Living as a Buddhist - What does this mean?

First of all, living as a Buddhist is living a life of action. Some people think of Buddhists as sitting on a high mountain top somewhere ~ contemplating the wonders of the universe, and that's not an accurate depiction as a modern-day SGI Buddhist. 

Yes, SGI Buddhists are vastly different than any other kind of Buddhist. 

Here I will just say briefly that SGI Buddhists do not pray to Buddha as a substitute for God, and do not believe that happiness exists in some far off place that can only be attained by quieting the mind so completely that it is devoid of any desires. 

NO! SGI Buddhist USE their desires as fuel for happiness, just as they use their problems as fuel for happiness. We realize our fundamental challenge in life is to overcome our notion that we are not Buddhas. We live our lives to keep awakening the knowledge, keep shedding light on...keep en-lighten-ing the very fact that we ARE the universe and we ARE the power in our lives. 

The illusion many people on earth have is of their own weakness. SGI Buddhists serve as bright lights to illuminate their own, and everyone else's power. This is done by realizing our negativity is the MAIN BARRIER we need to confront and conquer. 

When we get negative, the important thing is to FACE IT and chant to rid our lives of it. And we do this by chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. 

We also see our lives as part of the great web of life. As Daisaku Ikeda puts it:

The misfortune of others is our misfortune. Our happiness is the happiness of others. To see ourselves in others and feel an inner oneness and sense of unity with them represents a fundamental revolution in the way we view and live our lives. Therefore, discriminating against another person is the same as discriminating against oneself. When we hurt another, we are hurting ourselves. And when we respect others, we respect and elevate our own lives as well." - Daisaku Ikeda

Each day I awaken and sit in front of my life...my altar...my very own heart that is represented in the scroll that Nichiren Daishonin inscribed called the Gohonzon. I face it and chant for one hour. Some  people chant for less time...others for more. And some days I chant longer, other days for shorter amounts. 

In that time I connect with the life flow that is within me. I chant in appreciation, I chant with desire, I chant for other people. I chant for my country, the world, and for anything that is on my mind. I chant to realize my own Buddhahood and to expand the life that is within me so that my light (the light of us all, the light of the universe ) can glow stronger and stronger through me and that those who are still suffering can have hope. 

Suffering is mainly a lack of hope, and lack of strength. 

Suffering is a feeling, a fear, a dread and a lack of light and life and warmth. 

And if I can raise from the depths of the deep, deep longing without hope that I was in most of my life, well, so can anyone else. Anyone who chants these words can be happy. 

Happiness is something we build from inside our lives. It is totally unattached to what is happening in our lives. I know this is hard to believe at time, and at other times it makes perfect sense. I know sometimes we lose a loved one to death, and we think we will never be the same. I know that the people I have loved who have died are here with me everyday. I talk to them, they converse with me, and I'm not crazy. 

Life is eternal. My Mom is right here. 

So is my friend Danny, and lately I am really in sync with john Denver. It has been 15 years since he died and I will write about what happened between the two of us on this blog soon. It is a fascinating story of how Nam Myoho Renge Kyo reaches into the depths of life, whether we see it THIS MOMENT or not. 

Today chant to praise your life and to wipe away any thoughts of doubt in your life. Doubt is what holds us back. In SGI Buddhism faith is a muscle, faith is a verb. It is up to you to strengthen it....and YOU CAN DO IT! 

Chant to strengthen your faith. Chant to have the kind of benefit that blows you away! Chant for those you love and those your really don't love and you can watch your life grow in amazing ways. Compassion is also like a muscle. You grow your compassion and you grow your own ability to revel in the beauty all around you...including the beauty of your very own soul. 

Happy Tuesday. Happy Chanting. Happy Life my dear friends!!! 

About Setting Deadlines for Results

I received a note from a reader about deadlines. They were wondering what to do when the deadline has passed, but the result has not happened. What does this mean...and what do you do next?

