If You're Struggling...

Please remember what Nichiren Daishonin says:

"Winter Always Turns to Spring"

And sometimes the saying "It's always darkest before the dawn" is all too true. 

You WILL break through. You WILL be happy. You will probably remember this time as the time you REALLY changed your life. Problems and challenges are FUEL for your growth and happiness. But sometimes it does not feel that way, does it? 

I know!

Believe in the power of your own prayer. 

Believe in the power in your own Life! 

And keep chanting! DO NOT GIVE UP!!!!!

Chant for the type of benefit that will strengthen your faith. 

Chant to strengthen your faith and your life...

Keep chanting!

Keep introducing others to the practice and telling people about Nam Myoho Renge Kyo! It doesn't matter if they decide to start chanting today. I have many friends who started chanting after I'd known them for 20 years! When you tell people about the practice you are planting a seed in their lives, and changing your OWN karma. 

I carry Nam Myoho Renge Kyo cards with me everywhere I go.  And I give them to people who help me in stores, and people I encounter casually. I just say "This is the secret to happiness and bringing out your highest potential. You can chant for anything you want."

Have a great day!!

Shunzo Ohno's Victory in Faith and how it relates to all of us

Shunzo Ohno is a World Class, 

Grammy Award winning musician 

and a Soka Gakkai member. 

The July edition of the Living Buddhism magazine published by SGI-USA has an article about Shunzo Ohno's struggles and triumphs. If you would like to subscribe to Living Buddhism and the World Tribune just click on the SGI-USA Portal to the right and go to the subscriptions center or call 310-260-8900. 

I'm not going to relate every detail about the article, but there are a few things that really struck me about Shunzo's struggles and the encouragement he received from President Ikeda. I find that many times when I am reading Sensei's guidance to others, that the guidance also relates to me. Even though Sensei is speaking to one person, we can  all take his guidance to heart. Here's what I mean. 

Shunzo Ohno first met SGI President Ikeda when he was visiting New York, where Ohno lived. At this time he was working as a busboy after experiencing some highs and lows as a trumpeter in New York. When President Ikeda met him he asked "Why don't you play a song?" and Ohno played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for him. Sensei responded by telling Ohno "Please become a world-class musician," and these words reignited Ohno's passion for music. After this he won several Grammy awards. 

In December of 1988 Ohno was in a bad traffic accident that seriously injured his lips and face. Normally this kind of accident would end a trumpeter's career. President Ikeda sent him this message:

'You are the world's Shunzo Ohno. Please fully recover. make sure you recover. Make a come-back. Re-establish your daily life. Focus on your art. Please prosper even more from now and forever. Rise up again like a phoenix." 

And through hard work and determination Ohno played again, only to be diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer in December of 1995. President Ikeda sent him a message saying "Mr. Ohno, your fellow members and fans are awaiting your full recovery. Mr. Ohno, fight and win. My comrade fight and win." And in June of 1996 Ohno played for President Ikeda on stage with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter (also SGI members). He has since produced many works and there is a book and a documentary about him in Japan. 

When he met Sensei again in 2010, he told Ohno that he listens to Ohno's music 365 days a year. 365 days a year! 

I find this story so striking. 

We each have such a noble mission you and I. 

You are the world's________________(fill in your name here!) 

Think to yourself:

"I am the world's _______________"(your name!)

You are so important. Just keep this in mind whenever you face difficulties. Say it over and over. You are so important. 

We can all take this guidance to heart. The world is WAITING for each of us to rise up into our magnificence and SHINE! The world is waiting for each of us to write our brilliant legacy! It is time for us all to DREAM BIG! 

As one of my favorite quotes from Sensei says 

"When one sun rises, everything is illuminated." 

We are the sun. We illuminate everything with our light.

The world is waiting for YOU, and for all of us! 

