PowerPrayer for Absolute Happiness

What is Absolute Happiness? 

Daisaku Ikeda states in Faith in Action, page 37:

"There is a saying, "A small heart gets used to misery and becomes docile, while a great heart towers above misfortune." True happiness is not the absence of suffering, you cannot have day after day of clear skies. Ture happiness lies in building a self that stands dignified and indomitable like a great palace on all days, even when it is raining, snowing or stormy. "

The following is an excerpt from the book we're almost finished writing: 

The BuddhaZone
PowerPrayers for Chanting for your Absolute Happiness.

PowerPrayer for Absolute Happiness

You have arrived! Go ahead, chant your way to absolute happiness. We've done it. We've proven the power of this prayer. Now it's your turn. If we can do it, you can do it.

Core Strengthening PowerPrayer

I am determined to experience my brilliant Buddha-self. 
I am determined to raise my life condition. 
I am determined to develop a strong— strong 
core of life 
so that NOTHING will bring me to this state of unhappiness ever again. 
I am determined to strengthen my life from deep within and to radiate happiness wherever I go. 
I don't CARE if unhappiness keeps rearing its ugly head along the way. 
I WILL WIN and I will defeat it forever. 
I will defeat you, unhappiness.
I am determined to become happy so I can inspire others to become happy. If I can become happy, anyone can become happy.
I now embrace absolute happiness as my mission.

DIS-couraged, or EN-Couraged? - Some Quotes to Inspire!

In all of our lives we sometimes experience frustration, right? We all have things we've chanted about for a long time and we think maybe they will never happen...and we face the choice of being discouraged, or encouraged. 
Let's think about those words for a moment: 

DIS-COURAGED. 
Lost courage. 
No more courage. 
Negative courage. 

We do feel this from time to time, I know. It is at exactly this point that we can put our faith to its best use. We have a unique tool. 
We have faith we can use to re-EN-COURAGE us. 

En-Courage
Filled with courage
Inner courage
In the state of courage

Much better, right? 

I know this from experience. This weekend I had an event I was pretty excited about. I chanted three hours the day it  happened, and it ended up being a bit disappointing. Thank goodness I chanted all those hours. I was a little miffed, but not depressed or upset. My life condition was sky-high! 

So I had a choice. DIS couraged or EN couraged? I must admit, after this incident on Saturday, on Sunday morning I woke up and sat in front of the Gohonzon (my life) and said "Really Gohonzon? Is that the best my life can do?" and I realized I was just facing an obstacle. And yes, it was really hard to chant! 
Today I woke up, and because of YOU, because I live not just for myself, I re-encouraged myself and was able to focus, chant and redetermine to WIN in all aspects of my life. That is the power of this practice. That is the power of our lives!  

I turned to the great writings of Daisaku Ikeda. 
In Faith in Action he writes in the section Perseverance:

"It is important to take a long range view. 
No great achievement is accomplished overnight 
or without difficulty. 
Should benefit be obtained easily, 
and without making serious efforts in our Buddhist practice, we'd probably easily abandon our faith 
and end up miserable." 
p. 145 

And he continues on the next page: 

"It is important to become strong 
and to not be defeated. 
Don't become the kind of people 
who are always depending or leaning on others 
or who weakly and timidly 
leave hard work and responsibility to others. 
Whatever obstacles you may encounter, 
please use them as a launching pad for your growth 
and keep advancing, 
bravely enduring all hardships, 
telling yourselves, 
"I'll show them what I'm made of!" 
p. 146

And:

"No matter what the circumstances, 
you should never concede defeat. 
Never conclude that you've reached a dead end. 
You possess a glorious future. 
Precisely because of that, 
you must persevere and study. 
Life is eternal. 
We need to focus on the two existences 
of the present and the future 
and not get caught up in worry about the past. 
We must always have the spirit to begin anew 
"from this moment," 
to initiate a new struggle each day." 
p. 146

I was also thinking about the wise words of my own personal mentor and good friend in faith Kate Randolph. She explained the concept of setting deadlines, and what it means to our Buddhist practice and our lives in this wise way:


