The story of my path to Buddhahood through the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin
22 Mar 2014 1 Comment
in Buddhism Tags: Buddhahood, Cycling, Earthly Desires, Lotus Sutra, Nature, Nichiren Daishonin, Reincarnation
I can think of several people who would do well to listen to the following advice …
If you wish to attain Buddhahood, you have only to lower the banner of your arrogance, cast aside the staff of your anger, and devote yourself exclusively to the one vehicle of the Lotus Sutra.
Worldly fame and profit are mere baubles of your present existence, and arrogance and prejudice are ties that will fetter you in a next one.
~ Nichiren Daishonin
25 Jan 2014 1 Comment
in Buddhism Tags: Changes, Cycling, Determination, Karma, Learning, Life, Life-Energy, Oneness Of Self And The Environment, Point Of View, Ten Worlds, Universe
Do you remember the day you mastered the art of riding a bicycle? Of course you do. For me, it was the culmination of a rather lengthy, and very frustrating process, and but for the perseverance of my father, I might never have learned at all.
I just couldn’t seem to get it. It looked so simple, but the harder I tried, the worse I got. Then suddenly it clicked, I had it nailed, and from that day on I have been able to ride a bike.
Ok, so it’s no huge revelation, but I think learning about Buddhism is a bit like learning to ride a bike.
As you learn, about The Oneness of Self and the Universe, about Karma, about Life-Energy or The Ten Worlds, you also learn to see yourself, life and the Universe in a different way. And just in the way that having learned to ride a bicycle, you never unlearn the skill, once you learn to see the world through different eyes, you never unlearn that either.
Deep in my heart, I know that I am different for having Buddhism at the centre of my life. Some people have noticed that change, others ask what has changed and how I know that it’s a real change, not just a fad, or ‘a phase I’m going through’.
Well as I say, once you see the world differently, you just can’t un-see it that way. It’s a wonderful change, and I’m very confident, not to say delighted, that it’s a permanent change.
21 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Courage, Cycling, Determination, Diet, HCRV, Vegan, Weight Loss
Since my birthday last month I have been on my bike every single day, either out and about, or more recently, with the colder shorter days, indoors on my training rollers. Now training rollers are a great way of staying fit, but compared to being out in the countryside, they are B-O-R-I-N-G, pedalling away for hours each week.
To make the sessions more fun, I searched on YouTube for a training video which would encourage me as well as keeping my focus. I found one, a really well made forty five minute session, using video taken during a group ride, with predetermined intervals of effort and rest, I love it and use it every second day, interspersed with thirty minute low intensity ‘days off’.
In a strange way, riding with the other guys on the video, makes me work harder, give that extra bit of effort when my lungs, heart or legs are screaming ENOUGH!!! It’s the perfect way to continue my fitness regime, and with my newly adopted vegan diet, my weight, and more importantly, my body fat levels are continuing to fall.
People have said, about my exercising, and more particularly about my diet, that because I live alone, I have no interruptions, nobody to take my focus away from my goals, nobody to tempt me with other foods or get in the way of my schedule. That of course is true, but neither do I have anyone to ‘watch over me’ to keep me on track, nobody except myself that is.
Temptation comes in many forms. The temptation to add salt to the vegetables, because I was used to the taste, the temptation to crumble under the pressure from others who think being vegan is strange and will lead to deficiencies in my diet, even the temptation, to ease off, slow down, give up, when it’s painful to carry on riding. After all, nobody would know, nobody except me.
Determination is a very satisfying trait, one which I have only fairly recently acquired, but one which pays you back, time and time again, and which stabs you, like a knife through the heart if you decide to give in. Determination is a form of fitness, the more you practice it, the stronger it becomes.
Today is day 235 of my regime. In that time I have cycled, outdoors and in, over 4000 km, burned 130,891 kcal and spent 180 hours on 152 various different sessions. When I started I weighed 100 kg, today I weigh 77 kg, and I haven’t finished yet. But believe me, in all that time, there have been numerous times when I really wanted to stop, give up and call it a day.
Now it may be that I am lucky to have the time to devote to my quest. It may be that I can please myself about what I eat. It may well be that I get an addiction to things, and certainly in the past that was the case. But I think you will agree that I’ve given it long enough to disprove the last of those three.
I’m not special. I’ve done nothing here that anyone else couldn’t do, given the determination. I’m proud of my efforts, though I am disappointed that I let myself get into the situation in the first place, but my determination gets stronger over time. If you are trying to reach a goal, keep going. If you stop, there will only be one person who is to blame, only one who will feel the pain of failure, and that is you.
