What Does Nam-myoho-renge-kyo mean?

~ And why does chanting these words have such a profound effect on each person?  

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, to those of us who wake each day and chant these words, is the means to put our lives in rhythm with the universe and bring out our own highest and best qualities. Life itself is a duality, and each one of us has choices to make at every moment of the day. Chanting these words help us to "true" our choices in a way that leads us to greater happiness.  

It is a law, the mystic (unfathomable) law. And it works whether we believe it or not. But please, don't take my words for it. If you're new to chanting I have several blogposts on how to chant. You can find them in the archive section. The link to the SGI-USA Portal (to the right) has listings of centers in your area where there are wonderful SGI members who would love to answer your questions and help you learn this practice.

We are Connected

"When we have a genuine sense that, 
no matter how difficult 
our present circumstances, 
we are not alone—
that we are vitally connected with others
and with the world—
we will, without fail, 
rise up to the challenge of living again."

Daisaku Ikeda
Ikedaquotes.org

Chanting for kosen-rufu and taking action for world peace unlocks our own happiness

Do you realize how strong and capable we all are? 

All of us who chant Daimoku (Nam-myoho-renge-kyo) have the power to ROAR LIKE LIONS and create the lives of our dreams! 
All we have to do is realize it, and when we chant...demand results from our own life. 
When we chant we are connecting with our own life, so we are not asking anyone or anything for "favors." 
No, we are connecting with our highest life power...that of the entire life and power of the whole universe. 
Nam-myoho renge-kyo is the name of the rhythm of life itself. It is already inside you. 
Please chant with the knowledge that Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is your life itself. And claim your birthright. Claim your power. Don't settle for a life of suffering. 

We also need to understand the shared struggle of mentor and disciple. It is essential to our Buddhist Practice. 

In the May Living Buddhism (SGI-USA publication) President Ikeda states "Therefore, when we embrace faith in the GOhonzon it is important that we wholeheartedly believe in the justice of Nichiren Daishonin's struggle. Unless we have the resolve to share in this struggle and participate in widely propagating the mystic law, the supremely noble life state of  Buddhahood will not manifest powerfully within us. The essence of faith in Nichiren Buddhism is for disciples to strive for kosen-rufu with the same spirit as their mentor. (May, 2013 Living Buddhism page 20)

"What is kosen-rufu? According to the same edition of Living Buddhism the definition is as follows: Literally "to widely declare and spread." Nichiren Daishonin defines Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as the Law to be widely declared and spread throughout the world. Kosen-rufu refers to the process of securing lasting peace and happiness for all humanity bt establishing the humanistic ideals of Nichiren Buddhism in society." May 2013 Living Buddhism, page 3. 

I have also heard kosen-rufu described as a world with respect for all of life. 

All of us, striving every day for kosen-rufu will create a world of fulfillment and happiness for all people, through our own happiness. Our own Human Revolution and happiness is where it starts.  

"Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is like the roar of a lion, what sickness can therefore be an obstacle?" Nichiren Daishonin, Letter to Niike

"Sickness" in the above quote means any problem, any challenge, any trouble ~ from illness to relationships, to depression...ANYTHING. 
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo...and your chanting can break through anything. You just have to dig deep and realize Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is your life itself, and chant with conviction. 

You are an honorable Buddha - you deserve the absolute best. 

Chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with happiness and conviction. Write a list of what you want for your life. 
Chant to have the kind of benefit that will strengthen your faith. 
Chant to strengthen your faith! When you chant with the faith that you know your prayers will have an impact - they will. Every determination should have the greater prayer of kosen-rufu as part of its fulfillment. Such as: "I am determined to win in all aspects of my life so that I can show actual proof of this practice and inspire others to chant."

I know you have heard me say these things over and over, but I repeat them so that we can all be reminded of the correct way of practice to become true victors in our lives. 

Chanting takes courage. You can do it. You can make any change you want to see for yourself and others. 

The Power of Prayer

"Prayer is the courage to persevere. 
It is the struggle 
to overcome our own weakness 
and lack of confidence in ourselves. 
It is the act of impressing 
in the very depths of our being 
the conviction 
that we can change the situation 
without fail."

Daisaku Ikeda
IkedaQuotes.org

Power Prayer for Overcoming Obstacles

Obstacles are part of the journey. 

