Four year Anniversary of my First Post on Chantforhappiness.com

Hello! At the end of July in 2009 I began this blog with a determination to chant 2 hours a day, solve several lifelong problems and take the world along with me - so that I could inspire others to chant. At the time, I was suffering from deep sadness, and I had a pain in my hip that had been bothering me for several years. I was scared  of surgery, and had been told I needed a hip replacement even though I am so young. (They think the cause of my hip problem stemmed from a scooter accident in San Francisco in 1988). I was still trying everything to avoid surgery...physical therapy, massage, energy healing, acupuncture...you name it. But the pain persisted. I was determined to change my deepest karma, and inspire others. 

Right after I began this blog, and my two-hour a day Daimoku Campaign I was asked to help lead the Downers Grove SGI District. Later that fall my blog readers followed my posts as my sweet Mommy died. Even though it was sad, it was also inspiring how we chanted her to her next journey. And in 2010 my Daimoku gave me the courage to have the surgery and walk pain free. I felt surrounded by protection. I have accomplished everything on my list from my determinations, but I am not stopping blogging! You are all a part of my life now. Every time I chant, I chant for all of you. I chant to be able to inspire you and for you to be able to use my blog to inspire others to chant. And together we are helping people become happy and changing the world. As you know, I love hearing from you, and hear from many of you often. Many mornings I wake up to your messages of thanks. I live a wonderful life ! 

I am now offering individual coaching by phone and by email. If you email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com I will explain how that works. 

I thought you might want to read the first blog I ever posted so I'm reprinting it here: 


July 30, 2009

Join me!
I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo 
(pronounced Nahm Meeyoho Raingay Kyo)
It means - I fuse my life with the law of cause and effect through sound vibration, or I am one with the flow of life, or I am the Buddha myself! Chanting these words has a profound and practical impact on my life....and it can on anyone's life.
When you chant these words you tap into the eternal universe that's already inside you...the one you know is there, that you've always known is there. Chanting these words allows you to tap the great power you have always had.
On October 20th of 2009 I will have been chanting these words every day...twice a day for 25 years! Between now and October 20th I will be chanting two hours every single day. By October 20th I will have chanted a million daimoku (pron: diemoku, and it means chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo over and over) with a goal to accomplish many dreams:

Here are my determinations:
I wish to inspire others through sharing my heart, my struggles and my successes.
I wish to share the heart of my mentor Daisaku Ikeda (President of the Soka Gakkai International) with the world.
I will release my life from the underlying sadness I have always felt...the sadness that has no name and no real cause. I believe I was born with this sadness, and that it is my mission in this life to free myself from it.
I will have a body that is pain free! I will be able to move in any way I want. For several years I have been battling with a painful right leg. I believe it is arthritis, but I keep thinking I can solve the pain through some other means than surgery. I have never had surgery and never want to have it!
I will be on the way to losing the rest of the weight I've been challenged with my entire life. (I've already lost 50 pounds).
I will naturally attract opportunities that delight me!
I will make lots of new friends and connections!
I will become a published author!

Turning Poison into Medicine, a quote from Daisaku Ikeda

"Never has there been a time 

when ties of mutual encouragement 

and support are more needed than now.

"As human beings, 

we all experience times of despair.

But if we can endure and overcome those 

difficult times, they can become an 

important source of nourishment 

for our own growth.

"In the long course of life, 

especially with regard to those of us 

who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, 

everything negative in our lives

is definitely transformed 

into something 

positive, 

in accord with the principle of "changing 

poison into medicine." 

Therefore, put your mind at ease 

and live out your lives to the fullest with 

strong faith, 

together with your fellow members."

~ Daisaku Ikeda ~
SGI Newsletter No. 8805, On Our Shared Journey for Kosen-rufu

PowerPrayer for Perceiving Benefit ~ An Excerpt from our Upcoming Book

PowerPrayer for Perceiving Benefit

Seeing IS believing.

