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Chanting Growers Group

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PassTheDoobie

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Scegy shares his first Gosho quote:

i agree, knowing yourself means knowing others, thus their weaknes(yours). as your post stated. the more i know my weakneses the more i can laugh at them when they appear.
to simplify my "request" here, how to make others listen that there are other, better things in life then money, alcohol, drugs and partys? cos i talk much to ppl around me, and although they agree with me they act further like we've never talked...you know what i mean?

"Many hear about and accept this sutra, but when great obstacles arise, just as they were told would happen, few remember it and bear it firmly in mind. To accept is easy; to continue is difficult. But Buddhahood lies in continuing faith."

(The Difficulty of Sustaining Faith - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 471) Selection source: SGI President Ikeda’s speech, Seikyo Shimbun, April 17th, 2006
 

PassTheDoobie

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My response to his last comments:

As always, this is just my opinion, but I think first, you need to be able to give them something more than just your opinion. You have to have some counter-balance or alternative option to the behavior you are being critical of. CYNACISM NEVER INSPIRES ANYONE, IN MY OPINION. Secondly, I think you need to be personally respect worthy and towards that end your solution must have some basis in reality, rather than being idealistic banter (I am not saying your position is, just that people will not become inspired by a proposed solution that lacks a credible end-game). Thirdly, you need to have the wisdom to correctly perceive the capacity of the people you are speaking with. Lastly, I think you have to reflect something in yourself that qualifies what you are suggesting as being something that another person would want to emulate: happiness, confidence, and compassion. It isn’t necessary to be rich, famous, beautiful or impressively intelligent. It is necessary that people be able to see that you are sincere and truly desire their happiness. Who you are as a human being will reflect whether you’re full of shit or have something to offer that goes beyond a philosophical conversation.

All of this is contained within the effect on an individual’s life that earnestly and faithfully practices Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism, chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo everyday.
 

PassTheDoobie

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I love Easy's encouragements!

Can you all feel it today! The incredibly revitalizing NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO has brought me closer to my goal of enlightenment, and yes I am not only feeling the benefits today of chanting, but I am sharing them with you all my dear Chanting friends. I have been chanting for everyone here, and know we are all benefiting from all our grateful prayers. I am so very lucky to be a human and able to chant NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO! Its part of my past, currently in my present and shall be in my future as well!

Do you see what I SEE! You are the gohonzon trust in the gohonzon to make you realize your of unlimited potential! You are one with the Mystic Law! You are thereby empowered to procure your happiness!

Chant for me as I continue to chant for you! Together we will propagate Kosen-rufu with the protection of shoten zenjin. We are all united, and be strong because the greatest obstacle for me has been overcoming MYSELF! Persevere! Outlast! I believe in you!

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!
 

PassTheDoobie

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Scegy replies:

pass the dobie: i give up on my cynicizm, thank you for grounding me ;)

as for your words, i think i've been chanting all my life nam myoho renge kyo, just that there are moments when i see no benifit from giving my energy to others. i help to whome i trust, and some ppl just can't be trusted no matter what, it's just their nature.
i don't know why you promote buddhism so much(are you trying to say that this is the only way to get ppl listening?), one can come to it's own conclusions if he wishes so, just by giving his full attention to the right direction.

i got the feeling that we should talk about this after a decade, when i'll be able to confirm myself if my believes were right or not :D
i'm confused by your intentions here, don't get me wrong, i just can't see how are we going to enlighten the world by talking?no one cares to listen...even so, the numbers are too low to get the real effect...
i'm amazed by your optimism, just can't figure you out....;)
 

PassTheDoobie

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Easy continues to encourage Scegy's seeking spirit:

Please continue to read this thread, your missing all the highlights apparently! Within the last 50 pages you find my introduction and my progression, use it as a guide to gauge you perception and direction. Otherwise please try harder with abandoning the cynicism, your apparently letting your enviroment get the best of you! Perhaps its a chemical issue at this point? Never give up on yourself!

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!
 

PassTheDoobie

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Scegy responds:

easy: i never do give up on myself, i weren't here if i did. why do you think i let the enviroment get the best of me? cos i don't feel like that but i do critisize it a lot....but i feel like that's all i CAN do? i'm being cynic about our future, i don't think this capitalism will flip to a better politic in a breeze, it will take a lot of uncessary shit before it does, so i think.
by chemical you mean weed?
 