PowerPrayer for Releasing Resistance to Change

This post contains one of the most important PowerPrayers. I think many of us (me included) have what many religions call "attachments" to the way we see things, and the way we think things ARE. 
To really be able to change our lives, we have to be courageous and willing to release fear of the unknown and step into change. 
Last fall I was reading Louise Hay's seminal book You Can Heal Your Life. This is a book I have kept close to me ever since discovering it many years ago. Louise is an amazing human, one of the people I most revere. In the 80s she was one of the first to work with people with AIDS.  She is also the founder of Hay House Publishing which publishes Doreen Virtue, another of my favorite writers. 

So I came across the affirmation "Release my resistance to change." and I thought "Wow, this is really powerful. What would happen if I chanted this way?" And I tried it. Immediately my life shifted drastically and I was given the time and space to write my Treasure Map of PowerPrayers for you. 

I warn you! This prayer, along with chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo may shake up your life a bit. But if you are courageous and you have a strong practice (meaning you chant every day, twice a day, are connected to the SGI, and are going to meetings, study President Ikeda's guidance and the Gosho and encourage others to chant), you might be as appreciative of this powerful prayer as I am! 

Please let me know how this PowerPrayer works for you. I deeply appreciate all your letters and posts. I will be using many of your testimonials in the book. You and your feedback and support are crucial to helping this book and blog reach people who are looking for solutions...seeking Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Your efforts at sharing this blog and emailing the link to people, liking the Facebook page "Chant for Happiness" and sending me your thoughts are so important! My email is chantforhappiness@gmail.com. 

Power Prayer 

for 

Releasing Resistance to Change

I chant to release my resistance to change 
and to be willing to change from the inside out. 

I am now open to changing in any way 
that will help me to be a shining beacon of light and hope 
to myself and those around me. 
I now find the experience of change deeply pleasurable! 
I love it. 
I love the sensation of changing 
and becoming a happier and more beautiful person 
and inspiring 
that same kind of change in everyone in my life.
My inner wisdom and intuition is blossoming. 
I can hear it, 
I trust in it, and I love to see the effect in my life! 

PowerPrayer to Eradicate the Karma of Unrequited (unreturned) Love

PowerPrayer to Eradicate 

the Karma 

of Unrequited Love

Life! I now release and permanently eradicate 
any vestige of the karma of loving someone who doesn’t love me. 

With my daimoku 
I am making this impossible to ever happen again. 
I am reformatting my whole grid so that I respond only to happy, healthy loving people who can love me in return. 

I release the bonds that I have felt with _________
and bless them on their way. 

I convert the energy of those bonds to free myself from pain and create a REAL LOVING RELATIONSHIP with someone really worthy of my love. 

I no longer equate love with pain!

I no longer feel powerless where love is concerned. 
I feel PowerFULL! 
I AM Power FULL

I release all resistance to really feeling powerful and worthy of love. 

I deserve to have love. 
I am a fantastic loving, wise and kind person. 
I am ready to receive an abundance of love. 

It is time for my admirers to arise in joy. 

I receive them in appreciation and delight! 

PowerPrayer to Call in A True-Love-Soulmate Relationship!

Hello! Julia and I were reviewing all the wonderful PowerPrayers we've written for you for the book, and we realized we had not yet written one of the most important ones - finding true love! 

So we chanted about this during the long holiday weekend, and both came up with PowerPrayers for our phone meeting yesterday. From there we melded the one you see below. 

You know, Julia and I live very far apart. She lives in Northern California and I'm here outside of Chicago. It is the power of Daimoku and the PowerPrayers we wrote for success before we started writing this book that are fueling us in creating our offering for you!

To get the full benefit of a PowerPrayer chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with full faith in yourself. We offer these words as a guideline and suggestion.

PowerPrayer to call in a 
True-Love-Soulmate Relationship

Gohonzon, (my life itself!) 

I am ready to raise my life condition in every way 
so that I naturally attract to myself 
the best romantic partner/soul-mate for me at this time.
With each Daimoku I am strengthening my magnetism 
becoming more and more of my true self, 
revealing more and more of my inner and outer beauty, 
strengthening each element of my soul 
so that I am becoming the very best version of me, 
and the person my soul mate is longing to meet.

