When first starting to chant, most people are excited and hopeful. This was what they were looking for, something to truly change their lives. Some people start with great enthusiasm. Then as the days and weeks pass, their initial excitement dies down. This is a description of a faith like fire. It burns brightly and […]
Everyone faces problems and obstacles. So what do you do when a tough problem, arises? What’s Your Reaction? Do you throw up your hands and give in, or do you decide to challenge the problem? When you engage with a serious problem, something you aren’t sure you can overcome, you have entered into an invisible […]
Can a religion that doesn’t have rules and commandments keep practitioners on the straight and narrow? The purpose of Buddhism is to make people free in the most profound sense; its purpose is not to restrict and constrain. This means that in Nichiren Buddhsim as practiced in the SGI, the worldwide lay organization, there are […]
Problems, Suffering or Opportunity Experienced Nichiren Buddhist practitioners tell you that when you are confronting a problem, you have an opportunity to grow happiness in your life. Some examples would be, a need for housing, a friend who is ill, an issue in a relationship, or a problem at work. That sounds crazy to someone […]
Your life will become much easier when you start chanting about your problems and challenges. I can’t tell you exactly how it works, but when you chant about a problem or an opportunity, then take action, events begin to move you toward your goal in surprising ways, in ways you could never have anticipated. You […]
Do you believe you can direct your life as you wish it, or do you secretly believe that outside forces determine what happens in your life? In the Western world, there is a common belief that something outside of ourselves controls what happens in our lives. You see this when you hear such comments as, […]
In the last post I discussed the Ten Worlds so you could have an overview of the different internal life conditions you experience every day. You can see that they range from the lower worlds, which are negative, to the higher more positive worlds. Each of the worlds contains the potentials of all the others, […]
Last week we talked about ten conditions of life, which we experience each day. These are important to us because through chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, we can shift from negativity to positivity. I’ll describe them from the lowest to the highest. The Six Lower Paths Hell – A person feels there is no way out, where living […]
Have fears kept you from moving forward in some area of your life? This can happen to anyone. In this blog you’ll learn how to overcome the fears that have stopped you. You are the Builder Let’s say you have decided to move forward in an area of your life. The first thing to do […]
Have you ever asked yourself, why practice a religion? Does your religion address your everyday problems? In this post I’m going to look at Clark Strand’s book Waking the Buddha, which will introduce you to a whole new view of what a religion can be, as practiced by the lay organization of Nichiren Buddhism, the […]