As Nichiren Buddhists our faith is based on actual proof that our prayers are having a very concrete and tangible positive effect on our lives. But, we must be open, able and willing to perceive those effects to appreciate the benefit of our practice. We know for sure that during our first few months of the practice we received tons of benefits but something within us sought to dismiss them as coincidences because part of us just could not believe that it was really happening.

Here is a short PowerPrayer that can stand alone or can be incorporated in any of the other prayers to help you perceive your benefits and relish your actual proof.

PowerPrayer to be able to see benefit

My eyes are opening. 
I can now see and recognize the effects of my prayer. 
It's stunning to me. 
Things are starting to happen 
that have never happened before in my life! 
I write down everything that I want 
and I write down the date 
and I give thanks when it happens. 
I am establishing a personal written record of the benefits
that are now undeniably piling up 
and sparkling in my life. 

Turning Poison Into Medicine and Building Fortune in Our Lives

A pond on my daily walk - can you see the koi fish? 

In For Today and Tomorrow,  Daisaku Ikeda's passage for today, July 25th reads:

"Buddhism is, in a sense, 
an eternal struggle 
between the Buddha and demons, 
in other words, 
a contest between positive and negative forces. 
If we are never assailed by negative influences, 
we cannot be said 
to be truly practicing Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. 
Buddhist practice 
lies in bravely facing and overcoming adversity." 

I feel so fortunate to be practicing this philosophy. I mean, our perspectives on life, as Nichiren Daishonin's practitioners is so completely POSITIVE. We greet problems themselves as benefits. There is nothing that cannot be turned into a positive. Every single challenge you are facing, if you truly FACE it, and chant about it, will be turned into a benefit for your life. This is the essence of the principle of "turning poison into medicine," one of my favorite Buddhist concepts. 

Yesterday was a sparkling day for me. In the morning I was on the radio talking about Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and I'll share the link so you can listen. Then I got further good news and I sprang out of my chair in happiness, and felt a little pop in my calf and fell onto the rug and was really a bit upset. I called the doctor's office and they said to go the emergency room. (Yikes!) I called my son Aaron, who just finished his first year in medical school, and it was my great fortune that he had changed his plans to take a long bike ride downtown because it was too windy. He was available and came right over. 

We talk about the term "FORTUNE" in Buddhism. "Fortune" is something money cannot buy. Fortune is gained through assiduous Buddhist practice. Fortune is being in the right place at the right time. It is things that just work out in your favor as if the protective forces of the universe, the "shoten zenjin," as we call them, are truly looking out for you. In reality, fortune comes from the human revolution we have all undertaken through chanting every morning and evening. 

(I have mentioned before that one of my greatest fortunes is that when my son chose the BEST medical school for his life, it happened to be the closest Medical School to my house. That is fortune. Money can't buy that!)

So Aaron came over and looked at my leg and assured me that I did not need to run out to the emergency room, and that it may just be a bit of a pulled muscle that will entirely heal on it's own. (Several years ago I did go to the emergency room with something that turned out to be a new allergy to a food, but felt like a heart attack. That cost me almost $2,000 in fees even with insurance!)
Needless to say I was very happy not to have to go to the hospital yesterday. I spent a nice afternoon on the patio with my son instead, and hosted a great SGI District Meeting last night. Today my leg does feel better.  

Our ongoing, daily practice of Buddhism reveals itself in benefits every moment of the day...it is up to us to be aware of them. 
What problems have you had that you have turned into benefits with your practice? 

I'm sure the readers would love to hear. 
Please email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com and send a picture too. (Or I can publish anonymously if you wish) 

How Does Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo Work? What's this Practice all about?

The following is a Passage from Julia Landis' and Jamie Lee Silver's upcoming book, The BuddhaZone, PowerPrayers for Chanting Your Way to Absolute Happiness:

As Nichiren (SGI) Buddhists we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to summon up our fathomless wisdom while steering our life-craft in the direction of our innermost desires. We chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo over and over and over again. We call this chanting Daimoku 

(Die-MOH-Koo). Daimoku means title and the title of the Lotus Sutra is  Myoho-Renge-Kyo.  The founder of this practice, Nichiren Daishonin, added to Myoho-renge-kyo  the syllable Nam which means “I devote my life to.” 

