Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Your Words Create Your Life
Choose Your Words carefully.
Speak positive words
to yourself and others
and you will see the difference
your positive words make.
What you focus on increases.
Do you want to focus on the
negative in your life or the positive?
What you focus on increases...which would you rather have...more things you don't want or more things you do?
It's up to you!
Our Lives are Our Own - Power Prayer for Increasing Confidence
On what do we base our decisions?
Practicing Buddhism is a process that enables us to better know our desires and continue to refine them day after day after day. Our continual process helps us to hone who we really are and instills in us the confidence that we CAN HAVE what we truly desire.
President Ikeda says in Faith and Action (in the Self-Reliance section), page 65:
"Our Lives are our own.
It is not for someone else to dictate to us
how we should live.
All that awaits those who allow themselves to be continually swayed by what other people say or do
is unhappiness.
We simply need to have the self-belief to be able to say: This is right.
This is the path I will follow.
I am content."
Happiness is born from such inner fortitude.
Moreover, those who earnestly devote themselves in accord with the mystic law
cannot fail to realize lives of total fulfillment."
How do we develop this core of self belief?
We can chant for it:
Power Prayer for Increasing Confidence:
Life! I am determined to increase my confidence in my own life. I am determined to tap into the core and essence of my life itself, and bring the full wisdom and power of my life into everything I do. I am determined to know exactly what I want and chant to fulfill it. I am a votary of the Lotus Sutra and I will make my life shine like the sun! I am determined to use every breath of my life as a beacon for good, and to be a light for others along the path of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo."
Monday, May 27, 2013
What is Success in Life?
"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 like fully,
glowing with life's energy,
is the person who lives a successful life."
From Faith in Action, page 68.
Power Prayer for Overcoming Depression and Hopelessness
are the lights of our families,
our neighborhoods
and our countries.
We are able to tap into the vast source of life itself every single day, every morning, and every evening. And if we can continue to have hope and continue to draw on our higher nature...continue to see ourselves as the Buddhas we are and not give in to feelings of hopelessness and despair...we can make the impossible possible in our lives...there is nothing we can't do.
"Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion, what sickness can therefore be an obstacle?"
Nichiren Daishonin, Letter to Niike.
But......
"A sword is useless in the hands of a coward."
Nichiren Daishonin, Reply to Kyo'o
So we must be brave and forge ahead, even when we feel darkness in our hearts.
My goal is to inspire you with my life, and for you to actively seek out Daisaku Ikeda and Nichiren Daishonin's heart, and for all of you to make good friends in the SGI, the organization full of regular people awakened to their Buddhahood who are dedicating their lives to helping others become happy through this practice.
It is because of my mentors, and the heart-to-heart guidance I have received from my friends in the Soka Gakkai - my "good friends in faith," that I have been able to vanquish depression and anxiety from my life.
And I am telling you this for sure - if I can do it so can you. My depression was a deep-seated karmic depression. My mother had it and it runs deep within her side of the family. I'd wake up in the morning encased on a veil of sadness. I knew the moment my eyes opened that it was back. And every day, in my morning Gongyo I learned to face it down and chase it out of my life.
My friend-in-faith Kate got rid of her own depression and counseled me to chant with fierce determination in my heart and to create this power prayer:
Power Prayer for Vanquishing Depression
While chanting, have this determination:
"I don't CARE how many times you rear your ugly head depression. I WILL defeat you! I will defeat you to show actual proof for kosen-rufu, so I can encourage others. I will come back and chant time and time again until you are gone from my life forever. You are no match for me hopelessness and depression! I reveal my life state as the life of the Buddha. I embrace my mission to encourage others. I will win!"
And I won. It's over. I no longer feel depressed. I no longer wake up into darkness for no reason.
Prayer and action are the key. Because of my prayer I stopped trying to escape into bad habits that just made the depression worse. I began working out vigorously 20 minutes each morning. I also changed my eating habits and lost weight. Earnest prayer gives rise to positive action.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Aaron Leaves for Bolivia Today
Aaron Silver and Meg Groom
It's a big day here at the Silver household.
Aaron and Meg, his wonderful new friend,
are taking off to do medical duties
in Bolivia through a program at their medical school.
They really don't know exactly what the trip will hold,
only that it is a grand adventure.
It is at times like this that I am especially grateful to be able to be at home chanting for Aaron and Meg.
I will take every fear, and all of my love and happiness and put it into my Daimoku
for the next month for them both,
and for the whole group.
Oh heart, that hold us all together, I send my prayer today
For happiness, protection and all good fortune.
May all their timing be perfect. may their flights be uneventful and easy, and may they work hard, laugh hard and appreciate every moment, even the difficult ones.
May they create memories
of golden moments and cherished friends.
May their hearts be even further opened
and their missions give them vision,
purpose, enthusiasm and hope.
May they be absolutely inspired by the beauty that exists inside each and every human heart.
May their lives shine like the sun.
Friday, May 24, 2013
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.
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