This and the next three episodes feature conversations with members of the association, Buddhists of African Descent (aka BAD) which engages in connecting traditional systems of African spirituality with the basic tenets and principles of Nichiren Buddhism. Thembi is one of the founding co-architects of BAD. She speaks with Rima Vesely-Flad about the significance of Buddhahood for herself and other Black practitioners in America.

Thembi (Valerie Geaither) is professor emerita at Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis, where for 25 years she was a professor of Education Philosophy and Family Studies, as well as a co-director of the Center for Community Based Education, Learning and Research. She was also a catalyst in establishing the university’s School of Urban Education.

One compelling teaching of Nichiren Daishonin, the founder of the Nichiren Buddhist tradition, is that each person is responsible for contributing to world peace and justice. He believed that the daily practice of chanting was an essential form of committing to compassionate action, and could generate benefits for society. Bishop Myokei Caine-Barrett Shonin is the first American woman and the first of African-Japanese descent to attain full ordination as a Nichiren priest.

Myokei Caine-Barrett Shonin is a bishop for the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Order of North America, and she is the principal teacher of Myoken-ji Temple in Houston, where she actively supports Buddhist practice for people who are incarcerated in Texas prisons.

One tenet of Nichiren Buddhism known as “faith in action” is used consistently in the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, the founder of the tradition. The use of the word “faith,” though seldom associated with Buddhism, has helped a number of practitioners in the West make connections between their Christian heritage and their Buddhist practice. Ben Harris, is one such practitioner who has made the connections between seemingly very different religious traditions.

Ben Harris is a former student of Rima Vesely-Flad, and a recent graduate of Union Theological Seminary's Inaugural Master of Social Justice Program. He is former military officer living in the DC Metro area, and has practiced Nichiren Buddhism for nine years.