In the Infinity of Love where I am
all is perfect, whole and complete

Deep at the center of my being is an infinite well of love. 
I now allow this love to flow to the surface. 
It fills my heart, my body, my mind, my consciousness, 
my very being, and radiates out of me in all directions. 
It is returning to me right now, multiplied...

The one I am seeking is seeking me. 

Each Daimoku brings us closer, 
physically, and also on a subtle level, 
so that when we connect, everything is very natural between us.
We find that we are in rhythm together, 
on the same wavelength about many things, 
share a sense of adventure, meaning and humor 
that is very well matched. 
There is a strong and natural physical attraction
and we are very comfortable with one another in every way. 
Our longing for one another is equally balanced
and we enjoy our togetherness and time apart equally. 
We bring out the best in one another, 
and are perfectly endowed to help one another grow
in ways that challenge us without fear. 
Our very lives have created each of us to be that special someone 
for the other person. 
We both recognize it immediately!
Here are the qualities I strengthen in myself right now in preparation

(i.e. Unlimited self esteem, contentment, capacity to receive and give adoration. Complete your own list below)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

And here are the qualities I desire in my soulmate:
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!

I release this in joy now 
and I’m excited to see continual actual proof of this prayer in my life. 

From this moment forward 
each daimoku is a thank-you!

Win in the Morning and You Win in LIFE! Great Experience from Roberto

Roberto and his "baby" Moty

Win in the Morning and You Win in Life! 

Good morning, my name is Roberto Filacchione and I have been practicing Nichiren Buddhism since 1998.

In mid April of 2011 I had declared that I simply refused to keep driving a car without air conditioning. After that, my wish came true, in a way, when my car’s engine suffered a major damage that would cost me $1000 to have it fixed. But I just couldn’t afford paying for one more repair of many hundreds of dollars on a car with already 240,000 miles on it. I sold it to my mechanic for less than $500. That left me without a car and no transportation to get to work.

My finances were in bad shape: I had no money saved; my credit history showed a repossessed car, and my salary was incredibly low. Not wanting to be too dependent on others I decided to not accept any bailout money from my father, who had always been our family’s traditional “savior”.

The problem was that I needed to get back and forth to work every day and that meant traveling from Weston to downtown Fort Lauderdale and back. So, I got myself a bike to get to the nearest bus stop. Other times my co-workers or friends offered me rides But the truth is that I felt very demoralized and humiliated since I had never been without a car in my life. However, I understood that this was my opportunity to overcome my self-destructive nature and raise my low life condition. A life condition in which I didn’t take care of my health, my body, my teeth, my relationships, my Buddhist practice, my finances, and also my main means of transportation: my car.

Once at a district meeting, the young son of a friend of mine asked what was the difference between achieving your goals through positive thinking and praying, chanting, and practicing Buddhism to make them true. What I learned is that the difference is that, besides thinking positively and writing down a long –or short- bucket list, you achieve those goals by winning over your weaknesses like self-doubt, hopelessness, or even old resentments; by doing your human revolution. In the circumstances that I just described, this human revolution meant that, besides going to meetings, studying the writings, lecturing, or participating in the financial contributions, I needed to understand that I was in the right circumstances to do my own human revolution. 

During that time I was visited by my men’s division region leader who shared with me  guidance from Daisaku Ikeda that Mr Morinaka conveyed to the rest of the men’s division. It states: “Winning in the morning leads to winning in life… how we start each morning determines that day’s victory or defeat. It’s important that we resolve to win in the morning and begin our work with an energetic, refreshed spirit. We must not forget that is the secret to continual success.” I immediately determined to chant one hour every morning before going to work, and sooner than later things started to move even more quickly towards a positive direction: I was able to find the best and shortest bus routes to work. By saving on gas and insurance I was able to pay my outstanding bills, and most importantly, I was able to appreciate myself, and my life regardless of not having a car at that moment. I was developing something more than self-esteem, which was unconditional self-love and self- acceptance regardless of what I possessed or lacked with the spirit of not begrudging my life.

