Sentaro Honda

A Buddhist priest, representing a league of 6,000,000 Japanese, traveled to Washington to see the President.

He arrived on a day of death, wrote a letter, departed.

THE HONORABLE CALVIN COOLIDGE

Sir: It would be highly impudent of me, a stranger from across the sea, to address the President of the United States, were it not for the fact that I have traveled many thousands of miles only to deliver to him a message which millions upon millions, who believe in the Buddhist teachings of mercy and tolerance as expounded by the great Saint Nichiren, of Japan, wish me to deliver.

That message it was my hope and desire to deliver personally to you. Upon my arrival in Washington, however, I was profoundly grieved to hear of the demise of your beloved son. It would be an inexcusable intrusion on my part to ask for an audience with you at such a time. . . .

Speaking for the followers of the teachings of Saint Nichiren, it is my first duty to convey to you their heartfelt gratitude for your and your countrymen's magnificent generosity. . . .

Love is supreme. Its voice can never be drowned by the tumult of politics. Of all times this is the Mme when the followers of Nichiren should unflinchingly and steadfastly stand by his eternal doctrine of tolerance, love and righteousness. My second duty, then, is to convey to you, and through you to the American people, the humble assurance that we who endeavor to follow Nichiren will do all in our power to convince our countrymen that the way to set American-Japanese relations aright is to walk in the footsteps of the Great Saint. . . .

The third message, then, which 1 am asked to deliver to you is that the followers of Saint Niehiren humbly ask you and your fellow citizens to join with them in a common prayer, invoking love, tolerance and justice--you in the words of Christ, and we in the language of Nichiren. . . .

May I conclude this humble message with the assurance that the followers of Nichiren are praying and will continue to pray for you and your people, as they pray for their own people, so that the hands of love will guide the two nations in their endeavor to keep the peace of the Pacific.

Respectfully yours,

(Signed) SENTARO HONDA, Representing the Buddhist Salvation League of Japan.