PowerPrayer to End Depression and Anxiety

Chicago's Deep Freeze

This week I have proven once again, that that this prayer to end depression and anxiety works, and that karma change is permanent, no matter what the circumstances. I am in the middle of a very long dilemma...trying to get back home to Chicago after a winter storm. And through it all I have been calm...even with several sleepless nights. I don't feel anxiety. It will all work out. It is the middle of the night and I just found out my flight was cancelled again. I am in Asheville, North Carolina and there is a tiny airport here...and my flights keep being cancelled. I've spent 4 hours in line at the airport on 2 different days, and now this flight was canceled!  Thankfully, I was just able to get through to the airline and get booked on a plane that will take me through Charlotte, provided these flights don't get cancelled. I don't usually ask this, but if you have a chance could you please chant for me? I start my new job on Thursday (I was supposed to start on Monday) and I would really like to get home! 

This post is in answer to a question I got from a reader recently. 

She asked if I ever feel despair or anxiety, and what do I do when I sink into that feeling?

And yes, even Buddhas (like you and I), who have been chanting for many years still get occasional moments of despair!  Every time I feel a moment of sadness I think of all of you, and my district members, and I make a new VOW to overcome my karma (and propensity toward depression) once and for all by ripping it out at the roots. This is Human Revolution...never giving up. I must pave the way for others, just as you are paving the way for others through every one of your fresh determinations.

As Sensei says, the important thing is to keep chanting. 

There are several steps I recommend for when you are battling to WIN over your own despair ~
1. Chant ~ go to an SGI meeting
2. Call your friends in faith to encourage you 
and read Daisaku Ikeda's writings and Nichiren Daishonin's letters to his followers (the Gosho).
3. Make a fresh determination and a new vow
4. Chant again and win! 

I will pass along some wise words from my dear friend Kate who overcame her lifelong depression: 

She says that when you are making huge causes for Kosen Rufu it is natural to get obstacles in the form of emotions, and that once again your karma has shown itself to you anew so that you can once again determine to root it out forever. 

She also said at the core of our suffering is the fact that many aspects of our environment reflect our own deep seated feelings of self doubt and of not being good enough...but our perseverance changes this. 

Kate said sometimes our environment does not yet truly reflect the amazing and wonderfully shining, worthy people we are. And she attributes that to our deep seated doubts somewhere in our lives. (karma, of course). 

We have been suffering over some of the same things for our entire lives, haven't we?  She said:

Human Revolution is HARD 
because you have to break the ties 
to your own unhappiness. 
Those grooves are familiar, and hard to break. 

But if you greet your life in front of the Gohonzon and EVERY DAY say, "NO WAY! I am going to defeat this fundamental darkness forever!" you can break through. Kate did it. I did it. You can too. 

The following is a PowerPrayer...some powerful words to keep in mind from time to time while you are chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo...a suggested attitude to WIN!

Out of Kate's wise words I wrote this 

PowerPrayer to Defeat Despair:
Written by Jamie Lee Silver, from the blog ChantforHappiness.com

No way Unhappiness! You will NOT WIN TODAY!
No way anxiety~I am the Buddha!
I don't CARE how many times I have to chant to defeat you. I WILL WIN! For Myself and for all! 
I am a noble, brilliant Buddha! 
I DEMAND a life free from sadness and fear! 
I root the karmic cause of my sadness and fear
right out of my life now!   
I DEMAND that my environment 
reflect who I really am, 
not my fears or doubts of who I am. 
I DEMAND that I have the courage 
to do Human Revolution 
and to FOREVER break 
those ties to my own unhappiness. 
I am determined to stop making causes 
that bring me pain! 
I am determined to make causes 
that bring me happiness! 
Not just for me, but for everyone!
I MUST succeed 
LIFE 
No matter what! 
I choose to be happy!
I choose happiness now!  

Guidance from Sensei on Becoming the most Capable and Valuable Person in Your Profession

Guidance from Vice President Hasagawa at the FNCC Arts Division Conference May 13, 2000.

Becoming a Capable and Valuable Person in your Profession

In Japan,high school baseball is more popular than professional baseball. Everyone follows it. During the school year, there are many tournaments and at the end of the year

there is a national tournament between the top high school teams from throughout Japan. This occurs in Tokyo's major sports arena. Everyone in Japan knows the teams and the players and follows very closely. Ten years ago, the Soka High School team made it to this final tournament in Tokyo.

