Human Revolution Day 33!

It's day 33 of my million daimoku campaign and I continue to chant two hours every day...whether I want to or not! This morning I chanted an hour and 45 minutes before I went in to work...and had a really great conversation with Melissa mid day. Both of us are chanting 2 hours a day and are about to enter year 25 of our practice....both of us are using this practice to do our Human Revolution. It helps so much that we can encourage each other!
What do we mean by Human Revolution?
It means that through our own transformation our world and the greater world will be transformed. REAL change is effected by our own courage to grow. I sit in front of the Gohonzon and pray to change in any way necessary to make the sadness I feel be gone forever, and to experience ongoing happiness and serenity.
I know of many Buddhists who have experienced just this sort of "revolution" in their lives.
I'm a work in progress. There's a term we use called "Esho Funi" it is the oneness of life and its environment. It LOOKS like me and my environment are two different things, In actuality we are connected in every way. When I make a fundamental change by chanting daimoku my environment HAS to change to reflect it.

As an example: when I chanted for a house in San Francisco, I didn't just chant for a house. I chanted for a house to do Kosen Rufu (world peace) in...I chanted for a house to show the proof of this practice. When the movers took my furniture and boxes out of the tiny apartment on "lower Nob Hill" and brought them to our beautiful new home with a view on the top of Excelsior Heights, they could not believe their eyes. I was showing actual proof of this practice. That's why I like to call this practice PRACTICAL BUDDHISM. It works! It doesn't matter if you believe in it or not!

Successful Speech !

What's it like to chant two hours of daimoku a day? It's amazing how much time I actually have in a day. Chanting makes every thing overall take less time, because I'm in RHYTHM with the universe. It's almost counterintuitive...I have doubled the amount I'm chanting, but I have more time. I also need less sleep!

This week I gave my speech called "Change Your Words, Change Your Life" to a very important audience. I was able to give continuing education credits to the participants. That was an achievement I've been working towards for quite some time!
It went so well. I felt confident, the audience was into the message I give.
I talk about the importance of the language we use...and how it frames our experience. We can either be "Overwhelmed" or "In Demand". If we are overwhelmed we are helpless victims. If we are in demand we are important. The truth is ~ it's up to us...how do we want to frame our experience? It is entirely up to us and the language we choose to use!

Some great results!

This weekend we went to a Bar Mitzva in LA. It was incredible. I continued chanting two hours a day and found myself so calm and happy all the time. I didn't stress about timing...I knew everything would be in rhythm,,,and it was!

My prayer for each day was to appreciate every moment and every person there. It was wonderful!

We spent one day at a beautiful and spiritual Bar Mitzva. They are such great ceremonies. I would like to develop a a cool coming of age ceremony for all young adults!
My nephew prepared for more than six months for the ceremony...learning Hebrew and how to read the Torah. He gave a really moving speech and so did both of his parents. It was so loving and profound.
I love learning about Judaism. I'm always learning more. This time I learned that they read a different part of the Torah every day...and this day marked the beginning of personal preparations for the new year coming next month.

I love to prepare for the new year myself. I always take inventory of the year and make a new list of determinations. New Years brings great Buddhist gatherings at Culture Centers around the country. The daimoku is off the charts with energy! One year my list had more than 200 things on it. That was the year Danny Nagashima was the leader in San Francisco. He has such enthusiasm ~ it's contagious. He's now the national SGI-USA leader, along with Linda Johnson, a VERY inspiring person! If you get a chance to hear either of these people speak GO! Remember, in this practice all of us are equal...all of us are Buddhas. There is no one holier than you and me. Our leaders exist for our encouragement alone. They help us refresh our faith!

On the trip...I felt the effects of all my daimoku the whole time I was away...really appreciating everything and everyone. I got to chant for two hours at the Burbank Culture Center with my dear friend Kate. She introduced me to this practice 25 years ago...and it was her 32nd Gohonzon birthday! (Anniversary of the day she received the Gohonzon) We encourage and inspire each other!
That's another great thing about this practice...we all chant together...we need each other to grow, learn and study!

On Sunday the whole family went to Zuma beach and watched the incredibly high surf. It was Sunny...Warm...Perfect!
When it was time to leave we were flying out over the ocean and I saw a huge pod of what looked like dolphins jumping out of the water. I could actually see them jumping through the waves. It was so beautiful!

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!

Keeping Inspired

What is Karma anyway?

Karma is different in this practice.

With Practical Buddhism you can change any negative karma in your life!

What is karma? It's the sum total of all the causes you have ever made in every existence you have lived...some causes were good, some bad. You are not at "fault" you do not have "original sin"...but you do have some fundamental darkness...and so does everyone else. Chanting is the ultimate cause for eradicating negative karma...pulling it out by its roots.

Chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo changes your karma. Forever.
It is the law of life. It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not.

This is a revolutionary idea. In other forms of Buddhism and in many other religions you are "learning lessons" over and over till you get them right. Not in this practice. All you have to do is chant. Sounds easy, but it's not. Chanting is not for wimps! It takes courage!

What a week!

What a week! I am floating on a cloud of Daimoku. I don't have to figure everything out at every minute...I just keep chanting and delightful things are happening. I am always in the right time and place.
This week I chanted with friends on two differnet nights. Each time it was like a party. It is so cool to see this chant working in the lives of my friends! I have some friends who are on fire with excitement for their lives!
And I had other fun event this week as well! Melissa Bradford and I went to see Jason Mraz in concert on Thursday night. Open "seating" was open "standing"! We stood in the midst of a sweet, fresh and young crowd for four hours! I kept thinking "Thank you body!"
Jason's words were fresh, his spirit so wonderful. His first song was "Ray of Sunshine". I'd never heard it before and it really moved me. It was wonderful! Exciting!
And my work is so exciting. (Can you tell I love this word?) I had five move ins this week. I find my work very fulfilling, and moving people in to the retirement community where I work is my great joy! I love to see how our community positively affects the entire families of the person who has moved in. It's a very loving place. FIVE move ins is great success!! Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!
Chanting also brings the parts of my life that are not so great into greater view.
This morning I was overflowing with anger at the parts of my life that aren't where I want them to be yet. It was sooo hard to chant. I decided to list everything I'm angry about...kind of impressed that I could even realize them all. I think my tendency is just to push anger down...down...down. Listing them was a helpful exercise. The list DID end! It wasn't such a long list...but resoving them feels impossible.

Thank goodness I have this determination to chant - or I might have just skipped chanting today. But skipping chanting won't change anything...it will just keep me putting up with those things I don't like in my life. I know that I have to be the one to change inside ~ for change to occur in my life. I've seen it happen over and over.

Doing Daimoku with a buddy (thanks Melissa!) and a goal (2 hours a day until the 20th of October) keeps me going. I know...really know...that if I keep looking in the mirror that is my life (through chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo to the Gohonzon) that I will change the negative karma of my life. I will shed light on the darkness. I will have my most impossible desires realized!
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!