"We set deadlines to motivate OURSELVES into action. 
A deadline is not for the universe to respond to us. 
We chant. 
We take action. 
The deadline comes. 
We either win or we don't. 
If we don't get the result by the deadline 
we pick ourselves right up again and redetermine. 
The goal is to never be defeated. 
Sensei always says "To win in life is to never be defeated." That does not mean that we will never fail. 
It's our spirit that matters. 
The battle we fight is not with the universe. 
It's with our inner demons...
the ones that say things like 
"obviously chanting doesn't work 
because I did not get my dream by my deadline...or...maybe I should have a different goal...
maybe I wasn't MEANT to have that thing!....
or what am I doing wrong? 
Maybe I wasn't chanting the RIGHT way!" 
It is at that juncture that we must recognize 
the opportunity to deepen our faith and our understanding of the profundity of Buddhism. 
ANYTHING that DRAINS OUR LIFE FORCE 
is the negative function. 
Any inner voice that causes us doubt and hopelessness 
IS the negative function. 
Once we decide we will win no matter what ~ 
we need only to continue. 
We've already won. 
The battle is with the negative function within. 
Ultimately, deadlines are irrelevant. 
Set them if you need them to motivate yourself. 
But decide from the onset that you will win no matter what. And hold YOURSELF accountable. Not the universe. 
If it is a crucial moment and you are in a dire predicament, financially, or health-wise, i
t is time to DEMAND the protection of the Shoten Zenjin. 

No prayer of a votary of the Lotus Sutra will go unanswered. If your prayer is going unanswered find out what it means to be a votary of the Lotus Sutra. STUDY. And as you are chanting DEMAND the result that you want through your prayer. Awaken to your mission and realize that all your suffering is your opportunity to encourage other people. That is what is meant by turning Karma into Mission."

Small Things Matter ~ Keep Moving Forward

PowerPrayer to Realize You DESERVE your Desires

This PowerPrayer comes from my writing partner Julia Landis. I love it!

Powerprayer 
to realize I deserve what I most want

I Deserve a life of Beauty, Gain, and Good.*
I am now ready to live a life of beauty, gain and good.
I realize that I am completely worthy
of the best and most beautiful riches
and resources this world has to offer,
including money,
especially money.
Any hinderances I have every experienced to realizing my worthiness
have burned up in the fire of my Daimoku!

I am beautiful, I inspire others to realize that they are beautiful, too.
My beauty uplifts people.
The beauty, elegance, and simplicity of my
home,
clothes,
life
creates a cause in the lives of others to surround themselves with beauty and to bring forth great beauty from the depths of their lives.
From the inexhaustable well of Buddhahood within
I bring forth a positive spiral
of ever increasingly high life condition,
(material wealth), that sparkles with inherent generosity.

I am a cause for many great and needed projects
that raise the world's life condition through my wealth.
Gain is inherently good and wealth reflects a healthy self esteem, motivated productivity and generosity.
My wealth flows from my deep innate goodness that I reveal with each Daimoku I chant.
I am beauty, gain and good incarnate now
and I am simultaneously the cause of beauty, gain and good
in the lives of an uncountable number of others.

* What is value creation? Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, visionary founder of the SGI, saw the ability to create value as a distinctively human possibility. He defined value as the triad of beauty, gain and good. "Beauty" might be defined as aesthetic enhancement; "gain" as everything that enriches a person's life in the broadest sense; and "good" as that which benefits society as a whole. http://www.daisakuikeda.org/assets/files/educator/creativ-edu-maki.html

Become a Light of Hope and you will be Victorious!!!

YES! Congratulations Soka university Class of 2013!  

This post is derived largely from the 
June 14th World Tribune celebrating the graduation. 

Soka University, Los Angeles was founded by Daisaku Ikeda and opened in 2001. In 2013 Soka was named as one of the top 50 finest liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report. They also ranked Soka #1 in Faculty Resources, #2 in Foreign Support Factor ( with 42% of students coming from outside the U.S.), #2 in Ethnic Diversity and #8 in Best Value School. 

The June 14th World Tribune has wisdom for us all:

In his address to the class of 2013, Soku University of America President Dr. Habuki noted that the song "The Light of Hope," which Dr. Ikeda wrote and dedicated to SUA, speaks of his hopes and expectations for the school's graduates to become the "light of hope" wherever they go. How do they do this? 
The key, Dr. Habuki said, is to become a person who works for the sake of others. 


"When you center everything and base things only on yourself, it becomes much easier to give up, because you will only disappoint yourself." he said. "When your efforts are for the sake of other people and society, you become far more determined to succeed. Like those of you who are the first college graduate in your family, I am sure you worked harder because of your families. 
"After today, you will soon leave the campus where you lived for four years, and I know there will be many challenges ahead," he continued. "There will be occasions when you will feel defeated or stuck. During those times, always remember those who have supported and believed in you, and those waiting for you in society - your parents, your friends and the people of the world. Let this become the basis of your strength."

Dr. Habuki, President of Soka University. 

We can all take this message to heart. When we are chanting we can focus on fulfilling our dreams not just for ourselves, but also to be a beacon of hope for others. 

When I started this blog in 2009 I was determined to overcome my deep-seated and life-long sadness, not just for myself, but for my members, for my friends and for anyone who might be reading this blog. Every day I chanted to root the cause of this sadness and despair out of my life FOREVER. And now, I am just amazed at my life every single day. I am victorious. 
I have defeated my biggest internal demon  - I no longer suffer from depression and sadness! 

