PowerPrayer to Rise Above Our Sadness

I read some guidance that said 

"When you chant you should 

take a vacation from your troubles." 

Great idea

And today while I was chanting that's exactly what I did. I chanted to lift my life condition so I could see over and above my troubles...and to experience this day in a state of elevation through Daimoku. 

I chanted to release all feelings of having to be in control at every single moment, because, as we all know, control at every moment is impossible anyway! 

Sometimes we think "I'm a Buddha so I should be able to command every single moment of every single day. I'm a Buddha, right?" But I don't think that's exactly how it works, 

The only things we can really be in control of are our reactions to what's going on. That's not to say that we can't change our lives through chanting. WE CAN. But the process of doing so doesn't always go as quickly as we'd want it to. We are not like Samantha on the TV show Bewitched. We can't just wiggle our noses and make everything change. 

PowerPrayer 

for Rising Above Our Troubles 

and Having Joy - No Matter What!

by Jamie Lee Silver of Chantforhappiness.com

Life! 

Gohonzon! 

Today while chanting 

I am seeing my life and my spirits 

rising above my worries. 

As I am chanting I am seeing my life rise above. 

I am focusing on joining the ceremony in the air. 

I am joining with all the Buddhas on the Gohonzon, 

and knowing that 

YES! 

This is the life I chose for Kosen-rufu, 

and I will keep my life condition HIGH no matter what. 

I see through the eyes of the Buddha. 

I shine for all those around me as a beacon of hope. 

I am the Buddha at every moment today...

fully aware and focusing on all that is right in my world! 

I am going to float above my worries and chant in the world of gratitude and appreciation. 

I am so grateful for:__________________________

And I release this day to my prayers! 

Time to Write New Year's Determinations!

Hi, I'm so sorry I haven't written lately. I've been ill. I think all of the tension of the past few months just caught up with me. Now I am on the mend!

My son Ben is good right now. 

He is still in the hospital. And we are looking for a place for him ~ where he can be happy and continue getting better. At the moment, he is much more himself, but he still has a lot of fear. The illness he is suffering from is schizophrenia...an illness that seems like an epidemic among young men in America right now. He is better after treatment, but we want him to somehow get over the fear he feels. I chant about it every day. 

He has returned to himself in so many ways. He is smiling. Yesterday he asked me if it was too late to apply to Soka University! I know your Daimoku, our Daimoku, is working! It is great to hear him thinking about a future. I want him to have hope for his life. 

In the future, I picture him in front of young people, telling his story, inspiring THEM. But we still have a way to go. He turned 22 while in the hospital. He's been there since November 9th. 

And NOW is the time for me to prepare the groundwork for the New year. 

I plan on writing out my goals in several ways. 

I will write concrete goals. 
I will write feeling goals. - How do I want to feel about things? 

Then I will chant about them on New Year's Eve, and join my fellow members at the Chicago SGI Center on New Year's Day. 

I hope you are all well and are joining your friends to chant in the New year. Throughout my Buddhist practice, no matter where I was in the World, New York, Chicago, LA, San Francisco...I ALWAYS chanted a solid hour of heartfelt Daimoku on New Year's Day. This year I will chant more than an hour, but that is always my bottom line. 

I am praying for you all - my treasured friends! 

Yes! You Can Chant for ANYTHING!

I know it is hard to believe, but this is actually a practice where you can chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo 
for anything you desire. 

As Daisaku Ikeda states in Faith in Action, page 35:

"Buddhism teaches us 
that the individual writes and performs the script 
for his or her own life. 
Neither chance nor a divine being 
writes the script for us. 
We write it, and we are the actors who play it. 
This is an extremely positive psychology, 
inherent in the teaching of 3,000 realms 
in a single moment of life. 
You are the author and the hero. 
To perform your play well 
it is important to pound the script into your head 
so thoroughly 
that you can see it vividly before your eyes. 
You may need to rehearse in your mind. 
Sometimes it helps to write down your goals, 
copying them over and over 
until they are inscribed in your heart."

I get emails asking if it's okay to chant for marriage, or  money, or anything...and the answer is a resounding YES! 

