In the first years after May Khoen's death I often listened to the two-hours chant of this video. I was caught in a situation of deep grief and it gave me great comfort. The constant repetition of the words 'Nam myōhō renge kyō' in particular caused that effect, I think.
In august 2007, nine years before Khoen died, I spent a week at a Buddhist retreat in the Dordogne, named Plum Village. There every day I was woken up by the sound of a huge bell and by the morning prayer of a monk. I slept in a tent not far from the open bell tower where this daily ritual was performed, so the video also took me back to those wonderful and precious moments (the whole setting can be seen in the picture below).*1 HD
Nichiren Buddhism
When Tina Turner died at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, on May 24, 2023, at the age of 83, media headlines praised both her dynamism as a performer and her many career achievements. What many did not know is that for the past 50 years Tina had practiced (Soka Gakkai International) Nichiren Buddhism.
Tina’s Buddhist practice developed initially against the backdrop of her first marriage and continued throughout her solo career.*2 It provided inspiration for some of the final projects of her career (as for example the producing of this video).
Tina Turner was introduced to Nichiren Buddhism in 1973. It is based on the teachings of Nichiren, a Buddhist monk who lived during the 13th century in Japan. Central to Nichiren’s thought was the conviction that the Lotus Sūtra, a Mahayana Buddhist text, was the highest of all the Buddha’s teachings. Nichiren taught that chanting the title of this scripture in the form of the mantralike phrase 'Nam myōhō renge kyō' was the way for all people to reveal their inherent potential for awakening and attain buddhahood.
The Lotus Sūtra
The chant translates to somewhere between 'I devote myself to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sūtra', or the more traditional 'to the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching'. The Lotus Sūtra is said to contain the last teachings put forth by the original Buddha before he died, and the core message taken from it is that every person can attain enlightenment, without restriction, in this lifetime. 'Myoho Renge Kyo' is the title of the Lotus Sūtra itself, and adding 'Nam' creates a mantra that, when chanted aloud, is said to invoke the entirety of the teachings within the sūtra.
Nam is a Sanskrit word, derived from 'namas' which is taken to express devotion. It’s the same root of the more familiar 'namaste', or 'I bow to the divinity within you'.
Myoho – translates roughly to 'wonderful law', 'mystic law', or the karmic law of cause and effect, which is considered by Buddhists to be the ultimate law of the universe.
Renge – translates to 'lotus'. The lotus flower seeds and blooms at the same time, representing the simultaneity of cause and effect – once a person has made a cause, the effect has already taken place (but might not manifest until later). The lotus flower also blooms in swampy waters, representing the potential for any person to attain enlightenment in the 'swamp' of human suffering (they can be seen in the first picture).
Kyo – translates to 'sūtra', 'teaching', or 'the voice of the Buddha'.
Spoken together, these words connect the chanter with the karmic law of the universe.
Sources: Ralph H. Craig III and Happy Chanter.
Nichiren (1222-1282).