Having a strong determination for the sake of other people is one of the golden keys to happiness. Thank you for saying it so succinctly Dr. Habuki and good luck to all the Soka U graduates!!!!

Powerful Guest Post about Belief from Morag in the UK

From 'The Nature of Success'  

Discover the Power of Belief

For more than a hundred years, runners tried to break the 4 minute mile.  It was considered the 'holy grail' of track and field. In fact, doctors in medical journals wrote how it was impossible and explained how the human body was physically incapable of accomplishing this feat.

Then in May 1954 a british medical student named Roger Bannister ran the mile in 3 minutes 59 and a half seconds.  This made headlines around the world!

Then, even more amazing, the record was broken again the following month and again and again.  It has since been broken over 700 times sometimes by several people in the same race.

What happened, what was different?  They believed they could do it!  The barriers of the mind had broken down.  successful people have one thing in common: they believe with all their heart they can do it.

You see, whether you think you can or whether you think you can't...you're right!

In the world of faith this principle works with even greater results.  The Daishonin believed with his entire being that his exile to Sado was only temporary.  He wrote to Shijo Kingo "When I come back to Kamakura we will meet."  
(And the majority of people did NOT return form an exile on Sado Island)

We empower our prayers when we believe they will be answered.  The Gosho says several times and in different ways that 'no prayer of the votary of the Lotus Sutra goes unanswered.'  It is down to us to deepen our faith, strengthen our practice and live our lives in such belief without doubting.

Sent from Morag Waghome, in the UK. 

Chanting for Others Has a Profound Effect and an Ultimate Power Prayer for Change

Yes, we are all connected.

Suppose we have someone at work we don't get along with...or a family member that is giving us problems. What is the best way to handle this situation as a Buddhist? 

Many of us have proven, time and again, that chanting for that person's happiness changes everything. Chanting for their happiness might not sound like something you want to do, or even feel capable of, but it works every single time, I promise. 

Here are two examples: 

The first time I tried this I hadn't been chanting all that long and I was selling advertising for the Bay Guardian Newspaper. This was before so much of the technology we have now. Ads were placed on the boards by hand, and it was all meticulously done. I sold a lot of advertising. And the person who handled my ads in production (I'll call her Katia) was always upset with me for some reason or other. It got to the point that she was really driving me crazy. So I sought guidance from one of my seniors in faith. She said I should chant for Katia's happiness, because my prayer would affect her state of life, and the energy between us would change. 

I'll be honest, I thought it would be really difficult, if not impossible, to truly chant and desire this person's happiness. But the senior in faith told me to "fake it till you make it." In other words, start chanting for Katia even if I couldn't really put my heart into it. She told me to picture Katia with a big smile on her face, and sooner or later my prayer for her happiness would become sincere. 

This is exactly what happened. Within a very short period of time I found myself earnestly desiring happiness for Katia, and knowing in my heart that my chanting was going to have an effect. 

About a month later, Katia announced that she was getting engaged and moving to Los Angeles. She was happy and so was I!

I realized that through this practice I was actually exercising my muscle of compassion. After that, chanting for anyone I was having problems with came much easier. 

Another example was when I went to work for a larger company here in the Midwest. I could tell, that for no apparent reason, one of the employees really didn't like me, (I'll call her Sharon). She never said anything negative, and I didn't work with her very closely, but I could feel her hair standing on end when she saw me. So I decided to chant for her happiness every day for months. 

Instead of leaving the company like Katia did, Sharon just totally changed her feelings for me and came to love and respect me. She served on several of my committees and spoke very highly of me. She and I put together a Holiday party for the senior staff based on kind words and love. We worked together happily for many years. 

Throughout the years of my practice I have proven over and over that chanting for another person's happiness has a profound effect, and that I can GENERATE compassion by exercising my muscle of faith. 

Is there anyone you have been resenting who you could chant for? 


Ultimate PowerPrayer to receive insight from and for my life

Gohonzon, I am willing to change in any way possible to achieve _____________________in my life. 
Show me what I need to change 
in my thoughts, words, and actions 
and help me realize that
because I possess the world of Buddhahood  
I already have the strength,  
receptivity 
and courage to hear, 
to understand, 
and to change. 
Open my heart and mind to hear the messages
that will move me forward.
I release my resistance to change. 

I can now learn from my environment 
and everyone in it 
because I realize that I am one with my environment, 
and my environment is coming towards me to help me. 
It comes towards me through people, books. etc.
in everything there is a loving message for me 
and I'm wise enough to figure out what it is 
and generous enough with myself to take it in 
and benefit from it.  
My environment is a clear mirror of my life 
and I joyfully realize 
that I need to change for “it” to change. 
Life, I am ready!