Great Gongyo = Immediate Great Results!

This looks like my car!

Creating financial benefits through donations is not a new concept. I first learned about it through the great Unity Minister Catherine ponder in her many books on the power of the word and the power of tithing. Giving away a portion of earnings seems to be a widely knows spiritual principle. As of this May contribution campaign I decided I would donate a percentage of my income after every paycheck. 

As you know, the SGI is a unique organization. There are no dues to pay and no suggested amounts. But some of us choose to show our appreciation for this practice through financial contributions...knowing that making this financial cause also creates a profound financial cause in our lives. I am not telling anyone to donate, or presenting the SGI as any kind of pay-for-benefit organization. That's not the way it works. Donations come from the heart. I just live my life to be an example that the impossible is possible! 

Last week after I got my paycheck I computed the portion to donate and immediately went to the SGI website and sent it. Then I began perfecting Gongyo as I mentioned in the previous posts. I now read each silent prayer until I feel it in my heart, and I start and complete Gongyo with NO interruptions (if I get interrupted I start again). I'm also chanting as much Daimoku as I can!  

All I can say is the benefits are coming and they keep on coming!

As we all know, some things are harder for some people. One of my challenges has had to do with my car. I have the sweetest car, a white Acura that my wise Stepmom Janis originally bought in 2001. It has a sun roof, a great radio, and is super reliable. I've loved this sweet little car since the day I bought it from her in 2007. It marked the day I went from a mini-van to a coup. I entered a new phase of my life. 

After 2007 I went through some challenging times, had a few anxiety attacks, and put messed up the front bumper pretty badly. The anxiety attacks are gone now...but the bumper has looked bad ever since. Fixing it has been a daunting financial challenge. Suddenly, with my new financial determination and the new way I'm concentrating on Gongyo - Boom - tomorrow or Saturday I will leave the shop with a brand new car. 

Without going into details I will just say that this came about through a bunch of things happening in the right way at the right time - and here I am - in rhythm with what I really desire. And it was easy. It had a few bumps that were really humorous too.  The estimator called and told me it would be more than he'd thought and I got so upset I locked my keys in the car with the trunk open. I actually had to crawl into the trunk to get my car unlocked....laughing all the while. And when I told the estimator what had happened (still laughing - I never got mad) he brought the price down, then my Dad and Jan offered to help with the cost!  And I have a replacement car to drive while the car is in the shop (that, of course, was one of the reasons I hadn't gotten it fixed a while ago)

So once again I see actual proof of this practice. Even something as hard for me as a car repair can "magically" happen. (I know, some people find this easy...but for me it was almost impossible) But we all know it's not magic. It's a result that has a cause. It starts every day...every single day...with morning Gongyo and fresh determinations! 

If I can make the impossible possible so can you! 

2 Tips for a Powerful Gongyo ~ Powerful Gongyo = Powerful Life!

From the early days of my practice I learned that the energy I put into doing the practice made the rest of my life flow more easily. 

Perfecting the daily recitation of Gongyo and Daimoku is the spiritual work out for the interior of our lives, so that our environments (our world at every moment, and all the people and things and EVERYTHING in it) flows smoothly...we can accomplish our goals and live fulfilling lives.  

This morning I was thinking about Shakyamuni meditating under the Bodhi Tree. He was assailed by many inner demons to make him stop or to throw off his meditation. Our practice of Gongyo every day is just like this. We are the Buddha! We must win! Our concentration will pay off! 

As I mentioned the other day, there are some unfinished things in my life (publishing my book for you is highest on my list!) so I've been reflecting and acting upon doing a more focused daily Gongyo and Daimoku. 

(As always ~ these opinions are mine, and come from my heart to yours. They do not reflect official SGI viewpoints, just those of Jamie Lee Silver at chantforhappiness.com!)

That being said, here are 2 Gongyo tips for today  ~ two ways I have changed doing Gongyo since I made my determination on Sunday:

2 Tips for a Powerful Gongyo
Don't just "do" Gongyo. Feel it. Experience it.
by Jamie Lee Silver at chantforhappiness.com 

1. Read each silent prayer over and over until I can actual feel them, and feel the appreciation. Right now I am reading each prayer three times ~ or more ~  until it sinks in. It's amazing how fresh each prayer can feel when I pay close attention. (Yesterday's poem in the World Tribune also refreshed my appreciation for Tsunesaburu Makiguchi - practice and study, practice and study!)  

2. Begin and end Gongyo with no interruptions. I now recite the silent prayers at the end of Gongyo soon after the recitation...not after finishing all my daimoku for the morning. This makes it easier to do a complete gongyo before I get up to do something else, or refresh my drink or whatever. I start and complete Gongyo. Boom. Then I can do as much daimoku as I want, with Gongyo done. Complete. With no interruptions. If I get interrupted, as I did this morning with an important call from a business associate, I begin again!

