KEY POINTS IN FAITH
by Jeanny Chen
I would like to share with you the few key points that I have learned and applied during my years of practice. They have enabled me to achieve great results. It’s not my intention to brag about money or show off in any way. My sole reason is to illustrate concretely the results I have been able to create through my practice to the Gohonzon.
1. FAITH
With that said, let’s begin with the first of the ten key points, Faith. Nichiren Daishonin says in ‘The Strategy of the Lotus Sutra’: “No matter how earnestly Nichiren prays for you, if you lack faith, it will be like trying to set fire to wet tinder” (WND, pp. 1000-001). It’s important that we develop our faith. For some of us, this doesn’t come quickly or easily. There are several things we can do to strengthen our faith.
We can practice vigorously to get results or benefits.
We can attend SGI discussion meetings and listen to other’s experiences.
We can study SGI publications to deepen our understanding of Buddhism.
We can connect with seniors in faith to receive encouragement and advice.
The benefits of the Gohonzon are expansive, infinite and know no bounds
2. Have a purpose in life or MISSION
We sometimes think that suffering must be our mission. But because we suffer, we are willing to put effort into practicing this Buddhism. As long as we practice correctly and earnestly, we will realize benefits and overcome our difficulties. Such experiences strengthen our faith and enable us to show actual proof. As a result, we will have the desire and the credibility to introduce this Buddhism to others. Thus, we fulfill our mission of propagating this Buddhism. In order to spread this Buddhism, we need hundreds of millions of people showing actual proof, each under different circumstances. It’s not only a handful of practitioners who got lucky and enjoy benefits from this practice. Everyone can!
What’s our mission in Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism?
The first mission is to become happy oneself.
The second mission is to help others become happy, which is what we call Kosenrufu or world peace.
It’s very important to support our mentor SGI President Ikeda and the SGI’s mission of peace, culture and education and also to help develop capable ad positive successors for the 21st century.
I would like to share a story with you. After having fulfilled my personal financial goals in my third year of practice, I was able to retire. As a newly immigrated Chinese, my English was very weak, and I thought that would prevent me from doing anything significant. Rather than being frustrated by my poor English language ability, I chanted to be able to do something to create value with my resource as a Chinese speaker. Shortly thereafter, I found myself writing Chinese newsletters for my friends and for a boy-scout troop that consisted of a hundred Chinese boys. I then wrote for a Chinese school with 1,000 students. I decided to help those places that others were not taking a great interest in.
I used the high life condition, wisdom and joy derived from my chanting to write in a humanistic and humorous style. Although I did not mention Buddhism, I was able to bring joy to my readers and generate heart to heart bonds with them. When I finished writing the newsletters, my friends gave me a lamp as a gift. They all signed a thank-you card saying “Jeanny, you are like a lamp. You turn yourself on and shine on others” In the Chinese school, I got the nickname of “super glue” between the school and the parents. That was my way of doing Kosenrufu when I was not yet capable of actually sharing the philosophy of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism with others.
I chanted for the wisdom to find my unique strength or ability – something that I could develop as my own mission in society. I assigned myself a mission when I saw an opportunity. When we have a sense of mission for Kosenrufu from the bottom of our hearts, not just out of formality, our goals will be fulfilled.
One more important aspect about mission is the concept of Soka Spirit. The intent of Soka Spirit is to allow us to attain Buddhahood through overcoming the evil that tries to destroy the Kosenrufu movement and prevent the happiness of each individual. President Ikeda recently said that no one should be a bystander at this critical time. We all need to be part of the battle.
3. Have a GOAL
In Learning from the Gosho: ‘The Eternal Teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, President Ikeda quotes the Chinese Buddhist teacher T’ien T’ai, “’the heart is like a skilled painter.’” President Ikeda writes that, “We should paint this vision of our lives in our hearts as specifically as possible. This ‘painting’ becomes the design for our future.” To set the design for our own future, here, means to set goals – our personal goals, goals for other’s happiness and goals for the SGI peace movement.
We often hear that goals should be specific and detailed. We can set bold, ambitious goals. The more impossible they are, the more rewarding they become when we reach them. We can also set goals that we feel comfortable with. Basically, we set goals to overcome hardship and create value.
Here, I would like to share with you the experience of my Daimoku campaign for my husband’s career. Two years after I retired from work, I had accumulated enough wisdom to realize that I had to do something very seriously about my husband’s career if I wanted enjoy life from then on. I wanted him to become successful and to get rid of financial worries once and for all so that I could fully devote my time to helping others. Next, I wanted to pay him in return for his love. In addition, I wanted to show tremendous actual proof in order to spread this Buddhism more effectively.
In other words, I wanted to be able to stay home and not have to go back to work. I was having a good time staying at home for two years! A lot of women and young women like that idea, too! In last year’s study conference, there was a man who wanted to chant for his wife to become successful, so that he could stay at home. There’s no sex discrimination in Buddhism, so please go for it!
I wanted people to appreciate my husband’s ability so that he could succeed and advance in his career. I set a very high target, which I could never even have imagined if I was not practicing this Buddhism. I went into great detail as to “how”, “what” and “why” he should be incredibly successful. I did not set the “when” because it was my first huge goal. I did not have the guts to set a time limit. Besides, I was ready to chant for as long as it took. I also chanted for our relationship – our love, health, growth and his happiness.
It took me three million Daimoku over eighteen months to reach these goals. The result was my husband’s career went far beyond my wildest dreams. It came true exactly as I prayed, every step, every detail. His ability, experience and capacity in his field are the “internal causes” from the Buddhist concept of “Ten Factors”. But for years, he could not find the right opportunity to use them. My goal, my determination and my prayer became an “external cause” which led him to the right path at the right time. This is how our practice works. More importantly, our relationship, our love was truly able to grow stronger with each day.
