The story of my path to Buddhahood through the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin
14 Jan 2014 2 Comments
in Buddhism Tags: Buddha, Buddhist Practice, Buddhist Principles, Chanting, Determination, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Buddhism comes down to practice. This means making a personal determination and steadfastly taking action to accomplish it, no matter what obstacles may arise.
If we aren’t striving to open a way forward, what we are doing cannot be called Buddhist practice.
We will only enter the path to Buddhahood by making tireless effort based on the same determination as the Buddha.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
09 Jan 2014 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Chanting, Life-Energy, Life-State, Peace, Ten Worlds, Tranquillity
Sometimes the World of Tranquillity can be a true blessing, a lull after a period of intense effort.
At other times it can be be like the dying notes of a moving piece of music, the echoes of the most magnificent firework display.
Maybe the biggest difference between the two is whether you wished for Tranquillity or not.
If you do wish for it, Tranquillity can be the most restful of time, if not it can be as quiet as the grave, peaceful but not something which you might actively desire.
If you find yourself becalmed in a world of Tranquillity, chanting will raise your life-state and get the energies flowing again.
02 Jan 2014 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Chanting, Dreams, Mind-Set, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Reality
Have you ever woken from such a vivid dream that you struggle to put it to the back of your mind? The feelings that it evoked refuse to subside and somehow it weaves its way into the reality of your day.
I had such a start to my day today, and it really played a bit of havoc with the early part of my morning, and it wasn’t until I had a really good chant that the real world took hold again.
You may think I’m a little crazy, but we often forget that much of our own reality is actually taking place in our brains. Everything we see is simply an interpretation of signals coming in through our optic nerves and the sounds we hear are the processed vibrations of our ear drums.
So when you next wake from a particularly disturbing dream, take your time to recover your composure. When the stories of the night get woven into the events of the day, take time to chant and regain control over your thoughts and your dark passenger, the master of virtual reality.
16 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Challenges, Changes, Chanting, Edward Canfor-Dumas, The Buddha Geoff & Me, Wisdom Courage and Compassion
Dealing with the ever changing aspects of life is a little like sailing a yacht in a squally breeze. There are external influences that push and pull on the direction of our path. Our role as skipper of our own craft, is to deal with the challenges that those influences bring, whilst trying to steer in the direction we want our lives to go.
The similarity to sailing is most evident when you compare the way a yacht has to sail across the wind, in a direction as close to, but rarely directly towards, the desired goal. So there has to be a degree of compromise in order to make progress towards that goal.
Life is exactly the same. It is pretty rare to find, that the influences on our lives, push or pull us directly towards our goals. The old adage of ‘two steps forward and one step back’ is often very accurate. A little progress in the right direction is often followed by a period of consolidation, during which we may even find that we have slipped back a little.
It is good to remember that, as illustrated in The Buddha, Geoff and Me, resistance is not only inevitable, and a measure of our progress, but is essential for some processes to work at all.
11 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Buddha, Buddhahood, Chanting, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Daishonin, Wisdom
There is the temptation, whilst continuing to practice, to wonder whether we will ever become a Buddha or doubt whether Buddhahood even resides within us. With his usual wisdom, Nichiren showed us the truth of the matter in his simple words.
“A bird’s egg contains nothing but liquid, yet by itself this develops into a beak, two eyes, and all the other parts, and the bird soars into the sky.
We, too, are the eggs of ignorance, which are pitiful things, but when nurtured by the chanting of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, which is like the warmth of the mother bird, we develop the beak of the thirty-two features and the feathers of the eighty characteristics and are free to soar into the skies of the true aspect of all phenomena and the reality of all things.”
~ Nichiren Daishonin
03 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Challenges, Changes, Chanting, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Point Of View, Practice
We all have a mental view of where we are going in life, what we would like our future to look like, a set of challenges that we must conquer if we are to find our utopia.
Each day, maybe even each second of each day, that view changes, usually just a little, sometimes quite a lot.
In a way, we can look at this from the view of a swimmer who is trying to swim against the flow of a river or a tide. He or she can swim at a constant pace, from their own viewpoint, a set number of strokes per minute, but their progress, from the viewpoint of an observer on the bank or the shore may be anything but constant.
It all depends on the strength of the current. If the current is flowing slower than the swimmer, the swimmer moves forward, if it is flowing faster than the swimmer, the swimmer moves backwards. Unsurprisingly, if the two are the same, the swimmer stays in exactly the same place.
Now we know that rivers and tides change, hourly, daily, in fact all the time. In order for the swimmer to know how fast to swim in order to make his or her desired progress they need to have a constant unchanging point on which to focus, a pole in the river, or a landmark on the shore, a point against which they can measure that progress.
Our situation in life changes in a similar way, so when we are striving towards our goals, we may think we are ‘swimming’ fast enough, think that we are making progress, when in fact, from another viewpoint, we are going nowhere, or even going backwards.
So what can we use as our ‘pole in the river’, our landmark by which we can measure our progress? Something that is constant, no matter what else changes around us. The answer, for me at least, is my practice. It is unchanging, it is strong and resilient and is always in the same place, no matter what else may be going on around me.
My practice gives me a great view of my progress. No matter what the challenge, when I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, my perspective on things is focussed on a wider view of the situation rather than just my own viewpoint. So I know whether I am ‘swimming’ fast enough to reach my goal, or whether I need to put in more effort to achieve my aims.
20 Nov 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Challenges, Changes, Chanting, Dark Passenger, Fundamental Darkness, Problems, Winners, Winning
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.
