Look at this! We ARE the universe and we can solve ALL our problems!

Our eyes, our nebulae!

Buddhist thought holds that we are microcosms of the universe. Science is moving closer to Buddhist thought all the time. This picture really intrigued me. It's just mesmerizing isn't it? And we access the power of the entire universe every time we chant. 

And when we look around our lives we see that our lives actually do reflect how we feel, what we see, and how we experience the world. 

Through chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (it means: I fuse my life with the mystic law of cause and effect through sound vibration) we can set our entire lives right. 

We can change ANY poison into medicine. 

We can change anything. 

Life is eternal. 

Some things take longer than others, 

I know, we all know. 

But the important thing, as Daisaku Ikeda says, 

is to keep chanting until we DO change it. 

The important thing is to not give up, and to take every challenge and make fresh determinations around it.

As some of you know,  my son Ben is in the hospital. I have been chanting for him for some time. My determination is that he comes out of this experience happier, more fulfilled, and full of faith and hope in the future. I am also determined that this experience bring all members of the family closer and be a catalyst for the happiness of all. I am chanting for each one of the people who is taking care of Ben right now...that somehow through being with him and our family that their lives be filled with hope too. 

ANY experience can be a catalyst for greater happiness when we meet it right in front of the Gohonzon, and don't run from it! The key is to keep chanting for human revolution, doing shakubuku and studying. 

How much Daimoku should you chant? I am chanting two hours a day and I'm so grateful to mySELF for making this happen. 

How much should you chant? It depends on your goals, your state of life, and as you have pointed out - you DO need to sleep! So I say ~ chant as much as you need to keep your life condition elevated! Only you know how long that is. And whatever you do ~ when confronted by obstacles and "problems" meet them head on in front of the Gohonzon and say 

"Life! I summoned this storm and I will USE it to revolutionalize (my word!) MY LIFE! I will use this as fuel for my life and the lives of others! I will prove the power of my life and this practice right here. RIGHT NOW!" 

What Can You Accomplish By Chanting?

What can you accomplish through chanting? 

You can change your problems, your attitude, your basic life tendencies and your karma!

The power of chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo 
is bigger than your biggest problem. 

"There are many elements involved in a prayer being answered, but the important thing is to keep praying until it is. By continuing to pray, you can reflect on yourself with unflinching honesty and begin to move your life in a positive direction on the path of earnest, steady effort. Even if your prayer doesn't produce concrete results immediately, your continual prayer will at some time manifest in a form greater than you had ever hoped." 
~ President Ikeda  (From Faith in Action page 152)

What are some examples of actual proof I've accomplished through chanting?

I have raised my life condition permanently from a state of sadness to one of almost continual happiness. 

When you raise your life condition EVERYTHING changes. People around you change. Opportunities come more easily. Everything changes because YOU have changed on the inside and because of the interconnectivity of all of life your environment has to change to reflect those changes.

As Nichiren Daishonin says in the Gosho The Three Kinds of Treasure: "Buddhism teaches that when the Buddha nature manifests itself from within, it will obtain protection from without. This is one of its fundamental principles." 

I have permanently changed the following in my life:

Hopelessness - I now look forward to every day
Depression - Now almost nonexistent for me
Anxiety - Almost NEVER do I feel anxiety now.
Sadness - I am truly a different person now...
Fear - Hardly ever...
Loneliness - I went from having very few friends to having many friends, and to being happier when I'm alone as well. 
Health - I am healthier than I've ever been. 

Also:

I have alleviated the feeling of endless longing for what I do not or cannot have. Words cannot describe how wonderful this benefit has been for me. 
I've lost 50 pounds and feel younger and stronger than ever.
I just sent my book off yesterday to an agent. I am living the life of my dreams. This, along with the blog you are reading now is my greatest passion....helping people alleviate their suffering by introducing them to Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. 

I have peace of mind.

The list goes on and on.....

There are also many other categories of changes people have made in their lives. 