16 Nov 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Cycling, Determination, Nature, Sunshine, Wiggle, Wisdom
Today has been fantastic, the sun shone, the sky was blue and although it wasn’t exactly tropical, the conditions for going over to Swanage for the Wiggle MTB event were pretty much perfect. The ground had dried up considerably from the mud-fest of last week, so I even managed to do my favourite circuit whilst staying a bit cleaner.
Getting to the event, held at the Herston camp site in Washpond Lane, Swanage it was great to see that most of the attendees had also turned up on their bikes. I met a few of them on the trip over from Old Harry and from the look of their trick bikes, they were also keen off-roaders.
Some of the best known bike manufacturers had turned up with their 2014 range. Aluminium and carbon frames, traditional 26” and the emerging 29” wheels and amazing suspension set-ups were in evidence, all very enticing. Of course, they were there to encourage sales, but at £2000 to £3500 for the top of the range, I wasn’t buying.
I got my bike in an end of year sale, half price and around a tenth of the cost of these all singing, all dancing models. It’s not made by one of the top manufacturers, it’s certainly not the lightest of bikes and it won’t get the admiring glances of the top models, but it performs well, or at least well enough for my level of riding.
The thing is, as with any bicycle, no matter how much it costs, how awesome it may appear, you still have to pedal it. The lighter it is, the easier that might be, but having lost over 20kgs of bodyweight, I think the odd gram here and there would make little extra difference to any of my rides, even my own personal bests.
So even though it was tempting to accept the generous offers of test rides, I politely declined. I didn’t see the point in risking making myself dissatisfied with my own bike. I was very pleased with the free gifts that the lady from Wiggle gave me. A nice new water bottle and a pair of handlebar grips, that perfectly match the colour of my frame.
Thank you Wiggle, I enjoyed the event, it was nice to see the collection of beautiful bikes, and the gifts will come in very handy. Sorry I didn’t buy anything, but common sense prevailed.
10 Nov 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Cycling, Friendship, Happiness, Nature, Sunday, Sunshine
The morning was bright and crisp, the torrential rain of the last few days had been blown away, but even the wind had abated.
Perfect for a trip over the Purbecks. By eleven I was on the chain ferry with a friend and we were on our way to an appointment with Old Harry.
Apart from a few puddles, the roads were dry and the beautiful sunshine had brought out dozens of cyclists, all togged up against the single figure temperature. The bite in the little breeze there was reminded us that autumn is well and truly here.
Passing the Banks Arms, we took a left, up the interestingly rough uphill track towards the coastal path. There were a lot of people walking, their kids, their dogs, just themselves and everyone was trying to skirt the huge muddy puddles left by the recent rains.
It was about this time I wished I had invested in a set of mudguards. Even staying back from my friend’s back wheel didn’t stop the mud flying around my ears. MTB knobblies are particularly adept at digging through soft mud, and flinging it up at the hapless rider.
The ride up the spine of the Purbecks was just awesome. The stunning views of Swanage Bay on our left was matched by the sight of Poole and Bournemouth bathed in autumn sunshine, over to the right. It’s a good job there’s very little to run into up there, neither of us were really watching where we were going.
That became evident when I suddenly realised that we had ridden straight past the turning off down the Heritage Trail into Swanage. We made a scenic detour down the side of the hill and picked up the trail just before the steep descent of the chalk section.
Having negotiated the chalk got to the dirt path that leads down into the farmyard. Normally the surface is firm and dry, not today. It’s also a bridle path and it was clear that quite a few horses had churned it up … more mud.
The road from Swanage to Corfe Castle was dry, initially, but then as we got into the undulations the troughs were wet, the peaks dry, so we had a series of bespatterings as we went along. Getting to the castle, we stopped for a drink of water and got a few funny looks. It was only later that I found that I had bits of mud stuck all over my face, ears, hair, you name it, I had it covered.
By the time we got back to the ferry I think a lot of it had dried and fallen off, but I still found lumps of mud, I say mud, but there were a few cows along the way, so who knows, in some very interesting places later in the shower.
All in all, a brilliant day. Lots of fun, lots of chat, beautiful scenery, nature at its best. All that’s needed now is a nice soft brush and a hosepipe to get the remaining mud off my pride and joy … my bike I meant … behave!!!
03 Nov 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Cycling, Determination, Discipline, Douglas Graham, HCRV, Weather, Weight Loss, Wisdom
Well the weekend has been perfect for any kite flying aficionados living in Dorset, to say it has been windy is a huge understatement. Despite the breeze, I was keen to get out on the bike, having been unable to do so since last weekend.
Yesterday, I took myself off to Hengistbury Head along the promenade. There was a few piles of soft dry sand, blown from the beach, which made progress a little difficult in places, though the extra effort was nothing compared to that required to get back home against a nasty breeze.
