Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Go Buddha GO! Yell at those Shoten Zenjin! Rock Your World!

Roarrrrr!

As practitioners of the Lotus Sutra, we chant the Mystic Law every single day. Intoning Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (which means: I fuse my life with the Mystic law of cause and effect through sound vibration) is a noble cause. It elevates our life condition, and the life condition and vibration of all of life. 
We chant for ourselves. 
We chant for others. 
We chant for this life and this world. 
We change our karma 
for the sake of changing the whole world's karma.  
We are the noble Boddhisatvas of the earth 
and Votaries of the Lotus Sutra. 
We TELL our lives what we want. 
We do not ask for favors from a force outside of our lives. 
We ARE Nam-myoho-renge-kyo! 
We know that the goal of our practice is to have faith like flowing water...so we chant every day, twice a day...we study...we encourage each other, introduce others and attend our SGI meetings. 

And....Sometimes it seems like it is taking FOREVER for a benefit to come or an obstacle to go away, doesn't it? Even though we KNOW the answer lies within our own karma, and in doing our human revolution, sometimes we just have to get mad at our own life and wake those Shoten Zenjin UP!

In the February Living Buddhism Magazine
(published by the SGI-USA and available by calling 800-835-4558) one of my favorite Gosho passages appeared. In this Gosho, Nichiren Daishonin has been persecuted by the government and is being taken away to Tatsunokuchi Beach to be beheaded. On the way, he sees a statue of Hachiman, one of the Buddhist deities (which represent functions within our own lives). 

He makes the entourage stop so he can address the statue. (The full quote is at the end of this blogpost)

What I love about this moment in the Gosho is that he basically yells at the Buddhist God and says you had better show your support to me RIGHT NOW because that is the pledge you made. If I die I will report you! Get to work! Of course, after he yells at the statue, when Nichiren is taken to the beach to be beheaded, a huge orb comes out of the sky lighting up the faces of his would-be assassins, they all run scared, and he is saved from death. 

Nichiren's indignant attitude when he addresses the statue shows us we can summon our anger at the forces within our life. We can all pray in front of our own Gohonzons with fury and with fire. 

I just finished two and a half hours of Daimoku chanted with this kind of energy. As I was chanting I had this in mind: 


PowerPrayer to MAKE IT HAPPEN!
I kept this prayer in my mind while chanting...picturing the Shoten Zenjin rushing to my aid, the country's aid, and the world's aid right now!  
By Jamie Lee Silver of ChantforHappiness.com

"Gohonzon! 
Shoten Zenjin! 
Life! 
SOME KIND OF WAY 
this HAS TO CHANGE NOW!!! 
I Don't know HOW to make it happen. 
I just know it HAS TO!!
It is time for me to see results in this area. 
NOW!
I demand: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We can all summon this fiery attitude at the crucial moment - we are ALL dignified votaries of the Lotus Sutra, we can all command the fundamental forces that are within our lives and represented on the Gohonzon. 

Here is the Gosho passage: 

Nichiren stops at the statue and shouts: 

'Great Boddhisatva Hachiman, are you truly a god?...Now I, Nichiren, and the foremost votary of the Lotus Sutra in all of Japan, and am entirely without guilt. I have expounded the doctrine to save all the people of Japan from falling into the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering for slandering the Lotus Sutra....When Shakyamuni Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra, Many Treasures Buddha and the Buddhas and Boddhisatvas of the ten-directions gathered, shining like so many suns and moons, stars and mirrors. In the presence of the countless heavenly gods as well as the benevolent deities and sages of India, China and Japan. Shakyamuni Buddha urged each one to submit a written pledge to protect the votary of the Lotus Sutra at all times. Each and every one of you gods made this pledge. I should not have to remind you. Why do you not appear at once to fulfill your solemn oath? ....If I am executed tonight and go to the pure land of Eagle Peak, I will dare to report to Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, that the Sun Goddess and Great Boddhisatva Hachiman are the deities who have broken their oath to him. If you feel this will go hard with you, you had better do something about it right away!' (WND - 1, 766-67)


3 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for posting this - it was EXACTLY what I needed today. I have been facing some real karmic challenges recently (I mean, who in this practice isn't?) and you have given me the perfect inspiration on how to approach my chanting with the Gohonzon. Keep rocking!

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  2. I chanted with that fiery determination when my 74 y old mother was dying from multiple medical issues in the hospital. That she would NOT die in the hospital! she will go home. She did it took 6 months, but that was 2 yrs ago and she is celebrating her 76th bday Oct 4th 2014

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  3. All right. I'll give this a try. I am loathe to "demand" anything of my personal protective functions of the universe--but I'll give it a try.

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