A Perfect Gift

18 Dec 2013 4 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

The Buddha, Geoff and MeI know, I’m always going on about this brilliant book, but The Buddha, Geoff and Me is the perfect Christmas gift for the Buddhist in your life (if that isn’t an oxymoron).

An amazing, invigorating and enlightening story about a young man’s friendship with a Buddhist, who teaches him the basics of the religion and covers aspects of practice.

For anyone, interested in Buddhism (particularly Nichiren Buddhism) its teachings and practices, in most readable form, this book is a must read.

This book will transform your thinking, help you to control your mood (life states) and lead you towards a more meaningful life. Buy it here or listen to it in podcast form here.

I don’t think it is overstating the case, when I say that this book changed the course of my life forever. It relates Nichiren Buddhism to everyday life so well, and in such an understandable form, it should be required reading for all students, it would change the world.

Staying On Track

16 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Staying On TrackDealing 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.

Now THIS Makes More Sense …

12 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Save Our BadgersBeing fortunate enough to live in Dorset, I am surrounded by beautiful countryside and coastline. In this idyllic rural area we are privileged to share our woods and fields with a large population of badgers.

Sadly these shy, nocturnal animals are rarely seen by anybody except when they fall victim to the all too frequent fatal road accident. But their existence is being threatened by the ridiculous government cull, in an attempt to curb the spread and incidence of bovine tuberculosis, which can be carried by badgers.

The cull has been a bit of a farce, with the target figure of kills being missed (fortunately), the pilot cull in Gloucestershire has been called off. Naturally, the farming minister has stated that the cull has been “worthwhile”, but there appears to be little evidence that it will make any discernable difference to the spread of the disease.

Fortunately, the process of thinking the problem through has not been left solely up to the government. The Dorset Wildlife Trust have embarked on a five year programme in which badgers are humanely trapped before being given the TB vaccination. The aim of the programme being to avoid having to cull the badgers in an area where bovine TB is common.

Now, to me, that makes a great deal more sense than trying to kill the innocent creatures who carry the disease. Vaccination of the targets of bovine TB, namely the cows themselves makes the most sense, but that might incur extra cost to the farmers, shame.

Having read so much about the evils of meat and dairy foodstuffs lately, I am tempted to say that we should cull the food industry executives, who have, and continue to disseminate false claims about the products they sell. The sooner we realise that what we are eating and drinking is doing us real and lasting harm, the sooner the badgers will be left in peace.

When Less Is More

08 Dec 2013 1 Comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Flames Of WisdomSo many of the ills in modern society are driven, if not caused, by our insatiable desire to earn, to own, to use, more and more.

Companies spend millions creating adverts to reach our deepest psyche and flick on the basest of urges, often I suspect, without us even realising the manipulation we are undergoing.

Aside from our own mental suffering, our cravings are having disastrous consequences in third world countries, the collapse of the clothing factory in Bangladesh being an indirect result of our need to ever cheaper garments.

Nichiren spoke of earthly desires being used as fuel for the flame of Wisdom.

Buddhism teaches the converting of personal ambitions and desires, even base ones, into good traits like Wisdom, through altruistic living. A Buddhist doctrine that earthly desires are enlightenment, indicates that greed, anger through violence, and egocentricity can be transformed into altruistic traits such as compassion, trust and nonviolence.

The underlying delusions that drive our desires, including the desire for the development of science and civilisations, can be essentially transformed in a way that changes selfishness into altruism, violence into nonviolence and suspicion into trust.

The Western exploitation of emerging countries, for cheap labour and materials, simply to satisfy an ever growing market is totally unsustainable and must change. Until we can stop enriching certain groups at the expense of others, and concentrate on enriching all people by our actions, there will never be a sustainable peace, economy or even happiness in the world.

Buddhahood In This Lifetime?

05 Dec 2013 2 Comments

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

Buddhahood in this lifetime?Religion must teach us an “attitude to life”. To live a life of true human dignity is certainly difficult.

Life is change; it is continuous change. Nothing is constant. The four sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death are an eternal theme that no one can escape.

Amid harsh reality, people yearn from the depths of their beings to live with dignity and for their lives to have meaning, and they make efforts toward that end. The product of these human yearnings, these prayers, is religion. Religion was born from prayer.

What is Nichiren’s response to these prayers of human beings? What attitude toward life does he teach? The answer, in short, is the principle of attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.

What is needed to attain Buddhahood in this lifetime? Wisdom, Courage and Compassion and that comes from sustained, diligent practice.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Isn’t It Ironic?

25 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

The Barn Of FollyIt’s a fairly well known fact that 90% of the wealth of the UK is in the hands of 10% of the population, which is a shocking state of affairs in my opinion.

Of course it’s fairly easy to be shocked when you aren’t one of the 10%, but it got me wondering whether I would be any more benevolent if I were.

You may remember the fable about the rich farmer who, having grown his crops, decided that he needed to store it somewhere safe, so that the peasants of the area couldn’t get their thieving hands on any of it. So he set about building a huge barn, and made it secure so it kept out the riff-raff.

