Winning in Life!

Match Day 2016!

Welcome to the blog about bringing forth your own inner power through chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. 

You can page through the previous posts to learn more about this practice, and read daily to find out more!

 Today's blog is a brief update on my personal life. I've had some computer challenges lately - sorry it's been so long since my last post. 

Aaron and Meg found out on Friday that they will be spending the next four years in Phoenix Arizona for their medical residency. They graduate in May, then head out after Ben's Memorial Mile in June. 

I am so proud of both Aaron and Meg. Medical School is HARD! And they went through some really hard times, as long-time readers of this blog know. 

Throughout this difficult time, Aaron has chanted consistently, and strengthened his practice. Last Thursday he was inducted into the AOA, the Medical School Honor Society. Yes, I am a proud Mom! 

12 Quotes on Strength by Daisaku Ikeda

The struggle of life is, and always will be, a struggle against your own weaknesses. Will you become cowardly and think, "I can't do this. I'm certain to fail"? Or will you challenge the difficulties that lie ahead with the conviction, "I am strong. And I can become stronger still"? Your destiny in life will vary greatly depending on the spirit that you maintain.

Resolving to take action is proof that you are progressing. Even if you have the tendency to make a determination but only stick to it for two or three days, just keep renewing that determination. Then you will become the kind of person who can persevere and reach their goals.

One cannot become a starring player in life if one is easily swayed by one’s emotions over every little thing. Strength of character lies in performing the drama of life with courage and confidence, practicing self-reflection and self-control under any circumstances.

When we decide to live each instant fully, with all our might, to live true to ourselves and make the present moment shine, we discover and bring forth immense and unimagined strength.

In life when we feel we have reached a limit, that is when the true battle begins. Just when you despair and think it is impossible to go any further, will you become apathetic, or will you say it’s not over and stand up with an unyielding spirit? The battle is decided by this single determination.

Whether we regard difficulties in life as misfortunes or whether we view them as good fortune depends entirely on how much we have forged our inner determination. It all depends on our attitude or inner state of life. With a dauntless spirit, we can lead a cheerful and thoroughly enjoyable life. We can develop a “self” of such fortitude that we are able to look forward to life’s trials and tribulations with a sense of joy.

Just being good-natured is not enough. If you are good-natured but fail to stand up to injustice, you cannot protect anyone. Instead, you will tend to be taken lightly, enabling those who perpetrate injustice to only grow stronger.

Every hardship is an opportunity to strengthen ourselves, to temper our life and make it shine with greater luster.

Even if things don’t unfold the way you expected, don’t be disheartened or give up. One who continues to advance will win in the end.

Truly strong people are not arrogant. Cowardice on the other hand causes arrogance. Cowards hide behind their own power and authority.

The fortitude to fight on through to the very end—this strength is not only the basis of happiness, it is also the force by which social wrongs can be righted.

What is easily done can be easily undone. To move steadily forward on one’s chosen path, step after step, whether or not others are watching; to meet difficulties with the steady, relentless strength of ceaselessly flowing water—such firmness of purpose, such integrity and perseverance builds a foundation that can never be compromised.

All quotes from ikedaquotes.org by Daisaku Ikeda

Riding on a Pillow of Daimoku!

How much Daimoku Is Enough? And how do we know? 

The amount we chant is entirely up to us, isn't it? No one is ever going to tell us how much we must chant. 

And there are times, that we KNOW we really need to up our level of chanting. I am in one of those times. I have many clear goals. And I've been chanting two or three, and sometimes even more hours of Daimoku a day. 

And as always, the more I chant, the more I want to chant. For me - when I chant a lot the time goes quickly, and I look forward to the next time I can chant. 

And how does it affect my life? I ride on what I call "A Pillow of Daimoku." Everything goes smoothly. I don't have to worry about anything. 

I gave a speech on Friday. 
All week I chanted for the people who were going to be attending. I chanted for each of them to be permanently uplifted by this speech. I chanted for them NEVER to be the same. And it was a great time. They LOVED it! I LOVED it. Each one carried my signature "Growing Bolder - Bad Words to Better Words" flyer home to their families and friends. We laughed. We had fun. 

And last night I dreamed Ben was a young child and we were having fun playing together. I woke up happy, not sad. 