And they can either FUEL us of FOOL us. 

It is up to us. We choose by our attitude and resolve. When an obstacle arises we can say "This obstacle is making my resolve stronger! This is a log on the fire! I will chant even harder and take a million times more action. I will help others chant. I will study more. I will share President Ikeda's spirit and I WILL MOVE FORWARD. Or we can say "This obstacle means I shouldn't be doing this right now. I wasn't meant to have this dream come true. This is a sign I should give up." If this is our response to obstacles then the obstacles have won. They have FOOLED us into thinking we aren't powerful, and that we are not Buddhas. 

As many of you know I am spending my days writing a book for all of you. My vision is that this book be infused with Sensei's spirit, and filled with Nichiren Daishonin's resolve. My goal is for this book to introduce people who are suffering to the wonderful world of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. ..the world where real dreams, small and large can be brought to life...the world of vitality and purpose....aliveness and connectedness where we are all living in happiness and all helping others become happy...the world of Kosen Rufu. 

This, and many other books are my life's dream...not to "attain notoriety  or be famous or live in a mansion. No. My vision is to reach people who are searching for the most practical solution to their problems, and lead them to the SGI and a world of new friends, happiness and success. 

Along the way, and specifically right now, I am experiencing many obstacles. How I view them is the key to winning or failing, right? This will be a work of actual proof for you, my readers. This book will be  proof that the impossible can become possible. I've already made many impossible things happen in my life ~ losing 50 pounds - becoming healthy - helping many people receive the Gohonzon - and reaching you through the magic of the internet and inspiring you to connect with the SGI and President Ikeda's heart ~ these  things were impossible. And this book has been an impossible dream all of my life. 

At first I was beset with my own doubts, and those took years to overcome. I wrote and rewrote and rewrote parts of the book. When I read them over I knew they were not good. Now, as I am deeply into the process, have a brilliant writing partner, I've honed my own writing skills, a fresh batch of obstacles have arisen. But I have a power prayer for overcoming obstacles that is written in my heart and I'll share it with you now:

Power Prayer for Overcoming Obstacles on the way to my dream 

I am determined to use every obstacle, every doubt, every criticism, to fuel my resolve and solidify my determination. I am the Buddha and the determination for the happiness of all beings is alive within my heart. Every obstacle is a log that makes the flames of my desire burn higher. I will chant with 10,000 times more determination, and take resolute action every day towards the realization of my goal. I will study, introduce and encourage others with all my heart every single day. My karma is my mission. I dedicate my life to proving the power of this practice with every breath I take, and inspiring countless others to chant and become absolutely happy. I resolve to accomplish: _________________________________________(you fill in the blank)

And this morning I found some quotes by President Ikeda from the book Conversations with Youth for you. I have given away countless copies of this book. You can find it in the bookstore through the SGI portal to the right on this page. 

"If the power of your faith and practice 
is a force of 10,000 
then it will elicit that degree of corresponding power." 
P. 299

There is nothing extraordinary about prayer. 
It is simply wishing for something with all your heart, 
and our heart is what matters most. 
It is important to chant with deep faith, reverence and love for the Gohonzon in our heart." p. 303

"If you summon your courage to challenge something 
you will never be left with regret. 
How sad it is to spend your life wishing 
"If only I'd had a little more courage."
Whatever the outcome may be, 
it is important to take a step forward 
on the path you believe is right. 
There is no need to worry about what others may think. 
Be true to yourself. 
It's your life after all."

All quotes by Daisaku Ikeda from Conversations with Youth.  

Encouragement to have Courage and Faith

A Guest blogger provides this encouragement: 

I am feeling very inspired, the SGI meeting I went to was about courage and faith.  

Really it's in times where we feel that we cannot go on where we feel like giving up, that's when we call forward our courage and faith to go on. 

When we are chanting it is not about thinking through our problems "how will this work out?", but just deciding how we want things to be and letting go and enjoying our daimoku and allowing the buddha nature within us to come forth. 

Our strategizing in front of the Gohonzon, (thinking and analyzing) blocks the way for our innate wisdom to shine through. 