PassTheDoobie

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Easy shares more:

Until I began deep introspective self reflection I lost myself in all the outside forces that pollute our personal utopias. I am not constantly in a state of buddhahood so I apologize if I was too harsh, my sincere wish was to just help you look at yourself from a different angle. Why criticize what you can't change and not change what you can about yourself. It all begins with you is what I have been learning from SGI. Not to long ago the concept of world peace was fake and irrelevant. I was stuck in the quagmire of my own enviroment, the shackles of my past were repressing my present and future. Now I live in the present and try and focus my energy towards propagating Kosen-rufu which also means world peace. How does one undertake such a task, first by starting and staying consistent with your practice secondly I am focusing on the good I have absorbed from my diligent studies with SGI, including the Goshos and definitions you will find @ www.sgi.org

I am a perenial socialist and always will be, your giving capitalism too much credit, focus more on yourself and not everything else, don't you think you have enough to deal with right now than to point the finger at worldwide ideals. I think if you apply yourself to undoing capitalism or berating its exsistence you will miss out on the most important moments in life which are happening right now! Don't get ahead of yourself, I do it all the time, its human to err but better to try and see the proverbial glass as half full! Squeeze some good from your fruits of life, if you can't find any its time you grew some! Germinate your seeds of happiness now and sow the goodness later secgy.

WHen I refered to something chemical I broadly meant perhaps your sadness might be due to something out of your immediate control a foreign substance, perhaps your own personal internal chemistry, any number of things that could be corrected and adjust your apparent desire to find happiness within your present state of being.

Listen your seeking spirit brought you here to give yourself a chance, a chance to look in a new direction and possibly embrace that which is beneficial. As another benefit of your search you have stumbled into a school of peace that of which adknowledges the harmony between the physical world and the mystical world. Please continue to read the posts in this thread it will show you more than you'll bargain for.

YOU CAN ALWAYS DO MORE THAN JUST CRITICIZE POLITICS, TAKE THE TIME AND FIGURE OUT A PLAN OF ACTION THAT WILL BRING YOU CLOSER TO YOUR GOALS.

Search for the Gohonzon is my advice.... seeking you shall find
 

PassTheDoobie

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Scegy replies:

easy: great reading you ;)
i must have missexpressed myself, i opened my eyes, half a year ago, the more i live on my own, the more i see the beauties of life, but i get MAD when i see that the system that i pay for should work for me not for itself, that is my sadness
these days are my trully focused days, first time in my life i know what i want to do, i'm at the begining of my jurney i know, but i'm looking forward of it.
i think i sad in the last few posts somewhere i think: if ppl want to understand eachother they first have to understand themselves, meaning, looking at urself from a different angle....i always did that, well since i started to think, but i was young cos i remember my thoughts from back then i just didn't understand MY needs. so i was confused for a long time
but i must say that you guys give me inspiration with your posts/thoughts, looking forward to read some more :)
 

PassTheDoobie

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Easy tells Scegy to keep chanting and then Scegy asks another question:

i have a question, i never really answeard myself on this one
i'm never sattisfied with just helping the ppl i love, but it is repulsive for me to help a drunk young bum, who is healthy in all ways, by giving him money? for instance.
i'm confused about this, don't know what to feel, any thoughts?
;)
 

PassTheDoobie

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I say what I have to say about his previous comments:

First of all, I think you are very lucky to have met easydisco here. In my opinion, you two share a relationship from a past life. It is obvious how much compassion he has for you and his sincerity to relate to you and attempt to encourage you towards an understanding of what he is experiencing should be notably commended. Well done easdisco!

But scegy! This post in particular somewhat discounts your previous claim to have read the first twenty pages of the thread before you started posting. Did you read speed-read them? Perhaps you felt you were already adept enough based on your own thinking, your personal philosophy of life, to easily grasp what is going on here. Please take no offense in what I've just said, as it is merely an objective observation based on everything you have to say.

I'm not sure on what basis you make the first comment of, "i think i've been chanting all my life nam myoho renge kyo." You seem to think that these are not important or specific words that convey an important and specific result, or effect, on the person making the cause of saying them over and over again (chanting). You would be mistaken.

That is not my opinion, that is a fact. The basis of that fact has been delineated in this thread over and over again. The basis of that fact are the teachings of several quite famous and historical Buddhas that have lived throughout the last twenty centuries, and the life experiences of those that try chanting. If you think your wisdom is comparable to theirs, then by all means ignore what they have said, and follow your heart. (But I would highly recommend you keeping an open mind and endeavoring to expand your understanding.)