It's getting closer to Ben's Memorial Mile. June 11th, 2016. Join us here in Downers Grove if you can! 

I'm reading the World Tribune about making the most of every moment. It's late and I'll write more tomorrow! 

Hope Is Life's Treasure by Daisaku Ikeda

When we possess the treasure of hope, 
it gives rise to other treasures, too. 
Hope draws forth our inner potential and strength. 
Hope is a magic weapon 
that enables us to make our dreams come true.

“Hope,” Beethoven cried, 
“you forge the heart into steel.” 
Hope is confidence. 
Hope is determination. 
Hope is courage. 
And faith is the ultimate expression of hope. 
Belief fortifies the heart.

Hope transforms pessimism into optimism. 
Hope is invincible. 
Hope changes everything. 
It changes winter into summer, 
darkness into dawn, 
descent into ascent, 
barrenness into creativity, 
agony into joy.
Hope is the sun. 
It is light. 
It is passion. 
It is the fundamental force for life’s blossoming.

No matter what kind of difficult situation 
one may find oneself in, 
some opening, some opportunity to fight one’s way out, 
can always be found. 
What’s most important is to hold fast to hope, 
to face the future with courage.
No matter how hopeless or bleak things appear, 
the moment always comes 
when suddenly our spirit revives, and hope is reborn. 
That is why we must never give up.

By Daisaku Ikeda, from Ikedaquotes.org. 

Boldly Embracing Life!

Florida! 

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See that picture of me above? That is the real me...on the beach...in the sun...in all my glory. We all have our real selves...the true expression of who we are. If we keep chanting, never give up, and use EVERY problem to catapult us to reveal more of our true selves, we will each become the best version of who we are. 

For many years, I have been chanting to "discard the transient and reveal the true" in my life. And it is taking my broken heart through the death of my beloved son to take me to the next level. Every moment I am more of who I am. 

What do I mean by this? Well, recently I was in Key West Florida, and spending time meeting strangers. (I have the belief that there ARE no strangers, only friends I haven't met) And I was going in and out of grief about my boy. 

I told the people I met why I am exploring and looking for my new life...and they opened up to me in such beautiful ways. One couple spent the evening enjoying the sunset with me. Because I was so open, I found open people wherever I went. 

And, I visited my nephew, Dr. Joshua Silver. He's a skilled and wise chiropractor practicing in St. Petersburg Florida. I hadn't seen him since Ben's life celebration. We picked up right where we left off, and his girlfriend Nikki became my new dear friend. I felt very at home in that part of the world. Very at home. 

So I came home today and my chanting partner Georgine came over and we chanted three solid hours of Daimoku! 
It feels so good to pour my heart into my daimoku! I chanted for doors to open, for wisdom, for composure, and made lists of inspirations. I'm writing a blog post on "How to accomplish your goals - once you know what they are." My tools include writing, chanting, focusing, and taking the right actions. 

My motto for right now is "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." I am committed to taking the greatest poison and turning it into the greatest benefit. I've been divorced for a year now, and Aaron will discover where he will do his Doctor's four-year residency on March 18th. It is time to fly!

And with the Gohonzon, I have the tool to create the wisdom, action, karma-changing whooooosh I need!   

Go Buddha GO! Rock Your World!

Roarrrrr!

We chant for ourselves. 
We chant for others. 
We chant for this life and this world. 
We change our karma 
for the sake of changing the whole world's karma.  
We are the noble Bodhisattvas of the earth 
and Votaries of the Lotus Sutra.

We TELL our lives what we want. 
We do not ask for favors from a force outside of our lives. 
We ARE Nam-myoho-renge-kyo! 
We know that the goal of our practice is to have faith like flowing water...faith like a verb...actual proof of our practice every single day...so we chant every day, twice a day...we study...we encourage each other, introduce others and attend our SGI meetings. 

And....Sometimes it seems like it is taking FOREVER for a benefit to come or an obstacle to go away, doesn't it? Even though we KNOW the answer lies within our own karma, and in doing our human revolution, sometimes we just have to get mad at our own life and wake those Shoten Zenjin UP! (Shoten Zenjin is our term for the protective forces within all life)

In the February 2015 Living Buddhism Magazine
(published by the SGI-USA and available by calling 800-835-4558) one of my favorite Gosho passages appeared. In this Gosho, Nichiren Daishonin has been persecuted by the government and is being taken away to Tatsunokuchi Beach to be beheaded. On the way, he sees a statue of Hachiman, one of the Buddhist shoten zenjin. 