They lost in the first game, but it was still a great victory since only the best of the best make it that far.

On this team, the best player was a left-handed pitcher. He was graduating from Soka High School and was the #l draft pick of a professional baseball team, so he would not be back the next year. The coach of the team reported to Sensei, "Our ace pitcher was drafted and is gone. We are not as strong as we were; I believe our capability is lower, but we will chant and become a greater and more capable team."

Sensei said, "You are wrong. You should have enough capability to win without having to go back and chant. Become capable and then your daimoku will be a wind behind your capability. If you are relying on daimoku to make it happen rather than on your own capability then you are just using faith like a superstition. You should practice and, therefore, become capable.

The team which becomes most capable will be the one which practices and works the hardest and has the most perseverance. Capability is very important because it requires constant courage and training, but if your capability counts only 50% and then you base the other 50% on daimoku to the Gohonzon to bring it about "somehow," then your religion has become a crutch for you. Religion is not there to hide your shortcomings, but to strengthen you as human beings."

In the Lotus Sutra, reference is made many times to "drums and trumpets," which accompany other actions. What it means is that the drums and trumpets are supportive of the other actions, or are the encouragement of the actions. For our purpose, the "drums and trumpets'' represent the encouragement, which comes from within our life to reinforce our life condition. In other words our "drums and trumpets" is our daimoku in this effort. It is like a breeze, which pushes us forward. For example, the capability or talent, which you wish to develop, is like your constructing a magnificent sailing ship, a tall-masted schooner with many sails. 

You have to construct the best ship in the world, with the most solid framework, the strongest masts and the fullest sails. When you have constructed this sailing ship, your daimoku becomes the strong wind, which propels your sailing ship forward.

Overcome Bullying NOW!

Have you ever been bullied? 
Do you know anyone who is? 
Would you like to help them 
with this one simple realization and practice? 

Practical Buddhism is PRACTICAL. When we chant we solve our real world problems. No matter what the problem is, if we keep chanting we can change it. 

I HATE bullying. I have hated bullying ever since I was a young child and stepped in time and time again to stop bullying. And I also suffered from emotional and mental bullying. Because of asthma I was heavier than other girls, and sometimes it seemed like every boy at my High School just had to tell me how unacceptable I was. I KNEW there had to be a solution to this pain and it fueled my search for Buddhism.

Very early in my practice I learned I could stop bullying with one easy (yet difficult) technique. 
Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for the bully's happiness can STOP all kinds of bullying now. How can this be possible? 

First - a little background. As many of you know, Buddhist practice is based on each person awakening to the Mystic Law within them. The Mystic Law is the energy, the rhythm, the chord that runs through all of life, all sentient, all insentient beings, all rocks and all trees...all people. It is the law that binds us all together...and it has a name: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. It means: "I fuse my life with the mystic law of cause and effect through sound vibration."

Anyone can gain benefit by intoning this name...Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Anyone can chant. No one has to convert to Buddhism, change their way of thinking, change what they eat, how they act, who they are. Not in this practice. All we have to do is chant. The best way to chant and see the proof of practical Buddhism is to chant twice a day, every day, to join with fellow practitioners in the Soka Gakkai, the group of lay believers who are NOT run by any priesthood, and who help and support each other, and to study the works of Nichiren Daishonin and Daisaku Ikeda. 

(I write many posts about how to chant, and I can send you information about chanting if you email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com. You can find out about the Soka Gakkai by clicking on the SGI portal to the right.) 

How do we get rid of bullies? Simple. We chant for their happiness. Truth. That is what we do. That is it. The secret formula. And at the beginning we don't even have to mean it. We just have to do it. And, because of the interconnectivity of all of life, what Buddhism calls "dependent origination", our prayers for people's happiness is also a prayer for our happiness. 

In my experience when we chant for people's happiness one of two things will happen: 

1. They will leave your environment...OR 
2. You and that person will become friends

This happens EVERY TIME. Don't take my word for it. You just have to experience it. 

You may ask "How can I chant for a person I don't even like?" You may also wonder "How can I chant for their happiness if I really don't desire their happiness?" 

