One of the things it is sometimes difficult to grasp about this practice is JUST HOW SIMPLE IT IS. It just seems too easy sometimes...
How can it be that if we just chant for another's happiness we find our entire relationship with them transformed?
Like I said. It is so simple. We are interconnected with everything...including ALL people. No exceptions. There is not this one person in your environment who is there by some fluke, and is not interconnected with you in the web of life. No. Even those people who seem like flukes ~ well, they may be the MOST important people in our environments, because chanting for THEM creates Human Revolution in OUR lives.
It's easy to chant for the lovable ones. What about the ones who don't readily love us back? What about the ones who disregard us, disappoint us, or are mean to us? We are connected to these people too, and when we chant for their happiness we create a miraculous cause and effect in our own lives.
For instance, when Aaron was in third grade he encountered his first bully. Since he's a fortune baby and been chanting his whole life, when I told him to chant for the bully he immediately started chanting for the bully's happiness. Of course they became friends and the bully stopped bullying others, right? Of course.
We are chanting the name of the law of the universe.
Life is cause and effect.
I have other young friends who chanted about bullies and the bullies just "happened" to move away. That happened to me in my early days of chanting. I worked with someone who troubled me. I chanted for her happiness and she got engaged and moved away. Wonderful!
When you think about it, those who are causing others to be unhappy are unhappy themselves.
If we chant for their happiness we turn poison into medicine. I have done this so many times, and recommended this to others.
It ALWAYS works 100% of the time.
One of the keys is to fake it till you make it. At first when you're chanting for a person you may be thinking your prayer is not sincere. But if you keep praying for them, and picture them with a big smile on their face, your prayer will become sincere. Guaranteed. And your compassion will grow. you will grow as a person by chanting for this person. YOU will become happier. No doubt about it.
Sometimes you have to stand up for your rights too. I am not saying all you need to do is chant. At one point I had a verbally abusive boss. I devoted an hour each morning to changing this karma in my life forever. And I stood up to him and challenged his abusive ways. He did end up changing. It is one of my most memorable examples of turning poison into medicine.
When we challenge ourselves in these ways we change the world, we change ourselves, and we become happier than we ever dreamed!
"Hon Nim Myo"
Power Prayer ~
From this Moment Forth ~
I will believe in my own Buddhahood and experience myself as the Buddha I am!
Buddhism does not concern itself with the past. No. It focuses on RIGHT NOW, and the the causes that we are making at this moment...leading up to the effects we will create from today's causes.
That is why we talk about "Hon Nim Myo" - meaning "From this moment forth."
Every time we chant we are making a powerful cause for our lives...we are tuning our lives to the rhythm of the entire universe, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Our chanting affects right now, our near future and our eternal future. Ever time we chant...every single time.
A Power Prayer from this moment forth:
From this moment forth I focus my energies on becoming the best person I can possibly be. Today I see myself as the glorious Buddha I am. I realize anew, and see anew, my own powerful Buddhahood. I wash away all the illusion that I am not the Buddha. I release my life from complaint, from blame, from guilt and all emotions that do not serve me. Instead I bring in thoughts and feelings of appreciation and hope. I am determined to keep realizing, every single day, that I am the Buddha and my life is up to me. NOW is the time to dig deep. Now I demand results from this prayer. I WILL___________________(fill in your goal here). Today I strengthen my faith. I summon my faith. I pray with all my heart and my life responds!
"Resolving to take action
is proof that you are progressing.
Even if you have the tendency
to make a determination
but only stick to it for two or three days,
just keep renewing that determination.
Then you will become the kind of person
who can persevere and reach their goals."
Daisaku Ikeda, Ikedaquotes.org
I remember one of my early Buddhist leaders would always say "How many chances to you get to remake your determination? As many as you want! Just keep remaking that determination again and again and again and again and sooner or later it will stick!"
This always gave me hope, because sometimes a determination would be strong for a minute, sometimes a week, sometimes almost not at all...but I continually forgave myself and remade the determination again and again...and gradually my life changed just by not giving up.
Don't give up!
Those of us who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and tap into our highest life condition every single day live lives of HOPE.
As long as we keep practicing we will never be defeated. With every Nam-myoho-renge-kyo we chant, the sun of hope rises in our lives.
