Thanks for your emails

It's hard to post from a cruise ship...
I can't even post a picture at this point, but I wish I could show you the sunrise I chanted to this morning. I thought of all of you, and am grateful that yesterday I was able to download some messages from you, but didn't have time to respond. 

Thank you!

I should be able to start posting regularly on Monday. 

Thank you for your patience. I hope you are enjoying some of the "best of" posts on this blog. 

Change ANY Problem into a benefit by chanting

If you've been chanting to change things in your life...if you've been chanting about relationships, your career etc...consider looking inward and chanting to change yourself. Changing your SELF - doing your human revolution is vital to your successfull practice. 

What is the process?

1. Own the problem...realize that whatever you want to change may LOOK like it is outside yourself...but its roots are within your life. That means that you cannot complain or say "WHY ME?". Really you have to own it...not BLAME yourself for it...not feel guilty about it. But you CAN change it. It's okay to get a little angry and make a fierce and roaring declaration to change whatever you need to change.

2. Turn your prayer INWARD. Chant to change YOURSELF. Chant to have the courage to make the changes you need to make in order to generate the results you want to create in your life. Remember that all change starts from within. And your environment will change to reflect the inner changes you have made. 

A Power Prayer to accomplish this could be:

"I am determined to make any changes I need to make in my thoughts, my actions, my chanting, to make continual positive causes that will result in rooting the cause of my negative karma OUT OF MY LIFE!  I am determined to make the changes inside myself...to do my own human revolution and raise my life condition! I am determined to change in any way I need to change to attract the .......(you fill in the blank) into my life. Life! I am bringing the determination, wisdom and fire I need to create the life of my dreams. I AM NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO! I AM ROARING LIKE A LION IN MY OWN LIFE! I WILL CREATE MY LIFE! I do this not only for me, but for everyone who is suffering. I am determined to glow within my own life. I am determined to be a shining light for all who are suffering. I am determined to be the beacon of hope that ANYONE can solve their problems by chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. I am ready to meet people who are ready to hear about this practice!  I chant to have the most inspiring life. Gohonzon (my life) I need to see these results now!"

You can do this! You Buddha YOU!

Great Quotes from President Ikeda about focusing our minds

Sunrise from the Ship Today

I am really looking forward to chanting in appreciation this morning. 

It is so easy to blame our environment for our unhappiness and discontent. But as President Ikeda says in "On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime"
"Grumbling and complaining are the principle gateways leading to general doubt and disbelief. Even if we know that such behavior is wrong, we may find ourselves doing it in spite of ourselves. Should grumbling and complaining become habitual it will act as a constant brake on our growth and cause us to forget about advancing and improving ourselves. When that happens, we effectively close off our own potential, falling into the path of seeking the law outside of us." 

Grumbling and complaining take many forms. For some it is a form of hopelessness, and looking at what is NOT working. When all you see is what is not working, or changing, and you continually focus on the care and troubles of life, that is all you see. That is what is in your radar screen. What you DON'T life amplifies. When you focus on what you DO like, and what IS working, no matter how small, you get more of what you want, and you start seeing the positive everywhere. And you're happier!
You get more benefits and happiness from focusing on what IS working. I promise. Try it.  

Please remember that whatever is going on in your world is YOUR OPPORTUNITY to grow. 
The things you think of as problems that come at you from the environment can be fuel for your growth, fuel for your determination to reveal your own Buddhahood and create your own happiness. It is up to you though, to determine this for your own life...

Putting the fault on your environment is easy. But not helpful! You are a Buddha. Dig deeper. Get to the root source of your suffering. You do not have to figure it out. Just chant to change it. 

President Ikeda also says:

"Because our practice of faith is aimed at attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime, it is absolutely essential that we have a solidly focused mind or attitude when chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. It is like trying to shoot an arrow: without a clear target, we will not draw the bow with any real energy or determination. In the same way, our prayers can only be realized when we replace vague yearnings with concrete determinations and confident daimoku to definitely accomplish what we hope to achieve."

The Key to Happiness - Experiencing Life as a Buddha

Here I am cruising the Caribbean with my son. Our first day. It was great...starting at 4:00am Sunday and now it’s 1:00am on Monday morning. And I am so content. I love my life. I am happy in so many ways. I know that it is through chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo that I am this happy, and I have true peace of mind. I don’t worry about anything. I am no longer in hell in the world of hunger. I am in the world of Buddhahood in the world of hunger.  

Let me explain. I lived in the world of hunger, the hellish world of hunger, from earliest memory. It seemed that all I truly longed for was just beyond my reach. I thought I was either too  fat or not smart enough, or I didn’t have the right clothes, or I just couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t have enough friends and I was always longing for more. I lived in the world of “just beyond my reach.” And I agonized over it. I thought “If only I could lose those 50 pounds... or If only I could get that boy to like me...or if only I could get better grades and have better clothes.” and those thought HURT. 

There are some things I still want in life...I have many goals I intend to reach, but there is nothing I am hungering for that brings me pain. I have chanted Nam Myoho Renge Kyo to rise above the world of hunger, to raise my life condition and live as a Buddha, and that is my daily experience.

If you are ever wondering “What should I chant about today?” Chant to raise your life condition and experience life as a Buddha. Chant to realize with your life that you are a Buddha. Chant to see the golden diamond shining forth from your heart and chant to praise your life. 

Chanting this way will bring you to the world of contentment...peace of mind...true indestructible happiness. 

