One Who Couldn’t, Now Can — My Next Book, “LB³” (Live #159)

It’s gotten cold

I wore a collared shirt today. It’s turned cold, hasn’t it? How is everyone feeling? We’ve had so much rain, and it poured again last night.

Chiba Prefecture has been through a very hard time this round, and I’ve been worried. I’m praying for the quickest possible recovery.

We’ve published our “Consultation Log”

On our website, we’ve published a log of consultations with our customers. Most came through LINE, some by phone, and together they show what our customers really want to ask. As of today, we have answered 201 inquiries.

Where questions were almost the same, we combined them. But many questions look alike and are actually different, so we’ve posted as many cases as we can.

Altar breakdowns: first, send us a photo on LINE

For example, there are 73 cases under “Breakdowns and Repairs.” One of them: “My altar worked fine yesterday, and today the power won’t come on. I replaced the fuse as I was once taught, but it still doesn’t work. Should I buy just a new power cord? I’m not in an area where on-site service is available, so I don’t know what to do.”

Our answer begins with: please send us photos on LINE. We check things one by one. There are various connectors and terminals, so we ask you to check them in turn.

The power cord running from the wall outlet to the altar is actually the least likely culprit. Along the way there is a fuse, which cuts the power off, for example when lightning strikes. If that fuse hasn’t blown, electricity is normally reaching the inside of the altar.

Several companies make altars, and several make the electrical parts. Whatever we don’t know, we ask the manufacturer or the department in charge, and then we answer. Either the customer is able to fix it, or we manage to source the part and send it.

If customers can’t do it themselves, it becomes an on-site repair. The company we work with covers the Kanto region, so other areas are difficult. Buddhist altar shops across Japan have become very few, and that is why it’s so hard to respond everywhere.

Matte covers for Butsudan Revolution — Kokū Zushi and Let’s Daimoku!

Both of my books have been published with glossy covers. When the overseas edition was made with a matte cover, it looked calm and settled — it just felt right. From now on, I’m changing to matte covers.

My next book, “LB³,” by the end of October

I published Let’s Daimoku! this May, and I’m going to publish one more.

A man who struggled to chant set out to build an altar that would make daimoku come naturally: that is Butsudan Revolution — Kokū Zushi. The experiment that proved whether it really worked is Let’s Daimoku!: ten million daimoku in three years, completed on April 6, 2026.

Five months later, as of today, I’m at 11.72 million. I believe that chanting ten million daimoku laid the foundation of my life. Since then, one million more in three months — and I feel a growth in myself that far surpasses the past three years.

So I planned a new book about my experience accelerating since I began combining daimoku with AI. That is what I call “LB³.”

With AI, a man who can’t speak English became an author in English

I was able to publish the English edition of Let’s Daimoku!. First, Gordon in New Zealand translated it. I don’t understand English, so I had his text put back into Japanese, and when I compared it with my original, I thought, “So this is how he translated it. How grateful I am.”

Then I had AI learn from Gordon’s faith-filled translation, and we made Let’s Daimoku. When I put that back into Japanese, I thought, yes, it really is Gordon-style — and we published it.

Using AI, a man who can’t speak English was able to become an author. That was a new experience for me.

From book to novel — and then to manga

During my morning daimoku today, another thought came to me: what if my books were retold as a novel? And if they can become a novel, why not a manga?

I asked AI, and it said manga can be published on Amazon Kindle, too.

Outsourced up to book two — this time, just me and AI

For my earlier books, I hired someone to edit them for Kindle publishing. It cost money. My third, Let’s Daimoku!, I made entirely with AI, at no cost.

Doing what you can’t do. With AI, “I can’t” turns into “I can.” I can’t speak English, yet an English edition was made. Next, a novel, and then a manga. It’s about multiplying me — a man whose daimoku now flows — by AI.

This time, by dictation

This time I’m writing by dictation. When I type, there are too many typos and my hands start to hurt. Converting, making mistakes again, over and over — only the time disappears.

I’ve already made a chapter outline, so AI interviews me on each chapter and I answer. Doesn’t that sound easy?

Every day, I find I can do something I couldn’t do before. I call that evolution, and I’m happy about it. And as you keep moving forward this way, what happens? You become able to change your own karma.

LB³ — Limit Break × Life Breakthrough × Life Balance

“LB” in the new book stands for Limit Break — breaking through your own limits.

Human × Daimoku × AI = LB. At first it was only about breaking limits, but as I went on, I realized there was another LB: Life Breakthrough. Not a one-off, but breaking through in life itself. So I think you could translate it as changing karma.

But “I changed my karma, and that’s that” isn’t quite enough. Then a third LB appeared: Life Balance. It isn’t enough just to change; how do you build balance around what has changed? It’s just like balancing health and nutrition.

Before I knew it, Human × Daimoku × AI = LB × LB × LB. When I told Gordon, he said, “Shima-san, that’s called LB³ — LB cubed.”

