Your Prayers!

Remember!!!

You are not asking anyone or any thing or any god for ANYTHING when you chant.

you are summoning up the power of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo which has ALWAYS BEEN within your life.

Chant for ANYTHING!!! Chant to be an example that chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo Works!!!!!! You are invincible. There is no problem too big for Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!!! The Law of the universe within you, expressed by you can rise up in your life...bring you deep everlasting happiness!!!

Don't wait! If you're not already chanting try it now. "

Nam myoho Renge Kyo is Like the roar of a lion! What sickness can therefore be an obstacle?" Nichiren Daishonin

In this case "sickness" can be any challenge...health...love sickness...a broken heart...finding a job...money...you name it. ROAR like the lion you are!!! Demand results from inside your life. YOU ARE THE BUDDHA!! Go YOU!!!!

Wow!!! Four comments on the last blog post!!!

Thank you for your comments!!! I love hearing from you!!!

And to answer your questions:

No, you do not need to wait until you have a Gohonzon to start chanting, but you will want to get one as soon as you can. The only way to do that is to go to meetings of your local Soka Gakkai district. It's easy to get connected. All you have to do is go to SGI-USA.org and look up the community center closest to you (search on the nearest big city) and give them a call. If you have any problem at all getting connected send me a comment and I will do all i can to help you! It's important to connect with the people close to you who chant...they will become like family to you...just wait! It's awesome.

~And to start chanting without a Gohonzon you can still set up an altar or your sacred space. Pick a place in your home that you feel comfortable, that doesn't have too much traffic and is not in front of a window. Decide what you are going to sit in, chairs are fine...I like a really comfy one! And hang a picture on your wall that has a focal point.

When I first started chanting I had a picture of Mono Lake with a beautiful moon over it and a beautiful blue sky. I put the picture a little higher than my line of vision and focused on the moon.

I chanted that way for about two months...and was overjoyed when I got my Gohonzon!!!! Think of your altar as your "home base". Treat it just like YOU want to be treated. Keep it clean, put food on it...some put fruit, or something you like to eat. One of our new members puts her favorite candy! I like to burn candles on my altar. Some burn incense, but it makes me sneeze! Then you're ready to chant away! Chant away!

And the question about where I got my Butsudan...I got it at my local Community Center but I have my eye on another one I'll tell you about soon!

I have been chanting so much Daimoku...about 5 hours over the last two days. Good thing too....the challenges at my new job keep coming...but finally I feel more composed and better able to take them on. And both of my sons have had a string of challenges so I am chanting so hard for them. A matter of the heart has gotten me all fired up and I feel as if I can chant all day and all night! I love it when the fire burns!

You can have a Beautiful Altar in your Home too

Let's Chant!

Do I get everything I want Right Away? Where's My Benefit!

The real thrill about being a Practical Buddhist and chanting Nam Myoho REnge Kyo every day is this:

Even when I don't get what I want...I get what I want. When I keep chanting, and keep focused...what I want is always on its way. The challenge is to not let my own doubt and negativity overshadow things.

Right now I am chanting with appreciation for my life, for being able to chant and for knowing, that NO MATTER WHAT I will be victorious is all areas of my life. I base my life on reading Daisaku Ikeda's writings, encouraging my fellow members and the readers of my blog. My entire life is tied to helping others be happy, and living as an example that NO MATTER WHAT, I will win in all aspects of my life.

Has everything "finished" in my life? No! And it never will! Am I enjoying the process along the way? YES! When you base your life on the mystic law it is possible to even enjoy your own sadness...because you see it for what it is...fuel for the fire of your Daimoku (chanting).

And because you can always turn poison into medicine...NOTHING will ever stop you.

I had a friend in Japan who always used to say "I love it when I get BIG PROBLEMS! Because I know that a BIG BENEFIT is on its way!"

He is so right! As long as you keep chanting, keep reading President Ikeda's guidance, and keep encouraging people...you can't lose.

And if you are at the beginning stage of chanting...just face the Gohonzon and pray about what you want. You deserve to be happy. Don't ever listen to the people who tell you that you don't deserve to be happy....you know you deserve happiness and you have ALWAYS known this. Tap into your life force of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Be fearless. Make your glorious life overflow with benefits!

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo! The power is within you!

This is such an awesome practice because it makes so much sense.

From My Favorite Gosho, the writings of Nichiren Daishonin:

On Attaining Buddhahood:

"If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured through eternity and attain supreme enlightenment in this lifetime, you must awaken to the mystic truth which has always been within your life. This truth is Myoho Renge Kyo. Chanting Myoho Renge Kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth within you. Myoho Renge Kyo is the king of sutras, flawless in both letter and principle. Its words are the reality of life and the reality of life is the mystic law (myoho). It is called the mystic law because it explains the mutually inclusive relationship of life and ALL phenomenon.

Life at each moment encompasses both body and spirit and both self and environment of all sentient beings in every condition of life, as well as insentient beings~ plants, sky and earth, on down to the most minute particles of dust. Life at each moment permeates the universe and is revealed in all phenomena. One awakened to this truth himself embodies this relationship. However, even though you chant and believe in Myoho Renge Kyo, if you think the law is outside yourself, you are embracing not the Mystic Law but some inferior teaching...

when you chant the mystic law and recite the Lotus Sutra you must summon up deep conviction that Myoho Renge Kyo is your life itself."