 Today I focus on the members on my SGI district, my family and all of the readers of this blog. I think about you, and chant to say the right words at the right time to light your enthusiasm and have you sit down in front of your Gohonzon totally refreshed and with new determination. 

I want you, and everyone else who is searching for happiness to know that is all of our birthrights to be happy. We can be completely and unshakably happy through our own determination and chanting of the name of the rhythm of life itself. Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. 

And each person who becomes happy has a profound effect on all those around them. This is the very essence of Human Revolution. Through my own transformation shall the world be transformed. 

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Dreams do Come True

We're headed off to swim with the manta rays, the puppies of the sea. Here's a picture of the sandbar off Grand Cayman Island where the rays come to hang out with people. They are big and friendly. When I came here in 2011 I vowed I would bring my son Ben back with me because I knew this was just the kind of thing he would adore. And here I am, setting out in a few minutes. I feel great! I've been eating a plant-based whole food diet since November 14th and I feel healthy, vibrant and alive. Not to mention all my clothes either fit or are a little big. That's the way I like to begin a cruise. I'm taking my computer and will continue blogging.
This trip is actual proof. 
We can be happy and make our dreams come true. 
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!

Be Happy Now! Root Suffering from your life.

Many of the world's religions say that there is something to be gained from suffering. Not Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. 

Yes. Suffering is part of life, for sure. But it is not something to "be born" and we are not here to "master suffering." No. We are here to be happy. The purpose of life is happiness, and chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo can tap into your happiness and bring it into reality. 

When the original Buddha back in 500 B.C. was on his search for enlightenment, he tried living the ascetic life. He went around begging and was poor and cold and hungry. He realized this was not the way of Buddhism. Suffering is not innately virtuous, and he was no closer to enlightenment. When he sat under the Bodhi tree he realized he possessed the entire universe within. He had the realization of that fact. And he spent the rest of his life working to help others gain that experience. But he did not see suffering as an end in itself. 

So...
If you are suffering. 
Make a determination to change whatever it is that is making you suffer. This blog was born out of heartbreak more than three years ago. I determined to chant to CHANGE forever the suffering I was experiencing. I knew I could do it. And I did. 

My Power Prayer was :

I am determined to experience my brilliant Buddha self. I am determined to raise my life condition. I am determined to develop a strong, strong core of life so that NOTHING will bring me to this state of unhappiness ever again. I am determined to strengthen my life from deep within and to shed happiness wherever I go. I don't CARE if the sadness keeps rearing its ugly face along the way. I WILL WIN and I will defeat it forever. I am determined to become happy so that I can inspire others to be happy. If I can become happy, anyone can become happy"

And I kept chanting that way. It did not change the first time I chanted that way. But I kept making the determination over and over again. Along the way I realized that I often felt sorry for myself..."Why me?" I would ask in my head. When I saw that tendency I decided to root it out of my life and never feel sorry for myself again. It came back again and again and every time it did I said in my head while I was chanting "Be gone with you! Sadness, feeling sorry for myself, BE GONE! My higher self will win. I will be incredibly happy and spend every waking moment helping other people realize that they can be happy too."

That is how this blog was born. Out of unhappiness into happiness. Today I may still have challenges of a different sort, and no one is ever going to be perfect. I am a Buddha and a human being, just like you. But I have an indestructible feeling, a solid sense of self and appreciation that flows from me at every moment for my wonderful life, this incredible practice, all of you readers, and for Daisaku Ikeda. I smile all day long and so can you. 

I believe in you, and your strength and determination will make you shine! 

Sunrise Here We Come!

Vacation Tomorrow

But not a vacation from chanting... 

I know better than to stop chanting on vacation. Vacations are fun but they can also be challenging. It's still important to be connecting with the power within while vacationing.

My best vacations are ones where I maintain my level of Daimoku no matter what! Then everything flows like magic every single second! 

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo IS the rhythm of the universe.

On vacation it is really important to be in the right place at the right time. Especially on a cruise.  

On the few occasions when I can't chant for a long time I tell my life while chanting "I am now tapping into the vast Daimoku bank I have accumulated through years of chanting. My Daimoku today is a MILLION times more powerful than it has ever been!"

There is so much that can go wrong. But it won't. That's my determination! My home will be protected while I'm away because I have a friend staying here.  I'm traveling with my son Ben. And I am about to chant this morning's Gongyo. 

I will be chanting for this blog and all its readers to continue to grow. I am always chanting to write meaningful posts and encourage and inspire each of you to return to your Gohonzons refreshed and excited to once again, commune with your universe within. I am chanting for more and more people to read chantforhappiness.com and chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and see their lives move int eh direction of happiness. 
I am chanting for ease of travel, a great day today when I am packing and getting ready, perfect connections, incredibly warm weather and sun, for me to bring everything I need, to feel and look my best at all times, and to introduce as many people as possible to this incredible practice. I'll plant seeds as always. Yesterday I picked up my Nam Myoho Renge Kyo cards to give out. 

At this time tomorrow, Ben and I will be on a plane bound for Tampa, and from there we'll board the Carnival Legend to exotic ports of call. 

I adore cruising. I adore hanging out with they sky and the sunset and the incredible blue water. I enjoy meeting new friends and dancing late at night and walking back to my room. I love ordering food and not getting a bill at the end. I love the live entertainment and getting dressed up for dinner. Yes, I adore cruising. 

And I love the fact that Ben, my 20 year old son and I are going on this cruise together. 
As you may know, the older your children get, the more time is at a premium. This is a golden moment for us. We'll be making music and laughing and exploring the world and making friends. Carnival "Legend" indeed.