A mirror to Buddhism

This is how Woody Hochswender reasons that you may be a Buddhist and not even know it: "We all believe in the oneness of the world. We all believe there's spiritual truth inside us, an in-dwelling kernel. We all seek the happiness of others as a gateway to our own, right?"

To Hochswender, 55, a former fashion model turned writer on fashion and culture, these are all Buddhist ideas. He sees them all around and gaining ground, like traffic on the interstate. They are a "common thread uniting many of the secular and religious philosophies of our times," he says.

Hence his new book, "The Buddha in Your Rearview Mirror," a sequel to the 2001 best-seller he co-wrote, "The Buddha in the Mirror" (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2007, $16.95).

But putting a Buddha brand name on everything isn't enough for Hochswender. He advocates Nichiren (NEE-chir-en) Buddhism, one strand among hundreds of Buddhist sects, as the superhighway to inner peace and outer prosperity.

Zen Buddhism, as well as the Tibetan Buddhism of the Dalai Lama and contemplative traditions practiced by ascetic monks, are better known in American popular culture.

However, Hochswender believes Nichiren Buddhism is best suited to Western high-speed life.

Nichiren, a 13th-century monk, believed that the Lotus Sutra (one of 84,000 "sutras" or oral teachings of the Buddha) was the essential and highest truth of all, because it says each person can reach enlightenment.

The route is simple. It calls for faithful, focused, rapid, rhythmic chanting of words drawn from Sanskrit, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which means "devotion to the wonderful dharma (law) of the Lotus Sutra," while facing a Gohonzon, a scroll inscribed with Chinese symbols for the Lotus Sutra.

Nichiren Buddhists need not master a strict discipline, renounce desire or retreat to the woods. No special clothes or postures are required. There are no obscure koans to mull — riddles such as "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

"If you say Eastern religion, everyone thinks you have to speak really softly and eat brown rice. I eat meat. I drink. I smoke," he says.

Yet every day he also chants and concentrates on the benefits he seeks. Try it, and "you'll see immediate benefits, produced by you, proof in your own life now. Buddhism doesn't ask you to believe in God. Buddhism asks you to believe in yourself."