Sunday, February 14, 2016

5 Keys to Make Your Gongyo and Your Life Sparkle!




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Perfecting our daily recitation of Gongyo and Daimoku is our spiritual work-out for the interior of our lives, this work-out makes our environments 
(our world at every moment, 
and all the people and things and EVERYTHING in it) 
flow smoothly...and we can accomplish our goals and live fulfilling lives.  

When Shakyamuni was meditating under the Bodhi Tree, he was assailed by many thoughts to make him stop or to throw off his meditation. 
He kept focused. He won. 
Our practice of Gongyo every day is just like this. 
We are the Buddha! 
Every day - twice a day!  
We must win! 

Gongyo is important!

Our concentration will pay off. Doing gongyo with the following guidelines has brought me great benefit. 
(As always ~ these writings are mine, and come from my heart to yours.)

5 Keys to Make Your Gongyo 

and Your Life Sparkle!

Don't just "do" Gongyo. Feel it. Experience it.
by Jamie Lee Silver at chantforhappiness.com 

1. Put your phone in another room. 
                 Claim this time as YOUR OWN! 

2. Pray each silent prayer with all your heart. 

Elevate the moment from reading to praying

Read each silent prayer over and over until you can actually feel the appreciation. Read the silent prayers until they sink in...so you are truly praying in appreciation. If you don't know why Nichiren Daishonin and the three presidents deserve your praise, please ask a fellow member and study the history of Nichiren Buddhism and the Soka Gakkai. (Clink the link to the right to find your local SGI group) It took tremendous conviction and courage to bring this practice to us today! 
During these prayers, I bring forth the gratitude I feel for having this practice in my life.   

3. Begin and end Gongyo 
                     with no interruptions. 

You can chant as long as you'd like between gongyo and the silent prayers. 
Sometimes I recite the silent prayers at the end of Gongyo soon after the recitation...not after finishing all my daimoku for the morning. This makes it easier to do a complete gongyo before I get up to do something else, or refresh my drink or whatever. 
I start and complete gongyo. Boom. 
Then I can do as much daimoku as I want, with gongyo done. Complete. With no interruptions. If I get interrupted in the middle of gongyo I begin again! I see this helping me complete things in my life on a much more regular basis. 

4. Chant every morning and evening. 

I know, I know, you've heard this before. The reason I keep repeating this message is that it WORKS! When we do gongyo twice a day our lives get on a roll. You have to experience it to see it! I can't tell you how it feels. I can tell you that one of my YWD (young woman) finally began chanting twice a day (after refusing to do this for two years) she was able to realize a hidden goal, bring it to the surface, chant about it, and now she's living her dream in Colorado. Chanting twice a day WORKS! 

5. Perfect Your Rhythm 
              and Pronunciation of Gongyo

In the early days of my practice, I was fortunate to have a leader who believed that perfecting gongyo was important. Every day I showed up at her house to fine-tune my rhythm and pronunciation. You can do the same, and it will energize your practice and life. 
I suggest finding a mentor in your SGI circle who can work with you. To learn, we can bring a pencil and circle the parts we find difficult, and highlight our mistakes. The next time through we can be aware of the challenging parts because we circled them. We can learn it like a song. 
It is easier to learn it right the first time, but not impossible to fix, if learned wrong. 

Having perfect gongyo gives us confidence. 

I'd like to hear your stories of how perfecting your gongyo changes your life. Everything we do to enhance our practice is reflected in our lives. 

Gongyo and Daimoku are our laboratory 
where we create the lives of our dreams! 

I'm interested in hearing how you are perfecting your gongyo! 
Doing Gongyo is like lifting spiritual weights. how strong can we make our lives? 
That's what we're talking about! 


Email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com

3 comments:

  1. Hi Jamie & hello to all the lovely readers! :)

    I'm among the many fans of your blog and the wonderful work you're doing by mentoring so may of us through your learnings. Thanks for this post considering I will for the 1st time begin my 'Gongyo' tomorrow; after 12 days of consistent Daimoku!

    As you've rightly suggested, upon researching various you tube videos and blogs, I too 1st got A3 size print outs of the Gongyo and I intent completing it followed by the 3 silent prayers & Daimoku in the end. That makes it more systematic.

    I have decided that out of my daily prayer, if I chant 1 hour then out of the 1 hour, 20 minutes are going to be focused solely for 1 specific person / problem. For example, yesterday, I prayed for all those people in Dubai who have lost their jobs on account of recession & that they find a solution to their problems soon. Likewise, each day, 20 minutes of my chanting will be directed towards praying for a specific person or situation or cause that needs healing! That way, maybe, I'm doing my bit of Kosen rufu (till I officially register with SGI).

    I have been praying to get my offer letter before Feb 2016 with a certain salary at a company where I'd gone for an interview; please keep me in your prayers & wish me luck for my 1st ever Gongyo! :) NMRK!

    Love & Regards,
    Mauli

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  2. I have a comment that may be relevant. After getting my gohonzon, have been chanting twice a day on my own (I'm a bit shy in groups), practicing my pronunciation and speed of the gongyo. Yesterday, I went to my second meeting and was THRILLED that not only I was able to do the gongyo, but I was able to keep up with the group (they were more seasoned and recited the passages lightening fast). It was exhilarating and gave me the confidence to know that I can do this. :)

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  3. I used to do memorized Gongyo, but realize it can become a practice of habit and formality this way.
    For over 10 years I recite my Gongyo using the book. Now happy about our new The Liturgy of the Soka Gakkai International Gongyo book. Everyday, trying to improve my pronunciation all the time. This help makes my morning and evening prayer fresh, and trying to improve my daily life one day, one step every day. Improving pronunciation every day, I believe will instill a attitude to improve my life every moment. If I get my SGI practice a formality or habit, activities help to refresh my determination again. Sensei's guidance and Gosho maintain a positive direction. Thank you.

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