“I found this [excerpt from Leslie’s memoir] to be fascinating, harrowing, and inspiring. Especially in these current unsettling times, it was a real gift.”

“Leslie Mancillas’s article, “The Buddhist Bet,” offers a story of two lives transformed through Nichiren Buddhist practice that’s both shocking and inspiring in its scope and candor. After undertaking a 100-day chant challenge with her mom, a skeptical young Mancillas starts to realize: “Something was shifting, but I did not want to admit it.” Over time, her awareness of her and her mother’s buddha nature, their already awakened being, gave her a taste of newfound happiness and spiritual understanding that would change her life forever. Not only does this story enrich and expand our Western understanding of what Buddhist practice can look (and sound) like, it offers an unforgettable tale of adversity overcome—a young woman who dons, as Mancillas writes, a “shining tiara of hope”—from which we all might benefit.”