Kate is my guest blogger for this question:

We set deadlines to motivate OURSELVES into action. A deadline is not for the universe to respond to us. We chant. We take action. The deadline comes. We either win or we don't. If we don't get the result by the deadline we pick ourselves right up again and redetermine. The goal is to never be defeated. Sensei always says "To win in life is to never be defeated." That does not mean that we will never fail. It's our spirit that matters. The battle we fight is not with the universe. It's with our inner demons...the ones that say things like "obviously chanting doesn't work because I did not get my dream by my deadline...or...maybe I should have a different goal...maybe I wasn't MEANT to have that thing!....or what am I doing wrong? Maybe I wasn't chanting the RIGHT way!" It is at that juncture that we must recognize the opportunity to deepen our faith and our understanding of the profundity of Buddhism. ANYTHING that DRAINS OUR LIFE FORCE is the negative function. Any inner voice that causes us doubt and hopelessness IS the negative function. Once we decide we will win no matter what ~ we need only to continue. We've already won. The battle is with the negative function within. 
Ultimately, deadlines are irrelevant. Set them if you need them to motivate yourself. But decide from the onset that you will win no matter what. And hold YOURSELF accountable. Not the universe. If it is a crucial moment and you are in a dire predicament, financially, or health-wise, it is time to DEMAND the protection of the Shoten Zenjin. No prayer of a votary of the Lotus Sutra will go unanswered. If your prayer is going unanswered find out what it means to be a votary of the Lotus Sutra. STUDY. And as you are chanting DEMAND the result that you want through your prayer. Awaken to your mission and realize that all your suffering is your opportunity to encourage other people. That is what is meant by turning Karma into Mission."

Determination for Financial Fortune - a Power Prayer for you...

Here is a power prayer you might want to use. 
It is general, if you wish you can make it more specific ~

When you are chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo have this determination in your head:

"I am determined to never again worry about Money! I am determined to be financially free and financially savvy. I am very comfortable with my money and always have enough to be able to do whatever I want to do...whenever I want to do it! I have enough money to live the life I want to live, to travel, to give gifts, to donate and to plan for the future. I feel secure and happy and know I always have enough money. I am receiving all I ever need all the time. My foundation is solid and I am secure. Every day I learn more about money and enjoy the process. I do wonderful work and am  wonderfully rewarded!" 

Anything is POSSIBLE!

Hello! Good Morning! 

It's my 27th Gohonzon Birthday!! 

Today I enter my 28th year of chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. 

I am more determined than ever not to limit my life...to go for my dreams and to appreciate each moment along the way. 

The sun is shining and I am sitting down to send Daimoku to YOU to the world, the universe, my country, my family and friends. We are all in this life together for a reason. 

I keep thinking about this month's Gosho. It says that we have all been related as family...literally every person on earth has been a family member of ours, and we all owe EVERYONE a debt of gratitude. Isn't that a beautiful way of looking at life? Yes. I know why I always chant for those in need and do what I can to help them. I DO owe them a debt of gratitude. And I will spend the rest of my life fulfilling the vow for Kosen Rufu...working to share Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and love and excitement and hope and gratitude with as many people as I possibly can. 

Thank you for reading my blog and being here with me! Thank you for passing it on to your friends and fellow members! 

Please remember not to limit your life. We can't always figure out exactly where our future and our happiness will lie...but if we continue chanting and focusing on what we want, we are gradually getting closer and closer to it. And for me, appreciating HERE, just as much as WHERE I WANT TO GO is one of the major reasons I greet each day with a smile and no longer feel the ache of constant hunger and longing in my gut. I have truly changed that aspect of my life...and it is something I thought I would have to live with for life. It was so close to me that I didn't even realize it was changeable. I thought those feelings of hunger and longing were who I was, not an aspect of my life. Through this incredible practice I have changed that fundamental tendency forever...and ridden my life of the deepest pits of sadness forever. Anything is possible through chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. 

