Really connecting to my Prayer

What does it mean to connect with your prayer? How do you know that you are maximizing the power within your life when you chant? 


If you've been reading my blog you know what you are thinking as you're chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is very important. In the moment you are chanting you HAVE THE POWER to change your own karma...to affect the causes you are making at every second of every day and to truly make your dreams come true. According to Buddhism the purpose of life is HAPPINESS! And you can claim yours every time you chant!


How? 


First of all chant to deepen your prayer...and to have the kinds of benefits that PROVE the power of the Gohonzon...in other words PROVE the power of your own life and prayer. 


Make a list of what you want and REMEMBER you are not asking anyone or anything for anything...you are VOWING to become happy! You are VOWING to achieve your dreams...you are VOWING to show actual proof so that those around you can become happy too. We are ALL INTERCONNECTED. When I win in life...all those around me win too. Look at your own life and you know this to be true. When you are happy, aren't those around you happy too? And it goes deeper than that...we are interconnected in the web of life...all of life is strengthened when you are strengthened. 


Studying the words of Nichiren Daishonin and Daisaku Ikeda are essential to learn how to apply the principles of Buddhism. I am indebted to them!


I view my life as the prow of a huge ship. When I make the causes to be happy...I am chanting for the entire ship behind me to be changed by my prayer...all living being to be made more happy through my prayer!


I look at my life right now...I am so steady and so strong. My relationships are incredible...I make new friends every day. I am healthy and my children are too. 
 This could be a horrible time for me. My youngest child is graduating High School. I could be mired in depression and despair. And I am certain, that if I did not chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo I would be miserable. I just think of my sweet mother. By the time my sister and I were graduating High School my Mom was at an all-time low. She had gained so much weight you could barely see her eyes. She was in a failed marriage...was feeling so unloved...and was watching her girls leave the nest. When my Dad announced he was divorcing her during my freshman year of college I was almost relieved. I knew her life had to change. (And it did...for the better) In a way he saved her life at that point. She didn't have a Gohonzon or know about chanting. I was not to find Buddhism until I was 25, and Mom began chanting the minute she saw my life getting stronger! She chanted for the rest of her life. 


Instead of suffering like my Mom did...I have the Gohonzon and fierce determination to help the members of my district and the readers of this blog become happier than they (YOU!) ever believed possible. I have a new thin body, a new pain-free hip, a new job, a new job, a fun dating life, and in a few days I will have my first apartment all by myself. My husband and I are amicably divorcing...and I chant for his happiness and appreciate our partnership in raising our boys, and we know our time together in a marriage is ending. My life is beginning again at the age of 50 and I am happier than ever. Every day I chant to see the causes I am making right now and to make the best causes for my happiness and the happiness of others. When I chant I vow deep in my heart to connect with Daisaku Ikeda and to show appreciation for his 50 year leadership of the SGI with my life. (sgi-usa.org)


I am truly happier, less depressed, less anxious than I have ever been. 
The future is bright for us all!!!!! 


That's actual proof!


Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!!!!

A Rising Tide Raises all Boats!

It's a great metaphor, isn't it? 


That's what Kosen Rufu is, that's what building fortune in your life really is~ all of us on the water...all of us rising vibtrationally towards a happier and happier and more and more fortunate life TOGETHER! 


What is the true meaning of "Fortune".? It's the circumstances you create in your life that MONEY CAN'T BUY~! Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-money, no. But fortune rises beyond money. It comes from consistently making good causes at every moment...in your thoughts, in your actions...and in chanting consistent Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!


Check this out:


Last night my son Ben, (the one in the prom picture of a few posts back) ~ last night was the qualifying race for the state track meet. It's a big deal. His first race was last week because he's had an injury all season, and been working out like a fiend to keep his heart rate up, even when he couldn't run! Well, last night he ran the two mile in his best time ever, and next Saturday he will be in the state track meet. This is something he has been working towards for the last four years...and he has accomplished the goal! GETTING to state is HUGE!!! Of course it will be great if he medals, and he possibly can, but getting there is very important for him. In the fall he starts his freshman year at Miami of Ohio on a running scholarship! 


This is fortune. YES. 


He has chanted for it, and worked towards it for his whole running career. 


What else is fortune? The fact that I told myself I wanted to stay living together as a family until Ben graduated from High School, and I am officially moving into my own apartment the day after he graduates. It's a really cool place with a pool and a hot tub and clubhouse. I'm excited, thrilled and of course...a little wowed...my first time living on my own! The rental market is red hot in this area...the housing market is in free fall and people don't want to buy. And I found exactly what I want, where I want it! That's fortune. Chanting Nam Myoho REnge Kyo affects your environment (ie finding the perfect apartment...having happy kids...) because we are CONNECTED to our environment...NOT separate. Every cause we make, every Nam Myoho Renge Kyo we chant makes a difference...creating FORTUNE in out lives! 