So, a brief translation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is, 

“I devote my life to the mystic law of cause and effect through sound vibration,” or, “I am one with the very rhythm of life.”

“Myoho-renge-kyo is the name of the ultimate mystic truth, and Nam-myo-ho-renge-kyo  is the name of the life state of Buddhas who embody and reveal this truth.” 

p.28 On Attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.

It actually becomes very natural over time to focus on a personal PowerPrayer while chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.  It is nothing more than putting your deepest fundamental wish into action. By chanting and focusing on our most cherished desire, we come to steer our lives with confidence in the direction of Buddhahood. Our lives become lives of immense creativity, wisdom and value, and most of all Love. For as we chant, rhythmically and powerfully, we exude into our environment a music that evokes our deepest, innermost  capacity and transforms any manner of poison (problem) into a medicine (benefit), and further, into a nectar (deep and absolute happiness). 

Love's Got to do with it

A PowerPrayer is infused with love. That's the source of its power. When we chant for what we really want it comes from a real love for ourselves. All love begins with self love. However, you don't have to come to this practice in a state of self-love. This practice will take you there. Chanting Daimoku will itself bring about this state in your life. As the well known writer in the personal growth movement, Louise Hay, has said at the age eighty-two, “self love is the most important thing of all.” When you love yourself, everything in your environment loves you back. Your environment is a reflection of your own state of life and connection to the source of all happiness. 

Sadly, in general, Human beings tend to project this source outside of themselves. In fact, we are most comfortable, it seems in today's spiritual culture, when we project both the source of our mystical power and, also, its recipient outside of our lives. (Everyone seems to be praying to a power outside of themselves for a person who isn't them!) A great majority of souls, and you, yourself, we imagine, have prayed with love in your heart for the happiness of someone else, invoking a power that you have come to believe is “higher” than your own life. It has become commonplace.

But how often have you prayed with immense love...

for your own life, 

for your own happiness, 

for your own well-being? 

And more importantly, how often have you prayed...

from your own life

to your own life 

for the very best things 

and experiences for you

in short, for your own happiness?

We have found that, as it has been written, if we intone our voice with Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we can summon up great love, the kind of love that is required of us if we want to awaken to our true potential. And that is another name for Buddhas: Beings who have realized their infinitely positive wise and loving potentials.

It is our PowerPrayer that as you are reading, these words are activating within you the curiosity and courage it will take to sustain you on this journey. For the Lotus won't give its seed if one's hand is not open. It is our prayer that you open your hand in such a way that you open your mind, heart, and Life, as well. And you chant! 

Listen to the secret we whisper into your ear:

You are the Buddha of Infinite Potential. Yes, YOU are the Buddha. Your life story is one of awakening. Through chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo you will be able to solve your problems and awaken to your own Buddhahood that has always been your birthright. 

The above passage is part of the preface to the book Julia and I have been writing for you. It is almost finished and is packed with PowerPrayers to strengthen your life and your practice. 

On this blog I have written many posts for people who are interested in chanting, and I invite your questions and comments. You may email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com. 

What Can You Accomplish Through Chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo?

What can you accomplish through chanting? 

Chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo will help you solve any problem. 
There was an experience in a recent World Tribune. (Publication of the SGI-USA, Soka Gakkai USA)

A girl with a very heavy heart and lots of troubles went to her first SGI meeting. A member who had been chanting for many years had this young girl hold up her baby finger, and she told her "Right now all your troubles seem bigger than the room we are standing in right now. But when You tart chanting you will see that all your troubles are really tiny as your baby finger compared to the power of chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo." And that's the truth! 

What are some examples of the things I have personally seen change for people? 

I'll start with my own benefits for you.

