Buddhists tend to celebrate adversity as it is an opportunity to transform your life and reveal your own innate Buddhahood. As nice as it sounds, adversity still bloody well stings.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Daimoku
Nothing like getting back into daily chanting (Daimoku) to kick your life in its butt.
"Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. no matter what happens. How could this be anything other than the boundless joy of the Law? Strengthen your power of faith more than ever". - Writings of Nichiren Daishonen - V1 P681
Buddhists tend to celebrate adversity as it is an opportunity to transform your life and reveal your own innate Buddhahood. As nice as it sounds, adversity still bloody well stings.
Buddhists tend to celebrate adversity as it is an opportunity to transform your life and reveal your own innate Buddhahood. As nice as it sounds, adversity still bloody well stings.
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Hi Tamarai,
ReplyDeleteHow are you? The website you have linked:
nichirendaishoninsbuddhism.com
has some derogatory remarks about Nichiren. It's entirely up to you if you keep it linked or not, as it's your blog, LOL. But I just thought I'd point that out.
- Steve
Namu-myoho-renge-kyo
Ah. Thanks for pointing that our. I will indeed remove it.
ReplyDeleteI am well. Experiencing a lot of shifts due to getting back to chanting after not chanting for a while. Thank you for asking. I hope you are well too.
T
Glad you're well. I'm good too.
DeleteIt's good to keep a routine with chanting, but it's easy to find an excuse to miss a session, LOL.
Which Gohonzon do you have?
Hi Steve
DeleteI have the SGI Gohonzon. I joined SGI and received Gohonzon in 2005 in the UK. When I came to South Africa in 2007 and joined SGI-SA, I was not happy with a number of things. So I left SGI to practice independently.
T
Hi Tamarai,
DeleteI'm a recent subscriber to your blog and absolutely love it. I would like to suggest your reconsideration to re-link:
nichirendaishoninsbuddhism.com
I realize that we all have different perspectives on the Daishonin's teachings and what respect should be accorded to them, however, what I think Gary Aitken is trying to express on his website is tolerance, (and by no means disrespect) for Nichiren's perspective. His discussion is about Nichiren's life and teachings (in context) to the times of feudal Japan and the political involvement of religions with the royal courts during the period. I have copied and pasted what I think might be considered the 'derogatory' remarks for your consideration, again, taken in context, I think these remarks might be subject to pardon when the WHOLE of Gary's work is also considered. He presents a very solid and complete treatise for independent practice, which I think could be of tremendous benefit. Again, if after reading what I have pasted below (from his website) is not in line with your work here, then I fully respect your right to delete it. Here it is:
" .... The preceding paragraphs seem to imply that most other religions are just as good or nearly as good as Nichiren Buddhism. The reader surely notices that this contradicts Nichiren himself, who taught that only his teaching was valid and that all the other forms of Buddhism, as well as all the non-Buddhist religions, should be utterly discarded.
Bear in mind that Nichiren lived in a feudal society, in a time of rigid absolutes. But today we live in a modern, pluralistic society. Remember that medieval Christians went on bloody crusades against the Muslim “infidels”, whereas today many Christian leaders seek dialogue and brotherly outreach with Muslims. Likewise, the modern Nichiren Buddhist can take a more tolerant and open minded attitude toward other religions than Nichiren himself did.
The reader might be confused, because earlier in this web site I asserted that Nichiren is a Great Bodhisattva and a Provisional Buddha, whereas now I am saying that Nichiren was WRONG about something. But in reality there is no contradiction. The Dalai Lama is undoubtedly a Buddha; yet when he instigated a Tibetan uprising before the 2008 Olympics, he only got thousands of monks murdered by Chinese soldiers, most by having their heads smashed against the walls of their own temples. Thus although the Dalai Lama is undoubtedly a Buddha, he is still capable of making a mistake; he is not infallible. That is because the life of Buddha and the life of common mortals coexist within everyone. The same applies to Nichiren. Although Nichiren is great, he is not infallible. He was wrong to say that all other religions besides his own are no good, and the modern Nichiren Buddhist can be more tolerant of other religions than Nichiren himself was.
In the Gosho, when Nichiren talks about discarding Pure Land Buddhism, we should take it literally. But when Nichiren talks about discarding other forms of Buddhism or non Buddhist religions and philosophies, we should take it as a metaphor for our process of “discarding” any lingering non-Buddhist attitudes which still may crop up occasionally within our lives - such as: being irresponsible; blaming our environment; skipping gongyo; being pessimistic, doubting the Gohonzon; being dishonest; being unkind; being lazy; being intolerant; being selfish; etc. etc....... "
Thank you. I will most certainly revisit. I have decided to review a lot of the stuff on here anyway. I hope to see you again soon.
DeleteChantings, in any tradition, are amazing! I've been chanting Shakti mantras after I received deeksha from Babaji and life has transformed! It is a wonderful life again!
ReplyDeleteWrite me please if you would like me to send you several Kempon Hokke Sutra books [Essential Services of the Kempon Hokke] and if you enjoy our practice, I will send you a high resolution image of Nichiren's Gohonzon for the Transmission of the Dharma. You may print it on fine acid free or parchment paper, frame it or mount it on a blank wall scroll. Then you can return the SGI Nichikan Gohonzon, send it to me for respectful disposal, or burn it while chanting the Daimoku and the Jiga-ge.
ReplyDeleteBuku - I would be VERY interested. Email me: mscrazycatlady@gmail.com.
Delete