Life is punctuated by a series of problems and challenges, but what is the real difference between them? Generally speaking we call situations we can deal with, challenges, and those we fear we cannot deal with, problems. But actually, the difference is in our own heads and depends more on our life-state at the time the situation arises.
If we are in a higher life-state, we look upon the situation as a challenge. We concentrate our energies to resolving the situation and pride ourselves that we rose to the challenge. If, on the other hand, we are depressed and in a lower life-state, we tend to get further depressed by the situation, our life-energies are reduced and the problem, as we now call it, becomes insurmountable.
So the question is, how do we keep our life-energy, and hence our life-state, as high as possible in order to enable us to confront situations with confidence. That’s where chanting comes in. When I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, I can feel my life-energy increasing.
The more I chant, the louder I chant, the higher my life-state rises, so when situations arise, as they always will, I am in a better position to deal with them. It works for me, and it works for millions of people across the world, so why not give it a go and see whether it will work for you, I’m sure it will.
As you might expect, my Gohonzon has it’s own special place in my apartment and although that isn’t the only place I chant, it doesn’t come with me when I travel around. Although chanting isn’t always done alone, being in a strange place, as in new to me, requires me to seek out a little secluded spot to practice.
We all know one. The person you dread meeting by the coffee machine. The one who never has a good word to say about anything. Who when you ask them how they are, gives you a list of all the things wrong with them, never a positive word about anything or anyone. A proper 
Whether it was the early night and the extra couple of hours sleep that made me a bit dopey, or whether it was the difficult topic of conversation I was having on my Bluetooth headset I don’t really know. But I wasn’t very proud of the way I dealt with the situation when a chap didn’t stop at the road traffic calming ‘chicane’, forcing me to mount the kerb to avoid hitting him in his bright green Honda Civic.
Loving, and being loved is really great isn’t it? There is little to compare with the feeling one gets from being part of a loving relationship, but there are two types of love, unconditional and conditional. Unconditional love is about giving without limits, about being happy for the happiness of others. Conditional love, on the other hand, can be painful for both parties. Elements of jealousy, or the need to be loved in order to love, can lead the way to a painful end of the relationship.
The challenges we meet in life are often seen as the negative side of our existence. We alone can decide how we deal with them, either we can accept them, tackle them head on, or we can shy away from them and hope they go away. Anyone who has tried the second path will know that it virtually never works, so accepting challenges has to be the right way to go.
Retail therapy has never been my idea of fun on a Bank Holiday Monday, so skirting the queues for IKEA we made our way through the very wet and windy streets to the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.
Buddhism is an inclusive faith, every other religion is accepted and respected. So on one of the most important days in the Christian calendar it was wonderful to make our way to Glastonbury and immerse ourselves in the very special spiritual atmosphere that always pervades that amazing place.
We parked the Yaris a couple of hundred yards from the Chalice Well and decided to visit the solitude of its gardens to eat our packed lunch. The Well really is a special place with lots of secluded little corners set aside for quiet contemplation. Although there were quite a number of visitors, the quiet calm was very much in evidence as always.
Having waited till late in the afternoon, so the crowds could start wending their way home, we set off to climb the tor. It’s a bit of a climb I can tell you, but with only a handful of people at the summit, it was worth every deep breath. The view over the landscape is just amazing and it’s obvious why it has been a site of spiritual importance for such a long time.
Another day, another grandson, today we were blessed by a visit from Zach and his Daddy Rob. Rob is a qualified chippy, and had very kindly offered to shave the bottom off two doors, so they would close after the carpet fitting.
After a breakfast of toasted hot cross buns, we had a proper lazy start. We took a trip to a local electronics showroom to survey the lie of the land regarding a flat screen telly for the kitchen. Unfortunately, we had to have a couple of demonstrations of 3D TVs, so it was past noon before we dropped into Hannah’s to deliver young Stanley’s Easter Egg.
The Search For Enlightenment 
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