Testimonial template

Testimonial template

我提议做一个模 (template) 让我们地区的每个会员们写下他们修行大圣人佛法的重点。以下是一个草稿：

1. 我几时、在什么情况入信 (When and how I had encountered this faith): ____________________

2.  我的信心的原点 (My prime points of faith is/are): ____________________

3. 我的人生观 (My outlook in life): ____________________

4. 我最近的体验 (My recent benefit): ____________________

5. 我目前的挑战 (My current challenge): ____________________

6. 我的决意 (My resolution):
____________________

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Value of suffering ; coward cannot be a Buddha

1/6/15 9:17:33 am: Judy!: 每日指导
6 月 1日

越受苦难，越觉欣喜，如此深远博大的心境，何等幸福！对妙法的信心越深，越能了解这一点。这样的人充满感谢的心。

国际创价学会会长池田大作
1/6/15 9:23:09 am: Judy!: Daily Encouragement
June 1

A coward cannot become a Buddha. We cannot attain Buddhahood unless we possess the heart of a lion. The harsher the situation, the bolder the stand we must take. This is the essence of the Soka Gakkai spirit.

Daisaku Ikeda, SGI President


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View karma as mission!

To simply view your sufferings as "karma" is backward-looking. We should have the attitude: "These are sufferings I took on for the sake of my mission. I vowed to overcome these problems through faith." What we had previously viewed as destiny, we come to see as mission.
(From SGI President Ikeda's Discussion on "The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra")

Worthies and sages are tested by abuse.

Nichiren also says:
"Iron, when heated in the flames and pounded, becomes a fine sword. Worthies and sages are tested by abuse. My present exile is not because of any secular crime. It is solely so that I may expiate in this lifetime my past grave offenses and be freed in the next from the three evil paths." (Letter form Sado", WND-1, p303)

Greater Causality --- for Attaining buddhahood

Negative karma is subsumed in the world of Buddhahood and is purified by its power. To use an analogy, the emergence of the world of Buddhahood is like the rising of the sun. When the sun dawns in the east, the stars that had shone so vividly in the night sky immediately fade into seeming nonexistence. ( SGI president Ikeda)

Testimonial Template

Was just suggesting to Swee Huat that we should create a "template" where every member could pen down the salient points of their own journey in practicing the Daishonin's Buddhism.
A draft of the template might look like this:
"
1. When and how I had encountered this faith: ____________________

2. My prime point of faith is/are: ____________________

3. My outlook in life: ____________________

4. My recent benefit: ____________________

5. My work-in-progress challenge:
____________________

6. My resolution:
____________________

Daimoku first attitude!

Rekindling my daimoku first attitude!

I must persevere!
我什么都不是。
I only purely believe that ultimate salvation comes from abundant chanting.

“此命只在一念”

26/5/15 7:56:17 am: Kwee! Chang: 每日指导
5月 26日
御书有云："此命只在一念"（御书全集487页〈持妙法华问答抄〉）。佛法系于"一瞬的生命"。久远的大生命也尽收在这瞬间的生命中。不是"有朝一日"，而是"此时此刻"决定胜负。
国际创价学会会长池田大作


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Nam Myoho Renge Kyo ~ Chant For Happiness: What Does Nam-myoho-renge-kyo Mean and Why Do We Chant It?

http://chantforhappiness.blogspot.sg/2015/05/what-does-nam-myoho-renge-kyo-mean-and.html

What Does Nam-myoho-renge-kyo Mean and Why Do We Chant It?

What does Nam-myoho-renge-kyo mean, 

and why do we chant it? 

By Jamie Lee Silver of ChantforHappiness.com - 
Not an official SGI site

(Subscribe by putting your email in the box to the right. 

Translate button is at the top right.)

The literal translation is:

"I fuse my life 

with the mystic law of cause and effect 

through sound vibration (or sutra)." 

It is the title of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha's highest teaching that declares that ALL people possess the Buddha Nature...all people ARE Buddhas...and we can access this nature by calling it forth in our lives using this phrase. 

Being a Buddha - 
is tapping the river of life that runs through ALL life - summoning the mystic law 
by realizing 
we ARE the Mystic Law. 
We not only chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo ~ 
we ARE Nam-myoho-renge-kyo ~the Mystic Law. 

I like to think of it as "I am one with the rhythm of all life." It is the rhythm that exists within all of life...the reason for the turning of the tides...the reason for the seasons...the atoms that exist within every single cell...from an elephant to a spec of dust...to the cells in our hearts and minds. Everything possesses this connectedness...this rhythm.  
It is all encompassing and contains the wisdom and energy of all of life itself...the whole universe. 

