Roarrrrr!
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 Bodhisattvas 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...faith like a verb...actual proof of our practice every single day...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! (Shoten Zenjin is our term for the protective forces within all life)
In the February 2015 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 shoten zenjin.
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)(The full quote is at the end of this blogpost)
What I love about this moment in the Gosho is that he yells at the Buddhist God and says you 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.
PowerPrayer to MAKE IT HAPPEN!
These words represent some thoughts we can have in mind while chanting. Our minds will naturally fluctuate as we chant, and that is absolutely fine. I offer these PowerPrayers because they represent the moments I am most connected to my desire...and I offer them to help you. They are my unique contribution based on my Boddhisattva vow.
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 (you fill in the blank here: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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.
At this moment, I am in St. Petersburg Florida, certain that my life in unfolding JUST as it should. I am seeing the benefit come from the pain I've been through. Life is getting happier for me, and I have more to look forward to with each passing moment. I will have lots to share with you over the next coming months!
What we Nichiren Buddhists do;
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 brings forth our greatest human potential,
elevates our life condition, and the life condition and vibration of all of life.
Our life undergoes a complete human revolution...and as our life changes...we change everything. We raise the vibration of the planet.