Having to ride the bus I was also able to witness a lot of the drama that we all miss when we drive on our super highways: Poverty! The slow demise of the poor and homeless –whether young or old, man or woman- who wander our city streets and buses, sometimes shoeless. I realized that I could not be seeing all this by pure coincidence. It became obvious to me how much we need to work towards kosen rufu in America. I thought to myself: who knows how many people could avoid this fate if they knew about Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.

At this point, I had been without a car for one year and half and continued chanting for exactly the one I always wanted. My finances were getting in better shape and, through it all I began to develop a new level of compassion and empathy for those who suffer really badly in life. I understood the importance of spreading the law and share the practice with as many people as we can. I didn’t resent my life and I simply couldn’t after I saw how others were suffering so much.

I finally develop the courage to take action and when I decided to go to the bank and try to get a car loan, to my surprise I no longer had a repossession in my credit history and my credit score was so good that I received a higher line of credit than I even needed and at a very low interest. I was able to purchase a car at a great price and in perfect conditions. It had been hardly used.

Through doing my human revolution I got more than a car. I learned to take care of every aspect of my life and I was determined to show proof that this practice really works. I knew that when we persevere in our prayers we get even more than we ever imagined. But the greatest benefit of all is that I gained a renewed sense of mission in my life where I want to give all I can to never see another human being suffer. In My Dear Friends in America pg. 313 President Ikeda states “The vast ocean is capable of encompassing anything; a small pond can only contain so much. The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin is as all encompassing as the universe itself. We are its practitioners. Let us cherish those around us – family, friends, and fellow members – embracing all with our big hearts and enjoying life together. Let us live truly great and wonderful lives.” This is what it means to me to fight for kosen rufu. Thank you.

Chanting Together Multiplies Our Benefits

When we Chant together something magical happens. 

No, it's not magic exactly. 

It's a vibration that has a cause, 

and TOGETHER we raise our vibration 

and change ourselves, others and the world for the better. 

Today I was just finishing my first hour of Daimoku (and I plan on chanting much more - because I have time to chant and so many goals and desires to fuel that Daimoku), 

I received a call from one of my members about a job situation and she asked me to chant for her. Of course, I will be happy to chant FOR her, but I said "Come on over, let's chant together. And let's see who else we can invite, and we'll all break through together!" THIS is the value of practicing in the wonderful Soka Gakkai with our friends in faith. Now I have a group of people coming over here at noon ~ perfect timing before my phone meeting with Julia to work on our book for you.  

I reminded my member who called about the job that it's important to raise her prayer to the level of Kosen Rufu. Raise EVERY prayer to the level of Kosen Rufu. 

She is chanting for a job, and she can use that prayer to chant to get the best possible job so that she can show actual proof of this Gohonzon (the power within her life) to herself, and to others. Then she can do shakubuku, introduce others and quickly change her karma. She has only been chanting a few months, she doesn't have her Gohonzon yet, and she is growing in faith. It is the perfect time for her to strengthen her faith and encourage others. Well, it's ALWAYS the perfect time to do that, isn't it?  

So use your SGI network. We are all here ready to help you grow, ready to help you break through. We are all the Gakkai Family. If you have not yet made the connection please click on the SGI portal to the right and find the friends you will end up cherishing your whole life. 

My Myoho sisters and brothers are truly like family to me. And you can create this too. Chant about it. Chant for it, and just take the action to make it happen. 

I chanted to meet people who would inspire me, and I am surrounded by people who inspire me! Don't practice alone. Your benefits will be so much bigger and greater when you take advantage of being part of the lifeblood of faith. Please don't believe me. Find this out for yourself. 

And we are all changing our karma together. 

As Daisaku Ikeda states:

"Buddhism which is founded on the law of cause and effect, stresses the concept of karma. This principle explains that life at each moment is subject to the cumulative effects of causes made in the past. What we do, what we say and what we think are all causes. And according to Buddhism, the moment we do something, say something or think something, an effect is registered in the depths of our being. Then, as our lives meet the right circumstances, the effect becomes apparent. Personality traits are strongly connected to our karma. The good news is that, unlike fate, our karma can be changed by causes we make from this moment forward. In fact, the practice of Buddhism is essentially the practice of continually changing our karma." - Daisaku Ikeda