I remember chanting for my first car. I chanted for a reliable car for kosen-rufu (world peace) so that I could drive people to SGI meetings in San Francisco. 
I chanted for a beautiful house to hold Buddhist meetings in...one that would inspire people that anything was possible!
I'll never forget the looks on the movers' faces when they arrived at my beautiful kosen rufu home on the hill with the gorgeous view! It was such a contrast from my tiny little apartment on lower Nob Hill in San Francisco! 
And I've chanted for financial benefits. We need money to live and to give us opportunities. 
It is not bad to chant for money. Money is necessary. 

You can chant for anything. 
Health
Family Relationships
Happiness for others
Love
Career
YOU NAME IT. 
You are accessing the power within your own life. 

There are so many things... feelings...experiences... that you can chant for. And the biggest benefit of all is that as you are chanting for these things you are developing a stronger sense of self...a stronger inner core...a strength so powerful that NO PROBLEM CAN DEFEAT YOU. EVER. That is truly the best benefit of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
And remember that when you chant you are not asking anyone for anything...you are drawing power from your own precious life! Go YOU!

I'm celebrating today. Readership this blog is getting close to 1,000 a day! Thanl you so much for helping me reach my goal of 50,000 a month by November 18th! Thank you for passing the link chantforhappiness.com 
on to your fellow members, friends, family and anyone you want to introduce to this practice, or encourage. And thank you for passing it on to people who speak languages other than English since there's a translation button on the top right ...And thank you so much for writing me. I love knowing what is on your mind and I adore hearing your successes. I am so grateful to you.

DIS-couraged, or EN-Couraged? - Some Quotes to Inspire!

In all of our lives we sometimes experience frustration, right? We all have things we've chanted about for a long time and we think maybe they will never happen...and we face the choice of being discouraged, or encouraged. 
Let's think about those words for a moment: 

DIS-COURAGED. 
Lost courage. 
No more courage. 
Negative courage. 

We do feel this from time to time, I know. It is at exactly this point that we can put our faith to its best use. We have a unique tool. 
We have faith we can use to re-EN-COURAGE us. 

En-Courage
Filled with courage
Inner courage
In the state of courage

Much better, right? 

I know this from experience. This weekend I had an event I was pretty excited about. I chanted three hours the day it  happened, and it ended up being a bit disappointing. Thank goodness I chanted all those hours. I was a little miffed, but not depressed or upset. My life condition was sky-high! 

So I had a choice. DIS couraged or EN couraged? I must admit, after this incident on Saturday, on Sunday morning I woke up and sat in front of the Gohonzon (my life) and said "Really Gohonzon? Is that the best my life can do?" and I realized I was just facing an obstacle. And yes, it was really hard to chant! 
Today I woke up, and because of YOU, because I live not just for myself, I re-encouraged myself and was able to focus, chant and redetermine to WIN in all aspects of my life. That is the power of this practice. That is the power of our lives!  

I turned to the great writings of Daisaku Ikeda. 
In Faith in Action he writes in the section Perseverance:

"It is important to take a long range view. 
No great achievement is accomplished overnight 
or without difficulty. 
Should benefit be obtained easily, 
and without making serious efforts in our Buddhist practice, we'd probably easily abandon our faith 
and end up miserable." 
p. 145 

And he continues on the next page: 

"It is important to become strong 
and to not be defeated. 
Don't become the kind of people 
who are always depending or leaning on others 
or who weakly and timidly 
leave hard work and responsibility to others. 
Whatever obstacles you may encounter, 
please use them as a launching pad for your growth 
and keep advancing, 
bravely enduring all hardships, 
telling yourselves, 
"I'll show them what I'm made of!" 
p. 146

And:

"No matter what the circumstances, 
you should never concede defeat. 
Never conclude that you've reached a dead end. 
You possess a glorious future. 
Precisely because of that, 
you must persevere and study. 
Life is eternal. 
We need to focus on the two existences 
of the present and the future 
and not get caught up in worry about the past. 
We must always have the spirit to begin anew 
"from this moment," 
to initiate a new struggle each day." 
p. 146