These are valid questions. 

Here are the answers:

Even though these people seem totally separate from us, they are part of the web of life and we are all interconnected. The only reason they are bullies is that they are unhappy. Chanting for them changes US and changes THEM. We start out not wanting their happiness. That is fine. We can train ourselves to picture them with big smiles on their faces...huge smiles...and chant that way...day after day. Soon, we usually notice we actually do desire their happiness. We actually do. 

It doesn't matter if we have to fake it at the beginning. 
The result is the same. 

The first time I chanted for a bully's happiness was difficult for me too, at first. But I could see the connection. If she was happy, maybe she wouldn't be so mean to me all the time. (This was a person who worked in production department at the newspaper I sold advertising for) 
My results blew me away. 

I chanted for her happiness every day for a few weeks and she fell in love and moved away. 

I was thrilled! Since then I have used this technique every time I had someone in my life who was oppresing me or driving me crazy.  Each time they have either left my life, or we have become friends. 

My son changed a bully in third grade into a friend by chanting for him. 

My young member erased three bullies from her life by chanting for their happiness. All three of them moved away. Boom. Boom. Boom. At first she found it hard to chant for their happiness. but she did it. And now she has a story to tell. 

We are one with all of life. 

EVERYONE's unhappiness is our unhappiness. 

Everyone's Happiness is OUR Happiness! 

When you chant for a bully's happiness it WORKS!

Try it!

Email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com

True Happiness in Life!

What makes us truly happy? 
What is Absolute Happiness? 

I just got off the phone from an almost three hour conversation with a person I've known for many years. She is coming tonight to the meeting at my house and wants to start practicing. It is amazing how well Daimoku works. I have been chanting for shakubuku, and to meet the people who are seeking this practice. Now I will be introducing two people in one week. And truly...nothing makes me happier. 

Seeing a person embrace this practice and start the dialogue with their own life (by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo) that will lead to inner transformation  ~ and outer results, is the most exciting thing in the whole world. And now she will have this tool of practicing Buddhism to pass along to the people in her life who need it! 

There are many ways of happiness in this world, but giving someone the key to their own happiness is indescribably delicious! 

True Happiness is knowing that NO MATTER WHAT trials we face, with our practice we can overcome ANYTHING! 
I feel such inner happiness...inner peace...confidence...contentment...excitement...real, true unshakable happiness. 

I will keep chanting "Bring me the people seeking this practice who want to learn, and are ready to practice. I want to end suffering on this planet. Kosen-rufu is possible! I am Kosen-rufu in action" - and so are you, my wonderful friends in faith!!! 

How to use PowerPrayers While Chanting

A reader wrote me with this question. 

How do I use a PowerPrayer? 

The real answer is to read them and internalize them. There are many PowerPrayers posted on this blog, and I am soon to release my book PowerPrayers for Chanting for Your Absolute Happiness and Success. (I'm currently ready to find the right literary agent - Agents can contact me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com)

While we are chanting we can actually pray them in our minds as we are chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (Daimoku) over and over. (Of course we don't have to use PowerPrayers. We can chant whatever is in our hearts, and chant naturally as Daisaku Ikeda says. But I have found, and many have proven, that using these PowerPrayers helps focus our prayers for results. That is why I offer them to you.) 

This morning I chanted for a long time. I have a job interview today, and want to be very focused and alert. 

Many thoughts came into my mind while I was chanting, and I asked myself "What do I want? What do I really want out of this session of chanting?" and I realized that today I want to increase my confidence and experience life as the Buddha I am. I want to end this day not thinking "Oh I wish I'd said that...I wish I'd done that..." So I brought some PowerPrayers to mind. 

I chanted the PowerPrayer "I PRAISE MY LIFE" over and over, until the I was actually praising my life as I was chanting...I was not just thinking about it. I was praising my life. 
I chanted to "Raise my life condition, and to experience every moment of this day as the Buddha I am." I let the prayers run freely in my mind. "I see throught the eyes of the Buddha, I feel with the heart of the Buddha. I am determined to get the best job for kosen-rufu...so I don't have to worry about anything.  I trust my Buddha nature to be present and with me through the whole afternoon." 

This is PowerPrayer in action! 