Nichiren stops at the statue and shouts: 

'Great Boddhisatva Hachiman, are you truly a god?...Now I, Nichiren, and the foremost votary of the Lotus Sutra in all of Japan, and am entirely without guilt. I have expounded the doctrine to save all the people of Japan from falling into the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering for slandering the Lotus Sutra....When Shakyamuni Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra, Many Treasures Buddha and the Buddhas and Boddhisatvas of the ten-directions gathered, shining like so many suns and moons, stars and mirrors. In the presence of the countless heavenly gods as well as the benevolent deities and sages of India, China and Japan. Shakyamuni Buddha urged each one to submit a written pledge to protect the votary of the Lotus Sutra at all times. Each and every one of you gods made this pledge. I should not have to remind you. Why do you not appear at once to fulfill your solemn oath? ....If I am executed tonight and go to the pure land of Eagle Peak, I will dare to report to Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, that the Sun Goddess and Great Boddhisatva Hachiman are the deities who have broken their oath to him. If you feel this will go hard with you, you had better do something about it right away!' (WND - 1, 766-67)(The full quote is at the end of this blogpost)

What I love about this moment in the Gosho is that he yells at the Buddhist God and says you better show your support to me RIGHT NOW because that is the pledge you made. If I die I will report you! Get to work! Of course, after he yells at the statue, when Nichiren is taken to the beach to be beheaded, a huge orb comes out of the sky lighting up the faces of his would-be assassins, they all run scared, and he is saved from death. 

Nichiren's indignant attitude when he addresses the statue shows us we can summon our anger at the forces within our life. We can all pray in front of our own Gohonzons with fury and with fire. 

PowerPrayer to MAKE IT HAPPEN!
These words represent some thoughts we can have in mind while chanting. Our minds will naturally fluctuate as we chant, and that is absolutely fine. I offer these PowerPrayers because they represent the moments I am most connected to my desire...and I offer them to help you. They are my unique contribution based on my Boddhisattva vow. 
By Jamie Lee Silver of ChantforHappiness.com

"Gohonzon! 
Shoten Zenjin! 
Life! 
SOME KIND OF WAY 
this HAS TO CHANGE NOW!!! 
I Don't know HOW to make it happen. 
I just know it HAS TO!!
It is time for me to see results in this area. 
NOW!
I demand (you fill in the blank here: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We can all summon this fiery attitude at the crucial moment - we are ALL dignified votaries of the Lotus Sutra, we can all command the fundamental forces that are within our lives and represented on the Gohonzon.

At this moment, I am in St. Petersburg Florida, certain that my life in unfolding JUST as it should. I am seeing the benefit come from the pain I've been through. Life is getting happier for me, and I have more to look forward to with each passing moment. I will have lots to share with you over the next coming months! 


What we Nichiren Buddhists do;
As practitioners of the Lotus Sutra, 
we chant the Mystic Law every single day. 
Intoning Nam-myoho-renge-kyo 
(which means: I fuse my life with the Mystic law of cause and effect through sound vibration) is a noble cause. 
It brings forth our greatest human potential, 
elevates our life condition, and the life condition and vibration of all of life. 
Our life undergoes a complete human revolution...and as our life changes...we change everything. We raise the vibration of the planet. 

What Does the Term "Gohonzon" mean?

I took this yesterday in Naples Florida enjoying the sunshine! 

What Does the Term Gohonzon Mean?

[The following is an excerpt from SGI President Ikeda's book Discussions on Youth, new edition, pp.234-35]

(As Nichiren Buddhists, we chant facing a scroll called the Gohonzon, which represents and allows us to call forth the limitless power within our lives. Here is an essay by Daisaku Ikeda on the significance of the Gohonzon, notes, JLS)

The literal meaning of honzon is object of devotion. Go is an honorific. Even people who declare that they are not religious will surely have something that they value or esteem most highly. 

Whatever people cherish most dearly, 

that is their object of fundamental respect, 

or object of devotion. 