Accepting our challenges is not, initially, the most natural thing to do. It might seem easier to run away, to bury our heads, or just ignore the issues, but no good will ever come of taking that path. Taking responsibility and meeting challenges head on can be really hard. That doesn’t mean it has to be difficult, but it does mean we have to dig deep, stay strong and never ever give in.
So how should we approach the process? For me, it means looking at the challenge from all sides, and that involves keeping a calm mind and thinking clearly about all the aspects involved. Chanting allows me to calm my mind, to focus and to concentrate. This is the state of mindfulness and gives me control over my thoughts, words and deeds. For others it may be beneficial to meditate or to write down a list of all the facets of the challenge.
The whole process can be thrown into turmoil by our fundamental darkness, that little voice in our heads, that tells us the challenge is too hard, that we cannot overcome it and that giving up is the easy path. We must listen to that voice because it is part of us, but we must then rationalise the alternatives and be determined to take the right path, not the easiest path.
When you overcome a challenge, the feelings of elation are immense. When we give into a challenge, the feelings of defeat are equally immense, but terribly damaging. Gaining your first win will be the hardest. Once you know the winning feeling, you will never again want to feel defeat again.
So try different coping strategies, be that chanting, meditation, list building or whatever works for you. Be sure that overcoming challenges will make you a stronger and more confident person and that each win will make the next challenge easier to overcome. In time, you will lose the fear of challenges, and although you may not actually look forward to the next one, you will be more prepared to meet it and overcome it when it arrives.
07 Nov 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Chanting, Faith, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Daishonin, Principles, Reflection
Some days we are strong, some days not so strong.
When water is clear, the moon is reflected. When the wind blows, the trees shake. Our minds are like the water. Faith that is weak is like muddy water, while faith that is brave is like clear water. Understand that the trees are like principles, and the wind that shakes them is like the recitation of the sutra.
~ Nichiren
When we realise that we are weak, we must continue to be guided by our principles and chant with all our might, that we may become stronger.
17 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Chanting, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Nature, Peace, Quiet
With the trials and tribulations of the current infrastructure changes, by lunchtime I was in need of some peace and quiet.
Fortunately, the stream behind the office is exactly the right place to find such an environment, so while others sat and ate sandwiches or wrestled with the microwave, I took several long minutes to just stand and chant in the midday sunshine.
With all the summer foliage still standing, it’s perfect to hide myself away, watch the quiet waters flow past, and let my mind find its equilibrium as the trials and tribulations of the day drifted away with the lazy current.
If we are to deal with the challenges of every day life, it is important to take a deep breath, to inhale the quieter side of life, and release the stress that builds up inside. Next time you find yourself feeling agitated, stressed out, or getting submerged beneath the everyday strains that life puts upon us, find a quite spot, take time to stand still and just let those anxieties drift away.
Far from being a waste of time, they may be the most important minutes of your day.
04 Oct 2013 2 Comments
in Buddhism Tags: Buddhist Practice, Chanting, Daimoku, Gongyo, Lotus Sutra, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Daishonin
Being a Buddhist in Western society makes you a ‘bit different’, and the curious like to ask questions about the philosophy.
After the initial question “do you chant?” we are then asked “what do you chant?” followed closely by “for how long do you chant?” and then almost certainly “what does it mean?”.
After a little practice, no pun intended, most people can master the phrase Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, but explaining why we chant it, what it means, and how it works may take a little longer.
Here is how the SGI website describes the meaning of the individual parts …
Nichiren Daishonin established the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as the way to awaken one’s Buddha nature and tap into the deepest levels of our existence, on which our own lives and that of the universe are one. He first taught the invocation of the phrase to a small group at Seicho-ji temple in Awa province, Japan, on April 28, 1253.
Myoho-renge-kyo is the name of the Lotus Sutra in Japanese pronunciation of classical Chinese characters, and so the literal meaning of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is “I devote myself to the Lotus Sutra.” As the following explanation shows, there are deeper levels of meaning attached to each element of the phrase.
Nam derives from the Sanskrit word namu, meaning “to devote oneself.” Nichiren established the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as a means to enable all people to put their lives in harmony or rhythm with the law of life, or Dharma. In the original Sanskrit, namu indicates the elements of action and attitude, and refers therefore to the correct action one needs to take and the attitude one needs to develop in order to attain Buddhahood in this lifetime.
Myoho literally means the Mystic Law–the underlying truth or principle which governs the mysterious workings of the universe and our life from moment to moment. Myo refers to the very essence of life, which is “invisible” and beyond intellectual understanding. This essence always expresses itself in a tangible form (ho) that can be apprehended by the senses. Phenomena (ho) are changeable, but pervading all such phenomena is a constant reality known as myo. Myo also means to open, to revive, and to be fully endowed with the qualities we need to develop our lives.
Renge means lotus flower. The lotus blooms and produces seeds at the same time, and thus represents the simultaneity of cause and effect. The circumstances and quality of our individual lives are determined by the causes and effects, both good and bad, that we accumulate (through our thoughts, words and actions) at each moment. This is called our “karma.” The law of cause and effect affirms that we each have personal responsibility for our own destiny. We create our destiny and we have the power to change it. The most powerful positive cause we can make is to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo; the effect of Buddhahood is simultaneously created in the depths of our life and will definitely manifest in time.
The lotus flower grows and blooms in a muddy pond, and yet remains pristine and free from any defilement, symbolizing the emergence of Buddhahood from within the life of an ordinary person in the midst of the struggles of day-to-day existence.
Kyo literally means sutra, the voice or teaching of a Buddha. In this sense, it also means sound, rhythm or vibration. In a broad sense, kyo conveys the concept that all things in the universe are a manifestation of the Mystic Law.
Further explanation of the meaning of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo can be found here.
The Search For Enlightenment 
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