Please have faith in your own power to tap the deepest resources of life itself through your prayer! 
Let me hear from you!
Enjoy your sweet daimoku!

A Guest Blogger today and a GREAT QUOTE

Today I am posting an email from a reader. It came at the perfect time and says the perfect thing so I hope you will enjoy it! I have been busy reaping the benefits of my hours of chanting last weekend, and been happily running from morning until late at night for the past few days! 

The quote below is a prescription for how ALL of us can live our lives secure in the knowledge that every Daimoku is hitting every mark...every time! Let's all SUMMON our faith more than ever and release all our doubts!!!

Here is our guest blogger's encouragement:

 I am feeling very inspired, the SGI meeting I went to was about courage and faith.  Really it's in times where we feel that we cannot go on where we feel like giving up, that's when we call forward our courage and faith to go on. When we are chanting it is not about thinking through our problems how will this work out, but just deciding  how we want things to be and letting go enjoying our daimoku and allowing the buddha nature within us to come forth. Our strategizing in front of the Gohonzon, blocks the way for our innate wisdom to shine through.  I know that you have said this all before and thank you!  I would like to share a quote from President Ikeda's lectures on The One Essential Phrase, one that has touched me deeply and one which I will use to continue on my daimoku campaign:

Daimoku is like light. As the Daishonin says, "A candle can light up a place that has been dark for billions of years." Similarly, the moment we offer prayers based on daimoku, the darkness in our lives vanishes. This is the principle of the simultaneity of cause and effect. At that very instant, in the depths of our lives our prayer has been answered.
The inherent cause (nyo ze in) of a deep prayer simultaneously produces a latent effect (nyo ze ka). While it takes time for this effect to become manifest, in the depths of our lives our prayers are immediately realized. So at that moment light shines forth. The lotus flower (renge), in blooming and seeding at the same time, illustrates this principle of simultaneity of cause and effect.
Therefore, it is important that we offer prayers with great confidence. The powers of the Buddha and the Law are activated in direct proportion to the strength of our faith and practice. Strong faith is like a high voltage-it turns on a brilliant light in our lives.
Prayers are invisible, but if we pray steadfastly they will definitely effect clear results in our lives and surroundings in time. This is the principle of the true entity of all phenomena. Faith means having confidence in this invisible realm. Those who impatiently pursue only visible gains, who put on airs, or who are caught up in vanity and formalism will definitely become deadlocked.
People who base themselves on prayer are sincere. Prayer cleanses and expands the heart, and instills character.
Daimoku is also like fire. When you burn the firewood of earthly desires, then the fire of happiness-that is, of enlightenment-burns brightly. Sufferings thus become the raw material for constructing happiness. For someone who does not have faith in the Mystic Law, sufferings may be only sufferings. But for a person with strong faith, sufferings function to enable him or her to become happier still.
Faith is inextinguishable hope. The practice of faith is a struggle to realize our desires. And the basis of this practice is prayer. Through prayer, hope turns into confidence. This spirit of confidence unfolds in 3,000 ways, finally resulting in the attainment of our hopes. Therefore, we must never give up.
Even places that have been shrouded in darkness for billions of years can be illuminated. Even a stone from the bottom of a river can be used to produce fire. Our present sufferings, no matter how dark, have certainly not continued for billions of years-nor will they linger forever. The sun will definitely rise. In fact, its ascent has already begun.
To put yourself down is to denigrate the world of Buddhahood in your life. It is tantamount to slandering the Gohonzon. The same is true of setting your mind that absolutely nothing can be done about some particular problem or suffering.
Also, we must not decide in advance that a particular person or a particular area is a lost cause. It is precisely when faced with challenging circumstances that we need to pray. The key is to offer concrete prayers and take action-until results are produced.
Prayers based on the Mystic Law are not abstract. They are a concrete reality in our lives. To offer prayers is to conduct a dialogue, an exchange, with the universe. When we pray, we embrace the universe with our lives, our determination. Prayer is a struggle to expand our lives.
So prayer is not a feeble consolation; it is a powerful, unyielding conviction. And prayer must become manifest in action. To put it another way, if our prayers are in earnest, they will definitely give rise to action.
Thank you for your wonderful contributions! You make my day receiving your daily blogs, I love them and will tell more people about them.