I was also thinking about the wise words of my own personal mentor and good friend in faith Kate Randolph. She explained the concept of setting deadlines, and what it means to our Buddhist practice and our lives in this wise way:


"We set deadlines to motivate OURSELVES into action. 
A deadline is not for the universe to respond to us. 
We chant. 
We take action. 
The deadline comes. 
We either win or we don't. 
If we don't get the result by the deadline 
we pick ourselves right up again and redetermine. 
The goal is to never be defeated. 
Sensei always says "To win in life is to never be defeated." That does not mean that we will never fail. 
It's our spirit that matters. 
The battle we fight is not with the universe. 
It's with our inner demons...
the ones that say things like 
"obviously chanting doesn't work 
because I did not get my dream by my deadline...or...maybe I should have a different goal...
maybe I wasn't MEANT to have that thing!....
or what am I doing wrong? 
Maybe I wasn't chanting the RIGHT way!" 
It is at that juncture that we must recognize 
the opportunity to deepen our faith and our understanding of the profundity of Buddhism. 
ANYTHING that DRAINS OUR LIFE FORCE 
is the negative function. 
Any inner voice that causes us doubt and hopelessness 
IS the negative function. 
Once we decide we will win no matter what ~ 
we need only to continue. 
We've already won. 
The battle is with the negative function within. 
Ultimately, deadlines are irrelevant. 
Set them if you need them to motivate yourself. 
But decide from the onset that you will win no matter what. And hold YOURSELF accountable. Not the universe. 
If it is a crucial moment and you are in a dire predicament, financially, or health-wise, i
t is time to DEMAND the protection of the Shoten Zenjin. 

No prayer of a votary of the Lotus Sutra will go unanswered. If your prayer is going unanswered find out what it means to be a votary of the Lotus Sutra. STUDY. And as you are chanting DEMAND the result that you want through your prayer. Awaken to your mission and realize that all your suffering is your opportunity to encourage other people. That is what is meant by turning Karma into Mission."

Happy Summer Solstice!

When you chant enough daimoku 

your life is shining like the sun. 

Are you feeling a little down? 

Are things not going your way as often as you would like? 

If you start chanting more daimoku more consistently your life will rise with the power of daimoku, you'll feel a glow and contentment, you'll be happier, people you want to have in your life will be drawn to you...

Try challenging yourself to chant more daimoku in the morning and the evening. You can make it fun by chanting with others. And you may experience the place I am in right now...the more I chant the more I WANT to chant. The time flies. It is effortless. I have so many things to chant for! I feel so connected. I chant with so much joy! 

Daimoku is FREE and a "happiness making machine." 

I've been chanting at least two hours a day for awhile. I'm focusing on writing the PowerPrayer book, and on YOU who read this blog. 

My deepest desire is to write words that inspire you, give you hope and make you want to get back in front of your Gohonzon and rededicate yourself to creating the life you really want. When you chant you TELL your life what you want.

My deepest desire is to encourage you to take Nichiren Daishonin and Daisaku Ikeda's words to heart and engrave them in your lives. 

My deepest desire is for you to be so happy that people naturally want to learn what you're doing and you can teach them to chant. 

My deepest desire is to always connect with Sensei (Daisaku Ikeda) and take the actions, chant the prayers, and write and say the words that he would say. 

Sensei's Daily Guidance for June 21 from For Today and Tomorrow reads:

"When you devote your life to achieving your goal,  
you will not be bothered by shallow criticism. 
In fact nothing can be accomplished 
if you allow yourself to be swayed by some trifling matter, 
always looking over your shoulder and wondering what others are saying or thinking. 
The key to achievement is to move forward resolutely along your chosen path."

Every Buddha Faces Challenges ~ That's How It's Supposed to Be!

Yes, every Buddha does face challenges. But the good thing is - if we keep chanting our way through our challenges  ~ and we don't give up ~ we create such wonderful benefit every single time. And the more we set our sights on our true PowerPrayers for ourselves and others, the more our life blossoms into true happiness. Right now, every day, as I am writing this blog, and writing my PowerPrayer book for you, I am experience a peace of mind and sense of full~fill~ment I've only dreamed of in the past. Every day I wake up happy to chant, happy to write, and happy to see each person I encounter. 

