Steady Chaps

28 Aug 2014 2 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Steady as she goes captain !!!There are times when we need to be reminded of the important things in life. When distractions come along it’s all too easy to get side tracked and let our focus slip. It isn’t that we forget that our Practice is the centre of our lives, it’s just that sometimes life itself can get in the way, albeit temporarily.

When everything comes along at once, it can all be a little too much to cope with. But being reminded that our practice is the one constant that keeps us on the straight and narrow is a very good thing. When we remember that everything pivots around our honzon, that our faith is central and the very thing that makes us who we are, we can take steps to realign ourselves.

Take a firm grip of the wheel, get your ship back on your desired heading, feel the wind of change at your back and focus on the horizon. Chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, and it’s steady as she goes captain !!!

Balance Restored

11 Aug 2014 1 Comment

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

Balance RestoredThere are times when we need to be reminded of the important things in life. When distractions come along it’s all too easy to get side tracked and let our practice slip. It isn’t that we forget, it’s just that sometimes life can get in the way, albeit temporarily.

When everything comes along at once, it can all be a little too much to cope with. So being reminded that our practice is the one constant that keeps us on the straight and narrow is a very good thing. When we remember that our faith is central, our honzon, and the very thing that makes us who we are, we can take steps to realign ourselves.

Whilst it is no excuse, as life has been both hectic and delightful in the past few weeks, I admit to having let things slide a little. So being mindful of the situation, normal service has resumed and the balance of life restored. The most important things in life need a solid foundation, and my practice is the foundation that will allow those things to grow, blossom and flourish, way, way into the future.

Gohonzon Central

23 Jun 2014 3 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

The GohonzonHaving my Practice at the very core of my life, as my Honzon, as my anchor, is a very liberating state of affairs. As the focus of that Practice is my Gohonzon, making it the absolute centre and the pivot, around which my whole life revolves.

Of course, the centre of many people’s lives are their partners, their children, their families and that is perfectly acceptable, but does mean that their anchor is not fixed, it is ever changing. These changes can be a major source of unhappiness. How often have we seen the elderly couple, totally devoted to each other, that when one of them dies, the other goes soon after.

Having Buddhism and my Practice as my Honzon doesn’t mean that my family or friends mean any less to me, but it does mean that as situations change, as problems arise, my anchor remains firm and I can cope with those challenges all the better.

Maybe that’s not for everyone and it does take a conscious effort to make the change. But for me the effort is repaid many, many times over by the feeling of constancy and stability in my life. As with many things in life, that constancy also affects others in a positive way, ripples of stability benefitting everyone around me.

Fortunate Karma

15 Apr 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

Fortunate KarmaA shallow person will only ever have shallow relationships.

True love is not one person clinging to another, it can only be fostered between two strong people, secure in their individuality.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, wrote in his work Wind, Sand and Stars, “Love is not two people gazing at each other, but two people looking ahead together in the same direction”

When we are fortunate enough to find someone we can love for whom they are, and who loves us for whom we are, then we are truly fortunate. Meeting that person, amongst the throng of humanity, is surely one of the most fortunate karmic effects we can experience.

Taking Back Control

25 Feb 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Taking Back ControlDo you ever find yourself getting into a state over a situation that is mainly in your own head?

If your world is not anchored by your faith and is dependant on factors outside your control, your imagination can run riot.

Our Fundamental Darkness, or my Dark Passenger, is a devious character and will use everything to get it’s way. Your imagination is one of it’s most powerful weapons.

This is how I was until I found Nichiren Buddhism, and it is a very precarious state in which to live. Each day can be up, or down, at the whim of something or someone else, and that’s no way to go through life, particularly if that something or someone cannot be relied upon. Everything, everyone changes over time, so basing your happiness on them is bound to fail, sooner or later.

Taking back control of your life is simple, it is a state of mind, a determination to re-centre, re-focus your life. That certainly doesn’t mean that you have to rid yourself of the something or someone, and it doesn’t mean that your relationship with them is any less important. It’s just that your life centres around something infinitely stable, and that can make all the difference in the world.

My anchor, my honzon is my practice, and I’m a better, calmer, more contented person for that. I am happier for that, and at the end of the day, isn’t that what we all seek from life, a little more happiness?

Steady Lads, Steady

07 Feb 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Steady As She GoesThere are times when we need to be reminded of the important things in life. When distractions come along it’s all too easy to get side tracked and let our focus slip. It isn’t that we forget that our Practice is the centre of our lives, it’s just that sometimes life itself can get in the way, albeit temporarily.

When everything comes along at once, it can all be a little too much to cope with. But being reminded that our practice is the one constant that keeps us on the straight and narrow is a very good thing. When we remember that everything pivots around our honzon, that our faith is central and the very thing that makes us who we are, we can take steps to realign ourselves.

Take a frim grip of the wheel, get your ship back on your desired heading, feel the wind of change at your back and focus on the horizon. Chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, and it’s steady as she goes captain !!!

Centred, Anchored, Simply Rock Solid

29 Aug 2013 2 Comments

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

The GohonzonOver the life of this blog, you will have seen that my Buddhist Practice has become, more and more, the basis of my life.

