20/3/15 8:10:58 am: Kwee! Chang: SGI members' experiences in faith
The Courage to Strive
João Maria Claro Rodrigues, Brazil
One afternoon I found myself walking down the street feeling dejected and thinking about my problems, when a strange sound from a house I passed caught my attention. I was intrigued and walked by the house several times until a few people came out. I asked one of the women what the sound was. She explained that they were Buddhists and had been chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. She told me that through this practice one could transform one's life and overcome any suffering.
I wrote this phrase down and hung it on the wall of the place where I lived--a little cubicle inside a roadside tire repair shop that was just large enough for me to fit inside. It was there that I started chanting and began to feel hope kindling in my heart.
I had grown up in a poor family. My parents fought incessantly and eventually separated. My two brothers and I stayed with our father, who remarried. Our stepmother was terribly abusive toward us, and my father did nothing to protect us. At the age of 11, I was kicked out of the house. An uncle took me in, and I worked on his farm. I could not attend school until five years later, when I was 16.
At the age of 18, I completed elementary school. I found work but could not hold onto it. I got married, found another job and was fired again. I had no money, my relationship with my wife grew strained, and we separated. I found the job at the tire store but fell into a deep depression. That was the state of my life when I found myself standing outside that house one afternoon, almost 30 years ago now, listening to the strange sound coming from within.
Even in my little cubicle, I felt a new sense of happiness welling up within me as I chanted. My girlfriend, Jacira, knowing how much I was struggling, decided to support me by chanting with me, even though she thought I was going crazy!
Three months after being introduced to Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, I decided to go back to the house where I had heard the chanting, and I was invited to attend a Brazil SGI meeting. At the meeting, I experienced an inexpressible sense of joy and felt I had found what I had unconsciously been seeking for many years.
Jacira and I were married and with difficulty bought a small house. I took on responsibilities within the local SGI organization, immersed myself in my Buddhist practice and began to learn the attitude of challenging my circumstances with faith, courage and action. I began to set goals for my life and saw changes that I had never imagined, including building a harmonious family. My new attitude also carried over into my work.
I was encouraged by SGI leaders to have grand dreams, and I began to dream of one day owning a house that would be big enough for me to host SGI meetings. To expand my life, I threw myself into visiting and encouraging fellow members, chanting with them to support them in overcoming their problems. I was eventually able to move into a much larger house which I have turned into a small business center including a sports gym.
My life today, steadily constructed on the basis of the wisdom that I have gained through my Buddhist practice, is beyond anything I could have imagined. More than material gain, however, I feel my greatest benefit is the inner strength I've acquired.
At the age of 47, I took up the challenge of completing the fifth to eighth grades of school. It was more difficult than I expected, and there were days when I thought I wouldn't succeed. I spurred myself on and, at the age of 51, finally accomplished my goal.
I feel deep gratitude for what I have gained through Buddhism, and whenever I meet someone who is struggling, I share this philosophy with them.
I believe that with effort and the courage that one gains through Buddhist practice, anyone can overcome the challenges they face. I feel immense gratitude to my mentor SGI President Daisaku Ikeda, from whom I have learned this spirit, which has enabled me to transform my life.
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20/3/15 8:10:58 am: Kwee! Chang: Sharing from a SGI-USA WD:
What does Nam-myoho-renge-kyo mean?
and why do we chant it?
One of the translations is:
"I fuse my life
with the mystic law of cause and effect
through sound vibration."
a more literal translation is
"I devote my life to the mystic law of the lotus (symbolizing cause and effect) sutra"
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo 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 have the entire universe within them...and we can access this immeasurable power chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and calling it forth in our lives.
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. Everything possesses this connectedness...this rhythm. It is all encompassing and contains the wisdom and energy of all of life itself...the whole universe.
And when we chant, we tap into that energy and access it for our lives...directed towards our desires. In this practice, it's okay to have desires. When I was searching for this practice I found many forms of Buddhism that said our desired are the cause of our suffering, and that if we can alleviate our attachment to our desires we can become happy. In Nichiren Buddhism we don't have to alleviate our desires to become happy. Desires make us who we are and cause us to chant.
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 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 emotions and a level of 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. That's right, anything. 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 chant for ourselves,
We chant for others,
We chant for kosen-rufu - a world of peace and respect!
The challenge is...we have to DO it. We have to chant to bring all this rhythm and harmony about. 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 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 find your local members. You will be so glad you did.
Sent from my iPhone
