To answer your next question, how this Buddhist practice is different from others- this Buddhist practice believes that “material desires lead to enlightenment”, and preaches the middle path in all areas of life (balancing material with spiritual), whereas most other Buddhist practices expect folks to eventually turn to aestheticism or perhaps celibacy. There are more differences, such as our basis of practice is chanting, whereas many others favor silent meditation. We are also a very progressive practice & advocate for nuclear reform, lgbtq rights etc.

Hey Emma- thanks for asking! I got into this particular branch when I was 16. My Neighbourhood best friend had invited me to a local Buddhist meeting where I heard others chant. For the past 6 months I had been going to therapy, but it was quite ineffective in helping slow down my thoughts or relieve anxiety. However, at the Buddhism meeting when I heard folks chant “Nam myoho renge kyo” in unison, my spirits were energized, my overthinking reduced, I felt some peace, and hope. The leaders who were facilitating the meeting then explained “we all possess reserves of creativity and intuition that get activated when we chant NMRK”. And bam, that was exactly what I needed! More so, one of the major themes of my depressive phase at the time was that I was no longer as happy as I used to be & missed just being happy. The whole motto of this Buddhist practice is to be happy and make others happy! The reason I even experienced ecstatic states of happiness when I was 12 was because my aunt shared a Buddhist quote witj me about true happiness, so it all came together!

Love that question 🙏 I’ve actually been really interested in learning about this too. Each branch of Buddhism seems to offer something unique.