Truly Humbling

16 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: ,

I’ve been reading Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl today.

What an amazing account of such unbelievable suffering, and impossible to put down. I have found reading the book to be humbling experience. It’s put my problems well and truly into the ‘insignificant’ category.

Frankl was one of the few people to survive the Nazi death camps and writes his story from the viewpoint of his position as a psychiatrist.

I’m not going to relate anything from the book, but I strongly recommend you read it.

Not about Buddhism, but very Buddhist like.

Wisdom, Courage and Compassion

15 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

My chanting is helping me improve all three, but as we all know, this is a long journey.

Last night, my courage was high and I was feeling confident and powerful.

During a chat with my partner I fell into the trap of using too much courage and too little wisdom and compassion, which caused us both some pain.

So I chanted about the situation and realised my mistake and made amends as well as make a solemn vow to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Wisdom, Courage and Compassion are all important, but they must be in balance, one with the others.

So, like many things in life, just when you think you have something nailed, reality comes up and bites you. The great thing is, that although I still make mistakes, I have more control and a different view on things.

Why Suffering Can Be Good For Us

14 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

As I mentioned in a previous post, we can use our problems to make us stronger, by turning poison into medicine.

Nichiren Daishonin said that ‘from sickness arises the mind that seeks the way’ meaning that when we are in Hell, we are in exactly the right place to find our way out of the situation that is causing our grief.

The darker the Hell, the greater the motivation can be to take action to improve the situation.

We can all relate to this in one way or another. Imagine a situation or problem, that had to get worse and worse, so bad, before you took action to put it right.

Let’s use a perfect example, J.K. Rowling, you know, the author of the Harry Potter books. She was almost destitute when she started to write the first book, and maybe, though it is supposition, it was that dire position that gave her the life-force she needed to make a start. Her success took her from being on welfare to being a millionaire within five years.

By chanting, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, we can raise our life-energy and that changes our life-state, making us feel better and more able to think rationally about the problems we need to solve.

So next time you are down, so down there is no way up, remember that you are in the perfect place to completely transform your life.

More Proof Of Progress

13 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

You know the situation. You are looking forward to some special event, something that you have waited for, for a long, long time.

As the event has come closer, you may have (foolishly) built it up in your mind’s eye and made it even more important than it was in the first place.

Then the reality of things comes into sharp focus, it’s not quite what you had planned and certainly not what you had built it up to be.

Time was, when I would have gone into a tail-spin and ended up in the Hell of all life-states. But not this time.

‘Oh? And why not?’ you ask.

Because I have changed my Honzon, my focus of devotion and adoration, to my practice, to Nichiren Buddhism and the goal of my eventual Buddhahood.

At first it might seem to be selfish, or shallow to make such a change, as my Honzon was, until fairly recently, my girlfriend, partner and the love of my life. Trouble was, with that scenario, I was dependent on her for my happiness. Not good for me, but even worse from her perspective. What a responsibility! It meant that if she was unhappy, I was unhappy. If she was angry about something, I was unhappy. If we had words about something, I was unhappy … etc. etc.

Not only did it have the potential to split us apart, worse still, I was in the wrong life-state to be able to help in even the smallest way, so a downward spiral was always on the cards. Now, I can see situations from a different view-point, more clearly and objectively, without fear of losing my Honzon. Now I can chant for answers, and although they don’t always appear immediately, they do appear.

But don’t get me wrong for even one second. I love her as much, if not more than I did before the change. It’s just that now I can be a help instead of a hindrance in times of trouble and support her in a ways I could never have dreamed of before.

Action and Reaction

12 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

As any physics student will tell you, for every action in the Universe, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s a law of physics, but also a law in Buddhism and a great way to track your progress.

How can resistance be a good thing? It’s easy to think that it can’t. But actually, it’s a great way to measure progress.

As each action has this equal and opposite reaction, there can be no reaction without an action. So the reaction is a perfect indication that you have taken action.

To borrow an example from The Buddha, Geoff and Me, let’s imagine an aircraft going down the runway.

As the plane increases speed, the wind resistance to it increases. If the pilot reduces the power, the plane slows and the resistance reduces, but it won’t take off.

If the pilot maintains the power, or increases it, the resistance builds, but the plane will take off, so the goal is achieved.

Moral of the story: As the resistance builds against your action, take heart, keep the pressure on, increase your actions, never falter, and you will reach your goal.

Kyo Chi Gyo I –The Route To Everything

11 Oct 2010 17 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

So many of us strive for a personal goal, something that will make us happy.

That may be money, status, property, love or anything else you would like to cite.

Often, however, we fail in our efforts because we focus on the wrong thing en-route, but kyo chi gyo i (pronounced kyo chee gyo ee) can help put that right.

No, it’s not another chant, it’s a tried and trusted method for achieving anything your heart desires.

Let’s find out what it means …

Kyo – the goal you wish to achieve.

Chi – is the wisdom needed to reach that goal.

Gyo – is the action you need to take to reach the goal.

I – the status you will attain when the goal is reached.

So having set kyo (our goal) firmly in our heart, we chant for chi, the wisdom to achieve our goal. Of course, this wisdom doesn’t simply appear, we have to get ourselves into a learning life-state and use every avenue to gather that wisdom. Once the wisdom has been attained we can use it to guide our actions (gyo).