I already saw the effects of my new determination yesterday. I began the process of publishing the book and stepped through a bunch of doors in that journey. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

And I easily booked my trip to Ojai and LA at the end of the month. (Booking trips is always an act of faith, right? Pressing that "submit" button is always time for a little prayer of appreciation to my own life for having so much courage!) I'll be visiting the gorgeous city of Ojai, California with my dear friend Etjen, then staying in the LA area for a few more days (until July 5th) with Kate, my dear mentor and friend. 
I will have my own car and plenty of time to visit meetings, so if you live in that area and want to get together shoot me an email at chantforhappiness.com. I'd like to see the new Laguna Beach SGI center too! 

I'm interested in hearing how you are perfecting your gongyo! 
Doing Gongyo is like lifting spiritual weights. how strong can we make our lives? That's what we are talking about! 
Email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com

How to Change the Core of Your Life ~ Guidance From Ted Morino, SGI-USA Study Department Chief

How to Change the Core of Your Life

By Ted Morino, SGI-USA Study Department Chief.


First of all, before you begin – RELAX. CLEAR YOUR HEAD. CLEAR YOUR HEART! But especially your head – your mind. Relax emotionally, mentally, physically. It is important to be very natural.

Second, when you chant, you really need to use your eyes. FOCUS ON THE GOHONZON. Then listen to your voice. Focus on the centre part of the Gohonzon, "myoho" – mystical. You have to use your eyes. This is extremely important.

When you really use your eyes, your mind stops. Clear your mind by strongly focusing your eyes. Let your thoughts rest by using your eyes. When you're busy thinking all the time, your mind is sucking energy. This means your mind is taking over (which isn't healthy) but your core isn't changing because the energy isn't being directed there. What you really have to do is look at the Gohonzon with power and let your mind relax.

The Gohonzon in your life already knows your worries and desires. Come from your heart – JUST CHANT WITH YOUR EYES LOCKED ON THE GOHONZON. Then when Nam Myoho Renge Kyo comes into tune with the core of your life, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo will melt away and dissolve karma. It will change into strength so you can become strong and clear-minded enough to accomplish your desires.

In this way, you come to enjoy the act of chanting because you're feeling the core of your life, [Buddhahood]. You're fusing with the highest potential in your life, represented by the Gohonzon. WHEN YOU'RE THINKING STRATEGIES, YOU'RE NOT CHANGING YOUR KARMA.

Question: When I chant I often imagine what I want. I picture it in my mind. I see it happening in my mind. Is that okay?

Answer: Positive imaginings are a good thing, but not strategies. If you are imagining ‘how to make it happen,’ instead of the images of it, then you are strategizing.

Prayer should come from the heart! The Gohonzon knows your worries and desires. Keep them in your heart, focus on the Gohonzon and simply chant. If you can do simple good daimoku and gongyo, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo goes stronger, deeper, to expand you, dissolve difficult karma and generate positive results. Daimoku should come from your core. If it comes from the mind the mind becomes stronger and so does the confusion.

When you close your eyes or avert them from the Gohonzon, the power to fuse the core of your life with the Gohonzon weakens and the mind plays around. Chant clearly, confidently, comfortably. We need to keep checking ourselves. It's easy to get carried away by force of old habits and chant emotionally or while uptight.

DON'T READ WHILE YOU CHANT! DON'T DO ANYTHING WHILE YOU CHANT! JUST CHANT. When you read, read. When you chant, chant. After good daimoku, you may read, or your schedule may require you to get right to work or do things you need to do. You may have a busy life, but don't have busy daimoku. Don't be busy while you chant – FOCUS! Through focused daimoku, you can melt away negative karma. Karma is going to be dissolved.

Chanting is a time to cultivate your life, not think about your strategies. Daimoku is the time to enrich your Buddha nature, not the time to have a planning meeting for your life or day.

In my head: Positive imaginings
In my heart: Deep prayer
In my mouth: Clear chanting 

4 Steps to Improving Our Gongyo and improving our lives

Here are a few of my favorite quotes about Gongyo from Faith into Action, one of my favorite books of quotes by Daisaku Ikeda, arranged by category. 

"Gongyo is a practice that calls forth and activates 
the infinite power the microcosm inherently possesses. 
It transforms your fate, 
breaks through any apparent dead end 
and converts suffering into happiness. 
It creates a transformation, 
a revolution of the microcosm. 
It is a diagram in miniature of kosen-rufu in our lives." 
Page 116

"Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion," 
the Daishonin says (MW-1,119). 
It is by chanting powerful daimoku like a lion's roar 
that we can move the Buddhist deities, 
the protective forces of the universe. 
The voice is very important ~ it has profound power. 
While naturally being careful not to disturb your neighbors, I hope that you will endeavor 
to chant cheerful and powerful daimoku 
that reaches all the Buddhist deities 
and Buddhas throughout the ten directions." 
Page 119

As always, the words I write here are mine alone. I do not represent the Soka Gakkai although I am an active and enthusiastic member. Jamie Lee Silver, Chantforhappiness.com

Nichiren Buddhism is called a "practice" because we are constantly improving and honing our daily life by using our daily practice. We see the results of our daily practice every single day.

We do "Gongyo" our recitation of the Lotus Sutra twice a day. The recent book called "The Heart of the Lotus Sutra" gives us great insight into the meaning of gongyo in our lives. I really recommend this book. You can get it using the SGI link on the right or going to sgiusa.org. When I do Gongyo I am aware that I am speaking the words of the Buddha...and I AM the Buddha. Each of us IS the Buddha! 

Most of us have experienced that when we skip gongyo it takes more energy to do things in life. The flow fades away. Happiness seems to fade away too.  So we make a determination to do gongyo twice a day and stick to it with just the occasional recitation of sansho (Nam-myoho-renge-kyo recited three times) when gongyo just cannot be done in entirety.

This is a practice for our whole lives. We can't get all upset about an occasional slip up. AND we can focus on continual self improvement in our lives and in our practice. 

So --- 
Today I am going to focus on one aspect of improving Gongyo and thereby improving our lives...

A FRESH DETERMINATION TO start and complete Gongyo without interruption. 

I know, I know. We live in an interruptive society. In America we are constantly interrupted by just about everything...texts, calls, people...and our own restlessness!

The other day I was reflecting on some things in my life that are unfinished. Not long after that I realized that sometimes I step up to do something before reciting the four prayers at the end of Gongyo. Hmmm. Life is cause and effect, right? 

So I'm issuing all of us a challenge. 
Every day, twice a day, let's focus on starting and completing gongyo without interruption. We can do it! We can put away our cell phones. We can complete the silent prayers at the end before we get up to make more tea. Then if we still want to chant we can return to chant. But we will have completed gongyo. 

4 steps for improving Gongyo

1. Make the determination to do it! 
2. Put the phone away
3. Chant Gongyo from beginning to end
4. Don't get up until after the last prayer

Can we do it? Yes! 

Do you have some tips for completing gongyo for us? 

Write me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com 

We ALL have Access to Happiness and Success

It is true! I am living the dream! And YOU can too! 
I wake up each day glad to be alive, looking forward to events, and knowing, that no matter what confronts me, I have the key to happiness right here in my own living room, right here within my own life. 

This year I faced my largest obstacle and chanted like the house was on fire...and it was. Right now I am enjoying the fruits of my labor...and continuing to chant as many hours as I can every day.  Everything seems possible. All happiness...all love...all financial fortune...everything I've ever wanted, not just for me, but for those I love, our country and the world. 

I've often quoted Josei Toda's quote about experiencing Buddhahood. He says it is as if we are lying on the top of a beautiful mountain and opening our arms and all that we desire coming to us. It is a feeling of freedom...freedom from fear...freedom from the world of hunger...free to be happy. 

This is what I've learned:

When we persist in our practice,
chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo...  
Use EVERY obstacle and problem 
as a springboard to happiness, 
Realize "I summoned this storm! 
It is my GIFT to change it 
and encourage people through the process!
Say "YES ME!" instead of "WHY ME?"
Turn every poison into medicine... 
Chant every morning and evening, 
Encourage others, 
Go to SGI meeting
Study the works of Daisaku Ikeda and Nichiren Daishonin
and stay close to the heart of our mentor...
Break through our own inner feelings of doubt...
Freedom is OURS! 
We all have access to this world of happiness 
within our own lives. 

Daisaku Ikeda talks about success in life in 
For Today and Tomorrow page 131:

"What is success in life? 
Who are the truly successful?
There are famous and powerful people
who become pitiful in old age. 
There are people who die alone, 
feeling empty and desolate inside. 
Just what is success? 
The English thinker Walter Pater (1839-94) wrote:
"To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame, 
to maintain this ecstasy, 
is success in life." 
The person who lives life fully, 
glowing with life's energy, 
is the person who lives a successful life."

Guidance by Daisaku Ikeda

THIS existence passes by in an instant 

but our lives themselves are eternal. 

Please be deeply confident 

that all your present efforts and hard work 

will contribute to your eternal happiness. 

That is why it is important never to retreat in faith, 

no matter how daunting the difficulties you may encounter. Do not be afraid. 

If you retreat or let yourself be ruled by fear, 

you will be the one to lose. 

“For your own sake and for the future, 

do not backslide in faith! 

Do not be afraid! 

Persevere in faith!” – 

This is Nichiren Daishonin’s message.

