Strong Determination is the Key to Everything!

Strong determination is the key to everything. Once we begin chanting we realize that everything is under our control...not everything that happens necessarily, but ALL of our reactions, responses, and how we create our lives. Our environment reflects our inner life. This is fundamental to Nichiren Buddhist workings. 

A reader wrote me the other day and asked how I can be a practicing Buddhist and have a son who died. That's a very good question. I know other strong Buddhists have lost children. I know "bad things" happen to good people. At any rate, I can't change the past and I can't bring him back.

What I CAN do is to continue to advance with hope in my heart, passion in my life, and even, sometimes, a song in my heart. Yes, I am still grieving. Yes -  it comes and goes in waves...but I am still ME. I am still Jamie Lee Silver, and I still have my deepest passion in life...my passion for ending the suffering of other. And I know in my heart that helping others end their suffering is the path to ultimate happiness...not just the PATH, but also that I can be happy along the way...not waiting for anything.

If I can do this - advance steadily, show continual actual proof, and even enjoy my life - if I can do this, YOU can do anything! 

This past week in Aspen was like being in heaven with many like-minded people from all over the world. It was a vision of kosen-rufu (world peace, a world of respect for all) in miniature. 
And I came home to discover virtually all of my technology needed to be updated. So I have spent the week upgrading my internet connection, my phone and taking my computer in to be serviced. 

This is a big deal for me. I'm a person who would rather have another person do some of these things for me - usually a man! But I am determined to be self-sufficient in all ways.  So I am chanting to be able to do this myself, and not have to pay the cable guy. 

As I mentioned, I am still myself, and next Tuesday will be the 30th anniversary of the day I received my Gohonzon. When I chant, I feel more connected to my mission than ever. And I know, with this feeling, I can't lose! 




As an aside, for my politically minded American friends: 

Here in the states we are in the run-up to an election. And all of the media is owned by several companies. I found it astonishing that I could not watch the Democratic debate without upgrading my cable package by $20 a month, which they will probably try to raise at some time in the future...but I went ahead and upgraded it to see Bernie Sanders. He's a man who is telling the truth about the takeover of America by corporations. 

Ever since "Citizens United" was voted in by the Supreme Court, allowing "Corporations to be people" and contribute unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns, this country has not been our own, and the rich have been getting richer, while normal working people have seen their incomes shrink. Safety nets for the disadvantaged have been being taken away. And I see this in action. I see people who NEED these safety nets, not because they are lazy, but because they need them for health reasons. 

Interestingly enough, CNN had a live feed going on during the debate, where we could vote live as the debate went on. Anyone could tell that Sanders overwhelmingly won the debate. And as soon as it ended, CNN, owned by Time Warner, Hillary Clinton's 7th biggest funding source, declared she had won the election. This is outrageous. And it is up to US, the people to rise up and use our votes, use our voices, to take back this country. The next few months are going to be very interesting indeed! 

9 Keys for Starting or Refreshing Your Chanting Practice

By chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo you can transform all of your sufferings into benefit, and crystallize every desire into a blooming flower in our lives. You can become happier than you ever imagined...happier, more resourceful and more courageous in taking action.  

We can change anything through chanting because we tap into our inner realm of unlimited possibility when we chant. You are a Buddha of infinite potential! 

When we chant the Mystic law we see changes in our life - whether we believe they will happen or not. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo means "I fuse my life with the mystic law of cause and effect through sound vibration" or, as some say "I tune my life to the rhythm of all life." Saying these words is a great cause that breaks through all suffering and creates a life of happiness. It works! 

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"Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a Lion. 

What sickness could therefore be an obstacle?" 

Nichiren Daishonin 

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9 Keys for Beginning to Chant 

By Jamie Lee Silver from Chantforhappiness.com

1. Make Your list!

Make a list of what you really want in life. Take a fresh look at your desires and write them down.  Dream big. What do you really want? What do you want for yourself? What do you want for others? What do you want for the world? Make a list. Write it down and put the date on it. 