Though they might claim otherwise, there are those for whom money is an object of devotion. For others, it might be social status. Some people make their boyfriend or girlfriend, or their family their object of devotion. For some, knowledge is the altar at which they worship. And certainly there are people who venerate some deity or some concept of heaven or truth.

What you make the object of your greatest veneration will have a profound influence on your life. 

Nichiren Buddhism takes as its object of fundamental respect the life of the Buddha, the eternal essence of life at one with the universe. That object of veneration is not something abstract or out of reach, because it is life itself. 

Nichiren Daishonin writes: 

"Never seek the Gohonzon outside yourself. 

The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh 

of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" 

(The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon", The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol.1, p.832)

The eternal life of the universe exists within each of us. The Gohonzon resides within each of us. Nichiren Buddhism is a philosophy of utmost respect for human beings and for life. Nichiren embodied the essence of his own life in the form of the Gohonzon to make it possible for us to summon forth the Gohonzon within our lives.

In a sense, there is no simpler Buddhist practice than reciting the sutra and chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. We do not have to undertake strange austerities as in some esoteric Buddhist traditions, In the case of a machine, for example, the more sophisticated the technology, the greater the case of operation and use. Similarly, because Nichiren Buddhism is such a highly developed and powerful teaching, it enables us to tap the life state of Buddhahood through the simplest form of practice.

On the other hand, since we carry out Buddhist practice in the midst of our own busy daily lives, it is easy for us to overlook or neglect it. In that respect, there is perhaps no more difficult practice when it comes to continuing. Nonetheless, if we challenge ourselves to keep up a little each day, before we realize it, we will have built a path to happiness in the depths of our lives; we will have established a solid embankment that will prevent our ever being swept in the direction of unhappiness.

World Tribune, February 5, 2016. p.8

WIth special thanks to Sivasubramaniam H

4 Reasons Nichiren SGI Buddhists are so Happy !

Key West Sunset last night

Why are Nichiren (Practical) Buddhist so Happy? 

What is so special 

about this twice-daily practice 

of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo?

What is a Nichiren Buddhist? Why are we also called "Practical Buddhists?" The two titles are interchangeable. 
Practical Buddhists chant every morning and evening and EVERY MORNING and evening. We study the works of Nichiren Daishonin, and the writings of Daisaku Ikeda, to learn the workings of the practice, and how and why chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo  (meaning: I fuse my life with the Mystic Law of Cause and Effect Through Sound Vibration) draws forth the power innate in every life to find fulfillment and become happy. The more we study, the more we deepen our ability to tap this power. We encourage each other and attend Soka Gakkai meetings.  (To find a meeting near you click on the link to the right) We introduce others to the practice because we are delighted with the results we see in our own lives from chanting. 

4 Surprising Reasons 
Nichiren Buddhists are so HAPPY ~

1. Our Happiness is not based on our happiness alone. It is based on the profound results we see in our own lives - and in the lives of others as we chant. We base our practice on RESULTS! We GET what we chant for, or something better, as long as we don't give up! 

Our happiness has a higher purpose. Don't get me wrong...happiness for any reason is great. Happiness is the purpose of our practice, and we join our own happiness with the happiness of ALL. We call this kosen-rufu...a world of respect for all of life. We chant to be happy so that we can prove through our own lives the validity of chanting the name of the Mystic Law - and to prove everyone can generate happiness if they chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. 

With every problem we face we chant: 

"I will defeat THIS problem for the sake of Kosen-rufu 
(the happiness of ALL) 
And one by one I will knock all my problems down. 
I achieve all my goals. 
I will succeed is all areas of my life to prove the power of the law! 
I vow to win in all areas of my life!"

2. We KNOW we have the POWER, and the TOOL to overcome our own negativity ~ and raise our "Life Condition" and become happy! To us, Happiness means winning over ourselves. 

It's true. When we chant the name of the rhythm of life itself ~ Nam-myoho-renge-kyo ~ we see results. And what will we WIN over? Ourselves. We are fighting and winning the biggest and most worthy battle of all...the battle over our own negativity. And the thing is, no one can do that but US. We are the only ones. And our negativity never entirely goes away, but our daily practice keeps it away, and is the source of our happiness. We talk about the "evil twin - or critical mind" we hear in our minds telling us we can't do it, that we aren't strong enough and asking us "who do you think you are?" When we chant consistently that voice recedes, and our true and powerful Buddha nature emerges.  And we DO succeed!

