The story of my path to Buddhahood through the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin
08 Feb 2011 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Life-Energy, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Such a busy time, project going live tomorrow so no time to write a decent post.
Hopefully tomorrow will be easier, I can feel my Life-Energy draining away.
I think I need a full on, lung busting chant all the way to work in the morning to recharge the batteries …
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo !!!
07 Feb 2011 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Tears Of Sadness, Wisdom Courage and Compassion
After a full day in the office, including a chat about Nichiren Buddhist to a colleague, I got home a little later than usual.
I barely had time to take my coat off before the phone rang and a rather tearful close friend began unburdening her woes.
I find it very difficult, when I’m in a situation where I can’t be of practical help. Somehow mere words don’t seem to be enough, and so it proved tonight.
My sympathy and compassion didn’t appear to be having the desired effect, so I have been left with a rather empty feeling of inadequacy.
Having thought long and hard about the situation, I’m hoping I will be better prepared if the chance to make amends arises.
The opportunity to put my Wisdom, Courage and Compassion to good use doesn’t present itself very often. But tonight just served to illustrate that, no matter how far I have come in this journey, there are still many lessons still to be learned.
06 Feb 2011 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: A Buddhist Podcast, Life-Energy, The Buddha Geoff & Me, William Woollard
So after days of back pain, I’m finally sorted. No idea what caused it, some kind of muscular spasm according to the doctor, but it’s gone.
I don’t suppose I realised quite how tired I was, the pain woke me every time I moved, so sleeping hadn’t come easily. But last night, having worked until some ungodly hour, I went out like a light and slept soundly till nearly midday.
Funny stuff pain, it can affect your whole life-state, even when you fight against it. Several times today I have found myself realising that it’s not longer there, a bit strange really.
Tonight I have ordered William Woollard’s new book, Buddhism and the Science of Happiness. I’ve heard a little of it on Jason Jarrett’s A Buddhist Podcast and William’s work is always very interesting, but there’s nothing like reading the book. I’ve also ordered a copy of The Buddha, Geoff and Me, to replace the copy I gave to someone a while back.
With the back sorted, I’m looking forward to being back in the office tomorrow. You can only take so much lying in bed, and I’m hoping we will be launching the new website too, so won’t that be exciting?
05 Feb 2011 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, Wisdom Courage and Compassion
There are times in one’s life when a situation presents you with a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ decision.
Such a conundrum has arisen in the past few days, where no matter which way the outcome goes, somebody is going to be unhappy.
At such times it is easy to be lead by your heart, hoping that the happiness you gain will offset the unhappiness of others. On the other hand, the unhappiness of others could easily put a dark cloud over your own feelings, not just for the immediate future, but for eternity.
In my situation, the final decision may not even be in my own hands, making it doubly difficult. I have got used to having my destiny under my control, so relinquishing it to someone else sits a little awkwardly.
My gut feeling, and my Buddhist teaching tell me that I should sacrifice my feelings so that others do not have to, but time will tell how it is resolved.
Mulling it over and over in my mind, knowing that whichever way it turns out, I will never know whether it was for the best, reminded me of the poem by Robert Frost.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
04 Feb 2011 1 Comment
in Buddhism Tags: Cause And Effect, Karma, Mohamed Bouazizi, Yasi
Being laid up with this bad back has given me a little more time to think.
Before I go any further, I would like to thank all the people who have taken the time to send their best wishes for my recovery. The good news is that the pain has lessened greatly and I’m on the mend.
I’ve been thinking about all the major events happening around the world. The political unrest in Egypt, the Yemen and Tunisia, cyclone Yasi in Queensland Australia, all examples of cause and effect.
People tend to think that Karma is a personal thing, but it also has a collective effect.
The riots in Tunisia, started by the self sacrifice of a single man, have empowered people and caused political change, maybe on a massive scale. The cause of the unrest, far from being Mohamed Bouazizi’s self immolation, was the corruption and oppression of the peoples of Tunisia.
Cyclone Yasi, the most powerful storm recorded in over a century is not due to the Karma of the Queensland inhabitants exclusively. Although they made the causes to be in the eye of the storm, the storm itself is a result of rising sea temperatures, an effect of global warming, which is your responsibility, my responsibility, the developed world’s responsibility for using ever more energy.
As I lay in my bed, it was easy to imagine that I was isolated from the rest of the world. But in fact, we are all connected, all of the time, however tenuously, through the Earth and ultimately through the Universe.
We must all change, we must consider the effects we are causing, and how much worse the disasters will become if we do not make that change.
Simplistic though that thought may be, through Kyo Chi Gyo I we can make the world a better, safer, happier place.
03 Feb 2011 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: BBC Question Time, Learning, Technology
Today I’ve been trying to get my back sorted. I’ve spent most of the day in bed with my laptop, apart from a trip to the doctors.
So tonight I’m watching BBC Question Time streamed over the internet while I blog on my N8.
Not a hugely Buddhist way, you might say, but staying up with technology is a learning process. So as you might imagine Buddhism is everywhere and everything is Buddhism.
Isn’t technology wonderful?
02 Feb 2011 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Kyo Chi Gyo I, Poison Into Medicine
Trying to use the Buddhist principle of Poison into Medicine is easier with some things than others.
Emotional upsets are pretty straightforward, it’s a matter of seeing the bigger picture and realigning hopes, expectations and life in general to fit the situation.
This back pain is a different matter. Compared to some, my pain is a mere trifle, but I am still trying to work out how to use it to my benefit.
At times during the day, it is so painful that it makes me feel physically sick, the result of my bodies endorphins apparently.
I suppose the lesson is that I should take better care of my body, lose some weight maybe, and I am starting to do that. But the results are slower in coming than I would like, so I suppose it is teaching me patience too.
My chanting, although it doesn’t make the pain go way completely, makes me feel energised and that is what is getting me through.
So I will persist. The alternatives are few and far between anyway, so patience, persistence and Practice will be the tools that help me reach my goal. Another case of Kyo Chi Gyo I, being focussed on the goal, rather than the pain free status I will gain once I reach it.
01 Feb 2011 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Wisdom Courage and Compassion
You may remember a couple of weeks ago, I was suffering from a nasty bout of back pain, well today it came back with a vengeance.
The alarm went off at 6:30 as usual, but when I tried to get out of bed it felt like someone was stabbing me in the back with a red hot poker. I literally crawled to the bathroom and simply couldn’t stand up straight.
To be honest, my back had been giving me jip since Sunday, but this was another level completely.
I emailed work to say that I wasn’t going to be coming in, not good in the final phase of a project launch, but I couldn’t see any way I would be able to make it.
I got myself back into bed and tried to stretch out and straighten my spine. I had rubbed on some modern horse liniment, and with the warmth of the bed it started to ease a little.
So by 8:30 I had creaked my way through the shower, got myself dressed and went straight to the doctors. ‘We can see you on Thursday afternoon’ they said, fat lot of good that was going to be, but I was up and so decided to get myself in to the office.
The day was pretty rough, lots of work still to be done, coupled with the sniggers each time I tried to get up out of my chair.
Anyway, suffice to say I’m still in the land of the living and with more liniment, a hot bath and lying flat most of the evening, my back feels a bit better. We shall see, come morning.
Still got my chanting done though, despite it all … Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
The Search For Enlightenment 
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