Many people began chanting with desires that later transformed into other desires. So don't worry about whether your desires are "right" desires to have. Chanting is progressive, both you and your desires will evolve. I know people who began a very rewarding practice chanting for things that were important at the time, but later changed into other desires. 

One of my friends chanted for a month to prove to his wife that this practice doesn't work. Well, he found out it DID work and more than 40 years later he is still practicing. In Nichiren Buddhism your desires ARE enlightenment. It is okay to desire whatever you desire, whether it's money, the happiness of someone else, a relationship, a job, or peace of mind and contentment. With continued practice you will see that your dreams for yourself actually become tied to the dreams of happiness for all. 

2.Chant for what is really in your heart. 

This is a great time to start a Journal.  It's not essential, but I think it's a great idea. Writing in a journal helps you become aware of your progress and benefits.

3. Choose a place to chant comfortably. 

Find your "home" with your home, where you can feel comfortable chanting out loud, having a dialogue with your life itself.  Sit comfortably. (Did I say this enough times?! ~ I like to be comfortable!)

4. Choose a focus point on the wall. 

Some people start by facing a blank wall; I chanted to a moon in a picture. Choose a focal point slightly above eye level. 

5. You may wish to have a small table nearby for tea or your journal. 

6. Write the words Nam Myoho Renge Kyo 
on a piece of paper. 

The words are pronounced as follows: 

Nam ~    Nahm, rhymes with Mom, 
Myoho ~ meeyohoh,  
Renge ~  rain gay, 
Kyo ~     kee oh. 
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. 
Nahm Meeyohoh Rain Gay Kee Oh
(Phonetic spelling) 

7. Begin to chant. 
Hold your hands with the palms facing in and touching each other in front of your heart. And say Nam-myoho-renge-kyo over and over and over again with your eyes OPEN looking at the wall. 

8. Don't Stress about your thoughts 
At first, you will probably only be able to concentrate on the words themselves, and that's fine.  Once you've got the chant down you can think about what you want and chant at the same time. 

9. Join the SGI
Join fellow practitioners as soon as you can. The SGI Portal to the right will help you locate a center near you, and you can call that center to connect to your local meeting house. 

Chant twice a day every day. Get in rhythm! Establishing a twice a day rhythm to your chanting is important. It gets the wheels of your life moving. 

Keep your goals in mind and you’ll remember your reasons for chanting! 

These words and this vibration go deep into the heart of your life itself. They summon forth your highest wisdom, vitality and sense of purpose. They also uproot the karma that is making you suffer, and give you the opportunity to change this karma forever. 

When you chant you are entering into a dialogue with your life itself. You are not chanting to any god or asking for favors. Instead, you are connecting with the rhythm of the universe itself. 

As Nichiren Daishonin says in the famous writing (Gosho) "On Attaining Buddhahood" :

"If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured since time beginning and to attain without fail unsurpassed enlightenment in this lifetime, you must perceive the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings. This truth is Myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth innate in all life...It is called the mystic truth because it explains the mutually inclusive relationship of life and all phenomena. 
"Life at each moment encompasses the body and mind and the self and environment of all sentient beings in the ten worlds, as well as all insentient beings in the three thousand realms, including plants, sky and earth, and even the most minute particles of dust. Life at each moment permeates the universe and is revealed in all phenomena. One awakened to this principle himself embodies this relationship. However, even though you chant and believe in Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, if you think the Law is outside yourself, you are embracing not the mystic law but some inferior teaching."
From Lectures on Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime by Daisaku Ikeda, 2007  

We are One Great Life Entity ~

"The world is an intricately interwoven web of infinite relations. When we apply this worldview to matter and to all living things, including people, we can see the world as one great life entity. This is the true nature of our own life."
Daisaku Ikeda, Ikedaquotes.org
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I am about to get started on my journey home from Aspen, Colorado. Even the name is a melody. 