If, even for a moment we lose hope, we know exactly where to go. We can call a fellow SGI member, we can open the writings of Nichiren Daishonin and be reminded that "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion, what sickness can therefore be an obstacle?" (WND).
We can read the writings of Daisaku Ikeda, and we can, once again, sit down to chant with a refreshed mind and renew our spirit of hope. We are never deadlocked. We are never caught in a storm whose winds will never cease...we will never be alone in an eternal winter.
Remember that there is no problem bigger than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and you have the power within you to change any suffering.
At last night's Gosho Lecture someone asked "What is the world of heaven in the world of Hell? How can the world of hell be imbued with the ten worlds?" And the answer is this: In the world of Hell you can give rise to a FIERCE DETERMINATION to change your life. You can say "This is it life! Time for me to change this life! I know I can do it!" and then set yourself a plan.
There is no change without action. How much will you devote to changing your life? How much can you chant...
An important key is this:
The more you chant the easier it is to chant. It's like revving the engine of your life, and once it gets going it wants to keep going. Once you get on a roll you'll be thinking "Oh. I can't WAIT to get back in front of my Gohonzon! I can't WAIT to chant about this and change it!"
You are so powerful. There is nothing you can't do if you have hope and put that hope into action.
Your Happiness starts with you, with your conviction, with your hope and with your power prayer. You can choose happiness in life. But it takes energy to do this!
How much are you going to put into making your vision a reality?
I'm getting a quite a few emails from people who want to change their lives, but are not able or willing to put in the effort that it takes to establish a strong practice.
The Positive Psychologists talk about something called Activation Energy - that is the "start up" energy that is required get something started. Establishing your solid practice requires "Activation Energy" and once this is established you are, as I say, "on a roll". It will affect all areas of my life. But please, don't take my word for it. This is something you must DO to experience.
I remember when I was concentrating on this activation energy. I knew that the more energy I put into my practice, the less energy I had to use in my daily life. Forcing myself to chant made the rest of the day flow. I had SGI members come and chant with me at night and in the morning for awhile to help me establish this rhythm. (Thank you Dolores and San Francisco members!)
Here's what it takes:
Strong Desire - write your goals
Connecting with the SGI, or having a desire to connect with the SGI and including this in your prayers.
Keeping to a schedule (even if a bit flexible) of chanting twice a day every day.
Then studying the Gosho and President Ikeda's guidance and sharing this practice with others.
This is the formula for happiness - and you can do it!
No one can do this for you. You are the only one who can change your karma and the best thing is
YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR KARMA.
You CAN do this.
You CAN be Happy
But you have to do it! No one can do it for you. Once you establish the daily rhythm you WILL notice a difference, unless you are eroding your life by constant complaining and "why me-ing". Find a way to replace the complaints in your mind with appreciation. Your practice will help you to do this. Your thoughts will turn to thoughts of appreciation naturally if you devote yourself to your practice, in other words, to your own life.
Your happiness is incredibly important in so many ways. It is your birthright, it is your mission, and your happiness makes the world a better place.
Of course your actions make a difference:
Smiling at another is a cause for your (and their) happiness. Do you know they've done tests and the people you smile at actually register a higher level of happiness just by being smiled at? And your brain registers happiness just by smiling. Isn't that wonderful?
Power Prayer for Happiness:
Life! I am determined to build a life of happiness! I am determined to chant every day - twice a day from now on! I am determined to use ALL my problems as fuel for creating victory in all areas of my life. I will be happy, healthy, successful and have great and fulfilling relationships! I am determined to strengthen my practice, to chant every day twice a day. I WILL do this.
When we don't know exactly where to go or what to do - we can rely on our own inner wisdom, our lives.
It is perfectly fine to chant without a plan. It is really magical sometimes to just open up your heart when you chant and not to have a specific agenda or list.
I know, I know, I am always saying to focus on what you want. And that is true. But aren't there times when you just don't know what to chant? That is okay. Chant anyway. Just chant from your heart and let your thoughts flow. Daisaku Ikeda says to just chant naturally.
In Faith in Action under "Prayer" (p, 153) he states;
"Being human, it's natural for our minds to wander, for all sorts of thoughts to surface during prayer. You can share all those thoughts with the Gohonzon. There is no set form or pattern for how we should pray. Buddhism empahsizes being natural. Therefore, simply chant earnestly without pretense, jsut as you are. In time, your faith develops, you'll find it easier to focus your mind when you chant."