"i don't know why you promote buddhism so much(are you trying to say that this is the only way to get ppl listening?)," This question is why I think you really didn't read the first twenty pages. No I am not saying that this is the only way to get people listening. Many, many, people are listening that don't chant and don't practice Nichiren Buddhism. They have been exposed to the real teachings of Buddhism by the Bodhisattva actions of those that do. THIS THREAD IS ABOUT NOTHING OTHER THAN NICHIREN BUDDHISM AND IT'S EFFECT ON THE LIVES OF THOSE THAT PRACTICE IT.

In the US, as much as 70 percent of the population, according to a recent survey, say they believe in God. But how many of them replied 'yes' to that question because they have no other basis of belief to base their lives (and fear of death) on? The reason this thread was started was to expose people to Nichiren Daishonin’s teachings and encourage them to try the Buddhist practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. I don’t know how old you are, but I’m in my fifties, and started chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo when I was nineteen. In all that time, it has always amazed me how little people in the West (non-Asians) understood about Buddhism. My step-mom was convinced I was involved in devil worship! She thought ‘Buddha’ was the same thing as ‘God’ in Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth!

The funny thing to me is that large portions of those 70 percent that said “yes” are absolutely convinced, that large portions of the 70 percent that said “yes” are going to suffer eternal retribution in hell for not worshipping the “right God”! Where the hell is there any real salvation in that thinking? “Us versus them” has never worked, and will never work, in my opinion and experience. Even if you never practice Buddhism, at least it’s teachings provide a rational basis (for the first time for many) to understand a basis for comprehending the eternal inter-connectedness of all things. It helps that science keeps revealing that this thinking is grounded in the phyical laws of the environment we live in, earth, as well.

“one can come to it's own conclusions if he wishes so, just by giving his full attention to the right direction.” But on what basis would our conclusions be correct other than in our own opinions? Hey Brother, as I said before, then follow your heart. Everyone is entitled to their own opinons, based on their experience. However, I think if what you say were true there would be no need in this world for teachers. We could all just “self-educate” ourselves. That would be rather self-serving, I think, if the ultimate goal is to change the effects in the lives of people throughout the world, and in doing so, change the world itself. And this is the ultimate goal of Nichiren’s Buddhism. We refer to that goal as the attainment of “kosen-rufu”.

“i got the feeling that we should talk about this after a decade, when i'll be able to confirm myself if my believes were right or not :D Why not share them with us all right now? You might be amazed to find out how much of your personal philosophy is already contained in Buddhism and already validated in a higher manner than a game of “let’s wait and see”.

“i'm confused by your intentions here, don't get me wrong, i just can't see how are we going to enlighten the world by talking?no one cares to listen...even so, the numbers are too low to get the real effect...” I hope I have made my intentions more clear to you in this post. But for the record, this isn’t just “talking” All this thread reinforces is action, action, action.

Take action in one’s practice of Buddhism, chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Take action in the efforts one makes for one’s own happiness. Take action in the efforts one makes for the happiness of others. Take action to understand the principles of reality that Buddhism teaches governing ones life. If you are of an opinon that this thread is just about talking, or “thinking”, then you are mistaken and aren’t discerning what is being said deeply enough. Any confusion you may have is then completely understandable (and a reflection of you rather than what is being said).

And the numbers thing? Trust me, this thread is insignificant in the vast activity of propagation of Nichiren’s teachings that is occurring throughout the world on a daily basis. Familiarize yourself with the mission and activities of the Soka Gakkai. You’ll find that the effort is immense, very public, and conducted among practitioners of all walks of life throughout the world. According to our beliefs, we only need to propagate this teaching of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to a third of the world’s population to achieve our goal of kosen-rufu. People always respond to wisdom. When they don’t respond is when there is no real wisdom to be perceived.

“i'm amazed by your optimism,” Thirty-three years of practicing Nichiren’s Buddhism, chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo will do that to a person.

“just can't figure you out....” If we can’t convince you to try chanting, I am afraid that is something that I am sure will never happen.

I respect you dude. It takes guts to jump in here and lay it all out, even with the cover of anonymity. Thank you for your comments, and thank you for your patience in receiving this response. Stick to easydisco. You two are connected. Trust me.

I bow in obeisance to you scegy! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!