There are three categories of "treasures" in Buddhism -

THe Treasure of the Heart
The Treasure of the Body
The Treasure of the Storehouse 


Here are some Benefits of developing the treasure of the heart:

I have cured in my own life:

Hopelessness
Depression
Anxiety
Sadness
Fear! 
Loneliness - I went from having very few friends to having many friends, and to being happier on my own too. 
I have resolved every conflict in the workplace and in my personal life very quickly
I have no more need to be eating all the time
I have alleviated the endless hunger for everything, that constant longing for what I cannot have for whatever reason. 
I've lost 50 pounds and feel younger and stronger than ever.
I am working on publishing a book that will help many people learn to chant. This, along with the blog you are reading now is my greatest passion....helping people alleviate their suffering. 
I have peace of mind!

Other treasures of the heart:

One of my members stopped his pattern of constant worrying and never worries anymore.
One member overcame her deep dark depression, and many members in my district have greatly alleviated their anxiety.
They face their problems head-on and together we break through them! 

I've seen many members get the jobs of their dreams...overcome fear of public speaking...overcome many fears. 

The list goes on and on.....

There are also treasures of the storehouse...and things that people want to have and accomplish.

I remember chanting for my first car. I chanted for a reliable car for Kosen Rufu (world peace) so that I could drive people to meetings in San Francisco. 
I chanted for a beautiful house to hold Buddhist meetings in...one that would inspire people that anything was possible!
 I'll never forget the looks on the mover's faces when they arrived at my beautiful kosen rufu home on the hill with the gorgeous view! It was such a contrast from my tiny little apartment on lower Nob Hill (Upper Tenderloin for those in the know) in San Francisco! 
And I've chanted for financial benefits. We need money to live and to give us opportunities. 

Oh there are soooo many things... feeling...experiences that you can chant for. And the biggest benefit of all is that as you are chanting for these things you are developing a stronger sense of self...a stronger inner core...a strength so powerful that NO PROBLEM CAN DEFEAT YOU. EVER. That is truly the best benefit. 
And remember that when you chant you are not asking anyone for anything...you are drawing power from your own precious life! Go YOU!

PowerPrayer for Loving Your Body Into Its Perfect Shape (for women)

I'm continuing on a theme today 
to help those of you who have written me 
saying you are dealing with body image and weight issues. 
I chanted with the sentiments of this PowerPrayer in my mind 
and had strong determination to have a body I loved. 
It worked for me it can work for you. 
The way to use PowerPrayer is to read the words before your daily chanting, and throughout the day whenever you want to refresh your determination. 
Then, when you are chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo you can focus your mind on absolutely winning in the area of your relationship with your body. 
Don't give up! 
From Julia and Jamie, (who have both achieved success in this area) from our upcoming book, The BuddhaZone, PowerPrayers for Chanting Your Way to happiness, we offer you:

PowerPrayer for Loving My Body into its Perfect Shape (for women)

When you practice this PowerPrayer you will be receiving what we call “inconspicuous benefit.” You may not see its effects right away, but you will build strength over time and these words will become true. 

My body feels great!

I am the perfect shape!

I easily cross my legs, 

I am smaller than all my clothes,

I fit in all sorts of beautiful, sexy clothes!

For the first time, I am not hungry for the wrong foods. 

I can eat anything I want - and I want what’s BEST for me. 

I love my food and enjoy it! 

I love my beautiful, sexy body!

I have a smooth, non-bloated tummy. 

My belly is stronger and happier than ever. 

My face shines with health and vibrancy. 

I do not miss the unhealthy food I used to eat. 

I have energy, 

                    spark 

                            and a light in my eye!

I work out. 

I breathe. 

I am in the best physical shape of my entire life. 

I look and feel much younger than my age. 

My posture is improving daily because my self-esteem is rising

I am grateful to my own life

for having the courage, 

                                    fortitude, 

                                                vision 

                                                 and determination 

to live my life HEALTHY. 

Oh  -  Thank You!