Inner peace

10 Nov 2010 2 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags:

Tonight I resolved a nutty little problem that was causing my Mom to be ‘locked out’ of her email account.

She’s not as young as she used to be and gets worried by issues like this. I did try to explain the reason behind the problem, but it’s quite tricky and I can’t expect her to fully understand.

I would like to think that I dealt with it in a calm and compassionate manner so as to minimise the worry to my Mom.

This is not the first, and undoubtedly won’t be the last problem she has with her PC, or ADSL or software, but I am happy that I was able to step back and see the issue from her viewpoint. It has always been quite stressful trying to fix things like this, simply because I felt the anxiety that she felt, but this time it was rather different.

I remained calm, tackled the problem in a lateral way and I hope we both benefitted from that approach.

I am happy with my feeling of inner peace and chalk it up to another little victory in my journey towards enlightenment.

Patience is a virtue

09 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags:

So often, and I am as guilty as anyone, we want things to happen now.

Our modern frantic way of life, clever marketing and the advertising bombardment we all endure, have left us all lacking a little patience. We are encouraged to spend before we can afford it, to want everything yesterday and to make unrealistic demands on ourselves and others.

Well the good news is, that having remained patient, calm and understanding has paid dividends for me today. A reunion I was expecting later in the week is taking place tonight, and I’m in Heaven. It’s a little victory, but they all count and it makes a nice change from the few errors I have been making recently.

So next time you are stuck behind the nervous learner driver at a busy junction, queuing at the check-in desk or tempted to have a go at that overworked shop assistant, just see things from the others viewpoint and stay cool, calm and collected.

Not only will it make your wait much more pleasant, but your calmness will transmit to those around you and help them relax too. They may even surprise you by being grateful or by going the extra mile to help.

Remember, everyone has a little Buddhahood within them, help them let it shine.

A Few Contentious Questions

08 Nov 2010 4 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: ,

As a Nichiren novice I have not been given my Gohonzon, but I have a few questions about it.

Gohonzon

I know the history of it, how Nichiren inscribed the characters to encapsulate the Lotus Sutra and the other elements of fundamental respect, starting in his exile in Sado in 1271 and finishing the Di-Gohonzon on 12th October 1279.

For practicing Nichiren Buddhists, it their focus, they sit facing the Gohonzon during Gongyo.

I have no such focus, so I sit facing a blank wall, or behind the steering wheel of my car if I’m chanting on my way to or from work, but is that wrong, I don’t feel it is.

So my questions are:

Is it possible to practice correctly without a Gohonzon. I don’t feel I am wasting my energies, but others may tell me differently and …

Can it be right, that there are Gohonzons for sale on eBay? Why would anyone sell their Gohonzon once it has been presented?

You can of course buy crosses and other religious symbols on eBay, so I guess the answer is yes.

The Ten Worlds

07 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags:

What a day !!!

I won’t say all Ten Worlds, but quite a few experienced in quick succession.

Anger at the result of a certain football match, Tranquillity during the Grand Prix, Rapture at the result of some inspired web design work, Learning whilst immersed in my books and Animality at an innocuous incident.

All lessons learned, so nothing wasted, but disappointed with myself for the reactions. I guess it’s a bit like Snakes and Ladders.

Oh well, lots more chanting tomorrow to make amends.

No News Is Sometimes Good News

06 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

Some days are more Buddhist than others (well maybe), but today has been a nice quiet one with little to test the practice.

A lazy late start, tucked up in bed with a 25th anniversary copy of ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ followed by a little indoor gardening, watering the Bonsai and Dragon’s Tooth plants.

Thoughts of kyo chi gyo i during the England v New Zealand game and the realisation that I was in the World of Humanity most of the day were about as deep as it got.

Chanting starts and ends days like this, so I’m off to clear my mind and try not to wake the neighbours.

An Interesting Choice

06 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: ,

As we travel through life, we all encounter situations where opinions differ.

