Ready to start chanting?

Here are a few tips for chanting:

1. Breathe when you need to! Don't skip breathing. Take as long a breath as you need to and hop back into the rhythm of your chant.

2. The words are pronounced

NAHM MEYO HO RAIN GAY KEYO. (all Os are long Os)

When you chant it should be in a steady rhythm like the sound of horses running. You can change pitch occasionally, but it usually works best to stay steady on one pitch for a while.

3. You can just print out the words at first and read them.

4. After a while you can start thinking about what you want in your life...after you get the hang of the chant itself.

5. Go to the Website sgi-usa.org right away and find your local culture center...or call the national center and find someone in your area who chants. SGI Buddhists are everywhere. This person will be so happy you called and will really help you learn to chant.

6. Pick a spot in your house to chant. make it one where you feel really comfortable, and not a place that people will be walking through all the time...unless this is your only option.

7. make your list of what you want to see happen in your life. Date it.

8. Chant at least 5 minutes a day - every morning and afternoon.

9. Go to as many Buddhist meetings as you can.

10. Watch your life fully blossom into the sweetest, most beautiful life you always wanted. Go YOU!

Aah, tis a gift to inspire!

Oh Mannn, I love to inspire people! And I love to inspire people who inspire others, that's for sure. Today was the greatest buddhist Meeting at the Chicago Buddhist Center.

It was a meeting for District Leaders...to learn together and to set the course for the next two years.

I was able to spend a few moments sharing the success of the District that I co-lead here in Downers Grove.

Our success all stems from what we call the Master/Disciple relationship. Anyone can call themselves a Buddhist...but to truly embrace the incredible gold that lies within the master/disciple relationship is a lofty, golden, wonderful opportunity. At all times I ask myself "How would President Ikeda see this situation?"

I chant to see the world through his wise eyes, hear the world through his ears and make decisions based on his wisdom. When I chant for the members in my district, I chant for them to be incredibly happy and for them to know this relationship as well.

I picture President Ikeda as a great spinning motor...he is a normal person with exceptional Ichinen (will put into action). He accomplishes in one day what it takes many weeks to do. I chant to meld my energy with his.

Because of this, our district flourishes. Every member is receiving benefits and growing in faith every day. New members are joining us every month!

On the wall by my altar is a picture of all the members, and I chant for each one, and we all chant for each other.

I begin each meeting greeting every person who comes in...it is a party-like feeling.

We celebrate all of our successes and also mourn our losses together.

I teach Gongyo (the recitation of the Lotus Sutra) by doing what I call Echo Gongyo. It is the same way I taught my kids...similar to the way music can be learned. I say a line in perfect rhythm and with energy...and the group repeats it the same way. When we get to the end of each section we go back and say it all together perfectly! People learn so quickly!

We also take full advantage of all the technical tools at our disposal. I send colorful, bright emails, and we text as often as we like. Some people love texting, others don't. We have incredible growth and happiness in our district. I am always happy to help others learn what we are doing right!

Chanting two hours a day, of course is the key as well!

Aaahh this is a great way to live!

Chanting for all involved

Right now I am focusing my prayers on the lives of all those killed on Saturday, and on the recovery of the injured. I don't know all the details of the people who remain in the hospital, but I am chanting for a complete miracle for Congresswoman Giffords. It's a brain injury...she could have a total recovery. I know it's not expected...but I also know that a lot of people are chanting/praying and wishing her well.

I am picturing her brain and surrounding it with healing energy. I am picturing the area where the shooting took place and surrounding it all with healing energy. Although, as I said, I don't know every detail, I can still send my prayers.

I am chanting for all of us...for the country...to realize we are all Americans. We are all in this together. Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!

The Video I just posted below

Hi everyone.

I just posted my first video on this spiritual blog, because I think it has an important message for all of us in America. It is a message for us all.

I have been chanting for all the families involved in this event...for everyone involved...and for Sara Palin as well. It is time for our country to heed the wise words of this commentator. NONE of us should be speaking in violent rhetoric. He makes so many good points here.

I am always thinking "What would President Ikeda, say, think and do?"