Chant for whatever you want. 

Earthly desires are enlightenment. 

Your desires will lead you exactly where you want to go ~   sometimes to the fulfillment of those exact desires ~ sometimes to even better desires you uncover as you chant. ~
Many of us know people who didn't chant for the most lofty goals when they first started chanting, but over time, through following their hearts, their goals turned more and more towards their happiness, and the happiness of others. 

But you have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is exactly where you are now. 

Please know that you are a noble child of the Buddha...in fact...YOU ARE THE BUDDHA and you deserve to chant for your desires. How can you believe in the power of the mystic law (chanting Nam myoho renge kyo) in your life if you do not see actual proof for yourself? 

Chant to have the kind of benefit that will make you see the power of this law. you need to encourage yourself! Chant for anything. When you encourage yourself you can definitely encourage others. 

Start with your own life and go from there. Your prayers will eventually turn to the happiness of others, and the best way to help others become happy is to become happy FIRST, then show by your example what is possible. 

That is why we chant to show actual proof of the law in our lives. When we show actual proof in our lives and do our own Human Revolution,  constantly improving ourselves,  others will see our results and be inspired. 

As I've said many times, there are people who decided to practice, people I deeply love, who decided to practice just by seeing the changes I made in my life. And my constant prayer has been to show actual vibrant proof of the power of chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo so that others can be inspired to tap into that same power and become happy themselves. 

When you make the vow to be happy for the sake of others you are making the Buddha's vow. 

You can do it. Chant for anything. Money, cars, job, friendship...anything. 

Chant to show actual proof so you can inspire others. 

When I chanted for my house I chanted for a house to show actual proof, and for a place where I could have meetings. When I chanted for a car I chanted for a car to drive members to meetings. 

When you connect your prayer to the greater good it is that much more powerful. 

Chant for your desires. You deserve them, and the world deserves your happiness. Your happiness is contagious, important and worthwhile. And you have the ultimate key to making it happen...Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Go, you Buddha YOU.  

Sharing Happiness and Joy with Others

There is nothing I love better than seeing someone transform their problems through this practice. It is one of the greatest joys in life. 

My career has often given me opportunities to sit down with people on-on-on for coffee and networking.  I usually, just drop the fact that I'm having a Buddhist meeting, or I speak briefly about my blog. 

That's ALL I do, then I follow their lead. If they say "Cool, I've always wanted to know more about Buddhism", I'll open a discussion. If they ignore my comment, or don't seem interested I will move on in the conversation. 

That's it. I just take their cue. If they want to know more I usually start by talking about my own story, and sharing how I looked for this practice for so many years. I KNEW it had to exist. But I kept finding practices that said you had to alleviate your desires to be happy. And I kept searching until I found this practice that says "Earthly desires are enlightenment" and you can chant for what you want. Then I either answer their questions or share more about how I raised by kids as Buddhists with the knowledge that they could solve every one of their problems, from bad dreams to arguments with friends by chanting. And I answer their questions. That's how I do it. 

Sometimes people who don't initially want to discuss it will come to me later with questions, or they'll introduce a friend of theirs to me who wants to learn. It's all about planting seeds. I always use discretion. When I am working for a company I don't say anything to my fellow employees for quite some time, and with some of them I never bring it up. I follow my higher instincts in this regard. If I feel a spark of connection with someone, I will casually mention my practice as I described and see if they want to talk about it. If someone is really interested I will bring them literature and invite them to a meeting. I've introduced a lot of people this way, and planted a lot of seeds. 

And I've been careful. I worked for a Baptist organization for 5 years. I was VERY careful not to talk about Buddhism much within the organization. Only my closest companions knew! 

When it's Hard to Chant...

Sometimes it is difficult to chant. 
It happens to me too. Sometimes I sit in front of my Gohonzon and I keep getting distracted, or I feel unconnected to my prayer, or I feel defeated and hopeless or tired. 
This is natural. We all experience doubt and negativity  from time to time. Life is full of ebbs and flows and highs and lows. How can we chant when we feel this way? What prayer will impact our lives? 

