Pride Day in Chicago today!

The Soka Gakkai is marching in the Pride Parade Today!


As a straight woman and a lover of love, and a lover of people's freedom to love I am proud to be marching. 


I'll take pictures and share them after the parade!


If you are a first time reader please take a look at previous postings! 


To my readers!


Please continue bringing forth your true and noble desires! You deserve the best and the brightest and the happiest of lives! Thank you for writing me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me know when I have touched you! Thank you for sharing your successes! I am always chanting for you!

You Can Desire ANYTHING!

Yesterday I had a very interesting discussion with a member of my district who has been Chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for about a year and a half. 


I said, as we were beginning to chant, "REMEMBER, YOU CAN DESIRE ANYTHING...YOU CAN CHANT FOR ANYTHING!" And after we chanted we talked about this. I know we had talked about it before, but now it is beginning to sink in for her 


She told me she was raised to believe that desires were bad...and that having a real desire for anything actually leads to suffering and unhappiness. She was taught to appreciate everything, but not to have desires or to be specific. She was taught not to ask for anything. 
I told her about the fulfillment of some of my very specific desires. I listed a specific desire I have now, with all its components (I get VERY specific!)


And she was amazed...and open to the idea of specifying her own desires...and chanting for them ~ rather than denying them. I am so glad we had this discussion! 


Please consider what I am saying. 


Earthly desires are your birthright. 


They make you who you are. 


They are fuel for your chanting, they make the light in your eyes shine...they make waking up each day a joyous experience. Why not be specific and go for what is in your heart? 


I know people who started chanting and had less than lofty desires...and chanting for those desires eventually lead their lives to chant for better desires. But they had to start where they were. There are people who begin their practice chanting for drugs, and if they keep chanting they will develop better desires! 


I know a man who started chanting to prove to his wife that she was wasting her time. More than 40 years later she's still chanting. 


There was an experience in the world tribune of a woman chanting to die, and she kept trying to commit suicide (and failing) and kept chanting and worked her way out of her sadness to lead a happy productive life. Chant for what is in your heart!


And, if you don't know what your desires are, well...easy answer! 


Chant to know what you really want. Ask your life. You have the perfect tool to do that!


I chanted to know what my mission was for quite a few years. I knew I was born to accomplish something important  (just like YOU) and I wanted to find out what it was. 


And now, here I am, thrilled to be writing to you today, thrilled that you pass on this blog address to others, and thrilled to reach more and more people every day and help them to become happy. 


My life has purpose, spark and excitement. Nothing makes me happier than hearing your successes, hearing that you've gone to SGI meetings and answering your questions. 
From the bottom of my heart I thank you and I urge you : Have desires! Make them specific! Chant about them! Own them and claim them!! And be HAPPY!!!

Automatically Translate this blog!

Look! 
ChantforHappiness.com 
can now be sent to everyone in any country! 
Please pass it on to your friends. 
All you have to do is send a link, (Just write chantforhappiness.com in the body of your email message) 
and tell them there's a button on the top left they can click to change the language! How wonderful!!!

Banish Negative Thoughts by ROARING LIKE A LION!

Last night the evil twin in my head reappeared with thoughts that were tailor made to bring me down! I swear! No one can bring me down faster than those negative thoughts in my head. 
I know you know what I mean! 


We all have these negative thoughts! We are all familiar with those negative thoughts in our own brains!


We all have thoughts that can lead us into negative places. Mine tempt me to feel afraid for no good reason. They nudge me to be sad when I have nothing to be sad about. But they are so familiar...it's almost like a well worn groove in my brain. I think these thoughts and I feel my spirits sinking. 


I am at a great place in my life in all ways. I'm healthy, happy, have great relationships, enjoy my job, and I'm moving forward with my book and the other really cool things I'm looking forward to offering you! I'm helping people to learn Gongyo and tonight there is going to be a rocking Buddhist meeting here at my house. OF COURSE these thoughts would reappear. These are the obstacles we call sansho shima, forces that work to hold us back! They can only defeat us if we fail to see them as the obstacles they are...and give them more power by believing them! 


For me, when they occur, it is one more time to roar like a lion!


So this morning I did my walk in the Chicago area's unbelievably gorgeous weather (I love the heat!) and came back and chanted. 