So knowing the obstacles, I decided to have a later start to a repeat trip this morning, and spent a couple of hours reading Dr Douglas Graham’s book which discusses his 80-10-10 diet, the basis of his own, and my adopted eating regime. And very thought provoking it is too, arguing strongly and convincingly just how unhealthy the western diet has become of the last few decades.
Just reading the forward to the book makes one sit and think. So I thought I would share it with you, so you decide whether you might want to read the book, to help you make the right choices for your own dietary decisions …
As an Ironman triathlete, ultra marathoner, and holder of nearly 1,000 race first places, I know how important the right diet is. It dismays me to see how much dietary misinformation is being spread with the main goal being to make money. Because so many people are misinformed about the proper diet, obesity is at the highest rates in history, and as more people buy into these money-making schemes, obesity and its associated diseases are going to continue to increase at horrendous rates.
Over and over again, I hear people saying they’ve tried “everything” to lose weight — low fat, high fat, low carb, high carb, low protein, high protein, all kinds of pills, shots, powders, and shakes — you name it and they say they’ve tried it. The main cause of their failure is misinformation.
There are reasons for each of these dietary failures. What they were told was “low fat,” usually 30%, actually is not low fat at all, and they have no idea how to get to an effective low-fat 10% as described in this book. High-fat diets can be dangerous and put you at risk for the diseases that most Westerners die from prematurely. Low-carb diets are also dangerous, and most people have no idea that the ideal diet consists of 80% carbs. But, it must be the right carbs.
High-protein diets lead to osteoporosis, kidney disease, and lack of energy for exercise. Most people think that low-protein diets will never work, having been convinced by the meat and dairy industries that the more protein you eat, the better — and nothing could be further from the truth.
As for pills, shots, powders, and shakes, these gimmicks will never give people the health they really seek. What they don’t realize is that obesity is actually a symptom of eating the wrong diet. The same is true of most of the other diseases we suffer from, for example, heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, colitis, constipation, osteoporosis, acne, erectile dysfunction, dementia, and even vision and hearing problems. These are all symptoms of the diseases of consuming the wrong diet.
You are holding in your hands the book that will give you the dietary information we all need to have. You don’t have to be an Ironman triathlete or even want to be one, but you owe it to yourself to read The 80/10/10 Diet!
Ruth E. Heidrich, PhD
Author, A Race For Life
I’m not trying to sell the book for Dr Graham, I’m not even suggesting that any of you folks change your own diet, but I do think it would be wrong of me to keep this information to myself. If you do want to read it, this is a link to the book on Amazon, if you decide you think the diet is for you.
01 Nov 2013 3 Comments
in Buddhism Tags: Cycling, Determination, HCRV, Lifestyle, Weight Loss
It’s exactly six months since the start of my dieting and cycling regime and I’m pleased to be able to claim a degree of success. On May 1st I weighed in at exactly 100kg, 15st 11lb in old money or 220lbs.
I knew I had put on weight, but seeing those figures was the short sharp shock I needed to do something about it. So here we are six months, or 185 days later, I’m down to 81.7kg, 12st 12lb or 180lbs and I’m feeling a whole lot better for it.
It’s been a long ride, literally at times, but over the last week I’ve changed the way I’m doing things. I was limiting my calorific intake to around 1500kcals per day, about 1000kcals lower than the recommended amount for a man, and basically slowly starving myself, albeit via a carefully controlled method.
At the same time, as you will have read, I’ve been getting out on my bike a lot over the summer, averaging around 500km per month, and so burning off yet more calories. But my body, and my mind to a lesser extent, decided that they had had enough it it.
Out bodies are really smart. They know how to look after us better than we know ourselves. So having allowed me to lose the excess weight I was carrying, my body decided, that not having enough calories on a daily basis, it would take over and stop me losing any more, and my weight has bounced up and down for a while
Our western diets are packed with calories, mainly from processed sugars and fats, particularly the fructose sugars that are fermented from waste corn and maize and then added to everything from soft drinks to cereals, bread to ready meals. We are eating it all the time, whether we realise or not.
Now I have been a vegetarian for a long time now, so deciding to move to a high carb raw vegan diet (HCRV) is not much of a change for me, though it does mean that I won’t be eating cheese, drinking milk or munching on roast vegetables if there was any oil involved.
Basically, I’m going to be living on fruit, vegetables, rice and corn pasta from now on. I’m looking at it as a life change rather than a diet, as it’s something that is sustainable and, in the long run, will be a far healthier way to live.