Through Winning Over Ourselves We Change the World

It all comes down to us. 
How deeply can we dig in our lives to overcome OUR OWN "war" within us? How much can we truly tap into the power of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo that exists within us and within everything? 
If everything around us is a reflection of who we are, and a reflection of our very lives, then WE possess the power to change everything. Don't we? Yes. As long as we don't blame anyone or anything for our problems. And as long as we practice correctly - chanting twice a day, encouraging others, going to SGI meetings and studying. 

We must keep realizing that the problem, the challenge, the negativity ~ is within our own lives. NOT OUT THERE. But that's GOOD NEWS because we possess the ultimate tool to change it, we belong to the incredible SGI (which is full of mentors and bodhisattvas who are also challenging their karma), and we have Daisaku Ikeda as a living mentor to show us how it is done. We are so fortunate!  

Even my son's illness. I know. It is his illness, but I can transform it through my prayers. And not just for me. Not just for him...but for everyone...
I've often talked about how each of us are standing in front of the door of our own karma, problems, challenges. Behind us are many, many others with the same problems just waiting for us to open the door with our powerful daimoku! When we open the door...everyone can stream through. 

We are THAT powerful!

I am often reminded of the hundred monkey story. Do you know that one? I may get a few details wrong but I hope you get the idea. Apparently there were several islands with monkeys. They were not connected by land. One monkey got the bright idea to wash his potato in the water before he ate it, so he didn't have to crunch on sand and dirt. Soon other monkeys on his island were also washing their potatoes...and after a certain amount of monkeys on one island were washing their potatoes, suddenly the monkeys on other island began washing their potatoes too. Somehow, through the web of life, the new concept spread and became available to all the monkeys. Do you see the connection?

I know when I chant and overcome my problems it is not just for me. Because of the interconnectivity of life (dependent origination) when I change my karma, ALL karma is changed. I believe this is the basis behind Kosen Rufu as well. And when we chant with the understanding that changing OUR problem will impact everyone...I think that is when we connect with our power the most deeply. 

Buddhism is advanced life study. That's what it is. As I always say, it is not for the faint of heart. it is not for sissies. Buddhism requires the courage and the ichinen (courage and will put into action) to tackle life's problems head on and not run from them. Sure, somethimes we think it may be easier to ignore or deny our problems, or to take a drink or use some drug to change things (and I am not advocating against prescription drugs here - they can be very useful. I am talking about recreational drugs). But we have to know that those things will not solve our problems. We need to face them head on. 

I just arose from two solid hours of daimoku (chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo). I was glued to the Gohonzon (scroll we focus on when we chant that represents our highest life condition- the life of the Buddha). I'm sure you know that kind of daimoku...the kind where the time flies, and you KNOW that you have impacted your world and the universe through your prayer. 

I was chanting that through my daimoku this very morning that I impact my son's health karma. I chanted to use my life to impact him. I told those shoten zenjin (protective forces of the universe) that they had better protect me and my family. We are votaries of the Lotus Sutra. They MUST respond to my prayers and protect my son with the BEST help and practitioners for his illness. And I chanted to light up my brain with wisdom and clarity...to rid my mind of confusion so that I know exactly what to do to help him in this challenging time. I chanted to stay strong, and BE THE BUDDHA at all times. I am the BUDDHA of my family. I must be courageous, strong and confident! 

As always, email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com with your challenges, successes and comments. Let me know if you're interested in setting up a private coaching call. 
All my best 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."

Take That First Step ~ Strengthening Your Practice and Your Life

I received a letter from a reader this morning. She wrote that she chants consistently for one week, and then stops chanting for a week and her anxiety and depression immediately comes back. Every other week she forces herself to chant again, and then stops. This is a very difficult way to practice. It is much easier to establish a twice a day practice and stick with it. But how do we do this? 

How do we establish and maintain a consistent practice? 

How can we reinforce our determination to practice twice a day every day, strengthen our lives and create unshakable benefit? 
The benefits of consistent practice are many. For one, it's easier. Once you establish the practice you just greet your life twice a day in from of the Gohonzon without having to force yourself to do it. It just becomes part of your life. 

With consistent practice chanting is easier, benefits flow more consistently, and you change your karma, embrace your challenges and win over any challenge you face. With consistent practice we change our lives for the better. This is the way it works. 

