Chanting Growers Group

[SoCal Hippy]

Cats!

Cats!

When we are upstairs, gotta keep Charmed, our cat, locked in the same room with us for that same reason as your kittys. Working so far, as the tree has maintained its glory since we rebuilt it from her earlier doings. And because of that she is still alive. She will have her whole-house freedom after xmas; then its always a surprise to come home and see what she's gotten into. Will share your story with Cora but it just may reinforce her disdain for Charmed. And she wonders why Charmed won't come to her when she is in the mood to hold/pet her.

 

[SoCal Hippy]

[B]Itai-Doshin[/B]

Itai-Doshin

Yup, SG, you spelled it right. Be happy to post its definition.

many in body, one in mind
(Jpn.: itai-doshin) from the Dictionary of Buddhism

A concept used to describe ideal unity. Nichiren (1222-1282) used the phrase to encourage unity among his followers. In his writing known as Many in Body, One in Mind, Nichiren states, "If the spirit of many in body but one in mind prevails among the people, they will achieve all their goals, whereas if one in body but different in mind, they can achieve nothing remarkable" (618). Another writing of Nichiren, The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life, says: "All disciples and lay supporters of Nichiren should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with the spirit of many in body but one in mind, transcending all differences among themselves to become as inseparable as fish and the water in which they swim. This spiritual bond is the basis for the universal transmission of the ultimate Law of life and death. Herein lies the true goal of Nichiren's propagation" (217). This expression can also be translated as "different in body, same in spirit." "Different in body" can be interpreted as suggesting the uniqueness of individuals, and "same in spirit," a goal or commitment shared among individuals.

 

[PassTheDoobie]

I have ZERO cut and pastes in my posts! Every single word is typed one keystroke at a time...

 

[SoCal Hippy]

I cut and paste all the time

 

[SoCal Hippy]

Merry Xmas to you and stonegirl and your kids. Now go to bed!

 

[PassTheDoobie]

BOG: I was afraid someone would pick up on my reference of evil and it was not intended the way you interpreted it. I am in total agreement with everything you said. That is why at one point I mentioned good and evil and then placed 'Buddha Nature" and "fundamental darkness" in parenthesis. If you understand what gampon-no-mumyo is, and then replace the word evil with that meaning rather than the one that Judism and Christianity have re-enforced, you'll understand the true intent of what has been said. It is not in conflict with your perception articulated above.

T

 

[PassTheDoobie]

And what time is that SoCal? Do not speak of what you do not know...

 

[BushyOldGrower]

Like a school of fish or a flock of birds in flight? I turn, you turn, we fly the same course and never collide. Hmmm, good analogy and don't worry because concepts of good and evil won't flip me out. That already happened a long time ago one fine evening.

twas the night before christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even my optical mouse...all the children tucked in their beds with visions of BOG Sugarplums dancing in their heads...

Enjoy the best life offers with joy. BOG

 

[GordyP]

What's Wrong With This Picture?

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Right now on this Christmas Eve:

it's +40 degrees in Vancouver

it's -2 degrees here in my Indiana home

Your Hoosier Weatherman,

GordyP :friends:

 

[Guest]

My sincerest apologies!

My sincerest apologies!

I was sure you told me one time that you had cut and pasted something or you would have lost alot. Certainly didn't mean to offend you. The bold print of the sentence is like you are screaming. Smile on my face! Merry Xmas to you big brother! Sent you an email to regular.
SoCAl
Yes it was funny when I saw it and I did think of Cora at that moment. One of them has a fetish for paper. So it was the bows and the candy canes on the tree. The other one sleeps under it. Just a little defense for them. They are as big or bigger than the dachshund so they all live in harmony! ha ha
Southern Girl

 

[Guest]

So Cal

So Cal

Also Thanks so much for writing the Itai Doshin for me. I was discussing that with GordyP last night. I am happy that he has it to read. SG

 

[PassTheDoobie]

For the record sweetie...

For the record sweetie...

I said I sometimes type it out in MS Word, and then cut and paste onto the thread to not lose it, as I have (lost it) many times before by typing it in directly. If anyone has the ability to cut and paste, then they must have access to a digital version of this information. I only have my books. The dictionary I use is different than the one that SoCal uses. He is using the old one and I am using the new one. I wish I knew where he is getting his stuff from because it would be much simpler for me and MUCH LESS TIME CONSUMING, to be able to just cut and paste as he is.