3. We KNOW we can change our karma and make the impossible possible. And we do it together with our fellow SGI Members. 

Whether we have studied eastern religions or not, we are all familiar with karma no matter what name we call it. Cause and Effect ~ Karma. Karma is passed down from one generation to another. Karma is reoccurring problems...you know, the way in which people marry one person, move on to the next and have the exact same problems crop up. 
Nichiren Buddhists know Karma is nothing to be afraid of. Karma is the sum total of every cause we have ever made through every existence we have ever had. And since, according to Nichiren Daishonin, those existences number more than grains of sand in the ocean, what need is there to fret about karma? And we do not need to spend countless lifetimes trying to undo every negative thing we have ever done. How could we? We don't even know what these things were. What we can do, is make the absolute most positive causes NOW. When we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo we are making the most positive cause for our lives. When we introduce others, these causes are magnified across many existences because we have introduced them to the power to change their own and their family's karma. 
And chanting with and for our fellow members is a huge part of our practice. We join our "family" for meetings and individually to surmount challenges. If you have not yet found your SGI family you can use the SGI-USA.org link to the right or search on Soka Gakkai International. 

4. We are aware of the interconnectivity of life and know that when we change our inner life, our outer life changes as well. We are Power-FULL not Power-LESS and we can chant for others as well! 

There's a Buddhist term called "Esho Funi". It means that we see and experience ourselves as separate from our environment (our environment is everything outside of our skin - the air we breathe, the couch we are sitting on, the music we hear, and each person, thing, animal in our environment and throughout the entire universe). But we are intricately connected to everything. That is why we can chant and change our lives. We change our inner lives, and because of the interconnectivity of life (also called "dependent origination") we are able to influence our environment. This is the fulcrum of true happiness and true power in our lives. 

Life is a Grand Adventure! Any Readers in Florida?

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You are reading Chantforhappiness.com - a blog written by a 30 year Nichiren Buddhist and Soka Gakkai, SGI, member...a blog to inspire all who read it that ANYTHING is possible, and that, NO MATTER WHAT the circumstances, we can turn poison into medicine, and do more than overcome our challenges...we can turn them into BENEFITS by chanting the name of the rhythm of life itself...Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!

I am here in Key West Florida, on an adventure of my new life. This morning I reread the post from July 5th, the day that my old life ended, and this new one began...the day that my sweet boy, my Benjamin Lee Silver, my son of 22 years, began his new journey of eternal life. And I am here, living my life with him eternally, loving, enjoying, spreading my light, and his light far and wide, and bringing love everywhere I go. Now I am in the sunshine of Key West Florida, making new friends, dancing and basking in the sun. 
Here is the post from July 5th if you'd like to read it. The messages at the end, the comments from readers...how they touch my heart! 

http://chantforhappiness.blogspot.com/2015/07/to-my-dear-friends-about-my-ben.html?showComment=1456585226831#c8366076978197050657

I am determined to show proof of this practice through my life, through my writings back and forth with my eternal Ben, through all that is possible by chanting! 

Yesterday, in Key West, I met new friends dancing and listening to a talented singer. We were in an outdoor restaurant, and I noticed a woman watching from the sidewalk. I invited her to join us, and she said "No, I can't, I'm the singer's mother and I will embarrass him." I said "My son died this summer! You must come join us right now!" And she did! We all danced together, took pictures, toasted to mother and son, and enjoyed the rest of his show! 

We are all Buddhas! We can bring forth our true Buddha Nature by chanting these profound words, this profound vibration. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From "Lectures On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime, by Daisaku Ikeda, page 62:

"It is the heart that is important. (WND-1, pg 1000) 
writes Nichiren Daishonin. 
Our heart, our mind, is truly wondrous and unfathomable. We can expand and deepen the inner realms of our spirit infinitely and boundlessly. (infinitely and boundlessly!! jls)

Like the elation of soaring freely 
through the vast blue heavens, 
the heart can feel immense and untrammeled joy. 
Like the clear, bright sunshine illuminating all things, 
the heart can embrace those who are suffering 
with warmth and compassion. 
And like a lion of justice, 
the heart can also at times 
tremble with righteous anger and defeat evil. 
Indeed, our heart or mind is constantly changing, 
like scenes in a drama or like and unfolding panorama. 
And nothing is more wondrous 
than its ability to manifest the world of Buddhahood. 
Even people weighed down by delusion and suffering 
can bring forth in the depths of their lives 
the state of Buddhahood that is one with the universe. 
This momentous drama of transformation 
is the greatest of all wonders." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am in Florida! Write me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com if you are anywhere in Florida and want to chant together! 