1 × 1 × 1 is 1 to the third power: still 1. But 2 × 2 × 2 — that’s something. Breaking limits becomes changing karma, which becomes human revolution, multiplied to the third power — or so I let myself imagine. I’ve started writing what I’m living through as “LB³,” by dictation.

Showing actual proof is faith

I want my life to be an experiment that proves how amazing daimoku is.

A man whose daimoku wouldn’t flow built an altar that makes daimoku flow. This isn’t a matter of “please buy my book.” Showing actual proof as your dreams come true — that is faith. Nichiren Daishonin teaches that actual proof counts for more than reason or documentary proof: giving it form, showing it to the world.

I’ll do my best to publish by the end of October. As before, I’ll build it myself with AI, over a six-month span, living my experience of faith along the way. I think I’m doing something rather remarkable.

To the comment: “I have no idea what you’re talking about”

On my Morning Daimoku videos, a comment sometimes says, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” What does it mean to understand? It depends on whether you experience it yourself.

I’m only a spark. I’m sharing that I chant daimoku, that I feel this way, and that I’m doing things this way.

Leaving what you don’t understand un-understood is like throwing a precious chance away. Whether you make it understandable to yourself — isn’t that a Limit Break?

Think for yourself, struggle for yourself. Today we have the internet, so check whether information is right or wrong. Believing wrong information brings the greatest unhappiness. It’s about becoming wiser yourself.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the greatest of all joys

“The very moment I was knocked down, in that same moment I was lifted up. That’s why daimoku changes karma so fast.” That was my experience from a few days ago.

A comment replied, “Isn’t it only truly good once you’ve been able to feel, from the bottom of your heart, that it was good for some number of days?”

I don’t know whether that person means one minute or one day. But Buddhism teaches attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime. It teaches the simultaneity of cause and effect. Life is moment by moment.

And Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the greatest of all joys. Chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo once, and that is already joy. Treasuring each moment and bringing your own life fully alive is the purpose of faith. That’s why we chant. Aren’t we living — while we experience it — in the happiness of creating our own value?

Three projects

Our website shows our three projects. The Butsudan-ya Café: “Why not talk about faith over a cup of tea?” The Butsudan-ya Practice Workshop, where two members and I keep in touch on LINE — “I found this,” “I’m taking on this challenge.”

And the Butsudan Lab. It has taken off at an amazing pace, and I barely have time to update it: more than 600 color options, changing the wood of the veneer, and more. I visited the veneer company in September, and my view of the world changed again.

Customers overseas, and what’s next for the Kokū Zushi

Overseas, on our blog SGI Butsudan Net, we publish my Morning Daimoku experiences in English, in Gordon’s style of translation. Little by little they’re being read, and recently altars were purchased by customers in the Netherlands and in Australia. I’m truly grateful. A custom altar for a customer in Hong Kong is finally about to be completed.

And a customer in Okinawa has newly signed on for a Kokū Zushi.

Karin (Burmese rosewood) is running out, so I ordered two more. One goes to a customer in Aichi; the other will be kept in stock for display. After that, we’ll use commonly available veneers such as teak and walnut. And, probably next year, I’m now planning the next new form of the Kokū Zushi.

Next week, I’ll build a “Kokū Zushi-style” pre-owned altar, fitting a Kokū panel into a used altar.

Chant by count, not by time

I decided for myself and kept chanting. I think it’s better to go by count, not by time — pulling the prayer beads one daimoku at a time.

People often ask, “Ten thousand daimoku — that’s amazing. Three hours?” If you chant each Nam-myoho-renge-kyo slowly, one by one, yes, it would take three hours.

But have you attended a vow gongyo meeting? How fast was President Ikeda’s daimoku? Remember that, and you’ll understand.

You can only truly experience it by practicing and feeling it yourself. What remains in life? Only what you’ve experienced. Because you’ve tasted the bitter and the sweet, life grows rich — and I think that’s how you come to carry yourself like a king.

If President Ikeda’s guidance is that a man should carry himself like a king, I want to live that way, like a waterfall.

Based on daimoku, I’ll keep expanding my potential without limit. Live, live, and live it through. Attain the fulfillment of your desires without fail. Never lose, never give up on yourself. The rest is just as the Daishonin writes: “Whether or not your prayer is answered will depend on your faith.”

All of it is my work, my mission

My wife says, “You’re always just doing what you like.” That’s not it. All of it is my work, my mission, my responsibility. For worldwide kosen-rufu, I’ll carry through whatever I can do.

My mission is to raise a whirlwind of daimoku across the world. Through this work, I hope that buying an altar becomes the spark for chanting daimoku. So I want you to buy the altar you yourself feel, “With this altar, my daimoku will flow.”

And I have defined it this way: a Soka Gakkai Buddhist altar exists for chanting daimoku.

Wouldn’t you like to publish a book once in your life? I wanted to, so I did it, and it happened. This will be my fourth, and now I can publish in other languages — Japanese and English first. After LB³, perhaps a novel, and after that, a manga.

Live long and healthy, and create value every day. Whether you make that your reality — that’s what makes life full.

Thank you so much for watching to the end.

Let’s Daimoku!