I chanted Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and told the depths of my life NO WAY !!!! No thoughts are going to bring this Buddha Down! Get out of my head!!!! I am determined to be happy in every way so that I can lead my friends who read this blog, and the members of my district, and everyone else I meet or have yet to meet, to happiness! I am the happiness master! No tiny little nasty thoughts are going to get in my way!!! Roooooaaaaaaarrrrrr!!!!! 


And now I feel GREAT!!!


The universe is yours to command! 
What will you stand up for today!
Please share with me so I can use your wonderful words and experiences for my book!

YOU ARE the Mystic Law! Some quotes and notes

From the introduction to the 1979 edition of the Gosho by Nichiren Daishonin:




"Enlightenment is not a mystical of transcendental state, as many might assume. Rather it is a condition of the highest wisdom, vitality and good fortune wherein the individual can shape his or her own destiny, find fulfillment in daily activities, and come to understand his or her purpose in being alive." 


YES!!!


From "On Attaining Buddhahood."


"If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured through eternity and attain supreme enlightenment in this lifetime, you must first awaken to the mystic truth that has always been within your life....This truth is Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth within you...It is called the mystic law because it explains the mutually inclusive relationship between life and all phenomenon.
Life at each moment encompasses both body and spirit and both self and environment of all sentient beings in every condition of life, as well as insentient beings - plants, sky and earth, on down to the most minute particles of dust. Life at each moment permeates the universe and is revealed in all phenomena. One awakened to this truth 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."
~Nichiren Daishonin


YOU are this life. You ARE LIFE ITSELF! You are the sun and the moon and the stars. You are the rivers, and the valleys and the oceans and the wind. All of these things exist in you and you in them. This is what the poets have been born to write, and it is true! And when you recite the name of this all encompassing life NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO you are being the life of the universe summoning its own power. The universe within you is yours to command. 


When you sit down to chant ~ remember that the prayer is within you! The universe is within YOU!
CLAIM your benefits! Demand that your life, and all of life respond to your prayer. You are that powerful. You have encountered the mystic law this lifetime. That is no accident!!! You can use this law to make yourself and all around you happy. What a wonderful life we are living together! 
What will you summon next? What karma will you conquer next? What will the amazing Buddha YOU do next?  

What if you are in a truly dangerous situation?

I received an email from someone anonymously. 


The person said that their father repeatedly beat them and their mother. The person asked how best to chant about this. I would respond privately, but I don't have their email address. This message came in as a comment so I must respond on the blog. I don't know how old the writer was, or whether they are male or female. I will do my best to speak from my heart. 


The first thing I am going to say is this:


This is a Buddhism of ACTION. As hard as it sounds, please do not stay in a dangerous situation. Yes, staying and chanting to change the situation is always an option. So is leaving the situation and protecting yourself. This is not a practice where we feel we have to suffer to make up for our past karma. NO. We are not practicing Buddhism to learn how to bear our sufferings. NO. We practice Buddhism to be happy. If you choose to leave the situation you can always chant for your father's happiness and transformation from another location where you are safe. You can do your human revolution and transformation away from the man who is tormenting you and your mother. 


Please chant for the wisdom for the safest and best action to take. You have a tremendous mission in life. You CAN change this by chanting. You CAN be safe while you do it. Please get help from any government agency that you can. I don't know what country you are living in. In many places you can get help.


When you do chant...ROAR LIKE A LION!!! 


Tell YOUR OWN LIFE 


"NO WAY!!!! This type of abuse cannot happen to a noble Boddhisatva of the  earth!" 


Demand protection when you chant. Tell your life (as you are chanting) that you must protect yourself and your mother. Demand that the Shoten Zenjin (protective forces of the universe that exist in your own life and in all of life) rise up to protect you now!


Keep chanting! I am chanting for you! Please write me again!

Why are you chanting? Would you like to be in my book?

I have been working hard on my book for you. It will be a book to give to people who are beginning to practice, and to those who wish to refresh their practice and learn to roar like lions!


I am wondering if some readers would like to participate...


Would you answer these questions for me, and for the book? 


Right now it is called "Chant Your Way to Happiness" And I am working on a sentence to follow that. Suggestions? 


Here are my questions for you:


Why did you start chanting? 


Can you describe a benefit you got from chanting? 


Why do you keep chanting? 


Can you tell me a word of advice you'd give to someone who is just beginning to chant? 


Thank You!!!


You can email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com or post a comment on this blog.