Positive Psychologists talk about something called "Activation Energy." 
It is the energy to get something new up and running. 

We can compare the launching our consistent practice to an airplane taking off. Each airplane has to advance down the runway with engines firing. Once the plane gets in the air it switches to a steady maintenance energy, but it HAS to fire those rockets to get off the ground. 

How do you fire your own rockets? 

I think the secret lies in being part of the SGI organization. (You can click on the SGI Portal to the right to find your local SGI, if you're not connected yet. Remember there are no dues or rules or priests. The SGI is an organization of people working together for their own happiness and the sake of others.) 

The friends you make in the SGI are friends who will help you get those engines firing and help you lift into the air. And the beautiful thing is, as another is helping YOU, they are also helping themselves. That is just the way it works. And you can be this friend for others and help them chant too. 

Yesterday I was needing some activation energy. It has been very cloudy and cold here in Chicago, and on Sunday I didn't chant as much as I normally do, so my engines had to be revved up to bring my plane into the air yesterday morning. I did my normal hour of chanting, but it was hard to concentrate and after the hour I still felt sluggish and unenergized. So I called a friend in the SGI and invited her to chant. She had done the exact thing as me...chanted already, but she was also still feeling like she needed a boost. So she came over and we chanted an uninterrupted hour and both got our planes in the air. We went on to have very productive and energetic days, and I awaken today with much more energy and ready to take on a new day. 

Our friends in the SGI are our friends in faith. What are some other ways we can bolster each other to make our practices stronger? When I was first chanting 28 years ago my mentor came to my house every morning for a few weeks to help me generate Activation Energy for my practice. I liked the feeling of doing gongyo consistently, and was able to keep my plane in the air after that. Doing evening gongyo was harder for me. But within a few months I was doing morning and evening gongyo and I saw how my life was "on a roll", I liked the way consistent practice felt, and I've continued for 28 years. 

Why do we sometimes just skip gongyo? We may not even see it, but it is always our fundamental darkness holding us back. The key thing is this: once we see our fundamental darkness for what it is, we can make the choice to defeat it. We must recognize it for what it is. It's not just "being busy" that keeps us from chanting. It's that fundamental darkness within each of us that uses every method to fool us. This is the fundamental struggle in our lives. When we overcome this and establish our consistent practice EVERYTHING becomes easier and we get leverage over our problems. 

This is something that must be experienced to be understood. My dear "Baby Buddha" (the nickname she chose for herself) heard me tell her for two years to chant every morning and evening, and she replied that she doesn't do ANYTHING consistently and wasn't going to do this. No way. I kept chanting for her and inviting her to chant. And one day, she just made the decision to try chanting twice a day to see how it felt. She couldn't believe how different she felt. She also realized a deep desire and began to chant for it to happen. Now she lives in Colorado - she got what she was chanting for! THIS is why we practice. Our desires are worth chanting for! 

How else can we support each other? 

When I began this blog and my two-hour a day chanting campaign, my friend Melissa and I would text each other twice a day when we began chanting. She lived far away so we only chanted together about once a week, but just knowing she and I were chanting at the same time really helped. Sometimes we would call each other before we chanted and tell each other what we were focusing on for that hour so we could chant specifically for each other's desires. 

You may have other ways of creating and maintaining your consistent practice. Please share them with me and I'll share them with the other readers of this blog. Email me at chantforhappiness.com with your ideas, questions, suggestions, victories and challenges. 

The Buddha's Birthday - Celebrate by Realizing YOU are the Buddha and Praising Your Life

The message of the original Buddha is simple. 
We are all Buddhas. 
We are ALL connected to the all. 
We are ALL expressions of the universe, 
and we all have access right within our reach by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, or the name of the rhythm that exists within everything. Everything. (For notes on why I chose this picture see below)

Daisaku Ikeda puts it succinctly, as always:

"The air around us is filled with radio waves of various frequencies. While these are invisible, a television set can collect them and turn them into visible images. The practice of chanting daimoku to the Gohonzon aligns the rhythm of our own lives with the world of Buddhahood in the universe. It "tunes" our lives, so to speak, so that we can manifest the power of Buddhahood in our very beings." Faith in Action page 118. 

