My first Buddhist discussion meeting was January 4, 1969. I was a hard-core atheist. All religions were frauds. I was told that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the universal law; therefore belief is not necessary to receive benefit. I was told I could chant for anything I wanted. I was told that I could try to prove it wrong. 

My approach to Buddhist practice was scientific. To get my attitude right, I cursed everyone that was involved with this Buddhism. Then I recited portions of the Lotus Sutra and Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as proscribed. 

After a while, some Japanese women came to my house, rearranged my room and enshrined the Gohonzon in a decorated orange crate (butsudan). 

After they left, I couldn't wait to test the Gohonzon to see it had any power. Mano a mano. 

"If you have any power, show me now!" I demanded as I chanted intently to the Gohonzon. 

While chanting and demanding proof, my challenge came back at me just as powerfully as I made it. I found myself looking into my own life through the eyes of the Gohonzon and demanding, "If you have any power, show me now!" It was a powerful searchlight that forced me to look at the core of my life. 

When a refrigerator is moved, all the gunk behind it is exposed. The cool guy I thought I showed the world is the refrigerator. The gunk is the real me that others see, but I couldn't. Now I could see it clearly. I was shaken to the core by this experience. 

The Kanjin no Honzon Sho describes the Gohonzon as an object to observe one's mind. One of the functions of the Gohonzon is to illuminate the 3,000 worlds. The Gohonzon, on that first night, revealed the 3,000 worlds of my mind. 

The first step to my liberation had been achieved — To know thyself.