With seventy-five members, East Carolina is the largest Chapter of SGI-USA in the Eastern part of North Carolina.  Formed in 1973 from the merger of the Jacksonville and Kinston SGI-USA Chapters, East Carolina is comprised of three Districts, White Oak, Onslow, and Kinston, which are each themselves divided into a Men's Division, Women's Division, Young Men's Division, and Young Women's Division.  Members of each District Division gather three times a week to chant daimoku (Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, "Homage to the Lotus Sutra of the Mystic Law") in a member's home.  Each District holds a monthly meeting, and the East Carolina Chapter also participates in a larger Area gathering called Kosen Rufu Gongyo (World Peace Prayer Service) on the first Saturday of the month at 10:00 a.m. 

This Kosen Rufu Gongyo takes place in Jacksonville at the Disabled American Veterans' Hall, rented by SGI-USA for this purpose.  In a medium-sized lecture hall an altar is erected with Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo on a calligraphy scroll as the centerpiece.  Participants sit in rows of chairs facing the altar, circles of beads known as juzu draped over their hands clapsed in the prayer position.  The service begins with three daimoku toward the altar, led by a person with a microphone.  The congregation then turn in their seats to face East (the altar is on the South end of the room) and chant several additional prayers.  Turning back to the altar, the congregation go through five rounds of chanting segments of the Lotus Sutra with silent prayer and daimoku.  The entire process takes roughly forty minutes.  

Following the prayer service are announcements, testimonials, lectures on practical topics such as health as well as religious instruction, and choir singing (Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is a perennial favorite).  Guests are encouraged to announce themselves and receive enthusiastic applause and flag-waving, as does every speaker at the microphone and many who call out from the audience.  Kosen Rufu Gongyo is not a solemn affair: dress ranges from baggy untucked shirts to full military uniforms (this is one of the few Buddhist activities where one is not asked to remove one's shoes), and all activities are accompanied by the soudns of children playing and people whispering gossip in the aisles.  Including gongyo, the entire gathering lasts ninety minutes.

Typical turnout for East Carolina Area Kosen Rufu Gongyo is around 140 people, with probably the most diverse ethnic mix of any North Carolina Buddhist Group: the largest contingent are Japanese-American women, but they are a minority in a group that also includes significant black, Caucasian, and Latino representation.  Ages range from under ten to over seventy.
 
 

JW