria, is the founder and deputy chairman of the Buddhist Society of Salzburg, which promotes a variety of Buddhist and interreligious activities, including meditation sessions, lectures, video performances, annual Buddhist festivals, religious education for children and youth, and hospital chaplaincy.

In our long journey, meditation is the art of cleansing our consciousness. That is why we need to start meditating now. Once we sow the seed in the proper soil of Dharma, enlightenment is bound to arise.

Bhikkhu Sanghasena, born in Ladakh, India, received full ordination under Ven. Acharya Buddharakhita Maha Thera, founder-president of the Mahabodhi Society Bangalore. He founded the Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre at Leh, Ladakh, to promote meditation and compassion.

There are many lessons to be learned from this well-known parable, including some that we may teach ourselves.

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

A third-generation Japanese-American woman describes how membership in Rissho Kosei-kai of Hawaii taught her, after many years of unhappiness, how the Lotus Sutra can help us change our lives.

Mae Takamoto is English missionary branch leader of Rissho Kosei-kai of Hawaii.

In ancient India, people like the hero Bhisma were thought able to die by determination. This idea transferred to another person regarded as great, Sakyamuni.

The late Dr. 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 ongoing series is a translation of Gotama Buddha, vol. 2, Tokyo, Shunjusha, 1992.

There are only two Zen-style portrait statues of the renowned Zen master Muso Kokushi extant. The seated one shown here is a beautiful image whose quiet grace hints at Muso's imperial descent, great artistic talent, and supreme enlightenment.

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

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