And after chanting about this today, I feel certain that he is chanting for the families involved, the communities involved and for every single American as well.

Peace. Really. And love.

Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Gabrielle Giffords Shooting

A Message for the New Year

I prepared these quotes for the enshrinement ceremony taking place in Ukiah California for my dear friend Julia. She and my friend Danielle sprang like Boddhisatvas out of the earth this fall - both deciding to fully appreciate and embrace this faith...based on seeds I planted when I lived in California over the expanse of many years. When I first shared this practice with them they were not ready to chant...but after seeing the amazing changes and the actual proof within my life...when I visited them this year...they have both been chanting and experiencing huge benefits and changing their suffering into triumphs.

I hope you enjoy these quotes today, January 2nd, 2011.

It is my ichinen for each one of YOU to experience boundless joy from the law this year....and to enter 2012 entirely victorious!!!

President Ikeda quotes previous High Priest Nittatsu :

Wherever the Gohonzon is enshrined, that place, in a broad sense, takes on the significance of the high sanctuary. The sincere daimoku you chant to that Gohonzon with a concentrated mind free of all extraneous thoughts is instantly received by the Dai Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary of True Buddhism. The place where you chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is instantly transformed into Eagle Peak. And this is where you attain Buddhahood in your present form (November 23, 1977)

A few other really cool quotes:

From My Dear Friends in America, a collection of Daisaku Ikeda's essays in America 1990-1996...just the greatest book - I remember cherishing each of these essays as they came out in the World Tribune...

"Faith is light The hearts of those with strong faith are filled with light. A radiance envelops their lives. People with unshakable conviction in faith enjoy a happiness that is as luminous as the full moon on a dark night, as dazzling as the sun on a clear day."

And you'll love this...from the essay in the same book called "Worshipping the Gohonzon Opens Your Life":

Nichiren Daishonin's basic object of devotion, (the Gohonzon) however, consists of writing, of words. Rather than a graphic image, the Daishonin made the written expression of the world of the intellect - the object of high reverence.

Words are mysterious, they have tremendous power....

When you worship the Gohonzon, the door to your microcosm is opened to the entire universe, the macrocosm, and you experience a great, boundless joy, as if you were looking out over the entire cosmos. You feel great satisfaction and rejoicing, a great wisdom --as if you held the entire universe in your palm. The microcosm enfolded by the macrocosm reaches out to enfold the macrocosm in its own embrace.

Just as we might look down on a bright, clear scene of the world below from a lofty mountain's highest peak, we can climb the peak of the mountain of wisdom (supreme enlightenment). We can attain a state of eternal bliss, experiencing the infinite expanse and depth of life moment after moment, as if we were flying through the universe and gazing at blazing comets, the brilliantly shining Milky Way and all of the beautiful stars.

And one last quote from the incredible essay "Gongyo is a Grand and Noble Rite." in the same book:

"For both the present and the future" is also written on the Gohonzon. For present and future --that is what faith is for. What the Buddhist Law is for. When we worship the Gohonzon, the eternal life of time without beginning wells up within us. Our faith is that every single day, every instant begins from time without beginning.

We are always setting out, full of hope, from today to the future, from this moment to eternal happiness. We are always young, always beginning. My message to you is that you must be absolutely certain of this, and live your wonderful lives without regret, with joy and brightness, always moving forward.

All my love!

Jamie

New Years is here

Now is the time for renewal...now is the time to rejuvenate our faith. New year's Day is such an opportunity to make a new start...to demonstrate Hon Nim Myo in our lives. Hon Nin Myo means "from this moment forth".

It is the perfect expression of the fact that the past is past...there is nothing we can do about it, and from this moment forth is all that truly matters. It's all that matters. Every moment of life is Hon Nim Myo!

Last night ten energetic members gathered at my house to chant a rousing hour of daimoku (Nam Myoho Renge Kyo over and over). We chanted for a fresh start to the new year...we chanted for each other and our fresh determinations...we chanted for our families and our hopes and dreams! Truly this is an exciting way of life!

On Saturday a new member of our district will be getting her Gohonzon. All of us are gathering to support her and celebrate her new birthday. It's a fantastic way to start the new year!