Acknowledgments

Nichiren Shōnin taught that one should always be aware of and repay one’s debts of gratitude. In writing this book, I have incurred many such debts and I would like to at least acknowledge them here.

First, I must extend my gratitude to my sensei, the Venerable Ryūsho Matsuda. Without his support and guidance I would never have had the courage and certainly not the resources to write this book. I must also thank my sensei for helping me to find relevant passages from Nichiren Shōnin’s writings and for his assistance with the translations of those writings. Most of all, I am grateful for his extremely gracious gift of the Shōwa Teihon without which my wife and I could never have done any of the translations that appear in this book.

I must also extend my gratitude to my wife, Dr.Yumi Moriguchi-McCormick. It was Yumi who provided the first raw translations of Nichiren Shōnin’s writings. I truly believe that Yumi did what few people could have done in such a short time, under such difficult working conditions, with such challenging material. The translations that appear in this book would not have been possible without her efforts and dedication.

I am also very grateful to Mark White Lotus Herrick and Stephen Schwichow who helped to edit and revise this book. I am especially grateful to Matt Miller who not only spent many hours revising my manuscript, but also took the time to explain every change he suggested. In addition, Matt was kind enough to rewrite the very beginning and the very end of the book, thus providing a smoother take off and landing.

Finally, I want to thank my daughter Julie for her patience during the many hours when I was working on my book instead of reading her books about bugs, ogres, goblins, rats, and freight trains that she enjoyed so much at that time.