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!!!

What a Great Life ~ Ben and Sarah ~ Prom 2011!

Here's my youngest Buddha boy making all his dreams come true...he has a lovely girlfriend...he's graduating from High School on June 3rd...and he has a running scholarship to Miami of Ohio university....
Everything is possible when you chant! 

Time to move ahead

I am chanting every day to cherish, praise, elevate my life and do my human revolution.
I have a huge challenge now. My son is graduating from High School and it is time to complete the formal part of the division of property and paperwork that goes along with ending a marriage that has been part of my life for almost 30 years (from when we met in 1982).

SOOOOO I am chanting to honor my life. I am chanting for my soon-to-be-ex-spouse's happiness. I am chanting for the happiness of my boys.

The boys are great...they totally understand the divorce. I am so proud of who they are...they are dedicated...they work hard...and they enjoy their lives too. Aaron is busy applying to Medical School. He'll live in Champaign this summer working in the medical research lab. Ben will be preparing for his first year at Miami of Ohio University. Such excitement.

And I will be starting a new life, in a new place, with my new job, and some other new things that are making me very happy indeed.

So it is all working. Daimoku works. Years ago, I wanted to have this situation unfold...but I did not want to divorce until the kids had both graduated High School (coincidentally - that's the way my parents planned their divorce). And we have come to the crucial moment. Because I have the Gohonzon, and I can sit in front of it and elevate my life...I am finally prepared for this great transition.
I can meet my fears, chant about them...and persevere. I have a new job...plenty of friends...YOU readers and my own determination to get me through this.


Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!!!!!! 

On Attaining Buddhahood - HOW TO REALLY CHANGE YOUR KARMA!!!

On Saturday night at the Chicago Buddhist Center, Linda Johnson gave an amazing lecture on the Gosho "On Attaining Buddhahood." 


It is a gosho I have studied many times, and I've read and reread the book written by Daisaku Ikeda, and Linda, in her brilliance, has truly inspired a change in the focus of my prayer. That's the reason we study Buddhism by the way...because the more we study, the better we are able to understand and operate the gears of our Buddhahood ~~ and that equals more results and more happiness. Yayyy!


The crux of Linda's talk is that everything we experience, see, feel, hear...every person we interact with, every car we drive, every boss or coworker we have is a direct REFLECTION of the causes we have made and are continuing to make at each moment...a direct reflection of our life itself. We look to the outer world...our husbands, our children our coworkers etc. to get them to change...when if we really focus our prayer on our OWN SELVES...that is the way to operate those gears and affect real and lasting change in our circumstances. 


Linda said if we grumble and complain about our lives and think our sadness is someone else's fault...then we will NEVER be able to make lasting change. We must chant to change whatever it is WITHIN OURSELVES that keeps attracting the thing we don't like. We need to chant to change the karma to attract what we don't like, and to be able to see the causal interaction within our own lives. 


I realized during her talk that I am currently making causes to manifest WHAT I DON'T WANT...because I couldn't quite see it clearly...but my eyes are now opened. I will explain:


For instance, I am right now working on changing my karma as it regards to love. Many of you know this, many of you have communicated to me that you are chanting for love as well. My pattern (karma) has always been that I am not loved enough. In grade school I had few friends and experienced being very unpopular. In High School I was shunned by boys...in college the same. Deep insecurity and unworthiness took root within my life. I have always known this. This isn't a new realization. The NEW realization is THIS. I recently met a man who is intriguing, worthy and seems to like me. And I can hear my "evil twin" inside me talking me out of it all the time. "Oh, he'll just disappear like all the others...oh this is just a dream to go poof in the end...oh, I know I will blow it like I always do." Oh STOP IT EVIL TWIN!!!!


I am getting that voice out of my head by chanting to PRAISE MY LIFE WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING! I am chanting to realize in a way that I've never realized before that I AM DESERVING of love. I am chanting to rid my life of doubt. And when I chant like this...I connect to the Gohonzon with incredible power...and I KNOW I will change this karma. I KNOW I will be able to accept love in my life in a different way...the way I have been chanting for. I don't have to chant for a man to love me. I have to chant to be in love with myself in a way that is unchangeable...in a way that goes deeper than outside circumstances...in a way that inspires others that they can do the same. 


And YOU can do the same thing! That's why I write this blog. 
When we chant this way EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE! Go YOU!

Full of Appreciation!!!

Daimoku Absolutely Works!!

Ben is so much better. He mananged to find a new chiropractor who totally helped him yesterday!!!
Thank you all for your daimoku.

I'll write more later...my computer is in the shop having music transfered from the PC to the MAC.

In grateful appreciation!

Love, Jamie