At these moments we have a decision to make …

Ichinen – Having What It Takes

05 Nov 2010 1 Comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: ,

Ichinen is a Japanese word meaning determination (amongst other things).

ichinen

[一念] (Jpn; Chin i-nien )

A single moment of life, one instant of thought, or the mind or life at a single moment. Also, life-moment, thought-moment, or simply a single moment or instant. Ichinen has various meanings in Buddhism: (1) A moment, or an extremely short period comparable to the Sanskrit term kshana. The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom defines one kshana or moment as a sixtieth of the time it takes to snap one’s fingers. (2) The functioning of the mind for one moment. The “Distinctions in Benefits” (seventeenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra speaks of a single moment of belief and understanding. (3) To focus one’s mind on meditating on a Buddha; Shan-tao (613-681), a patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land school, defined ichinen (one instant of thought) as chanting Amida Buddha’s name once. (4) T’ient’ai (538-597) philosophically interprets ichinen in his doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life ( Jpn ichinen–sanze Chin i-nien san-ch’ien ). In this doctrine, ichinen indicates the mind of an ordinary person, which at each moment is endowed with the potential of three thousand realms; its characteristics are: (a) it pervades the entire universe; (b) it includes both body and mind; (c) it includes both self and environment; (d) it gives rise to good and evil; and (e) it encom-passes cause and effect simultaneously. Nichiren (1222-1282) embodied this philosophical framework in the form of a mandala known as the Gohonzon. By this he aimed to establish a practical way for ordinary people to manifest Buddhahood from among the Ten Worlds of their own lives. SGI Dictionary

Being good or being a success at something isn’t just about talent, it’s about having the desire, in your heart, to make a go of it.

If you have a strong Ichinen, you are far more likely to reach your goal. You still have to put in the effort and in fact, the more talent you have, the more effort is needed, because your end result might be far more exacting than a less talented person.

If you think you will fail, you will. You must embrace your goals, your targets, with every fibre of your being. Strive with all your might, night and day towards that goal and you are far more likely to succeed.

Success takes focus, desire, effort, hard work, determination and perseverance.

Ichinen covers them all and chanting for what you want to achieve makes your ichinen stronger and stronger.

Passing On The Good News

04 Nov 2010 2 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: ,

I guess I’m not alone in being enthusiastic about my practice and my feelings about how Buddhism can help me, and others, with real-life issues.

I like to talk about the aspects of my learning and Nichiren Buddhism with people, but where to draw the line?

I do want to pass on the good news, but I don’t want to cajole or force my views onto others. So where to go, when there’s no local group?

I would like to start a group, if there are people who are interested, but there’s a fine line to be trod between getting the message out there and not appearing to be a zealot.

I’m going to ask for some help from SGI-UK in terms of protocol etc. and a few more experienced Buddhists who are already members of study groups elsewhere.

In the meantime I shall confine my wittering to the blog because at least you have the choice of whether to read it, or not.

Just One Question …

04 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags:

I know how I feel, but what about you?

My World Of Learning

03 Nov 2010 2 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: ,

Apart from chanting my way to work, my favourite bit of my Buddhist day is listening to my podcasts, shutting the world out, and entering the World of Learning.

I keep banging on about Edward Canfor-Dumas’ The Buddha, Geoff and Me, but I must have listened to the podcasts twenty or thirty times.

It’s not just a really good story, read beautifully, in convenient bite sized episodes, it covers pretty much every aspect of Nichiren Buddhism at least once.

So I listen to my good friends, Ed, Geoff, Dora and Piers weaving their way through the story, the ups, the downs and every time I take in a little bit more.

I truly believe that the book should be a compulsory read for every school kid, and parent too actually. It’s a modern classic, in my opinion, and could change the whole world given the chance.

It’s not for everyone, my mother doesn’t like the bad language and it’s a bit too complicated to take in on a single read, but I implore you, listen to one chapter and give it a chance. Chapter seven is my favourite, but that’s just me.

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