PowerPrayer to End Depression and Anxiety

Chicago's Deep Freeze

This week I have proven once again, that that this prayer to end depression and anxiety works, and that karma change is permanent, no matter what the circumstances. I am in the middle of a very long dilemma...trying to get back home to Chicago after a winter storm. And through it all I have been calm...even with several sleepless nights. I don't feel anxiety. It will all work out. It is the middle of the night and I just found out my flight was cancelled again. I am in Asheville, North Carolina and there is a tiny airport here...and my flights keep being cancelled. I've spent 4 hours in line at the airport on 2 different days, and now this flight was canceled!  Thankfully, I was just able to get through to the airline and get booked on a plane that will take me through Charlotte, provided these flights don't get cancelled. I don't usually ask this, but if you have a chance could you please chant for me? I start my new job on Thursday (I was supposed to start on Monday) and I would really like to get home! 

This post is in answer to a question I got from a reader recently. 

She asked if I ever feel despair or anxiety, and what do I do when I sink into that feeling?

And yes, even Buddhas (like you and I), who have been chanting for many years still get occasional moments of despair!  Every time I feel a moment of sadness I think of all of you, and my district members, and I make a new VOW to overcome my karma (and propensity toward depression) once and for all by ripping it out at the roots. This is Human Revolution...never giving up. I must pave the way for others, just as you are paving the way for others through every one of your fresh determinations.

As Sensei says, the important thing is to keep chanting. 

There are several steps I recommend for when you are battling to WIN over your own despair ~
1. Chant ~ go to an SGI meeting
2. Call your friends in faith to encourage you 
and read Daisaku Ikeda's writings and Nichiren Daishonin's letters to his followers (the Gosho).
3. Make a fresh determination and a new vow
4. Chant again and win! 

I will pass along some wise words from my dear friend Kate who overcame her lifelong depression: 

She says that when you are making huge causes for Kosen Rufu it is natural to get obstacles in the form of emotions, and that once again your karma has shown itself to you anew so that you can once again determine to root it out forever. 

She also said at the core of our suffering is the fact that many aspects of our environment reflect our own deep seated feelings of self doubt and of not being good enough...but our perseverance changes this. 

Kate said sometimes our environment does not yet truly reflect the amazing and wonderfully shining, worthy people we are. And she attributes that to our deep seated doubts somewhere in our lives. (karma, of course). 

We have been suffering over some of the same things for our entire lives, haven't we?  She said:

Human Revolution is HARD 
because you have to break the ties 
to your own unhappiness. 
Those grooves are familiar, and hard to break. 

But if you greet your life in front of the Gohonzon and EVERY DAY say, "NO WAY! I am going to defeat this fundamental darkness forever!" you can break through. Kate did it. I did it. You can too. 

The following is a PowerPrayer...some powerful words to keep in mind from time to time while you are chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo...a suggested attitude to WIN!

Out of Kate's wise words I wrote this 

PowerPrayer to Defeat Despair:
Written by Jamie Lee Silver, from the blog ChantforHappiness.com

No way Unhappiness! You will NOT WIN TODAY!
No way anxiety~I am the Buddha!
I don't CARE how many times I have to chant to defeat you. I WILL WIN! For Myself and for all! 
I am a noble, brilliant Buddha! 
I DEMAND a life free from sadness and fear! 
I root the karmic cause of my sadness and fear
right out of my life now!   
I DEMAND that my environment 
reflect who I really am, 
not my fears or doubts of who I am. 
I DEMAND that I have the courage 
to do Human Revolution 
and to FOREVER break 
those ties to my own unhappiness. 
I am determined to stop making causes 
that bring me pain! 
I am determined to make causes 
that bring me happiness! 
Not just for me, but for everyone!
I MUST succeed 
LIFE 
No matter what! 
I choose to be happy!
I choose happiness now!