Friday, July 14, 2017

Faith Equals Daily Life!

Faith Equals Daily Life is a term we hear often in this practice. This week a reader emailed me to ask what this means to me. 

For those of you new to this blog, I'm a 32 year practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism, and I live my life to rid the world of suffering. I'm a proud member of the SGI, but I do not speak for them. I blog from my heart to yours. 

Faith equals daily life means: 
chant about everything! 
Chant about everything. YOU are the Buddha. YOU tell your life what you want by praying to your life every single day. 
Each day I take all my cares, worries, hopes for my life, and for the happiness of all around me, and I chant every day...FOR every day. I pray. 

As Daisaku Ikeda writes: 


"Prayer is an attempt to merge the inner workings of our life with the rhythm of the universe. When we pray in such a way, all the workings of the universe will function to protect us and the endless cycle of painful reality will be transformed into a cycle of victory and happiness. Prayer is the key to open the door to unleash that infinite human potential within our lives."
Daisaku Ikeda, Ikedaquotes.org

I begin every morning with at least an hour of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Every once in a while I have to rush out of the house without chanting an hour. But I make sure to connect in my daimoku, no matter how long I have to chant. 
Today I chanted to be in rhythm all day long, and to feel connected to that rhythm. I chanted to meet key people for my future, and to use this day to further my work of kosen-rufu in action. 

It was a joyous day! I spent most of it at a large, gorgeous retirement community connecting deeply with the staff, and exploring the ways my workshops can help their residents, their staff, and help them with marketing. It was a blast.  

Faith equals daily life means that every single day is a reflection of your faith and determination. Faith equals daily life means our faith is not shut off in some little box that we only take out every once in a while. No, our faith IS each day...our determination for each day...our live, Well-Lived...every single day. Chant about it all. Chant to connect life to life. Realize that, as Daisaku Ikeda says: YOU are the protagonist in the great play of your life. Enjoy it!!

5 comments:

  1. "Buddhism is like an ocean that one can only enter with faith." (WND, 832)

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  2. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BOOSTING MY BELIEF.

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  3. Thank you so much for your constant inspiration. I am always uplifted with your emails.

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  4. Please explain what you mean when you say, "But I make sure to connect in my daimoku, no matter how long I have to chant"? How do you 'connect' when chanting?

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