When we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo we tap into that energy and access it for our lives...directed towards our desires and for the fulfillment of happiness for all. In this practice, it's okay to have desires. More than okay! We don't have to alleviate them. Desires make us who we are and lead us to chant. 

When we chant we change the internal life within our lives. We change the core and fiber of our lives. We change our karma. And when we make that internal change, our ENVIRONMENT (meaning everything that is not within our own skin, our jobs, our relationships, our sense of self, everything we experience and think) ALL of that changes to reflect our internal change. We call this "Human Revolution."

When we chant we harness the energy that is our birthright. And we chant twice a day, every single day, to get and keep our lives in rhythm. 

When we are in rhythm we are in the right place at the right time... to find out about and get the job...or to meet the man of our dreams...or to protect our child from danger. When we are in rhythm life isn't so much of a struggle as it is a joy...we see the beauty in everything and we feel our lives overflowing with appreciation. 

We chant for something and get it or something better. We get access to internal happiness and strength that cannot be blown away by any event or obstacles. 

In fact we view obstacles themselves as benefits, as strange as that may sound....because obstacles make us chant more, and when we chant more we draw even higher life conditions and deeper satisfaction into our lives. 

What can we chant FOR? Anything. We chant for others, we chant for our planet, our countries, and ouselves. 
We can chant for whatever our desire may be...even if it might not be the "right" desire for us. In the act of chanting, we will change our karma and our desires themselves will naturally begin to shift. We will open our lives to the deeper wisdom within...the deeper yearning, the REAL desires that we have forgotten or given up on. We will grow. We will prosper and we will blossom. 

We will gain the wisdom of the right action to take - because ACTION springs from wisdom. 

The challenge is...we need to DO it. We have to chant to bring all this rhythm and harmony out. And that's why we practice together as an organization, the SGI, The Soka Gakkai, our fellowship of friends who support each other, chant for each other, and create a new Soka family for each practitioner. We are so fortunate. 

I hear from people all over the world, and some have strong SGI groups in their towns and others are completely alone. I love that we can connect through the power of the internet. From the moment I began chanting almost 30 years ago I have had the deep desire to share this practice, this practice that WORKS, with everyone who is looking for the real, practical means of creating happiness and results in their lives. 

We are in this life together...sharing our challenges and our successes. If you are not yet connected to the SGI please go to sgi-usa.com and find your local members. You will be so glad you did. 

Some Powerful Quotes from Daisaku Ikeda:

THIS moment, this instant, is important, 
not some unknown time in the future. 
Today, this very day is what matters. 
You must put your whole being 
into the time that exists now. 
For future victory rests in the present moment.

BUDDHISM holds that 
everything is in a constant state of flux. 
Thus, the question is 
whether we are to accept change passively 
and be swept away by it, 
or whether we are to take the lead 
and create positive changes on our own initiative. 
While conservatism and self-protection
might be likened to winter, night and death, 
the spirit of pioneering and attempting to realize 
the ideals evokes the images of spring,
morning and birth.

DO gongyo and chant daimoku with a fresh spirit. 
And, filled with renewed vitality, 
build a history of accumulating fresh benefit.

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4 steps to Changing Ourselves

17/5/15 9:21:56 am: Chang Cheng Liang: A SGI USA WD sharing:

Being a Buddhist means taking full responsibility for our lives, the good and the bad...responsibility, not blame. When we take responsibility we can change. When we change, our environment changes. As simple as it sounds, it can be incredibly difficult to change!

When we change,
our entire environment changes.
Our change of heart
is the key to happiness.

Here are some ideas for all of us:

3 Ways We Can Change Ourselves

1. Have a Problem you MUST change. Be motivated. Give yourself the gift of having passion for your own life and your own outcomes.

2. If at all possible, go for guidance from a senior leader. Chant before the guidance to be able to absorb the guidance with your life. Chant afterward to understand and follow it. Also - let Daisaku Ikeda guide you. I read his guidances every day, and often feel as if he is speaking directly to me.

3. Don't give up. I know ~ We hear this all the time. And it is true. The only way out is by going through it, and not turning back.

4. Chant in appreciation. If you don't have appreciation - chant to have it!

Even though It's not always easy to see our lives ~
Awareness leads to change.

And we need to keep going. Sometimes we are in the middle of the lake, and the only answer is to keep swimming. (Chanting!)


