Who or What are we Chanting to?

A wise friend of mine once asked me this...
Who or what am I chanting to?

I told him this:

When you chant, you are chanting to the ALL, your highest self, the universe, the law that exists within your own life and within all of life...you are accessing your OWN Buddhahood.

You don't have to be reborn lifetime after lifetime to realize your Buddhahood. Chanting right now brings it right out of your own life!

That may sound like gobledygook to you, and that's ok.
Chanting is experiential...you don't know until you try!
It's hard to explain. The only way to really feel it is to chant!

See for yourself.

My friend Amos started chanting to prove to his wife that she was wasting her time chanting.
He chanted to PROVE it didn't work.
40 years later he is still chanting! And he's one of the most inspiring people I know!
It doesn't matter if you "believe it".
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is a law.
It doesn't have opinions.
Remember it means "I fuse my life with the mystic (unfathomable) law of cause and effect sutra (or through sound vibration)."
Give yourself a number of days to try it...100 is good, and chant every morning and evening, and look up your city in the SGI website (the link is on this blog) and go to a meetings...then write me and let me know what happens!

Happy Saturday! Want to Chant 2 hours with us today?

Yayyy Saturday is here! 

Today, October 27th, I will have a group of people here chanting from 11am-1pm Chicago (Central) time. Please join us from wherever you are! It is a great day to chant. 

What are we doing when we chant? We are tapping into the life force of the entire universe and directing our prayers to our own life...which IS the life of the universe. We don't have to beg or ask for favors. We are not asking something OUTSIDE of ourselves to help us with anything. No. We are tapping into the rhythm that runs through every cell of every thing and every person everywhere. We are tapping into the greater connectedness of everything. THat is why your prayers are so effective. That is why you can chant for someone across the world and see the effect. 

One time many years ago, I saw a picture of a boy who had been burned in one of our many wars. All you could see was his angelic face and a woman hovering above his head holding it and talking to him. I cut this out of the newspaper and put it up by my altar. Something about that picture just moved me to action. I chanted for that little boy. I chanted for his healing and an end to all war and for the woman with him. Later, someone was at my house and saw the picture. She told me his story had continued with him being airlifted into Canada for advanced burn treatment. Our prayers work...whether we see the result that day or not. 

And our prayers build up over time. There are two types of benefit, conspicuous and inconspicuous. Of course you see conspicuous right away. But inconspicuous goes deep in your life and is there for when you really need it...like stopping that car accident from happening, or a lvele of well being just growing and growing in your life. 

Last week was a long week for me and I'm happy to have time to tidy my apartment (and CAR), have a few hours to chant with some others and just be grateful to be a live and healthy and happy. Chicago has wildly fluctuating temperatures and in this week we've had almost a 40 degree drop in temps. People are sick all over. So far I am still crossing my fingers and feel fine. I take a lot of vitamin D, a multivitamin and drink a lot of water. I also exercise at least 5 times a week. I just like the way it improves my spirits and helps get rid of that feeling that I am going to gain the wright back. (For those of you new to this blog I've lost 50 pounds permanently) This was absolutely something I tried to do all my life, and accomplished within the past few years. I carry around my before and after pictures and people don't recognize me from the picture. 

Today in my chanting I am going to focus on my career, the members of my district, my family and YOU, the readers of this blog. 

Request for Experiences

You can use your experience to inspire others. 
I am looking for written experiences. 

Here's what I would like:

Tell us what was happening before the experience...and what your challenge was. 
Tell us what guidance you used, and what quotes inspired you and how you chanted. 
Tell us what happened. 

Pictures are always a plus. 

My email is chantforhappiness.com

The process of writing an experience is good for your life. You can present your experience at an SGI meeting and have me publish it here. Your benefits will multiply!

Life is Eternal...John Denver and Me

This is a picture of my first meeting with John Denver, singer, environmental enthusiast and Hunger Project founder. Meeting him was one of my first benefits from chanting. It was in 1985 right after I began chanting. I was giving him a quartz crystal. I began listening to his music when I was young, and his music sustained me through many hard times. He sang uplifting songs about the interconnectedness of life...he was a Buddhist without even knowing it. 
Because of him I learned to play guitar, I did the est training, met my husband and moved to San Francisco. Every year I'd see him sing. One year I realized he was going through a down period. I wrote him a letter about my appreciation for him, and told him about chanting. And I chanted for him every day. I met him one more time...and he seemed not so good. The people accompanying him were not the type of people I like to have around me. I kept chanting for him. 

In 1997 I was in Pacific Grove with my two sons visiting a friend. I was right on the sand, very close to him, when his plane went into the water and he died. I chanted for his future...for all his dreams to come to fruition...for him to accomplish all his goals in his eternal life. And that night...as I was at the ocean playing and singing for him, I was filmed and photographed. I ended up singing for John Denver on the evening news as they announced his death. I sang for John Denver. And my picture was taken and went out on the AP wires. My boys and I were in color on the cover of the Denver Post newspaper, and many other places. Here's that picture:

So here I am singing for John Denver with my full and open heart. My prayers reached his life. Mystical, mystical, mystical. And I chant for him every day. There is a generation of people who don't know his music. Our story is not over....may never, ever be over....

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!"