Chanting for Yourself and OTHERS!

Happy Monday Morning! 

... another week to make a difference in your life and the lives of others by chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. 

Today I want to encourage you to chant for others. 

ESPECIALLY if you have many challenges in your own life - please chant for others. 

The Soka Gakkai is a network (a Family!) of people who are chanting for each other and sharing and spreading the lifeblood of faith. If you are not yet connected to the Soka Gakkai I recommend you call the center nearest you and ask them who practices in your area and meet your new friends. (You can find your local center by visiting sgi-usa.org, or doing a search on Soka Gakkai International).

Why do we chant for others? Well, because we ARE others. We are ourselves, but we are also part of all of life. Nam Myoho Renge Kyo exists in everything. Chanting for others builds our muscle of compassion and helps us to develop deeper relationships. Chanting for others is a cause for our lives, and a cause for other's lives. Together we advance in joy and friendship! 

In the essay "A Renaissance of Spirit Based on Friendship" from My Dear Friends in America, Daisaku Ikeda writes 

"Nichiren Daishonin says "JOY means delight shared by oneself and others.
Joy us not simply your personal egotistical happiness, nor is it making others happy at the expense of your own happiness. You and others delighting together, you and others becoming happy together ~ this is the mystic law and the wonderous thing about our realm of kosen-rufu.
...Each of you developing wisdom, making joyful progress with open and generous hearts and spreading waves of joy into society and the world ~ this is the Daishonin's Buddhism. 
Faith means infinite hope, and infinite hope resides in the SGI. So long as your faith is sincere, infinite glory, boundless good fortune and endless victory will unfold before you. You will never find yourself at a dead end." 

I'm about to sit down in front of my own Gohonzon (and how grateful I am that many of you are receiving yours - there IS a difference when you have your own Gohonzon, isn't there? Write and tell me about it and I will share it on the blog)
And I'm going to chant for my friend whose brother recently died, for another friend's 96 year old Mum who is in a Dublin hospital,  for all of the members and guests in my district and for all of YOU readers, whom I've not yet met, but love with all my heart. 

Whatever pain or challenges you are experiencing...try dedicating some daimoku to others and see how good it makes you feel! 

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!
Happy Monday!

Everyday Access to the Universe Within

Everyday I access the highest power possible...the one that is right within my life. Chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo allows me to tap into this power for the good of all. I chant the name of the rhythm of life itself...that is why all of life responds to my chanting. 


I chant for my own happiness, of course, and I spend a lot of time focusing on prayers for people around me whom I see struggling. I picture their faces as I last saw them...and as I am chanting I see their grin widen...and their eyes start to sparkle and I hold them in my prayer in a happy state. Sometimes they are people I know well, other times, especially now that I have a new job...I chant for people I am just beginning to get to know...and I am certain that my prayer is going to touch their lives. 


I am seeing changes at my new job...things are lightening up...there is a BUDDHA there! Things HAVE to lighten up, I am going to watch my place of employment soar with happiness. I am determined to bring my light to shine. It can be no other way. That's WHO I AM, and every day I spread more and more joy. That's the true beauty of the process of Kosen Rufu (world peace through the dignity and power of each person). When I chant for the happiness of others, and smile, and glow... I cannot keep this happiness from myself. 


Two weeks from today I will receive keys to my new apartment and begin a life that is different from the life I have known these past 30 years. And three days later...my youngest son will graduate from High School. What exciting times! What a time to keep digging deeper into my life to unearth the diamonds there...to let my light shine...to enjoy my new life...new job...new friends.  


I am chanting every day to realize with every cell in my being, that I am worthy of love...I am worthy of EVERYTHING that I desire...and I shall make it so!


And so can you!!! Chant for exactly what you want. And if you don't feel you deserve it...chant to CHANGE that feeling once and for all. Chant to know your own worth...for YOU, my dear friend...and a BUDDHA too!!!

Chanting 2 hours a day!

Wonderful!
I have just completed my 68th straight day of chanting Nam Myoho renge Kyo for 2 hours every day.

Why am I doing this?

I am about to enter my 25th year of Buddhist practice.

The Buddhism I practice is based on showing actual proof in your life...in other words...you get results from chanting. It is each practitioner's responsibility to achieve whatever results they want. We practice together in an organization called the SGI-USA...the Soka Gakkai (value creating society).

Each one of our prayers is a VOW to achieve our dreams.

Does everyone HAVE to chant 2 hours a day? Nooooooo!

I decided to do it because I'm about to start my 25th year of practice and wanted to use this event to really change some karma!

Over the years so many benefits have flowed from my practice...wonderful jobs, an invigorating career, my passion for public speaking (now I am loving speaking on Buddhism - let me know and I'll come to your group!) my wonderful children Aaron and Ben and the great family we have. I have chanted for so many friends, and seen the effects in their lives...I have bought houses and cars...

and the most important thing of all is that I can chant for other people and see the effects in their lives...and we can grow closer. I have reseolved all kinds of challenges in the work place, and on the home front, and within my own mind!

Every time I chant for someone's happiness I see a result. It's a wonderful thing to be able to chant for others!