Daisaku Ikeda.
My name is Hannah, and I have been chanting for 20 years, I started when I was 16 years old. My boyfriend at the time was a Buddhist, he told me all about it and it all made such a lot of good sense to me that I gave it a go.
Why do I practise? Simple. Its my toolbox for happiness in the 21st Century
I was brought up as a Christian, but I felt no connection or resonance with it.
I first came across the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin in 1977 in Brighton. I was living in a 'Friends of the Western Buddhist Order' community at the time when a man I met in the street told me I was practicing the wrong type of Buddhism. I was not very impressed.
Why do I practise ?
Well, that's a very good question ? I ask myself this all the time.
I was first introduced to this Buddhism, when trying to organise a diversity event for a Specialist College in Mansfield where I was a student. I had gone onto the internet to look for Buddhists in the local area and stumbled across a chat room that had some SGI members in it.
I first encountered this Buddhism through my Greek Language teacher back in early 1994 . I became friends with her and her husband and often used to go out drinking with them. They kept mentioning Buddhism and encouraging me to attend neetings but I had no interest at all - I mean, why would I ?