This week has been a challenging and fulfilling week for me. My son Ben got his wisdom teeth out and has been staying with me. He's also been facing some disappointment, so I have been chanting up a storm for him. When our children aren't happy it's hard for us to be entirely happy, isn't that true? Well, let's just say this has been a tough year for Ben who just finished his second year of college in these challenging times. 

One of the things he has discovered about himself is he gets  great joy that comes from playing with children, so he is planning on becoming a teacher. He's been volunteering at The Sudbury School, a democratic free school where children are trusted, age levels are mixed, and the children decide what they will learn and when. If you're interested in knowing more you can look at the Sudbury Valley School on Facebook or the web. Sudbury Valley is the original school and the success of the students is well-documented in the book Free to Learn by Peter Gray. 

Today, on this quiet Saturday, I arose to write something very exciting. This fall I will be leading a workshop in Bali, Indonesia called:
Explore, Enhance and Expand Your Inner Buddha... 
As soon as I have all the details for reserving your place, I will post them here. I can tell you now that it's set for November 16th-22nd in Bali, Indonesia and the cost will be $1599 including accommodations, activities and most meals. I'll be doing this through Love Your Spirit Tours. 

Here is the first write-up for the event. You get first peek at this exciting event! 

Jamie Lee Silver
Write up for Bali, 

From earliest memory, Jamie Lee Silver was searching for a practical solution to her problems. She knew that she could not have been born into a lifetime of debilitating depression, the constant urge to eat anything not nailed down, constant longing for love amidst self-loathing, and the curse of living life in America as a fat person without a higher reason. and greater purpose to help people. She had an intense yearning to revolutionize her life from within and to use her victory to help others who were suffering.  

She did her best to appreciate her life, using the songs of John Denver as her spiritual support, and exploring every avenue of relief including religion, literature, metaphysics, mysticism, psychology, yoga, est, poetry, alcohol and various mind-enhancing drugs and meditations. In each of these, she found nuggets that were helpful, but her depression persisted and she kept searching for the real, karma changing solution. 

In 1985 she was living in San Francisco and hit an all-time low after being laid off when she met Kate Randolph, a Nichiren Buddhist, who would become her mentor for life. Kate introduced her to a form of Buddhism that said that by chanting the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (the title of the Lotus Sutra and the name of the rhythm of life itself) and simultaneously focusing on your desires (not clearing your mind of desires), you can change ANYTHING in life from poison to medicine, create lasting karmic change for yourself and countless others, and actually make your dreams come true. Kate told her the power of this chant was its ability to grant the practitioner access to the entire power of the universe within each life. 

Yes. According to this practice, everyone is a Buddha and this chant makes the Buddha burst forth generating the highest life state of fulfillment and happiness.

Immediately, Jamie began a twice-a-day practice of Practical Buddhism and embarked on a new life of Buddhist study. She immediately proved the power of this prayer by raising herself from the depths, finding a job and crawling out of her emotional hole. She knew she’d begun a life-long process of converting her own suffering, and helping anyone who was suffering find out about this practice.

 Over the next 28 years she proved the power of this chant over and over in her life by vowing to use her struggles to encourage others. In her first few years of practice she took District leadership in the Soka Gakkai, otherwise known as the SGI, or “value creating society”, the lay organization that promotes peace, culture and education through individual and collective happiness. She has hosted meetings in her own home every week ever since then. One of her first benefits from chanting was writing a Power Prayer and manifesting her “House for World Peace” on a high hill overlooking San Francisco. 

Since then, Jamie has chosen to move back to her roots in the Western Suburbs of Illinois to raise her two children, and has continued to devote her life to inspiring others by using her sparkling life as an example. 