You may wonder how a person can love another more and more each day. Of course we can; because the benefits of Gohonzon are expansive, infinite and know no bounds. The fulfillment of these goals proved to me that nothing is impossible with Gohonzon – nothing! Gohonzon is very powerful and creative. Please don’t be afraid to shoot for the moon! Set a goal and go for it!
DETERMINATION
We have to be determined to change, determined to never give up and determined to take the correct action now!
Let’s talk about determining to change. It means to do Human Revolution. It’s important to shift our fundamental life tendency in order to change our destiny and our karma. If we don’t, we’ll just repeat the same life pattern. For instance, when we repeatedly face a similar situation, we will again respond with a similar attitude and a similar action. We literally create the same type of result for ourselves. We need to chant for the wisdom to recognize our shortcomings and weak points and for the strength to take action to change them. We have to painstakingly drag ourselves away from our old pattern and look at things from a different angle. We shouldn’t indulge ourselves.
4. NEVER GIVE UP
Now, let’s talk about never giving up. Once we set our goals there’s no turning back. There’s no “what if”. I don’t want to compromise. I don’t take “no” for an answer. I will be as stubborn as I can to stick to my goals. This is the best opportunity for me to demonstrate how stubborn I am!
But how do we hang in there? It’s so hard! We have to refresh our resolve daily through morning and evening prayers and chanting as much as we can. We have to keep our life-condition high by attending SGI activities regularly.
When I chant, I try not to focus on my suffering. I ignore it and live peacefully with it. I keep in my mind my focused determination and the final goal. No matter what the reality of the situation seems to be, no matter what anyone else thinks or says, I hold in to my goal unwaveringly and pray to Gohonzon for it.
I look at the process of my Daimoku campaign to reach my goal like tough training to forge, distill, develop and transform myself. It’s to prepare myself for the harvest. If we are not ready, we won’t enjoy the ultimate benefit of our goals. We have to be patient as we single-mindedly chant for our goals. No matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it is, we will keep chanting till we get there. And we will get there!
5. DAIMOKU
Key number five is Daimoku: chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. Besides morning and evening prayers, we have to chant as much as possible.
Abundant prayer is the key. President Ikeda has spoken time and again about the importance of Daimoku. Some of the quotes I remember are: “There’s no greater strategy than the Lotus Sutra.” “Chant so even your face will glow.” “Let’s always advance with Daimoku first. There’s no way that your life cannot change.”
There’s a motto I used during my Daimoku campaign for my husband’s success in his career: “Chant Daimoku that shakes the universe!” What it should really be is chant Daimoku that shakes your own life from its foundation that’s connected to the universe.
When we chant, we chant with a penetrating heart and with very deep resolve, thinking that this is a matter of do or die, life or death. And this is the only chance in our life.
When we chant with others, it helps us develop a strong rhythm. But we should also have a self-motivated practice. We can’t always depend on other members for support. We may want to chant several hours or more for major goals. We can build up to it, bit by bit. But if we don’t even start, we’ll never get to the point where we can chant several hours a day when we have a big emergency. The key point is for Daimoku to be joyful, not obligatory. We need to chant until we feel satisfied. Striving to chant Daimoku is an expression of our strong determination. If I don’t have a job and can chant for many hours a day, it may not necessarily be striving. But if you have a full time job, family, responsibility etc. and you manage to chant as much as possible, that’s striving.
When I was really fighting for something during the crucial campaign in my life, I made chanting my first priority. I put all leisure activities on the back burner and totally devoted myself to my Daimoku campaign. During my campaign for my husband’s career, my friend would call me and invite me to daytime parties or to go shopping. I told them I was busy. They had no idea why I was busy. I did not have a job, but I treaded chanting to reach my goal as my one and only responsibility, besides taking care of my family. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else was important.
We chant, we can see the outcome vividly with all our senses, see it happen before our very eyes. We even feel the joy and excitement of the fulfillment of our goals. It’s important that we constantly reassure ourselves during our Daimoku campaign by reading quotes from Nichiren Daishonin and President Ikeda’s guidance. We can also use the experience of other people to inspire us.
When I was chanting for my husband’s career, I learned the story of Victor Frankle. He was held captive in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. He wanted to escape from the camp so that he could share his experience with the world. While out in the yard one day, he saw a pile of dead bodies all without clothes. From that moment, he started to plan his escape. The next time he was in the yard was his chance. He waited until dark, took off his clothes and dove into the pile of corpses, disguised as a dead man. Later on, the pile was dumped outside the camp. From there he ran fifty miles to freedom. Imagine his captors when they discovered he had escaped, they must have been hunting for him. He had no clothes on, no water or food. It was a very dangerous and harsh situation. Yet he made it! And now he has shared his experience through his books and his story has moved people all over the world.
Ever since I learned of his story, I compared my daily hours of chanting to his running fifty miles. Here I am chanting in the comfort of my home. It was much more delightful than running fifty miles under his circumstances. “If he could make it, I am going to make it too. And I’m going to tell people my experience!” From then on, I would run fifty miles in my mind every time I chanted. Each Nam Myoho Renge Kyo was like a step closer to my goal.
We need a profound prayer when we chant, but remember, no begging. Always pray to Gohonzon that you have determined to reach your goal, no matter what! Because we have different mission and different karma, we will get different results at different speeds. But one thing we can be sure of is that if we put forth a ten per cent effort, we will realize a ten percent result. When we put forth 100 per cent effort, we certainly will harvest a 100 per cent result.