Here is a quote from President Ikeda's lectures on The One Essential Phrase:

'Daimoku is like light. 
As the Daishonin says, "A candle can light up a place that has been dark for billions of years." Similarly, the moment we offer prayers based on daimoku, the darkness in our lives vanishes. This is the principle of the simultaneity of cause and effect. At that very instant, in the depths of our lives our prayer has been answered.
The inherent cause (nyo ze in) of a deep prayer simultaneously produces a latent effect (nyo ze ka). While it takes time for this effect to become manifest, in the depths of our lives our prayers are immediately realized. So at that moment light shines forth. The lotus flower (renge), in blooming and seeding at the same time, illustrates this principle of simultaneity of cause and effect.
Therefore, it is important that we offer prayers with great confidence. The powers of the Buddha and the Law are activated in direct proportion to the strength of our faith and practice. Strong faith is like a high voltage-it turns on a brilliant light in our lives.
Prayers are invisible, but if we pray steadfastly they will definitely effect clear results in our lives and surroundings in time. This is the principle of the true entity of all phenomena. Faith means having confidence in this invisible realm. Those who impatiently pursue only visible gains, who put on airs, or who are caught up in vanity and formalism will definitely become deadlocked.
People who base themselves on prayer are sincere. Prayer cleanses and expands the heart, and instills character.
Daimoku is also like fire. When you burn the firewood of earthly desires, then the fire of happiness-that is, of enlightenment-burns brightly. Sufferings thus become the raw material for constructing happiness. For someone who does not have faith in the Mystic Law, sufferings may be only sufferings. But for a person with strong faith, sufferings function to enable him or her to become happier still.
Faith is inextinguishable hope. The practice of faith is a struggle to realize our desires. And the basis of this practice is prayer. Through prayer, hope turns into confidence. This spirit of confidence unfolds in 3,000 ways, finally resulting in the attainment of our hopes. Therefore, we must never give up.
Even places that have been shrouded in darkness for billions of years can be illuminated. Even a stone from the bottom of a river can be used to produce fire. Our present sufferings, no matter how dark, have certainly not continued for billions of years-nor will they linger forever. The sun will definitely rise. In fact, its ascent has already begun.
To put yourself down is to denigrate the world of Buddhahood in your life. It is tantamount to slandering the Gohonzon. The same is true of setting your mind that absolutely nothing can be done about some particular problem or suffering.
Also, we must not decide in advance that a particular person or a particular area is a lost cause. It is precisely when faced with challenging circumstances that we need to pray. The key is to offer concrete prayers and take action-until results are produced.
Prayers based on the Mystic Law are not abstract. They are a concrete reality in our lives. To offer prayers is to conduct a dialogue, an exchange, with the universe. When we pray, we embrace the universe with our lives, our determination. Prayer is a struggle to expand our lives.
So prayer is not a feeble consolation; it is a powerful, unyielding conviction. And prayer must become manifest in action. To put it another way, if our prayers are in earnest, they will definitely give rise to action.'

Daisaku Ikeda

Daisaku Ikeda on Creating Happiness ~

What is Happiness?

by Daisaku Ikeda

What is the purpose of life? It is to become happy. Whatever country or society people live in, they all have the same deep desire: to become happy.

Yet, there are few ideals as difficult to grasp as that of happiness. In our daily life we constantly experience happiness and unhappiness, but we are still quite ignorant as to what happiness really is. 

A young friend of mine once spent a long time trying to work out what happiness was, particularly happiness for women. When she first thought about happiness, she saw it as a matter of becoming financially secure or getting married. (The view in Japanese society then was that happiness for a woman was only to be found in marriage.) But looking at friends who were married, she realized that marriage didn’t necessarily guarantee happiness. 

She saw couples who had been passionately in love suffering from discord soon after their wedding. She saw women who had married men with money or status but who fought constantly with their husbands. 

Gradually, she realized that the secret of happiness lay in building a strong inner self that no trial or hardship could ruin. She saw that happiness for anyone—man or woman—does not come simply from having a formal education, from wealth or from marriage. It begins with having the strength to confront and conquer one’s own weaknesses. Only then does it become possible to lead a truly happy life and enjoy a successful marriage. 

She finally told me, “Now I can say with confidence that happiness doesn’t exist in the past or in the future. It only exists within our state of life right now, here in the present, as we face the challenges of daily life.” 

