Spiritual Journey: Mr. De'Aaron Clark

By Mr. De'Aaron Clark

Rissho Kosei-kai of San Francisco Dharma Center, USA

This Spiritual Journey speech was given at the San Francisco Dharma Center.

Good morning, everyone. I would like to start off by saying thank you to Reverend Lee for

allowing me to speak today. He wanted me to share a couple of experiences I’ve had with Rissho Kosei-kai and how they helped shape my life. I’ll start off by sharing my experience with the ALT (Advanced Leadership Program) offered by RKINA.

I was first introduced to the program and recommended by Reverend Chris Peters in RK Oklahoma, who saw me as a great candidate for this program. At first, I was very hesitant because when I heard the word “advanced”, I immediately felt it was out of my league. I was only part of Rissho Kosei-kai for about a year at the time and didn’t think I was remotely ready to join a program that delves deeper into The Lotus Sutra. Despite my reservations, Reverend Chris Peters made sure to listen to me and smile, then said: “Trust me, De’Aaron, you’ll do great.”

Another factor that added to my uncertainty was my decision to move from Oklahoma to California, which made me question whether I would even be able to put in the level of dedication I thought I was required to for such a task. But rather than dwell on those thoughts, I reflected on Reverend Chris Peters' kind face and words that had this faith in me, and I had a tough time seeing.

As I soon engaged with the ALT program, I quickly found it to be informative rather than

expecting me to know what the Lotus Sutra was wholly about. The questions presented

were ones of internal interpretation and reflection on what the Lotus Sutra makes us feel

rather than what we believe is the correct answer. Getting the opportunity to hear the

thoughts of other Reverends and their own personal interpretations gave me a sense of

relief to know that there isn’t just one single answer.

The best part of the ALT program was the opportunity to interact with other sangha members from different RK branches. You get to see the subtle differences in how each one approaches not only RK’s teachings but also the Buddha's teachings in general. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn the stories of other ALT participants, from their personal experiences to how they apply RK teachings in their day-to-day lives. I gained immense knowledge during my time in ALT, learning the Lotus Sutra and what the true goal it aimed to achieve, which was seeing the buddha-nature of all beings.

One persistent theme throughout my life is faith. It’s something that’s always brought up in some way eventually. A question I remember being asked by a longtime member here in RK San Francisco was profound: Is faith inherent in us, or is it learned? It was a question that quickly flashed into my mind, tons of childhood experiences.

Prior to my interactions with RK and Buddhism in general, I was a staunch

atheist. I held no faith in anything if it wasn’t something I could directly interact with

myself. I remember people asking me what my faith was and immediately answering them

with “I don’t have faith in anything or anyone”. I would commonly engage in debates or

arguments about the fallacy of believing things you can’t directly experience for yourself. I

was never confrontational nor felt that their faith is silly or absurd, what they believe

is their authentic experience, it’s just no matter what people told me, they never gave me

any convincing argument I felt to make me think otherwise.

Most people tend to be very steadfast in their faith and beliefs, thinking it to be certain. But the arguments I countered with were: In your steadfast belief system, doesn’t that require you to take the word of another person? This person talks about such-and-such a thing, but have you seen it for yourself? If I had come up to you first and told you such-and-such a thing, would you have believed me? What is your basis for taking the word of this person? Why should it be by faith alone?” Commonly, these were questions that were never directly answered or only answered with “Because that’s just how it is”. Every single debate with someone ended the same way: none of us walked away thinking differently, and we kept clinging to our own limited worldview.

When approaching the profound question again of whether faith is inherent or learned,

I’m always immediately transported back to when I was a child. I remember what it was like

being a child, unsure of the world and my own senses. I’m left with nothing but my

environment, people, and surroundings to shape my own mind. Essentially, we’re left with

no other choice in having faith in other people or things because it’s dependent on our own

survival. You need faith to develop motivation to keep going, but you also need

understanding as a reminder of why you’re doing it. Without either, everything falls apart. It

is what causes our own suffering to arise repeatedly.

The Buddha constantly teaches us to develop wisdom, empowering our ability to discern what’s skillful and unskillful. When we don’t correctly discern what’s skillful or unskillful, we can quickly be led astray onto paths that can lead to greed, hatred, or delusion. The way the Buddha explains wisdom isn’t just a simple answer. The wisdom comes from the questions we can constantly reflect upon in terms of how we would want to live our lives, to develop the awareness of being able to recognize if this is the way we want to continue to live and recognize the choices presented to us.

Whenever we discuss faith, I feel that most people approach it improperly. It wasn’t until I started encountering the Buddha’s teachings that I found an alternative way to view faith. Rather than seeing it as a rigid structure, the Buddha teaches us that faith isn’t something that needs to be rigid, but rather something to be shaped through our observations and experience of the world.

The Buddha also teaches us that we can be shaped not only by our own life experiences but by the life experiences of others. In that, we all share something in common, which is the buddha-nature within all beings (or that all beings experience “dukkha” and have the capacity to overcome it)

Rissho Kosei-kai helps me discern what I want to gain from my life. Any time I interact with any of the sangha members, I can actively see parts of my mind expand with every single interaction, and I make sure to expand with the people I experience outside of Rissho Kosei Kai. Being diverse gives us the opportunity to be able to consistently see what truly matters in how we interact with others and ourselves. If I hadn’t decided to be open-minded at the beginning of my path, I wouldn’t have been willing to listen to the Buddha’s teachings in the first place and would have continued to struggle back and forth with personal problems, without any tools to rely on. It isn’t just walking through these doors that makes me know what’s in my heart to help others; it’s my faith and understanding of Rissho Kosei Kai’s teachings, and, most importantly, the Buddha’s teachings, that continue to develop me as I keep moving with the world.

March 2026