Journal of a Young Buddhist Radical

Who’s the young Buddhist radical? James C. Stephens from 1970-1984. In 1970, while attending California State University Northridge,  I made a decision to become a member of the Soka Gakkai, a Japanese Buddhist sect. The following entries represent a slightly edited and shortened version of the journals I kept over the fourteen years of my practice. They represent an honest reflection of my spiritual journey as an idealistic young Buddhist practicing in Santa Monica, California during the expansion of Nichiren Shoshu Academy, a radically ‘evangelistic’ Buddhist movement established in the United States by Masayasu Sadanaga, aka “George M. Williams” as a student at UCLA in 1960.