Having my Practice as the centre, as my Honzon, as my anchor is a very liberating state of affairs. At the centre of that Practice is my recently enshrined Gohonzon making it the absolute centre and the pivot, around which, my whole life now revolves.

Of course, the centre of many people’s lives are their partners, their children, their families and that is perfectly acceptable, but does mean that their anchor is not fixed, it is ever changing. These changes can be a major source of unhappiness. How often have we seen the elderly couple, totally devoted to each other, that when one of them dies, the other goes soon after.

Having Buddhism and my Practice as my Honzon doesn’t mean that my family and friends mean any less to me, but it does mean that as situations change, as problems arise, my anchor remains firm and I can cope with those challenges all the better.

Maybe that’s not for everyone, it does take a conscious effort to make the change, but for me, the effort is repaid many, many times over by the feeling of constancy in my life.

Fix Your Anchor

20 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Fix Your AnchorDo you ever find yourself getting into a state over a situation that is mainly in your own head? If your world is not anchored by your faith and is dependant on factors outside your control, your imagination can run riot. Our Fundamental Darkness, or My Evil Friend, is a devious character and will use everything to get it’s way. Your imagination is one of it’s most powerful weapons.

This is how I was until I found Nichiren Buddhism, and it is a very precarious state in which to live. Each day can be up, or down, at the whim of something or someone else, and that’s no way to go through life, particularly if that something or someone cannot be relied upon. Everything, everyone changes over time, so basing your happiness on them is bound to fail, sooner or later.

Taking back control of your life is simple, it is a state of mind, a determination to re-centre, re-focus your life. That certainly doesn’t mean that you have to rid yourself of the something or someone, and it doesn’t mean that your relationship with them is any less important. It’s just that your life centres around something infinitely stable, and that can make all the difference in the world.

My anchor, my honzon is my practice, and I’m a better, calmer, more contented person for that. I am happier for that, and at the end of the day, isn’t that what we all seek from life, a little more happiness?

Tell me, what do you think you would do then?

22 Feb 2013 2 Comments

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

And Then There Were Three ~ GenesisWhen life gets a little messy, I tend to go for familiar things from life, things that help me feel more comfortable. While working from home today, I took the opportunity to listen to some classic, and very familiar music, the Genesis album, And Then There Were Three, released in 1978.

I have loved Genesis since seeing their inaugural tour way back in 1969 and can still remember the dismay when Peter Gabriel left the band. He was such a figurehead, being the lead singer, we wondered whether the band could survive. And Then There Were Three answered that question, and is still one of my favourite albums.

Maybe because of my heightened sense of awareness, maybe because I am looking for meaning in events, I don’t know, but suddenly a set of lyrics that I have known for thirty five years, seemed more relevant than they had ever been before …

Undertow

The curtains are drawn
Now the fire warms the room.
Meanwhile outside
Wind from the north-east chills the air,
It will soon be snowing out there.

And some there are
Cold, they prepare for a sleepless night.
Maybe this will be their last fight.

But we’re safe in each other’s embrace,
All fears go out as I look on your face –

Better think awhile
Or I may never think again.
If this were the last day of your life, my friend,
Tell me, what do you think you would do then?

Stand up to the blow that fate has struck upon you,
Make the most of all you still have coming to you,
Lay down on the ground and let the tears run from you,
Crying to the grass and trees and heaven finally on your knees

Let me live again, let life come find me wanting.
Spring must strike again against the shield of winter.
Let me feel once more the arms of love surround me,
Telling me the danger’s past, I need not feel the icy blast again.

Laughter, music and perfume linger here
And there, and there,
Wine flows from flask to glass and mouth,
As it soothes, confusing our doubts.

And soon we feel,
Why do a single thing to-day,
There’s tomorrow sure as I’m here.

So the days they turn into years
And still no tomorrow appears.

Better think awhile
Or I may never think again.
If this were the last day of your life, my friend,
Tell me, what do you think you would do then?

Stand up to the blow that fate has struck upon you,
Make the most of all you still have coming to you,
Lay down on the ground and let the tears run from you,
Crying to the grass and trees and heaven finally on your knees

Let me live again, let life come find me wanting.
Spring must strike again against the shield of winter.
Let me feel once more the arms of love surround me,
Telling me the danger’s past, I need not feel the icy blast again.

~ Tony Banks 1978

Genesis have provided much of the soundtrack for my life, sometimes happy, sometimes not so happy. Now Nichiren Buddhism is providing the anchor, the Honzon of my life and between the two, I am striving to pull things back together again and move forward.

Steady As She Goes

30 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

Steady As She GoesThere are times when we need to be reminded of the important things in life. When distractions come along it’s all too easy to get side tracked and let our focus slip. It isn’t that we forget that our Practice is the centre of our lives, it’s just that sometimes life itself can get in the way, albeit temporarily.

When everything comes along at once, it can all be a little too much to cope with. But being reminded that our practice is the one constant that keeps us on the straight and narrow is a very good thing. When we remember that everything pivots around our honzon, that our faith is central and the very thing that makes us who we are, we can take steps to realign ourselves.

Take a frim grip of the wheel, get your ship back on your desired heading, feel the wind of change at your back and focus on the horizon. Chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, and it’s steady as she goes captain !!!

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