For almost a week I've been singing John Denver songs with people who I knew were never strangers...were always friends just waiting to be met. John Denver sang songs of the one great entity of life. 

John Denver was a Buddhist at heart. His lyrics are the heart and soul of the connectedness of all of life, appreciation, friendship and real, true, love. 

And his mountains were part of that soul. Aspen is around 7,000 feet above sea level, and the mountains, rivers, trees, and sky are magnificent. Last night we looked at the sky from a totally dark meadow...there wasn't even a moon. We could see right into the milky way. 

People were here for John Denver week from all over he world ~ Italy, Spain, the UK, Ireland, Chili, Canada, Australia, Japan, all over the States and more. Everyone who came was seeking to connect with people of like minds, in fellowship, as one big family. 

And the music was incredible. When I get more time I can share some clips from the tribute bands who came from all over the world. I lost count of the number of bands and concerts. Many of them were at the same time, so we had to make a choice...and sometimes we had to skip the concerts to see the aspens quaking in the sun.

And even with all the concerts, and the nightly sing-a-longs we didn't hear every one of his songs. 

For me, this was a way to return to my spiritual roots, to return to a time before I became an adult, when John Denver's music sustained me through the cold...

"For the spirit fills the darkness of the heavens
It fills the endless yearning of the soul. 
It lives within the star too far to dream of
It lives within the part and in the whole.
It's the fire and the wings to fly us home
Fly us home.
Fly us home." 
From "Spirit" 
by John Denver

It was also a time of healing...
Nam myoho renge kyo!

4 Surprising Reasons Nichiren Buddhists are so Happy! Please Share

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.  We introduce others to the practice because we are delighted with the results we see in our own lives from chanting. 

We are known by several names:
SGI Buddhists (there are different names in different countries)
Soka Gakkai Members ~ SGI Members, 
(For more about the SGI click on the link to the right) 
Practical Buddhists
Nichiren Buddhists  

4 Surprising Reasons 
Nichiren Buddhists are so HAPPY ~

1. Our Happiness is not based on our happiness alone. And 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. 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" in our minds telling us we can't do it, that we aren't strong enough and who do we think we 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. 

Nothing is in Vain!

Aspen Trees in the Sun 10/9/15

Hi! Here I am in the Colorado Rocky mountains returning to the music of my youth, along with many others who share the John Denver Connection. It's gorgeous and warm. Here's a picture I took on the hike today. I am overflowing with gratitude toward my own life, toward this practice, and for all the new friends I am making. There are people here from New Zealand, Spain, Japan, the Philippines, and right here in Colorado.  

Today this passage jumped out at me. Nothing is in Vain! 

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From Living Buddhism, October 2015 Daisaku Ikeda's lecture "On Repaying Debts of Gratitude", page 37.

"I have consistently stressed that 
those who have suffered the most 
deserve to become the happiest. 
Buddhism exists for those enduring the greatest suffering. The light of compassion shines 
when we empathise with such people, 
when we feel their suffering as our own, 
when we take action putting ourselves in their shoes. 

...What is essential to rising above suffering? 
It is being aware of the preciousness of life, 
and trusting and respecting people. 
This is because the fundamental cause of suffering 
lies in denying the preciousness of life 
and distrusting others. 

When we awaken to the fact 
that all life is absolutely precious, 
that nothing is in vain, 
and that we ourselves are also precious treasures, 
there emerges within us a powerful self-confidence, 
an unshakable sense of security and limitless gratitude. 
The recognition that the lives of all others, too, 
are infinitely precious 
engenders a deep respect for people, 
a firm trust in them and an all-encompassing compassion."
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Nobel Peace Prize - Daisaku Ikeda is in this CNN article regarding possible winners!

Check out this article. 

Thanks for sending it Mark Lutnes! 


http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/07/world/nobel-peace-prize-names-2015/

We Are one - Rumi Quote!

I love this!