ONE saying goes that people will not exceed their dreams. So you should have big dreams. 

But you must recognize at the same time 

that dreams are dreams and reality is reality. 

It is natural, therefore, that to achieve big dreams, 

you must view your situation realistically 

and work with your entire being to see that they come true.


REALITY is harsh. 

You must courageously challenge the stern realities of life and win, and win again, in everything – 

in your daily lives, 

at work, 

at school 

and in your homes. 

Buddhism and faith 

are the driving force for unlimited improvement.


WHAT is the most important in one’s practice of faith? 

It is to have courage. 

Courage is the source of 

justice, happiness, comradeship and benefit.


ONE who can always give courage and hope 

to others is great. 

To bring courage and hope to each person we meet, 

we must make sure 

that passion and conviction burn bright in our lives. 

Thus, we will become true leaders.

 

Source: Volume 1 to 5, Daily Guidance, Singapore Soka Association

Turn "Why Me?" Into "Yes Me!" and Change Your Karma Immediately!

We've all been there. 
We've all had that moment when we can't believe that WE, after however many years of practice, are facing a HUGE OBSTACLE. Even though we KNOW that we summoned this storm of obstacles as the perfect exercise to strengthen our faith and get take our lives to the next level...sometimes it doesn't feel like that!  

It seems, sometimes, that no matter how much we study, and we KNOW huge obstacles bring huge benefits, and HUGE obstacles come to people making HUGE POSITIVE CAUSES, that sometimes obstacles still, as my mother would say, "throw us for a loop." (I wonder where that phrase came from?) and we go into Obstacle Shock. 
I guess we could also call this a "reactionary" phase. Sometimes I call it the "Wah Wah Wah" phase, when my life is reeling from the impact of a huge obstacle. 

What is "Obstacle Shock?" How do we know we're in it? 
Here are some recent observations from my own experience:

3 Ways to know 
You're in "Obstacle Shock" 

by Jamie Lee Silver from Chantforhappiness.com

1. When we're in "Obstacle Shock" we go around with the constant thought "This can't be happening to me. These things happen to other people; not to me," and our brain gets caught in the endless "Why me?" loop. We wonder how we could have drawn this obstacle into our lives and are dumbfounded to find a karmic connection. It just feels unreal...like we're living someone else's life.  It can be hard to concentrate on anything, whether it's chanting, or work, or....anything. 

2. It is HARD to chant. Really hard to chant. Hard to focus. Some people stop chanting altogether. Most of us soldier on...every morning and evening doing our very best to connect...but somehow feeling "off our game", and if feels as if our Daimoku just isn't as powerful as it usually is. We may feel as if we are going through the motions. 

4. We pull away from our friends in faith. Not always. But sometimes. When it comes time to go to a meeting it may feel like we're just out of synch, and it's easier to say "Oh I'm going through this incredible obstacle, I just don't have time to get to a meeting now!" Or "I can't call members to encourage them! I have ________obstacle going on now!" And of course, we know, somewhere deep inside that it's more important than ever to get to that meeting! The time to change this is now. The faster we get out of Obstacle Shock the better! 

4 Ways to turn "Why Me" into "Yes Me!" and advance Powerfully Into Victory! 

1. We keep chanting, even when it feels like we're "out of synch" or that somehow our prayer doesn't feel as deep. We keep chanting, and studying!

2. We don't make ourselves "wrong" for feeling this way, and struggling to chant. We remember it's a natural part of the practice, and keep going to the best of our ability. 

3. We nurture ourselves. We do what feels good to us. We are our own best friends. What feels good to you? Yoga, being with friends, walking, energy healing, massage, writing, singing? Whatever it is...do it! 

4. Use the organization. It is here for all of us! The Soka Gakkai is full of individuals sharing their joy and determination. It is up to each of us to use it! We can always Invite others to chant with us...or go to their homes. And we know we will "Click Back In" when we persevere, and are able to switch our attention back to our mission for kosen-rufu. 

I had a woman from LA encouraging me when I was getting out of Obstacle Shock. She said everything changed for her when she re~embraced her mission for kosen rufu and began focusing on shakubukuing youth. She ended up being invited in to speak to youth who were struggling, and helped many families to begin their Buddhist practice. She took her own HUGE obstacle and turned it into a HUGE benefit. She "Clicked Back In" and achieved Victory for herself and her family. 

Our challenge is to get to the other side of "Obstacle Shock" and turn "Why Me" into "Yes Me!" where we click back in to our missions as Boddhisatvas of the earth. If we persevere this will definitely happen! 

Daisaku Ikeda says: 

"The important thing is to advance brightly, 
to strive for victory each moment, 
right where we are; 
to begin something here and now 
instead of worrying over what may happen. 
This is the starting point for transforming our lives."

Faith in Action, page 75