You have no idea how much shit I take for spending so much time typing. I steal moments to be able to continue. For the majority of the time I spent writing in the thread, stonegirl even assumed I must be cutting and pasting. To not be a typist, and then to have to look from page to keyboard and screen, over and over, as I read the tedious small print from WND, has made me crazy from time to time.

I had a butt-wipe PM me and ask if I was looking for appreciation or sympathy! I am looking for neither! Just don't assume you know what I am doing, or what I am going through, or what challenges I may face. What we may all face together in regards to challenges in developing our faith and practice, may be reflected in many different realites of daily life. Unless we are volunteering to one another what those are, let's not assume things for the sake of simplicity.

So, in case you haven't figured this out, I WAS screaming!

So: If there is an online source to read all of this stuff for free, or where you can cut and paste from, PLEASE SHARE THIS INFO WITH US ALL!

T

 

[PassTheDoobie]

http://www.sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/Nichiren/gosho.htm

http://www.sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/Nichiren/gosho.htm

I just answered my own question: Thanks to SoCal for providing the link!

When I went to the Lotus Sutra online translation, I found something called the library. There I found:

http://www.sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/Nichiren/gosho.htm

(Refer to the title line, this is blocking out the whole address for some reason)

Here you go folks! I had no idea all of this stuff was just freebee'ed out for everyone to read, whether you buy it or not! (Even if they are the older translations and publications) My work load is now reduced by ten fold or more! Sorry to have been so ouchy, but now I can see why anyone with half a brain would think I was cutting and pasting. This is a huge relief!

Leave it to SGI to make this available to the world without regard to whether they are making coin by doing so! I still can't believe that they have copyrighted materials that are for sale in book form, right there for you to read for free!

Thank you SoCal!

T

 

[PassTheDoobie]

And Yoda! Merry Christmas!

IMHO, if you are going to be lurking and sending people PM's, you ought to be posting that info to share with everyone. That way, anyone in disagreement may voice their opinion, based on their experience and study. There is no reason to be stealthy about being here. If you are, then say hello. We ALL miss you and your tremendous wisdom.

Ho nin myo!

Thomas

 

[PassTheDoobie]

For everyone's information:

lord of teachings (Jpn kyoshu): A Buddha. Lord of teachings often refers to Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism and expounder of its teachings. In Mahayana Buddhism, however, it refers also to numerous Buddhas who dwell in their lands throughout the universe and preach doctrines to instruct and convert beings. For example, Medicine Master Buddha teaches in the Pure Emerald World in the east, and Amida Buddha in the land of Perfect Bliss in the west. The Buddha who is revered in a particular Buddhist school is usually considered the lord of teachings for that school.

It helps to use the dictionary!!!

T

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Well now what to do....

Well now what to do....

I need to make one thing clear. There is a difference in the translations of the seven volume 'Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin' which is free for you to read (or me to cut and paste from), and the single volume 'Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (WND)' that I have been transcribing from. The latter is MUCH simpler to read and understand. The former was done in conjunction with NSIC (Nichiren Shosho International Center), which involved overview by the priesthood, which decided to no longer be affiliated with the lay organization SGI, which had promoted the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin and coverted a practicing population of believers the world over. The latter (WND) is a rework of these translations in chronological order utilizing the professional skills of secular scholars to convert the texts accuratly into simple English. At that time the names of the historical and literary figures from these written teachings were converted into the English translations of their original names rather than maintain the names in their Japanese form. So the names are different, the phrasology less confusing, and so forth.

Please let me know if I need to start typing again, or if this mouse clicking will do! Here is that same thing I have already submitted in my last post on this gosho, but cut and pasted from the library at the sgi-usa.org website:

Question: In a commentary by the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai, we find it stated that [although persons of the two vehicles can attain enlightenment through the Lotus Sutra,] bodhisattvas are assured of attaining it through various of the earlier sutras. From this it must follow that the Lotus Sutra was preached merely for the sake of persons of the two vehicles and not for bodhisattvas, since the bodhisattvas were already assured of enlightenment by the earlier sutras. If so, then one should understand that the words of the Buddha, "I have not yet revealed the truth," "Honestly discarding the provisional teachings, [I will expound only the supreme Way,]" and all the pronouncements found in the eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra, must have been spoken entirely for the sake of persons of the two vehicles and are not relevant to even a single bodhisattva. Is this correct?

