Spiritual Independence

Spiritual Independence

A Bold New Concept in your own Human Revolution ...taking responsibility for your own faith and Happiness!


This blogpost is taken from Kate Randoph's Lecture on 10/12/11. I've written about Kate before. She introduced me to this practice 27 years ago this month. She lives in Los Angeles, and gave this lecture to the Downers Grove District by phone. 


What is Spiritual Independence? 


The concept originally stems from the date of November 28th, 1991 when the entire lay organization of the Soka Gakkai was excommunicated from the Nichiren Shoshu sect by the Priesthood. The priests had come to believe that they were endowed with powers and rights that were somehow more important and valuable than the common person. For those of us who study the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin and practice in the Soka Gakkai with President Ikeda, we know that this is an erroneous belief. We know that each person is a complete Buddha possessing all the power of the universe right within their own life. We tap into this power by chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo...the name of the Mystic law itself. 


So what does Spiritual Independence mean to us inside our lives? 


Ultimately it means standing up for the sake of your own happiness. Many of us still are "waiting for something in our lives to change" rather than feeding that change ourselves. 
Each of us in the Soka Gakkai can use the power of our determination to declare that by November 28th, 2011 we will all fully own our own DESTINY, and have the breakthrough we have been longing to have!!


We all know that the priesthood doesn't have anything that we don't have, but how exactly does that translate into our lives day to day? Most of us, raised in this culture, have some residue of Judeo Christian beliefs.  We tend to practice with some degree of belief in our own fundamental "badness" and that we must go through "suffering" to expunge that from our lives. Because of this, many of us live lives of "endless painful austerity." 


The idea that we have to chant for hours and hours and hours to create results is a residue of this belief. 
This does not mean we never need to chant, or shouldn't chant for hours on end if we want to...it just means that we don't have to keep waiting for our lives to change...or chant as some form of punishment in pain. No! When we are chanting we can be celebrating our lives. Celebrating our inherent goodness...bringing forth our own Buddhahood! We need to do our daily practice of Gongyo twice a day to keep up the momentum in our lives. But we don't have to wait for the miracle to come from somewhere else. We can create it right now!


It is time for ourselves to free ourselves from that notion. 


Most of us spend our lives in one of the lower four worlds...as our basic life tendency. 


The lowest world of Hell is a world of depression, hopelessness and lack of motivation. 


The world of Hunger is a world of never being satisfied...and always looking for something to fill the hole inside. 


The world of Animality is the world of forever bowing before those we consider more powerful, and stepping on those less powerful. It is a world ruled by greed and fear. 


The world of Anger is the world of "I am right and you are wrong." It is a world ruled by frustration and the urge to be in absolute control of everything and everybody. 


The higher ten worlds are: Tranquility, Rapture, Learning, Realization, Boddhisatva and Buddhahood. These are worlds you create in your life, the lower four worlds are worlds where you live in reaction most of the time. As Buddhists we can elevate our basic life state. That is what we call Human Revolution. And because of the interconnection of all of life, when we raise our fundamental life state, we simultaneously raise the life state of our home, our community, our workplace, our country, our planet and the entire universe. 


Because of the doctrine of the Mutual Possession of the ten worlds (the fact that each one of the ten worlds contains all the other ten) we can INSTANTANEOUSLY raise our life condition. 


When we chant from this realization we can change our minds this very second...change our states right here, right now...without having to hold the belief that "only when I chant three hours a day for a year can I change this" NO we can change it right now, then chant in appreciation and celebration. 


A Buddhist scripture talks about the singing of the caged bird...how when the caged bird sings, it attracts all the other birds to come flocking to it. When we chant in happiness we attract more happiness into our lives. 


We must stop thinking "Only when I can chant days on end without stopping can I change my horrible life!" NO ~~ We have to train our lives to be joyful right now! 


We must take responsibility for our lives. 
This does not mean we must take the blame. 
This does not mean that we are "GUILTY". 
No. 
Responsibility is objective. 
Responsibility doesn't have morality. 
Responsibility doesn't have emotions. 
Responsibility is just a fact. 
I take responsibility for my own life...so I can change it! 


And instead of judging others...
ask yourself "how much do I care about that person?"
And instead of judging yourself  - ask yourself the same question: "How much am I valuing my own life?"


Whatever is the greatest source of your suffering ~ you can say "I'm DONE with that!" 
Then celebrate yourself in front of the Gohonzon and DEMAND that the Shoten Zenjin rise up in your life to support you. (The protective forces of the universe)


Bring forth the power of your own Spiritual Independence ~ ANYTIME ~ ANYPLACE ~ In ANY SITUATION...ON A DIME! 


Barbara Snyder recently returned from Japan. Ms. Marinaka (not sure of the spelling) told her the most important thing right now is for us to be VERY VIGOROUS in our prayer. 
Let's rise as the philosophers of JUSTICE. 
President Ikeda has said "Now I am watching over all my disciples."
 Bring forth 10,000 times more effort than before! Our Lives are LIMITLESS!! Catch how much more potential exists in YOUR Life! 
HAVE A BROADER VISION...then you will attract everything you are wanting. When your heart unites with the heart of a great teacher...Kosen Rufu is at hand. World Peace through individual transformation is happening. Can't you feel it? When you chant this way your strength will well forward and a path will come forth. 
Think to yourself "How is my life connected to the happiness of all? How can my breakthrough have a HUGE EFFECT on the world?
What does it mean "the happiness of all humanity"?
It means to treasure each other. Chant for each other to break through! You must realize your limitless capacity to be happy....happier than you ever dreamed possible! Limitlessly happy! Limitlessly ALIVE! That change is not somewhere over the rainbow!!! It is right here! Right Now! 
Make it happen. 
Say "I will do it! I will unite my heart with a great teacher for Kosen Rufu from this moment and I will manifest my unlimited power! I will tap more power than ever because I deserve it! I am a votary of the Lotus Sutra just like Nichiren Daishonin! 
It starts HERE! 
It starts NOW!
It starts with ME!"