Here in Chicago we have beautiful snow falling this morning, and I am thinking of you all, and chanting for you to not give up hope, and to keep going no matter what. 

I am chanting to appreciate my life and to love myself. I truly believe that if each of us really loved ourselves and cherished our own hearts we could make an even bigger difference in the lives of others and in our own happiness. I am chanting to raise my life condition and to be happy this moment. 

On this full moon and snowy day I am saying:

Chant to experience love for yourself and recognize your own Buddha nature and Buddha self. Chant to appreciate your own loving heart. Chant to raise your life condition so that you can see and feel how wonderful YOU are. 

We are each so precious. We need to summon the knowledge and feeling from within ourselves of how precious, how loving, how wonderful we all are. 

We're on Vacation!

Here we are staying on the beach in Santa Cruz California! 


When we lived in San Francisco this was our favorite place to take a day excursion. I always longed to stay the night and wake up here on the beach. And now, with my two sons, we are waking up with this view this morning! (It will look like this in a few hours after the fog has burned off- right now I have a moment to write a blog!)


It has been a magical, music-filled vacation so far. We stayed with our friends Amy and Ian and their son Andrew for the first part of the trip in beautiful San Anselmo in Marin County. There is only one Marin County in the world...land of hot tubs and hybrid cars at the base of Mt. Tamalpais! 


We spent Saturday up on the mountain playing music with our friends. We were there celebrating Julia and Cliff's thirteen years of marriage. This very event was a benefit of Julia's two-year practice of chanting! Ben sang some of his original songs, I sang John Denver songs, everyone played guitar and sang, then we came down the mountain...taking the Bolinas Fairfax road (! what a wild ride !) and Amy and Ian hosted a party for us in their redwood-decked home nestled on the mountain side. At one point in the party almost everyone there joined us for a few minutes of chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo! And Danielle, and Julia and I did Gongyo together for the first time! 


Every morning the boys and I have done a rousing gongyo and chanted daimoku. It is incredible to chant with their low voices! 


On Sunday we headed to Donna, Peppino and Aleza's house in Benicia. We went to a benefit concert for Voena, the world-renowned children's choir out of Benicia. I wish I could go back in time and join this choir. Their costumes were colorful, flowy scarves and they moved freely in a joyous dance of life! They are headed to the London to sing for the Olympics this summer! Then Peppino played and Aleza sang. I wish everyone reading this blog could have been there!


The next morning we all chanted together and will reconnect for another of Peppino and Aleza's concerts in the LA area on Friday. 


There is nothing like friendship, is there? We have been friends with all these people since we lived in California from 1984-1998. And seeing them again it feels like no time has passed - except we don't have babies ~ we have grown children bursting with potential! We have raised young men and women who are poised to make their mark on the world! 


I received an email from a reader today who feels hopeless...she wonders how I made it through the times when I felt hopeless myself. And there were plenty of those times. 


And I say to my reader and to all of you ~  please don't give up. I look at my joyous life now...at my sons who love spending time with me as much as I love spending time with them...we are traipsing though California laughing and joking and loving life! We are free to enjoy every moment as it passes! We are safe, we are happy, we are healthy. And every morning our voices rise in harmony as we fill our lives with the rhythm of the universe and chant Daimoku together. 


And I say...all of our happiness was BORN in those dark times when I did not give up. We've met with several of my Buddhist mentors so far this trip. One of them remembered me crying. A lot. But I kept chanting and didn't give up. I forged a new life through my tears. 


My prayer has always been  ~ I am determined to BE the BUDDHA OF ABSOLUTE HAPPINESS! I am determined to be happy and enjoy my life so that I can be an inspiration to those who are still suffering...and I can inspire them with my own life! I am determined that MY LIFE is an example that ANYONE can be happy! Let me use every moment, every chant, every word out of my mouth to make a cause for my happiness, and the happiness of others. 


This has worked for me! Look at me taking my wonderful boys on their victory lap! They are happy and successful and we are appreciating life together! Don't give up! happiness is yours to claim. 
Claim it THROUGH your tears, not despite them! Claim your happiness NOW!!! You are a Buddha!!!