Answer: The doctrine that the Lotus Sutra was preached solely for the sake of persons of the two vehicles and not for bodhisattvas was expounded in China in the time before that of T'ien-t'ai by the ten leading scholars representing the three schools to the south and the seven schools to the north. But T'ien-t'ai refuted this doctrine and put an end to it, so that it is no longer propagated today. If you say that there are no bodhisattvas who profit from the Lotus Sutra, then how do you account for the passage that says, "When the bodhisattvas hear this Law, the nets of their doubt will all be swept away"? In view of this, can you possibly say that bodhisattvas derive no benefit from the sutra?

Or perhaps you will argue that the Lotus Sutra can benefit the bodhisattvas of dull faculties, as it does persons of the two vehicles, but that the bodhisattvas of keen faculties have already received sufficient benefit from the earlier sutras. If so, then how do you account for the passage in the sutra that says, "Whether they are sharp-witted or dull, I shower the rain of the Law on them equally," or the passage that says, "The perfect enlightenment of all bodhisattvas in every case belongs to this sutra"? The meaning of these passages is that, regardless of whether their faculties are sharp or dull, whether they abide by the precepts or break them, whether they are of exalted birth or humble, all bodhisattvas, all ordinary common mortals, and all persons of the two vehicles shall become Buddhas and attain the Way through the Lotus Sutra.

If you say that those bodhisattvas who have attained the Way through the Lotus Sutra are all persons of dull faculties, are you then prepared to say that Fugen, Monju, Miroku, Yakuo and all the others of the eighty thousand bodhisattvas are of dull faculties? And if you maintain that the bodhisattvas of keen faculties had already attained the Way through the sutras preached prior to the Lotus Sutra, then just who are those clever bodhisattvas?

Moreover, this enlightenment attained by bodhisattvas through the earlier sutras--is it the same as the enlightenment attained through the Lotus Sutra? If so, then it is the enlightenment of the Lotus Sutra and does not belong to the earlier sutras. And if it is an enlightenment other than that of the Lotus Sutra, then among which of the sutras that the Buddha "has preached, now preaches and will preach" in the future is it contained? In any event, if it is not the enlightenment of the Lotus Sutra, then it can only be a kind of limited enlightenment and not true enlightenment.

Therefore the Muryogi sutra states, "For this reason, the enlightenment attained by the beings is characterized by differences of degree." And it also says, "[If one cannot hear of this sutra...,] in the end he will never attain supreme enlightenment." In these passages the Buddha is saying that the people attained different degrees of enlightenment through the sutras expounded prior to the Lotus Sutra, but in the end they did not attain the supreme enlightenment of the Lotus Sutra itself.


MUCH more to follow now> That just took a minute instead of an hour and a half!

T

 

[GordyP]

A Happy Birthday wish to you on this day, PTDoobie!

May you continue gaining wisedom from your constant study, may your task of conveying Nichiren's doctrine to those of us who also seek the path to enlightenment become easier as we all continue to grow in Word and Practice, may you continue to relish the responsibilities and resulting joys and love that come from parenthood, and may you be rewarded for your efforts with the time and energy to pursue all your personal aspirations throughout a long, happy, and full life.

Happy Birthday and love to my friend and brother of many years!

Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo

GordyP

 

[DONALD E SHELBY]

HELLO

 

[WW420]

Hey guys,
I posted here early in the thread,I have Cancer,
any healing flows,would be met with great Thxs
WW420

 

[Guest]

WW420

WW420

Welcome again! WW420
If you have been following this thread you will know that there have been a couple of entries made regarding health issues that have been overcome or guided by the prayer of NamMyoHoRengeKyo. Tho Daimoku( repiticious chanting of NamMyoHoRengeKyo) can be easily sent your way, however, the most powerful wil be that which you do yourself. Say it three times in your mind everytime you feel concern, fear or even thought of your present condition and build on it from there. NO sincere heartfelt prayer will go unanswered, for that is what Nichiren Daishonin has told us. And so it is! YOu don't have to start with the belief. You can ask for the actual proof of the power and it will be given to you. Your faith and belief in this is built on the continual cycle of obstacles and benefits. This obstacle is a part of your life and who you are and it is a source of great change and benefit. You must look at it this way. You must control the illness and not allow it to control you. Please give it a try and I'm sure all will send the same your way. Southern Girl