The story of my path to Buddhahood through the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin
28 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Faith, Lotus Sutra, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Practice
Be resolved to summon forth the great power of faith, and chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo with the prayer that your faith will be steadfast and correct at the moment of death.
Never seek any other way to inherit the ultimate Law of life and death, and manifest it in your life. Only then will you realize that earthly desires are enlightenment, and that the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana. Even embracing the Lotus Sutra would be useless without the heritage of faith.
~ Nichiren
25 Oct 2012 6 Comments
in Buddhism Tags: Cancer, Chanting, Family, Illness, Life-Energy, Life-State, Pain, Positive, Practice, Sadness
Charlotte is not having a good time with this surgery at all. She is in a lot of pain, has tubes coming out of her, so can’t even get into a comfortable position, and is on a ward with other women who are also suffering post operative discomfort in various forms.
She is being given morphine to help her cope with the pain, but she has never been good with anaesthetics, they make her feel sick. So you can imagine that she is feeling very low, doesn’t want to see or talk to anyone because she doesn’t want to upset them.
All I can do, being stuck here in Poole, is to be there if she texts or calls, to concentrate my practice on chanting and praying for a good outcome to all this and to help Charlotte and the rest of the family stay positive. Several people have been in to see her, and that might help cheer her a little, but the sooner she is home and on the mend, the better.
22 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Cancer, Chanting, Family, Illness, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Practice, Recovery
Spending the majority of the day waiting for news regarding Charlotte’s latest, and hopefully last operation, on her path to defeating cancer, puts life’s priorities into proper order. The reconstruction procedure sounds almost barbaric, and worse even than the operation to remove the cancerous tissues in the first place.
Having had Charlotte recovered and well after the chemotherapy had lulled me into a false sense of well-being. This final part of the jigsaw, albeit necessary to finish the job the oncology specialists started two years ago, shows yet again, just how brave Charlotte really has been.
The news from the hospital, news that took rather longer than expected, is that although she is rather poorly after the procedure, all went well, and she is expected to be able to come home in a few days. Actually, that will be the start of a long and painful period of recuperation, during which we can only offer her our full support, and chant and pray for a successful outcome.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
19 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Daisaku Ikeda, Oneness Of Self And The Environment, Practice, Reflection, Wisdom Courage and Compassion
The misfortune of others is our misfortune. Our happiness is the happiness of others. To see ourselves in others and feel an inner oneness and sense of unity with them represents a fundamental revolution in the way we view and live our lives.
Therefore, discriminating against another person is the same as discriminating against oneself. When we hurt another, we are hurting ourselves. And when we respect others, we respect and elevate our own lives as well.
~ Daisaku Ikeda
17 Oct 2012 2 Comments
in Buddhism Tags: Cause And Effect, Destiny, Eternal Life, Nichiren Buddhism, Practice
Our actions in previous lives are all engraved upon, and contained within, this lifetime. The causes for our present suffering, our joy, happiness or misery, all lie with our own past actions. But Nichiren Buddhism enables us to fundamentally transform our destiny.
When we truly base ourselves on the Buddhist view of eternal life, we realise the first thing that must change is how we live in the present. In Nichiren Buddhism, change arises from the very depths of our being, brought about by our daily Practice.
When we practice with vigour, strong, pure vitality wells forth in abundance. The chains of our destiny are broken, and our original identity, the fresh and robust world of Buddhahood, shines forth. Far from being set in stone, our destiny truly is in our own hands, through our everyday thoughts, words and deeds.
16 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Challenges, Happiness, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Practice
There are times in life, when it’s very reminiscent of being on a narrowboat, when the main object of each day is to get closer to an overall destination without rocking the boat. Steering the middle way, taking no risks, trying to get to the other end without making waves or upsetting the people you pass along the way.
When you find yourself in situations where the only outcomes you can actually influence are all negative, you find yourself trying to switch off from the effects these situations are having on you. Find yourself trying to create distractions with unrelated things, which will have no bearing on the final outcome.
And this can be so very tiring. Like sitting in a room with no windows, no books, nothing to occupy your mind. Time passes so slowly. As a boy, I would sit on a lake or river bank from the first light of dawn, till the last rays of sunset, fishing for elusive creatures that sometimes never showed themselves.
I was never bored, I was so engrossed that there were times that I forgot to eat my packed lunch. Those summer, and often winter, days flew by even when the trials and tribulations of my teenage years were buzzing around my head. Concentrating on that fluorescent float tip, bright against the dark, slow moving waters, held my attention like nothing else could.
I don’t get to do much fishing these days, I have reservations about the cruelty of the sport, and being a Buddhist means I can’t really ignore that with a clean conscience. But I do have my Practice, my chanting and my prayer which are just as enthralling and can hold my attention even better than my piscatorial past.
So I’m moving ever closer to my goal of enlightenment through my daily practice. Being able to see the bigger picture means that I can actually measure the progress. It also means that these awkward situations are there in the background, and although I never ignore or forget about them, that my boat is a little steadier each day.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
12 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Chanting, Faith, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Poison Into Medicine, Practice
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
05 Oct 2012 4 Comments
in Buddhism Tags: Challenges, Chanting, Life-Energy, Life-State, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Practice, Strength
Having the strength to take on the challenges of everyday life is not always easy. Chanting my heart out does it for me, as we’ve discussed before, but this quote from Daisaku Ikeda sums up the reality of the situation very nicely …
No matter what the circumstances, you should never concede defeat. Never conclude that you’ve reached a dead end, that everything is finished. You possess a glorious future. And precisely because of that, you must persevere and study.
Life is eternal. We need to focus on the two existences of the present and the future and not get caught up in the past. We must always have the spirit to begin anew “from this moment,” to initiate a new struggle each day.
~ Daisaku Ikeda
Leaving the feelings and fears of the past behind us, we can forge on into a bright, exciting, and fruitful future.
04 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Cause And Effect, Challenges, Happiness, Practice, Right Thinking
There are situations and challenges in life, when the almost overwhelming tendency is to look inwards, to examine repeatedly, the reasons and causes that have brought us to this point in time.
We may have certain regrets about things we did, or indeed didn’t do, but the fact of the matter is that the past is set in stone.
Of course, making sense of situations, and the events that brought them about, can be very useful if we are to avoid making repeated mistakes or errors of judgement. But a continuous process of navel gazing is never going to get us back out into the big wide world. Imagine what you would miss, if you were to sit and stare at your hands, neatly folded in your lap, every time you went on a train, a plane, or a car journey.
So whilst we must take care to learn from the lessons in life. We must also look forward to using those lessons as we move forward towards a brighter and happier future, buoyed by the knowledge that we are better prepared to meet whatever we might encounter around the next exciting corner.
01 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Buddhism Tags: Enlightenment, Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Daishonin, Practice, Right Thinking, Self Awareness, Self Improvement
It’s all too easy, when we find ourselves in a difficult situation, to think that it is the other person who must change. This is a perfect example of a lack of right-thinking, because it is we who must change.
Our Practice, our enlightenment, even the path, all reside within us and it is there that we must look for the change.
Nichiren put it very succinctly …
You must never think that any of the eighty thousand sacred teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha’s lifetime or any of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and three existences are outside yourself.
Your practice of the Buddhist teachings will not relieve you of the sufferings of birth and death in the least unless you perceive the true nature of your life. If you seek enlightenment outside yourself, then your performing even ten thousand practices and ten thousand good deeds will be in vain.
It is like the case of a poor man who spends night and day counting his neighbour’s wealth but gains not even half a coin.
~ Nichiren Daishonin
The Search For Enlightenment 
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