In other words...you ARE the mystic law...your very life essense is the same as the power of the entire universe.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo means: I fuse my life with the mystic law of cause and effect through sound vibration.

When you chant these words and think about what you want you get it...and furthermore...you keep getting to a deeper and deeper realization of what you really want in life...as as you do this, if you are chanting, your CONVICTION that you are this law, and that you DESERVE to be happy will grow and grow and grow. And that's also where the real power lives. Because once you experience this you will feel the need within you to tell other people about it...and your benefits will continue to flow and flow and flow!

From My Heart to Yours

When I look at all the benefits I've gotten from chanting, there is one that stands out...and it is more important than any other. I am not afraid of anything. I am confident in my own success. I know that Nam Myoho Renge Kyo can cure anything...and that my problems just serve as the logs on the fire that fuel my benefits.

And, as so many of you are writing me right now...it is possible to get over a broken heart...and even to recover a lost love...you deserve fulfillment in love and it is possible for you to have this. Don't give up!

Right now, I do have some mighty big challenges...but none that I can't surmount. I know I have a deep mission in this lifetime, and that telling people about this practice and watching them become happy is my greatest joy in life! My next step is to get this blog, and my writing distributed more broadly. Tell your publishing friends about me. I am ready to take this blog to the next level! I am ready for a publisher with vision to call me! I am ready to receive!

I mean, how could life get any better than this? I know that all my challenges will turn into benefits. I've seen this happen time and time again. Just last night I had a pretty painful experience with a date that suddenly went way wrong. My date became very belligerent and drank too much...and I parted ways permanently with no ill effects.

My prayer this morning was focused on appreciation for my wonderful life...appreciation for all the good that is in my life...and for life itself...Thank you Gohonzon...Thank you My Life!

And this lead to a miraculous and loving time today with someone who is so dear to me. Poison into benefit....once again...

I returned to the Gohonzon with a full heart...of appreciation and wonder.

My goals are changing...life itself is really in flux. Right now there are some things I am chanting strongly about that I can't really share with you yet.

Remember the most important things....

You can change ANY poison into benefit in this practice....if you chant twice a day every day, chant what is in your heart sincerely...don't wonder if you are worthy of getting what you want. YOU ARE WORTHY OF HAPPINESS and of having everything you want. Everything. Study the writings of Nichiren Daishonin and Daisaku Ikeda, and tell people about this practice. Join your fellow SGI members. If you don't have your Gohonzon...receive one! Once the benefits start flowing you won't be able to NOT tell people about the practice!!!! Trust me!

How do you know when you're chanting enough?

This is a great question.

How DO you know when you are chanting enough Daimoku?

(Nam Myoho Renge Kyo)

Well, I'll tell you...when I am chanting enough, it feels as if I am walking on a pillow of daimoku.

When I am "walking on a pillow of Daimoku, I just know, that at every moment, my life is expressing itself with wisdom, compassion, love and energy. I can feel the power of the universe shining from within me. When I'm in this state I rarely say something I regret. I don't take the wrong turn. I choose the right line, or, if I choose the line that takes longer, I make a new friend in that line, or I laugh to myself about it and don't feel frustrated. I feel as if I'm in the right place at the right time. I take action that prevents me from a snag in the future. I'm smiling and happy. I bring smiles to other's faces. I am in rhythm.

And this feeling isn't always related to how LONG I chant...but it is related to how deeply I connect with my own life WHILE chanting, how much Buddhist studying I am doing, and how many people I am telling about the joy of this practice and encouraging. Aaaahhh. That's where it all comes together. This is also why it's important to attend SGI Buddhist discussion meetings. (Go to sgi-usa.com to find meetings in your area). This is essential for deepening your faith and increasing your happiness!

When you chant, whether it's for 5 minutes, or whether it's for longer...summon appreciation for your life...summon the conviction that Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is YOUR LIFE ITSELF...feel the realization that YOU ARE THE BUDDHA. And focus on what you want.

Lately, I am chanting for composure, for wisdom, and to open my life to learn all that I can in my new job. I am chanting for every reader of this blog, and for all the people I still haven't reached. I am chanting for every person who is suffering, and looking for this very practical practice to FIND IT. I am chanting for opportunities to have this blog spread wider and wider and help more people. I am chanting for all who are suffering. I am chanting to show actual proof with my life of how amazing this simple (yet not always easy) practice is.

There is a line from the Lotus Sutra that we recite every day in Gongyo. We recite the actual words of the Lotus Sutra when we say (translation) "I think every moment, how can I quickly cause all people to end their suffering and attain the body of the Buddha".

One of the members of our District in Downers Grove (which has the most rocking Buddhist meetings every Wednesday night) has been chanting only a short while. She says that her dreams have turned from nightmares into a peaceful, peaceful state. Her face has changed as well. Her depression is lifting. This is what I am talking about. This, and more is possible through chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and tapping into the very life-force that it your birthright!!!!!