It’s very early days yet, I only made the change a few days ago, but it’s already having an effect. Not only has my weight started to drop again, even though I haven’t been able to get out on the bike very much in all this wind and rain, but my body fat is reducing too, and that is more important in the long run.
The determination to keep going is something people have mentioned over the months, but the alternative of quitting and going back to my clinically obese self is not an option. I would like to say that I’ve cheated a bit, my faith and chanting has provided an inner strength and will continue to do so, but it’s open to anyone, so it’s not cheating really.
With the festive season fast approaching, it will be interesting to see what challenges that presents, but the effort continues and it will be interesting to see where I am in another six months.
29 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Challenges, Cycling, Determination, Fitness, Health, Losers, Winners
Challenges we set ourselves can be easy, or they can be hard. Generally speaking, the challenges that are worth setting, take us well out of our comfort zone. So what is the secret of success in such a situation?
Well speaking from my own experience, it is all about confidence and determination. My weight loss ‘regime’, if you can call it that, was set in motion through a determination to get into shape, both physically and in terms of my own self image. This time there is a further challenge, to stay that way for good.
It’s easy to put off till tomorrow, that which you should start today, and to give in today, promising that you will put things right tomorrow. Feelings like that are normal. It is our Fundamental Darkness talking us into wrong thoughts and deeds. The only weapon we have against it, and we all have those thoughts, is our determination to succeed. By imagining that our Dark Passenger, as I prefer to call it, is actually something outside ourselves, we can mentally argue our case and, through determination, change our actions.
Success is sweet, failure is bitter and the only difference between the two is determination. Any goal, no matter how large or how small, is only unattainable if you lack the determination to go on. No cause is lost until you decide that it is lost. So ignore, or better still defeat your Fundamental Darkness, have confidence in yourself, be determined, and never, ever give up. In that way, you will always be a winner, will achieve your goals, and be forever tasting that sweet taste of success.
18 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Cause And Effect, Challenges, Cycling, Life-Energy, Life-State, Work
Well it’s taken a whole week to get here, but finally Friday has arrived again. I know what you are saying, you were going to fill every minute, of every day, with sixty seconds of gainful employment, and I have. But doing that doesn’t stop me being pleased that, arguably, the best day of the week has put in a much appreciated appearance at last.
The weather looks like it’s going to be a bit pants over the weekend, but that can’t stop us having fun if we are determined to make the most of our weekend. Hopefully a little cycling will supplement an eclectic mix of housework and socialising. I can feel the lure of Old Harry, Corfe Castle, Creech Hill and Studland calling already. There’s a fair chance that my bike and I will get a bit wet and muddy, but that’s half the fun isn’t it.
It has been a funny old week, with a few things going pop around the place, but having finally realised that I was wishing the days away, put me in a good place to boost my life-energies through chanting a bit more and that raised my life-state. Being in one of the higher worlds really does put a sunny outlook on everything and everyone, so I hope you managed to join me, and that you too are going to have a really great weekend.
07 Oct 2013 2 Comments
in Buddhism Tags: Breathe, Breathing, Control, Cycling, Mindfulness, Self Awareness, Self Improvement
There will be people reading this, who remember me saying to them, in times of stress, ‘just remember to breathe’. It’s good advice, stopping breathing has been scientifically proven to be bad for us. But seriously, it is all too easy to forget to breathe properly.
When I’m out riding (and I can hear the groans from here) I can actually slow my heart rate at will by moderating my breathing. When you are working at, or close to, your maximum it is easy to start panting. Short sharp breaths into the top of your lungs are rather inefficient.
The trick is to be mindful of this, to slow your breathing, but to take deep full breaths and allow the oxygen to be absorbed into your bloodstream. Your body will have more oxygen at its disposal, your heart will recognise this and will slow accordingly and this is a much more efficient state in which to continue.
I found this poem while I was browsing the subject …
Breathe
If you feel overwhelmed, breathe. It will calm you and release the tensions.
If you are worried about something coming up, or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. It will bring you back to the present.
If you are moving too fast, breathe. It will remind you to slow down, and enjoy life more.
Breathe, and enjoy each moment of this life. They’re too fleeting and few to waste.
~ Leo Babauta
Being mindful of our thoughts or, in this case, our bodies and their processes is an important part of the Buddhist practice. If we are to control our emotions, restrain our darker thoughts, or even supress a propensity to hyper-ventilate, we must be mindful.
Creating some form of trigger, by which we force ourselves to look at our behaviour, will allow us to have more control. How we create that trigger is an individual choice, but it could be visual, audible or simply mental. Whatever you choose, stick with it, you will be rewarded in the fullness of time.
The Search For Enlightenment 
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