It must have taken quite a while to build it, but finally it was finished, and he was happy that his crops would now be safe. Of course, there was far more than he could ever need himself, but he locked it all away and hoarded it for his old age. Ironically, the night the barn was finished, he died in his sleep.

So the adage that ‘you can’t take it with you’ is anything but new. So I suppose the lesson from the story is, if you have enough of anything, money, food, whatever, you are fortunate. If you have more than enough, you are more than fortunate, and you might consider sharing some of it with others less fortunate, particularly in these austere times.

Take Responsibility

22 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

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

All those responsible, put your hands upSometimes we find ourselves in difficult or disappointing circumstances, and might believe that they are not of our making. The laws of Karma are universal, we get what we deserve, so whether we recognise the causes or not, the effects speak for themselves.

We might feel sorry for ourselves, we may think it’s unfair, but we make the causes for the effects we experience day in, day out. Now you may be saying that it’s destiny, fate, or coincidence, but that simply means you are delegating responsibility for your life to chance or a mystical figure whose existence can never be proven.

Why do we allow ourselves to be fooled? When we know the reason for events, we accept the situation and move on. When we don’t know, or remember why something has happened, we waft it away with airy fairy excuses, like fate or God’s will.

I’ve been through the mill at various times in life. Failed relationships, jobs losses, illness and  even death in the family. More than enough to make me feel, at times, that enough is enough. But when I sit and think things through, at the bottom of every disaster, there is, at least in part, a cause of my own making.

So I have to be the first to hold my hand up, I’m culpable, in part at the very least, and my chanting, prayer and meditation are the tools I use to put things right.

You might be sitting there thinking this doesn’t apply in your case, but you are wrong. You are where you are at this very second, as a result of all the decisions and actions you have taken up to this moment. Accept your responsibility and start making your own causes to get the effects you would like to see. If you don’t, you have nobody else to blame if things refuse to improve.

Asking Difficult Questions

13 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Asking Difficult QuestionsGoing back over your mistakes, asking yourself painful questions and giving honest answers is a difficult, but cathartic experience.

We’ve all made mistakes in life, some more serious than others, but thinking them through, trying to explain why you made that decision at that point in time, makes you re-examine your own values. In my case, having changed through my Buddhist Practice, it also becomes clear that I would have made different decisions in many cases.

Our history is set in stone, we cannot go back and make those decisions anew. But we can try to make amends, apologise for any hurt we have caused, and, above all, be honest with ourselves and others.

The changes in myself, that I see and feel, the way I view life, and my responsibility for events affecting me and people around me, have come about through my Practice and my study of Nichiren Buddhism.

As I have said before, once you see things in a different light, you cannot undo that change. Nor would I want to, because even though I know I will make other mistakes in the future, I know that those mistakes will be made despite honourable intentions, and with a great deal more Wisdom, Courage and Compassion.

Keep On Truckin’

06 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Keep On Truckin'Determination grows out of adversity. To accomplish an easy or pleasant task does not require determination, it is the difficult or unpleasant task that most definitely does.

Dreams don’t come true on their own. Determination is required to achieve the things we set out to accomplish and to keep things going in the face of discouragement.

The essential purpose of Buddhism is to make people happy. True happiness is the result of consistent effort and constant growth as a human being.

Remind yourself every day, why you are pursuing your goal. Self doubt and negative thoughts are the making of your fundamental darkness. Confront your inner demons and tell them that you are going to overcome them. Take heart and strength from your Practice, chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo will raise your life-energy and help you focus on the task in hand. Remember, nobody ever felt satisfaction from giving up on their dreams.

And keep this in mind when times get tough …

When your determination grows, everything else begins to move in the direction you desire. The moment you resolve to be victorious, every nerve and fibre in your being immediately orient themselves toward your success.

To paraphrase Sir Bruce Forsyth … “keep chanting“

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.

Reading, Forever Reading

05 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

The Pleasure ReadingDaisaku Ikeda, in his Buddhism Day By Day, says this about the act of reading:

‘Reading is dialogue with oneself; it is self-reflection, which cultivates profound humanity. Reading is therefore essential to our development.

It expands and enriches the personality like a seed that germinates after a long time and sends forth many blossom-laden branches.

People who can say of a book ‘this changed my life’ truly understand the meaning of happiness. Reading that sparks inner revolution is desperately needed to escape drowning in the rapidly advancing information society.

Reading is more than intellectual ornamentation; it is a battle for the establishment of the self, a ceaseless challenge that keeps us young and vigorous.’

We all know which book ‘changed my life’, and I can confirm that I understand the meaning of the happiness that this encompasses. Books transformed civilisation in the broadest sense when they became widely available via the printing presses of William Caxton and all those who have followed.

The advent of the world wide web and the internet has simply taken that process to the Nth level. The dissemination of information, and the written word has never been so widespread. Although there are associated dangers and we must be circumspect about the source of the information we consume, there has never been an easier time to read.

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