A New Friend and Buddhist

This Saturday...the view from my patio...

Here I was looking at the clouds and feeling appreciative. I was loving the fact that I could just sit here, on a Saturday night, all by myself, enjoying my own company and not longing to be anywhere else or with anyone else. I wasn't longing for ANYTHING! I felt totally at peace and happy. 

A woman was walking on the walkway in front of my patio. She stopped for a moment and we smiled at each other. I said "Aren't the clouds amazing? What a beautiful evening!" The next thing I knew she was sitting next to me with tears flowing from her eyes. She was in the exact same emotional  state of longing and heart break that I have experienced in the past. Longing...pain... both emotional and physical. The more we talked the more our similar situations were revealed. But I was on the other side of this pain and able to give her hope. 

"I know! I know!" I told her. "I felt exactly the same way! And I chanted Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and used that pain as a springboard for creating happiness in my life. I know it's hard to believe, but one day you may thank this man in your heart...because this pain has led you to discover the way to be happy, and you have encountered this incredible practice for the first time!"

 I invited her in to chant. We chanted three Daimoku and I gave her the gong for the bell. I told her when she was finished chanting she could ring it and we would stop.  We chanted for about 15 minutes. She felt better immediately...but was still raw from her recent heart break. Then on Sunday she came to the Chicago Buddhist Center with me to hear Linda Johnson speak. 

Then last night she joined me and a fellow member and chanted almost a full hour of Daimoku...really surprising herself! She told me that today, because of chanting this weekend, she was able to focus at work, be productive and she had a good day! Wonderful! She is on her way to healing! 

I am chanting for her to have a lifetime of happiness now that she has encountered this practice. I KNOW she can get over her broken heart and create a deeper level of happiness not based on anyone or anybody. 

There are no coincidences!!!! There is nothing, truly, that makes me happier than introducing someone to the mystic law. I know my new friend will never be the same. She WILL become happy, and she will be able to fulfill her own mission of helping others! Doing Shakubuku is such a joy!