She has absolutely and completely conquered depression, lost 70 pounds and kept it off for years. Jamie has had a wonderful and multi-faceted career in the world of sales and marketing, winning countless awards and honors. She has raised two “Buddha Boys” who started chanting to vanquish bad dreams at the age of two, and have used this practice in various powerful ways throughout their lives. Jamie has gone from being friendless and unhappy to a woman of high self-worth with countless friends and students. As the writer of the blog ChantforHappiness.com she inspires over 20,000 people a month to keep chanting, never give up, and realize their dreams.

As of this writing, Jamie is finishing up her first book The Buddha Zone, PowerPrayers for Chanting Your Way to Absolute Happiness and cannot wait to hold it in her hands and give it to the world! 

In Explore, Enhance and Expand Your Inner Buddha you will learn everything you need to know to experience plugging into your own power source through chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. 

We’ll be chanting every morning and evening together, learning the intellectual meaning of the chant itself and revealing its power in our lives.   

We’ll begin with Jamie’s process that enables you to tap into your current desires, and the hopes and dream you may have forgotten, or given up on along the way. We’ll do an inspired writing process to bring these dreams to the surface and feel anew the power of the flame of desire itself. In this practice “Desires Are Enlightenment, and give us the fuel to set fire to our chanting. 

In our workshops we”ll learn the origins of this “new” form of Buddhism whose roots go back to the Buddha’s original intent and purpose. And we’ll explore and learn powerful Buddhist concepts and apply them to everyday life. You’ll feel the energy of the chant, and be in the perfect place to delve into its meaning in your life, and how you can use it to over overcome any challenges you might be facing, and to build on it to springboard your life into previously untouched realms of self-fulfillment and happiness. 

Each day we’ll chant together and study crucial concepts that help you understand why and how chanting is in complete accord with science and common sense. You’ll learn and experience “The oneness of self and environment, many in body, one in mind, the power of the mentor disciple relationship, and more. You’ll learn the essential components of a PowerPrayer, and how to write your own personal PowerPrayers that will clarify your determination and propel you in the direction of your dreams. 


The lush and indescribably beautiful setting of Bali will make your new study of Buddhism that much more resonant and meaningful during our precious time together. We’ll explore the sights, sounds and tastes of this magnificent land as we bring forth our own most delicious, savory hopes, dreams and desires and begin the process of turning them from the impossible to the possible. 

One Person Can Change the World

This month is almost over, and many people in America are involved in taking the essentials exam. I've been studying and helping others study. Studying together is one of my favorite Buddhist activities. 

As I was posting this beautiful picture, which makes me think that Spring will finally be here at some point, I was taking a look at our study material. Those of us who have been practicing for a while know this quote well, and I love hearing it over and over and deepening my understanding of it:

President Ikeda States:

"A great human revolution 

in just a single individual 

will help achieve a change 

in the destiny of a nation 

and further, 

will enable a change 

in the destiny of all humankind."

The Hard Part!

OK, I'm not going to try and make this seem any easier than it is. Sometimes chanting is so darn hard. There have been times over the last week that I've just had to force myself to sit down and chant.

Why is it hard? Because I'm getting at the core suffering of my life. I am getting down to the real basis of sthe pain to bring it out and release it forever.

I don't even know why it's there...sure I can say it comes from this thought, or that thought...or a certain thing going on in my life, but really I know it is deeper than that. Buddhism calls it fundamental darkness and everyone has it, I may have mentioned it in this blog before, but it deserves to be repeated. We all come into this world with karma...both good and bad...and when we chant a lot we get to come face to face with it.

So this last week there were many days I just made myself sit and chant and I didn't even worry or think about the thoughts in my head...I just chanted. My prayer wasn't even important at that moment...but I knew I was connecting and changing something deep in my life. I persevered!

Once I moved through that really hard part I was able to resume my prayers for my friends, and for our leaders - I chant for them to have wisdom. I chant again and again from the bottom of my heart to be able to change in any way necessary for me to be happy and to be an example that this practice works...to break through the hard shell of the lesser self and reveal who I REALLY am in all my Buddha glory!

I am moving my life onward and upward!