I’ve had a question about how to handle doubt. Why does doubt come up and often remain persistent? We have two sides. Our human side and our spiritual side. Our human side is taught from babyhood to use the rational mind and use our senses to look to our circumstances to determine what we believe […]
We have learned a great deal about how the mind works since Nichiren’s time. I think it helps to understand how the mind works to create the kinds of results we want to create through chanting. Conscious Mind There are three different major levels of the mind. The first is the rational mind. The […]
Buddhism describes nine levels of consciousness, the ninth level being the level which science would describe as pure potentiality and Buddhism would say is the intelligent life force, the Mystic Law. Daisaku Ikeda would describe this invisible level of life as follows: “In the innermost depths of all beings, there is the primal life-force and […]
Today I’m going to discuss six areas for reflection when you don’t feel your prayers are being answered. Are You Ready to receive the Answer to Your Prayers? If you are chanting for a big dream, there must be a change in your thought and feeling nature, You have to be willing to grow into […]
As Bill Aiken, former SGI-USA Vice General director said in his World Tribune article, The Oneness of Life and Its Environment, “Rather than there being one static “environment” that we living beings are all born into, every environment is uniquely customized, tailored to suit each of us according to the state of our inner lives.” […]
Have You Made a Decision or Just Hoping? Now that you have set a goal, have you made a decision that it is going to happen? There is a big difference between making a decision and wanting and hoping that something will happen. So often when we ‘set a goal’ what we really are doing […]
“Drop the doubt. Begin to live as though your prayers have already been answered.” Daisaku Ikeda I have received this question. “How do I chant about a goal as though it’s already accomplished, when it’s still in the future?” This is an important question because we know that our thoughts are generative. They are […]
I have received a number of questions about why goals haven’t been achieved quickly and easily, and sometimes not at all. In this video I am going to explore some of the reasons. The first thing to realize is that chanting is not magic. If chant for something but then take no action towards it, […]
When we find ourselves up against a thick wall of suffering and feel like we can’t go on, we have arrived at a crucial crossroads. Will we open the gateway to obtaining Buddhahood through strong faith or will we close the path to happiness by forsaking our faith. We’re up against one of […]
I had a question this week about whether we can chant for something that goes beyond our personal wants. Of course you can. You can chant about anything you want and need to chant about. I think the reason people chant for their personal wants is because they are immediate and close and it is […]