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. 

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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." 

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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! 

PowerPrayer for Happiness to FLOW!

"Life contains the capacity, like flames that reach toward heaven, to transform suffering and pain into the energy needed for value creation, into light that illuminates  darkness. Like the wind traversing the vast spaces unhindered, life has the power to uproot and overturn all obstacles and difficulties. Like clear flowing water, it can wash away all stains and impurities. And, finally, life, like the great earth that sustains vegetation, impartially protects all people with its compassionate, nurturing force." 

Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhism Day by Day, page 64

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Ok, I am just determined to end this suffering! Winter does me in...the endlessly low grey skies of Chicago....OOF!

So, I was able, through this new chiropractic work I'm getting, to start walking on my treadmill again. And I'm eating more healthy. This affects me immediately. It was my Valentine's Day gift to myself. 

Last night I booked a much needed trip to the sun - because the doors opened in a really cool way! 

AND, my prayer right now, from the depths of my heart, is openness...essentially non-attachment. A kind of surrender. As I chant my hour in the morning, with my phone in the other room, I have this PowerPrayer in my heart - not all my challenges - not all the things I have to solve:

PowerPrayer for Happiness to FLOW ! 
By Jamie Lee Silver Chantforhappiness.com

"Right now I draw all the wisdom of life through me. Gohonzon, my life, 
we already know my deepest desires! 
Right now I draw forth the wisdom I already possess. 
I draw forth that wisdom for my own happiness...
because I know MY happiness 
makes a difference in the world. 
This Daimoku IS the cause, 
And leads me to make the right causes
And bring forth the wisdom
and ACT on that wisdom 
so my life can flow with kosen rufu power for all!
All the right doors open now, 
and I joyfully step through them! "

Taking it One Step at a Time

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Have you ever felt that there's just too much on your plate? 

Too many decisions to make, too much to do...and you just feel stuck, and barely even remember how to chant? Well, I can relate! I know some of you feel this way because you write me and ask "Where do I start? How can I accomplish X?" 

So this morning, as I was talking to my life in the wonderful ceremony we do every morning...our "trueing ceremony" of gongyo, our recitation of the Lotus Sutra, I battled again with too much in my mind...and then a total blank...not really knowing where to start...and I just kept chanting. 

Even though I was thinking "this isn't very organized thought" (which is self-slander!) I kept chanting, and I felt this ease come over me. I changed focus from trying to solve ALL my problems at once, and figure EVERYTHING out TODAY, and I just started chanting to be present, to make good decisions, to have wisdom in every moment today, and to take it one step at a time... 

So, after this morning's gongyo, I feel refreshed. Calm. Taking it a step at a time. 

And for all of you who write me and say "I don't know how to get started chanting again." or "I'm finding it almost impossible to chant." I can tell you to just keep going. Don't slander yourself or get down on yourself. Sit in front of the Gohonzon, your precious life, and say "I am breaking through. I will complete the time I promised myself I would chant. I will just keep going." And, as Daisaku Ikeda says: Don't Give Up! 

5 Keys to Make Your Gongyo and Your Life Sparkle!

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Perfecting our daily recitation of Gongyo and Daimoku is our spiritual work-out for the interior of our lives, this work-out makes our environments 
(our world at every moment, 
and all the people and things and EVERYTHING in it) 
flow smoothly...and we can accomplish our goals and live fulfilling lives.  

When Shakyamuni was meditating under the Bodhi Tree, he was assailed by many thoughts to make him stop or to throw off his meditation. 
He kept focused. He won. 
Our practice of Gongyo every day is just like this. 
We are the Buddha! 
Every day - twice a day!  
We must win! 

Gongyo is important!

Our concentration will pay off. Doing gongyo with the following guidelines has brought me great benefit. 
(As always ~ these writings are mine, and come from my heart to yours.)

5 Keys to Make Your Gongyo 

and Your Life Sparkle!

Don't just "do" Gongyo. Feel it. Experience it.
by Jamie Lee Silver at chantforhappiness.com 

1. Put your phone in another room. 
                 Claim this time as YOUR OWN! 

2. Pray each silent prayer with all your heart. 

Elevate the moment from reading to praying! 

Read each silent prayer over and over until you can actually feel the appreciation. Read the silent prayers until they sink in...so you are truly praying in appreciation. If you don't know why Nichiren Daishonin and the three presidents deserve your praise, please ask a fellow member and study the history of Nichiren Buddhism and the Soka Gakkai. (Clink the link to the right to find your local SGI group) It took tremendous conviction and courage to bring this practice to us today! 
During these prayers, I bring forth the gratitude I feel for having this practice in my life.   

3. Begin and end Gongyo 
                     with no interruptions. 

You can chant as long as you'd like between gongyo and the silent prayers. 
Sometimes I recite the silent prayers at the end of Gongyo soon after the recitation...not after finishing all my daimoku for the morning. This makes it easier to do a complete gongyo before I get up to do something else, or refresh my drink or whatever. 
I start and complete gongyo. Boom. 
Then I can do as much daimoku as I want, with gongyo done. Complete. With no interruptions. If I get interrupted in the middle of gongyo I begin again! I see this helping me complete things in my life on a much more regular basis. 

4. Chant every morning and evening. 

I know, I know, you've heard this before. The reason I keep repeating this message is that it WORKS! When we do gongyo twice a day our lives get on a roll. You have to experience it to see it! I can't tell you how it feels. I can tell you that one of my YWD (young woman) finally began chanting twice a day (after refusing to do this for two years) she was able to realize a hidden goal, bring it to the surface, chant about it, and now she's living her dream in Colorado. Chanting twice a day WORKS! 

5. Perfect Your Rhythm 
              and Pronunciation of Gongyo

In the early days of my practice, I was fortunate to have a leader who believed that perfecting gongyo was important. Every day I showed up at her house to fine-tune my rhythm and pronunciation. You can do the same, and it will energize your practice and life. 
I suggest finding a mentor in your SGI circle who can work with you. To learn, we can bring a pencil and circle the parts we find difficult, and highlight our mistakes. The next time through we can be aware of the challenging parts because we circled them. We can learn it like a song. 
It is easier to learn it right the first time, but not impossible to fix, if learned wrong. 

Having perfect gongyo gives us confidence. 

I'd like to hear your stories of how perfecting your gongyo changes your life. Everything we do to enhance our practice is reflected in our lives. 

Gongyo and Daimoku are our laboratory 
where we create the lives of our dreams! 

I'm interested in hearing how you are perfecting your gongyo! 
Doing Gongyo is like lifting spiritual weights. how strong can we make our lives? 
That's what we're talking about! 

Email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com