And thank YOU friend for sending this incredible quote on this wonderful day!!!!

A Great Quote for you!

The human spirit is as expansive as the cosmos. 
This is why it is so tragic to belittle yourself or to question your worth. 
No matter what happens, 
continue to push back the boundaries of your inner life. 
The confidence to prevail over any problem, 
the strength to overcome adversity and unbounded hope
—all reside within you.

Daisaku Ikeda

Your Comments? 

Beautiful Fall Here in the Midwest!

What is it about fall...such a wonderful feeling is fall...time of change...time of remembering. I have been spending time in my lovely arboretum. It's a wonderful park-like area with roads and paths. There's a part of the Arboretum that turns all golden..like this:

And there is gold on the ground and gold in the trees...so lovely...

I have been reading and re-reading the Gosho from the October Living Buddhism magazine about repaying ones debts of gratitude. "The Four Virtues and the Four Debts of Gratitude". 

Do you know it says that all of us beings...ALL of us beings, have lived so many times that we have all been related to each other at one time or another? I think I have always known this, and it is why I write this blog...to reach out to all of my family members...YOU.. and all of the future readers of this blog. 

I am chanting for the growth of this blog...that it reach more and more and more people.... not because I want fame or fortune...just because I want to reach all who are suffering, or longing for the secret to happiness to come to them. 

You and I, and all those who chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo share a great secret. We KNOW that the rhythm of the universe is within US...and accessible to us. 

We can strengthen our lives at every moment through chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, and raise the vibrational level of our lives, and everyone on the planet...and the entire universe through our chanting. We can fulfill our dreams and live lives of happiness, not fearing death...not fearing ANYTHING. All humans long for this.  

It is our honor and birthright to share it with ALL. It is our way of repaying our debt of gratitude to all living beings. 

Thank you for joining me and all of us in this mission!

Thank you so much for attaching the link to this blog to your facebook pages, and your emails. Thank you so much for joining with me to help all people become happy. 

Becoming happy, and spreading happiness is the greatest joy. 

I have decided to write my book along with Julia, my incredible friend in Ukiah California. She is a published author, a therapist, and has an incredible grasp of this practice. We are both chanting for the fulfillment of our shared dream of Kosen Rufu through each person's happiness. She has a unique voice that is a bit different from mine...more scholarly. Our goal is to reach everyone in their own way and in their own place. 

Here is some wonderful guidance from President Ikeda sent through a new friend in the UK:

The way to practise is to have the attitude while we are chanting that we are in no way different or separate from the eternal Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, or the Buddhas who are enlightened to that Law. The key is to praise one’s inherent Buddhahood and then go out into the world and practise as a bodhisattva, treasuring others, encouraging them to experience their Buddhahood too.

This is a gradual process. When we practise to the Gohonzon, Nichiren Daishonin said we are simultaneously in the state of Buddhahood or enlightenment, but we cannot easily discern that life condition with our minds; therefore we do not always act accordingly. However, through our constant relationship with the Gohonzon, we gradually challenge and overcome the influence of negativity arising from our karma. As we open up our hearts we can begin to experience all those qualities of Buddhahood working naturally and vibrantly inside us and affecting everything that we think and say and do.

President Ikeda has recently described the process as this: ‘When we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo while practising for ourselves and others, with the Gohonzon of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo manifested by the Buddha as our clear mirror, and with deep confidence in the Gohonzon existing in our own lives, Myoho-renge-kyo within us resonates with the Myoho-renge-kyo outside us, and the world of Buddhahood emerges within us.’ [World of Nichiren Daishonin's Writings Part 12].