I agree entirely. You yourself know best whether you are feeling joy or struggling with suffering. These things are not known to other people. Even a man who has great wealth, social recognition and many awards may still be shadowed by indescribable suffering deep in his heart. On the other hand, an elderly woman who is not fortunate financially, leading a simple life alone, may feel the sun of joy and happiness rising in her heart each day. 

Happiness is not a life without problems, but rather the strength to overcome the problems that come our way. There is no such thing as a problem-free life; difficulties are unavoidable. But how we experience and react to our problems depends on us. 

Buddhism teaches that we are each responsible for our own happiness or unhappiness. Our vitality—the amount of energy or “life-force” we have—is in fact the single most important factor in determining whether or not we are happy. 

True happiness is to be found within, in the state of our hearts. It does not exist on the far side of some distant mountains. It is within you, yourself. However much you try, you can never run away from yourself. And if you are weak, suffering will follow you wherever you go. You will never find happiness if you don’t challenge your weaknesses and change yourself from within. 

Happiness is to be found in the dynamism and energy of your own life as you struggle to overcome one obstacle after another. This is why I believe that a person who is active and free from fear is truly happy. 

The challenges we face in life can be compared to a tall mountain, rising before a mountain climber. For someone who has not trained properly, whose muscles and reflexes are weak and slow, every inch of the climb will be filled with terror and pain. The exact same climb, however, will be a thrilling journey for someone who is prepared, whose legs and arms have been strengthened by constant training. With each step forward and up, beautiful new views will come into sight. 

My teacher used to talk about two kinds of happiness—“relative” and “absolute” happiness. Relative happiness is happiness that depends on things outside ourselves: friends and family, surroundings, the size of our home or family income. 

This is what we feel when a desire is fulfilled, or when something we have longed for is obtained. While the happiness such things bring us is certainly real, the fact is that none of this lasts forever. Things change. People change. This kind of happiness shatters easily when external conditions alter. 

Relative happiness is also based on comparison with others. We may feel this kind of happiness at having a newer or bigger home than our neighbors. But that feeling turns to misery the moment they start making new additions to theirs! 

Absolute happiness, on the other hand, is something we must find within. It means establishing a state of life in which we are never defeated by trials, and where just being alive is a source of great joy. This persists no matter what we might be lacking, or what might happen around us. A deep sense of joy is something that can only exist in the innermost reaches of our life, and which cannot be destroyed by any external forces. It is eternal and inexhaustible. 

This kind of satisfaction is to be found in consistent and repeated effort, so that we can say, “Today, again, I did my very best. Today, again, I have no regrets. Today, again, I won.” The accumulated result of such efforts is a life of great victory. 

What we should compare is not ourselves against others. We should compare who we are today against who we were yesterday, who we are today against who we will be tomorrow. While this may seem simple and obvious, true happiness is found in a life of constant advancement. And, the same worries that could have made us miserable, can actually be a source of growth when we approach them with courage and wisdom. 

One friend whose dramatic life proved this was Natalia Sats, who founded the first children’s theater in Moscow. In the 1930s, she and her husband were marked by the Soviet Union’s secret police. Even though they were guilty of no crime, her husband was arrested and executed and she was sent to a prison camp in the frozen depths of Siberia. 

After she recovered from the initial shock, she started looking at her situation, not with despair, but for opportunity. She realized that many of her fellow prisoners had special skills and talents. She began organizing a “university,” encouraging the prisoners to share their knowledge. “You. You are a scientist. Teach us about science. You are an artist. Talk to us about art.” 

In this way, the boredom and terror of the prison camp were transformed into the joy of learning and teaching. Eventually, Mrs. Sats even made use of her own unique talents to organize a theater group. She survived the five-year prison sentence, and dedicated the rest of her long life to creating children’s theater. When we met for the first time in Moscow in 1981, she was already in her eighties. She was as radiant and buoyant as a young girl. Her smile was the smile of someone who has triumphed over the hardships of life. Hers is the kind of spirit I had in mind when I wrote the following poem on happiness: 

A person with a vast heart is happy.
Such a person lives each day with a broad and embracing spirit.
A person with a strong will is happy.
Such a person can confidently enjoy life, never defeated by suffering.
A person with a profound spirit is happy.
Such a person can savor life’s depths
while creating meaning and value that will last for eternity.
A person with a pure mind is happy.
Such a person is always surrounded by refreshing breezes of joy.