11 Quotes by Daisaku Ikeda on Breaking Through That Wall!

All quotes from Ikedaquotes.org by Daisaku Ikeda:

Rather than becoming discouraged, know that encountering a wall is proof of the progress that you have made so far.

Anyone can hit a wall. The anguish felt then is proof of one’s desire to move forward. But all is for naught if you falter at that moment. Action—that is the key to breaking through an impasse.

There is a saying that the earth upon which we fall is the same ground which enables us to push ourselves up again. There’s another which maintains that barley grows better after it has been trampled on. It is up to us to decide to live a life free from self-doubt and despair in spite of our failures. Indeed, it is during our most humbling moments that we should show greatest poise and grace.

When facing adversity, we may think we’ve reached our limit, but actually the more trying the circumstances, the closer we are to making a breakthrough. The darker the night, the nearer the dawn. Victory in life is decided by that last concentrated burst of energy filled with the resolve to win.

We are not defeated by adversity but by the loss of the will to strive. However devastated you may feel, so long as you have the will to fight on, you can surely triumph.

Just as physical training can bring forth the unseen capacities of our bodies and intellectual training develops our minds, our hearts can be trained and strengthened. Through the process of overcoming grief, for example, it is possible for us to see beyond our own suffering to develop a more expansive and robust sense of self. This experience can inspire us to care for others who feel the same pain.

Just as the pure white lotus flower blooms unsoiled in muddy water, our lives, which are supremely noble, can continue to shine even amid life’s harshest realities.

Reality is harsh. It can be cruel and ugly. Yet no matter how much we grieve over our environment and circumstances nothing will change. What is important is not to be defeated, to forge ahead bravely. If we do this, a path will open before us.

Suffering only gets worse when we try to run from it rather than facing it.

A person’s true nature is revealed at times of the greatest adversity.

It’s important to have the courage to ask yourself what it is that you should be doing now, at this very moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~All quotes are by Daisaku Ikeda from Ikedaquotes.org 

And from Jamie: 

Let's not give up! No matter what! My life is filled with challenges, just like yours. But every time we bravely face our own lives...every time we open that Butsudan (box that houses our Gohonzon), every time we look at the Gohonzon and Chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo we are making a step forward. We are making a profound cause. We are facing our own troubles and finding our way around those walls! 

And when we do this twice a day our lives get "on a roll!" 

Join me as we strengthen our muscles of faith!

When A Problem Persists ~ Compassion for Ourselves!

Welcome to Chantforhappiness.com, 

a blog about drawing forth our own power, 

our own entire universe of Buddhahood 

from within our lives by 

chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo 

Meaning: 

I fuse my life 

with the mystic law of cause and effect 

through sound vibration) 

You can now receive these blogs by email 

by putting your email address in the box to the right. 

This blog is written by a 31-year practitioner of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. This practice enables us to turn EVERY problem into medicine ~ while encouraging others through our own lives - and uplifting us all.  

It is a noble and fulfilling practice. I began this blog almost 7 years ago when I was suffering from severe depression after a breakup. I determined to chant two hours a day to permanently alleviate the depression that had been in my life's karma since before I was born---it's been part of my karma, my mother's karma, and my family karma for countless generations. By chanting these two hours a day I took a stand to permanently root this karma of depression out of my life. During the first hour of chanting I realized I could do this and take the world along with me by writing this blog. I was successful. I no longer have any depression. I do not wake up with a veil of sadness that follows me through the day. It is gone.

We, as Nichiren Buddhists, know that problems and challenges are part of life...that they actually are part of the fulfillment of a vow we made before we were born to prove the validity of this mystic law. Our challenges are, in fact, the answer to our prayers and our means to strengthen our faith (and when we say faith we do not mean just belief - we mean belief put into action to get results). 

