When we chant about a challenge or an obstacle we are taking on negative forces which we must encounter on our way to Buddhahood. They train and test us so we can forge the strength to be a Buddha. “The benefit we receive when we initially take faith is like a small mountain. The boundless […]
Complacency is one of the biggest obstacles to our Buddhist practice and it is a hard obstacle to recognize. It is insidious, creeping up on us while we are unaware of what is happening. Complacency is seductive. It is self-satisfaction, the lure to relax, enjoy instant gratification, and stop pushing. But there is a price. […]
Certain behaviors lead to happiness, others to unhappiness. Buddhist writings have many suggestions on how to improve behavior, so we won’t live with regret. Nichiren wrote letters to his followers with suggestions on how to handle certain situations, and we have many pieces written by President Ikeda which suggest behavior changes, which can lead to […]
Katy had run a successful consulting business in the high-tech industry where her clients were all in another state. She had to travel frequently and she had a her young daughter and husband at home. The work was lonely and she couldn’t be part of a team. Then, in 2012, her business slowed down. Looking […]
I was really excited to see a Ted talk by psychiatrist Robert Waldinger on a 75 year long Harvard Study of Adult Development, reported in the January 15th, 2016 World Tribune called How to Create a Good Life. He is the fourth director over the 75 years of the study. The researchers studied 724 men […]
Have you ever had this experience? You are facing a problem so you set a goal and chant very hard for it. At some point you achieve your goal and then you say, “Whew, well now that’s done I can relax. I don’t have to chant so hard now.” And you slack off, either stop […]
When chanting for a goal, we often focus on the obstacles to reaching it. This happens because we are worried about them, or they seem overwhelming. Unfortunately, when we chant while focusing on the obstacles, we are inadvertently using the law of cause and effect to produce what we don’t want. Set the Seed Cause […]
When we are young we often think that we are not as good as other people because of inclinations or characteristics that make us different. Those may well be the very characteristics that make you unique, the indicators of a contribution you can make, which will be different from anyone else. There is a discussion […]
The immediate answer would be that we want to achieve this or that specific goal. But looking at the immediate goal is only is a limited, short term view. Long term, as we win over one goal and then another, we are inconspicuously forging the characteristics and life state of a Buddha. “The benefit we […]
Sweeping pessimism out the door is an important skill to learn. When we set a goal, chant about it, then follow through with the action steps to accomplish it we often have to deal with pessimistic thinking. It can hamper us, setting up a headwind against the forward direction we want to take. If you’re […]