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人间革命

17/5/15 7:56:44 am: Kwee! Chang:
5月 17日
生病的人变得健康就是了不起的人间革命。不近人情的人变得待人亲切也是人间革命。人间革命没有某种特定的形态，而是力争上游的行动。
国际创价学会会长池田大作


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奋迅（56）

奋迅（56）
学会的职务是为广宣流布的。我认为不能像公司的职务或社会上各种各样的头街一样考虑。而且，接受学会的职务要视为接受佛意佛敕的赐予，用整个身心来履行责任，这就是户田先生的指导。
因此，就算有这样那样的困难，也要勇于承担学会的职务，这一态度不是很重要吗？怎么忙也要作为干部为佛法、为同志尽力，从中能磨砺自己，进行境界革命、人间革命，积累功德和福运。
- 学会、广布的胜利取决于干部是佛认真实行我们的职务。
- 会员面对各种各样的挑战，作为干部的我们有义务帮助他们通过信心获得幸福。
- 一个认真干部的努力可以促使整个学会衍生一股澎湃的推动力。池田先生以他从年轻时期作为蒲田的干部获得前所未有的胜利证明这一点。

奋迅（59）
还有，我呼吁'发起宿命转换、境界革命的战斗！'同志都陷于严重的经济困难、疾病等苦恼之中，痛苦不堪。
信心、唱题、弘教都是为了转换这种宿命，获得幸福。学会活动都是为了自己。没有用题目和折伏解决不了的苦恼。户田先生拼命强调这一点。
- 胜利的三指针就是一念、祈求、行动。其关键的行动就是折伏。
- 从学会的开始，就是以提倡题目行和折伏转换个人的宿命，得到真正的幸福。
-我们需要耐心好好灌输我们的会员这一点。


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Daily encouragement

5/5/15 9:43:27 pm: Kwee! Chang: Thursday, Jan 29th, 2015
—- DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT —-
"'Our lives, our physical bodies, are entities of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Human revolution means manifesting the life state of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
"'What does human revolution actually mean or look like? I would like to outline some indicators or measures for you today.

"First is health. Let's strive to clearly demonstrate actual proof of faith by leading a healthy life. Naturally, we all have our own karma, but generally speaking, we can't work our hardest if our health is compromised. Of course, we are physical beings, and there are times when we are bound to fall ill. But we should always chant earnestly for health and strive to profoundly align our lives with the fundamental rhythm of the universe. Without such prayer and efforts to lead healthy, well-balanced life, we cannot be said to be practising properly.'

"The second indicator is youthfulness. Maintaining a youthful spirit throughout life is a sign of human revolution. Striving energetically in our Buddhist practice and continuing tirelessly to polish and develop ourselves will keep us from losing our spiritual youthfulness.

"As the third, Shin'ichi specified good fortune. By continuing to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, dedicating ourselves to kosen-rufu, and triumphing as Buddhists in our daily lives, we adorn ourselves and our families with good fortune. In our turbulent society, such good fortune protects us and brings vibrant prosperity.

"Fourth, Shin'ichi cited wisdom. To strive to perfect ourselves as human beings and grow into effective leaders of society, we must polish our wisdom and intellect. Neglecting that will consign us to defeat in society.

"Fifth, Shin'ichi listed passion. Genuine practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism burn with a passionate commitment for kosen-rufu that invigorates their lives. We can possess all the intelligence in the world, but without passion we are like the living dead. Passion is also a requirement for happiness. Whether we are happy or unhappy in life is for the most part determined by our degree of passion.

"Sixth, Shin'ichi mentioned conviction. Human revolution is a brilliant reflection of our firm belief. Without a philosophy for living and firm convictions, we are like a ship without a compass. With no idea of the direction we should be taking, we can be blown about by the winds of karma and end up like a ship wrecked on the reefs.

"The seventh and final indicator of human revolution, Shin'ichi explained, is victory. Buddhism is a struggle to be victorious. Human revolution is achieved by accomplishing one victory after another. A winning life is a life of human revolution. Everything in both life and kosen-rufu is a struggle. Being victorious is the way to demonstrate proof of justice and truth."

SGI Newsletter No. 9185, The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, Part 2: Human Revolution, Chapter 7: What Is Human Revolution? 7.4 Indicators of Human Revolution. From a speech delivered at a Nagano Prefecture General Meeting, Nagano Training Center, Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, 6th Aug., 1994. From the January 2015 issue of the Daibyakurenge. Translation re-released Jan. 26th, 2015.
The Japanese kanji is available by clicking on Seikyo Shinbun's web-site address at http://www.seikyoonline.jp/news/index.html


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