And sometimes our problems are daunting and persist. How do we deal with those? 
What do we do with a problem we keep trying to change, but somehow - we haven't changed it yet? 

The first thing we can do is to NOT get down on ourselves. It's easy to think "If I had more faith, I'd have solved this problem by now." But that type of thinking does not get us anywhere, does it? It is a form of self-slander, and no good can come of that!

So please don't get mad at yourself if a problem persists. Together we must boldly advance every day doing what we know we need to do...chanting, studying the words of Daisaku Ikeda, our wise, wise encourager and mentor, and reading the Gosho of Nichiren Daishonin, the man who realized that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo was the most powerful teaching for our time and endured persecution after persecution. He didn't say "Oh, this persecution is a sign that my faith is weak." He didn't get down on himself when he was exiled to Sado Island. He did not slander his own life by asking "Why me?"

No. He saw these challenges as proof of this faith, and we have to do the same. Being part of the SGI, going to local meetings, and chanting every morning and evening is our great, great fortune and a gift we give ourselves. 

And every day - every SINGLE day, we can make a new determination to bring the solution from within our lives...and keep moving forward!

Whatever you are challenging in your life, I invite you today to appreciate yourself anew. Do something nice for yourself. Be your own best friend. Think about ten things you appreciate about yourself. Write a note to yourself. Get a massage. Do something nice for yourself. Honor your strength, courage, beauty and wisdom. 

Winter always turns to Spring! Do not give up! Let's keep persevering together! 

There is Light at the End of EVERY Tunnel! YOU are that light!

"You can now subscribe to this blog by putting your email in the box to the right."

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"There is no way of life more desolate or more pitiful 
then one of ignorance of the fundamental joy
that issues from the struggle 
to generate and regenerate one's own life from within. 
To be human is much more 
than the biological facts of standing erect 
and exercising reasoning and intelligence. 
The full and genuine meaning of our humanity 
is found in tapping the creative fonts of life itself."

Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhism Day by Day, Wisdom for Modern Life, page 67

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Whatever you do - just don't give up! 

I just updated this blog title because reader Brian Mann reminded me that WE are the lights in the tunnel. Of course! Thank you Brian!

These last couple of months have been so challenging for me. I've been sad about my son, restless about my life, and, above all, longing for the sunshine. There have been days where I've thought "What can I tell my precious blog readers? I am having a hard time seeing the hope in my life - how can I help them?" 

And then, because I kept up my practice, kept studying, introducing others, and deepening my prayer, I cracked opened the power within my life, I am witnessing a new sun starting to shine within my life and in my environment. 

It is just as Daisaku Ikeda says over and over. A new day will dawn. Just don't give up!

As I was going through this darkness I bolstered myself by thinking "Jamie, you are going to have so much more compassion for people who are suffering, because of this. There will be a light at the end of the tunnel even though you can't see it. Now you've experienced loneliness, you've experienced grieving, you've written poem after poem and opened your heart in a new way...one day you will appreciate this, even this, dark time." 

And I kept in mind something a leader said recently: "YOU wrote the story of your life, and for sure, you write it every day. You've got to know you wrote a happy ending!" 

And it's the truth. And, as my friend Mark Lutnes just reminded me, "It's not just the ending that's happy!" 

Today the sun is shining. Yesterday it came out for a while, but so did 70 mile per hour winds. Woosh! 

I have, as always a full schedule. I'm working hard on Ben's Memorial Mile which will be held her in Downers Grove, Illinois, at Downers Grove North High School, about 25 miles west of Chicago on June 11th, 2016. It will bring the community together to honor Ben's life, raise money to end schizophrenia, and provide runs, walks and a really fun time for all ages. You are invited! Come one, come all!

And I'm heading down to the Florida Keys for a few days next weekend. I've always wanted to visit the keys. I love the peninsulas of this world (although the keys are actually islands, connected to Florida by long bridges) ....San Francisco, Provincetown...they attract artists and music and people who do not conform to the rest of the world, but make the world their own. I'd wanted to go, and suddenly some doors opened and I just stepped right through them. 

Whatever you are going through - JUST KEEP GOING and you will get to the other side!