Thomas
 

PassTheDoobie

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And then give my input to his last question:

six paramitas
[六波羅蜜] (Jpn.: roku-haramitsu or ropparamitsu)


Six practices required of Mahayana bodhisattvas in order to attain Buddha-hood. The Sanskrit word paramitais interpreted as "perfection" or "having reached the opposite shore," i.e., to cross from the shore of delusion to the shore of enlightenment. The six paramitas are (1) almsgiving (Skt dana ), which includes material almsgiving, almsgiving of the Law, and almsgiving of fearlessness (meaning to remove fear and give relief ); (2) keeping the precepts (shila); (3) forbearance (kshanti), or to bear up patiently and continue one's Buddhist practice under all opposition and hardships; (4) assiduousness (virya), to practice the other five paramitas ceaselessly, with utmost physical and spiritual effort; (5) meditation (dhyana), to focus the mind and contemplate the truth with a tranquil mind; and (6) the obtaining of wisdom (prajna), which enables one to perceive the true nature of all things.

From source: The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism

Chant and figure the answer out for yourself! Buddhism would say that what you feel is a reflection of your life condition and not the bum's. The answer lies in your humanity, not in your wallet, though the wallet is sometimes used to express humanity. I don't think there is a correct answer here about giving money. There is a correct answer here about feelings of "it is repulsive for me". But the answer can only come from yourself.

And as we know Scegy is now practicing and chanting everyday! What a wonderful inspiration you have been to us all Scegy and Easy! Thanks so much for sharing your lives and showing us all the way!

This thread is full of such conversations and I encourage everyone reading to go back every hundred pages or so and see how much we have all grown together since this thing started!

I bow in humble obeisance!

Thomas
 
E

EasyMyohoDisco

Right on!

From 2010 and BEYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOND!

"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. When you are so united, even the great desire for widespread propagation can be fulfilled."

The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life
(The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 217)
 

SoCal Hippy

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Missing Scegy also. Hope he is well and always in my chants.

PTD, some awesome reposts! Thanks for that and taking the time as it's very encouraging reminder of where this was and where it is today.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
 

Payaso

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Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!

Great read from the old posts...very inspiring.

Chanting is working so very well for me that I have been busy as a little beaver building something....something to grow in. Chanting for the tools and materials you need for success is remarkably effective!

:)

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo to all the Chanting Growers!
 

PassTheDoobie

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"When one practises the Lotus Sutra under such circumstances, difficulties will arise, and these are to be looked on as 'peaceful' practises."

(Ongi kuden - Gosho Zenshu, page 750, The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, page 115) Selection source: "Kyo no Hosshin", Seikyo Shimbun, February 15th, 2010
 

PassTheDoobie

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We can break any impasse with strong prayer! The Gosho teaches us to pray "as earnestly as though to produce fire from damp wood."* Invoking the power of faith, let's be victorious even in our toughest battles!

Daisaku Ikeda

* Gosho - On Rebuking Slander of the Law and Eradicating Sins - WND-1, page 444, "I am praying that, no matter how troubled the times may become, the Lotus Sutra and the ten demon daughters will protect all of you, praying as earnestly as though to produce fire from damp wood, or to obtain water from parched ground."
 

PassTheDoobie

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"Employ the strategy of the Lotus Sutra before any other."

(The Strategy of the Lotus Sutra - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol.1, page 1001) Selection source: "Kyo no Hosshin", Seikyo Shimbun, August 26, 2009
 

PassTheDoobie

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^^^^^To "Employ the strategy of the Lotus Sutra before any other." means to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as the first step in resolving any difficulty. Engaging one's Buddha Nature is the means to overcome any obstacle.^^^^^
 

Babbabud

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Nam myoho renge kyo

Nam myoho renge kyo

From "The Oneness of Mentor and Disciple", in the SGI Quarterly, January 2010, page 28.

Buddhism is a philosophy with the aim of empowering people. Its central premise is that each person has the innate capacity to triumph in any circumstances in which they find themselves, to surmount any source of suffering, transforming it into a source of growth and strength. It is a philosophy established on the conviction that there exist within the lives of each of us at each moment inexhaustible reserves of courage, wisdom, compassion and creative energy.

Nam myoho renge kyo !!
 

PassTheDoobie

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"Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the greatest of all joys."

(Ongi kuden - Gosho Zenshu, page 788, The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, page 212) Selection source: Study for Beginners, February 16th, 2010
 
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