"The Daishonin taught us that through gongyo and chanting daimoku we can reach an elevated state in which, while engaged in our daily lives, we travel throughout the entire universe. When you worship the Gohonzon, the door to your microcosm is opened to the entire universe, the macrocosm, and you experience a great, boundless joy as if you were looking out over the entire cosmos. You feel great satisfaction and joy, a great wisdom, as if you held the entire universe in your palm." Faith in Action page 118-119

We DO hold the universe in the palm of our hand through chanting. 

The picture I posted here is very intriguing. I have never put a picture of the Buddha on chantforhappiness before. Nichiren Buddhists do not keep statues of the Buddha, because those statues came into use when people began thinking of the Buddha as a god. And that is not the intent of the Buddha. He never wanted people to worship him. He was enlightened to the fact that he was the universe, and so is everyone else. Yet, some pray TO him, confusing his original intent. But this picture I thought was pretty cool. It shows how we keep the negative forces at bay by engaging in our daily practice. It shows the bubble of shoten zenjin who protect practitioners of the mystic law. 

Today when I was chanting about you and composing my message for you, I was chanting to PRAISE MY LIFE. I am the Buddha...just like YOU. My power prayer for you is simple today. Chant to praise your life. What a great prayer...and as you're chanting think of all your reasons to be grateful. Your time of chanting will fly, and you may chant more than ever. See how much joy you can muster with every syllable. 

Have Hope ~ Hope Changes Everything

Those of us who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and tap into our highest life condition every single day live lives of HOPE. 

As long as we keep practicing we will never be defeated. With every Nam-myoho-renge-kyo we chant, the sun of hope rises in our lives. 

If, even for a moment we lose hope, we know exactly where to go. We can call a fellow SGI member, we can open the writings of Nichiren Daishonin and be reminded that "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion, what sickness can therefore be an obstacle?" (WND). 

We can read the writings of Daisaku Ikeda, and we can, once again, sit down to chant with a refreshed mind and renew our spirit of hope. We are never deadlocked. We are never caught in a storm whose winds will never cease...we will never be alone in an eternal winter. 

Remember that there is no problem bigger than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and you have the power within you to change any suffering. 

At last night's Gosho Lecture someone asked "What is the world of heaven in the world of Hell? How can the world of hell be imbued with the ten worlds?" And the answer is this: In the world of Hell you can give rise to a FIERCE DETERMINATION to change your life. You can say "This is it life! Time for me to change this life! I know I can do it!" and then set yourself a plan. 

There is no change without action. How much will you devote to changing your life? How much can you chant...

An important key is this:

The more you chant the easier it is to chant. It's like revving the engine of your life, and once it gets going it wants to keep going. Once you get on a roll you'll be thinking "Oh. I can't WAIT to get back in front of my Gohonzon! I can't WAIT to chant about this and change it!" 

You are so powerful.  There is nothing you can't do if you have hope and put that hope into action. 

Shining Like the Sun ~ Lighting up Your Life

~ Shine like the Sun ~

That's my lifetime motto. 

I rise every day with the goal of shining like the sun. 
A life of radiance is one so busy shining, 
it repels all negativity from within or without, 
and shines its light everywhere. 

Another of my mottos is from Daisaku Ikeda: 

"When One Sun Rises, Everything is Illuminated." Brilliant. 

This week has been one of chanting with the members in my district for their suns to rise. There is nothing that energizes me more than engaging in the daily struggle to overcome suffering, and achieve goals alongside my members. There is nothing more exciting than helping others win in life. If I am doing that, my life flows smoothly from one happiness to another. I hope each of you 

One of our newest members was given a pretty bleak diagnosis from a doctor. But since she got her Gohonzon a few weeks ago she has HOPE for the first time in a long time. She's cheerful. She's planning on reapplying to get her masters degree. She's embracing her LIFE. Her life is shining like the sun! I look forward to reporting other victories to you as well. 

"Faith is Light
The hearts of those with strong faith 
are filled with light. 
A radiance envelops their lives. 
People with unshakable conviction in faith 
enjoy a happiness 
that is as luminous as the full moon 
on a dark night, 
as dazzling as the sun on a clear day."

Daisaku Ikeda, For Today and Tomorrow, page 7