The trick is to concentrate on kyo at all times. So many people fall short of their desired status because they take their eye off kyo, their goal.

The rational behind this is that by focussing on your goal, you concentrate on something concrete. Your status, i, is about you and is not a physical entity, making it an ethereal target and your task so very much more difficult.

Let’s give you real world example …

It’s the last minute of the World Cup Final, it’s 1-1, but incredibly one team has been awarded a penalty. One player has been given the ball and is going to take the penalty.

In this example kyo is successfully converting the penalty, chi is the skill needed to kick the ball accurately and maybe knowing which way the keeper tends to dive. Gyo is accurately kicking the ball, in the desired direction with enough force and i is being the player who scored the winning goal in the World Cup final.

Let’s assume that the player is the regular penalty taker for his team, and that he’s really good at scoring from them. He has practiced for hours, kicking the ball exactly where he wants it to go, so his chi is near perfect. He may have taken dozens of penalty kicks during his playing career, so he has the correct action, and gyo well defined.

If he concentrates on kyo, scoring the goal, he has a good chance of success. If, however, he lets i, his status control his thoughts, he has much more chance of missing.

So it’s all about reaching your goal, kyo. The status, i, whatever that may be, will look after itself.

Ke, Ku & Chu – The Middle Way

10 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

We are all aware that life is made up of two components, the physical (ke or ketai) and the spiritual (ku or kutai).

They are two, but not two (shikishin funi) and cannot exist one without the other.

The body or physical aspect becomes useless without the mind, or spiritual aspect, and the mind is helpless without the body.

The mind however, can continue to function without the body, when we sleep for example. We have all experienced dreams where we perform feats that would be totally impossible in the physical world, like being able to fly.

So we have two rather different components, maybe working in a way that is not necessarily harmonious, until chu (or chutai) takes control.

Chu is the harmonisation of ke and ku. It controls each aspect, making sure one or the other doesn’t drag us off course. This is known as The Middle Way (chudo).

Learning – A Wonderful Life-State

09 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

As we all strive for Buddhahood, the life-state of Learning is a wonderful place to be.

I love reading and listening to instructional podcasts and devote as much time as I can to these every day.

Understanding the principles behind the practice is so important. If understanding is missing, chanting and working towards enlightenment is an uphill struggle.

So much is available on the internet that you can always find the information you need to take your knowledge to the next level.

To make the most of every minute of every day, I download podcasts from Jason and Karen Jarrett’s website, A Buddhist Podcast. There are dozens of topics covered, as you would imagine, they have been online for over three years now. There are also podcast versions of The Reluctant Buddhist, read by William Woollard himself, and The Buddha, Geoff and Me, both of which are hugely inspirational.

Learning is not just the way forward, it is insurance against going back to where I have come from.

I love it, and I’m sure you will too.

Sleep and Death – One And The Same

08 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

Buddhism looks at death in a similar way to sleep, it is not the end of something, it is a period of rest before the beginning of something new.

In the case of sleep, it is the beginning of a new day. Death, on the other hand, is the beginning of a whole new life.

So I do not fear death, though I do not wish to hasten its coming.

I intend to make the most of each and every day, and when death does arrive, as it will, I will enjoy the rest before being reborn into a new and exciting experience.

Harbour View Woodland Burial Grounds - Poole

A Whole New Brightness

06 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

I’m sorry I keep enthusing about what is happening to me, but it’s so very exciting.

My whole life has taken on a new level of brightness, of excitement and my awareness of it and my own life-states have been brought into shaper focus.

Now I am a Nichiren Newbie, my chanting goes back a few months, so I am still coming to grips with the effects. If you have never chanted, you must try it.

I cannot begin to describe how those effects are changing everything, yes everything, but I want to tell you about a walk I took tonight, and my observations of it.

It was my normal walk, I go the same way on a regular basis, only changed by a minor detour depending on the state of the tide. If  the tide is out, I walk out of the back of our estate, along the beach to the slipway at the end of  Lake Road.

06062010076

Turning into Branksome Avenue I walk along to Hamworthy Park, turn right to the beach and then walk around the park and back home.

It’s a lovely walk, quiet, relaxing, with wonderful fresh air and regular jaw-dropping sunsets. But tonight was even more special. I was listening to The Reluctant Buddhist and had chanted before I left, so I suppose I was ‘in the zone’.

As I walked along the shoreline there was an angling competition taking place (or plaice) and there were anglers sitting every 25 yards along the beach. They were all concentrating on their fishing tackle, almost transfixed, but virtually every one turned and smiled or said hello to me. I wasn’t wearing my mankini, or anything to make me look out of place, so this came as a nice surprise.

06062010075

As I walked on, I saw a Heron sitting at the waters edge. It too turned to look at me, but it didn’t stir and never looked perturbed by my approach.

I rounded the end of the park and headed back towards home. The path takes me through a short avenue of trees and as I looked towards the sunset I was aware of a number of silhouettes flitting around my head, they were bats.

I stood there, transfixed by these beautiful little creatures. They flew around me, ever closer, so close that I felt I could have reached out and touched them. It was a magical moment.

I complete my journey with a smile on my face and an inner glow at being so fortunate.

Having taken time to think about my experience, I believe it is another proof of the success of my practice, that I am gradually becoming more at one with our universe, and that my life-state is changing in such a way as to let me see the world in a whole new way.

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries