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! 

Mother Poem by Daisaku Ikeda

In honor of Soka Mother's Day I post this picture of my own sweet Mommy and her beloved boys, Aaron, Ben and Tyler. 
Below is the poem Daisaku Ikeda wrote about his own mother. I first read this on a plaque at FNCC in 2010 and it still moves me to grateful tears.   

Mother 

By Daisaku Ikeda

Mother, what a wondrous, nourishing power you have!
Were it not for you in this world,
People would lose the earth to return to,
And wander for all eternity.

Mother, our mother.
Persevering through the storm,
You offered prayers in sadness.

I pray you will stay in good health until the day
When all your wishes are fulfilled,
And, as though endowed with wings,
you take flight toward the heavens.

Mother, with your ideas and wisdom,
I hope you will perform a melody of peace on the earth,
Where people look forward to the arrival of spring.
Thus, you will become the mother of the Century of Humanity