Part 2 ;) Basic Buddhism - Introduction to all new members Now we will have the reproduction of the discussion meeting where President Ikeda responded to the doubts of the Youth Division. New members would have lots of doubts, this may help in solving them.. 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 I often hear members talking about getting benefits from their practice. What do they mean? 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 What is the function of various meetings and why are members encouraged to attend them? The purpose of meetings is to support members in their practice, or to make friendships for a common goal. SGl-USA has many different kinds of meetings which people can attend, ranging from discussion and study meetings to divisional meetings, world peace gongyo meetings and special interest groups. The function of these meetings are to enable members to understand more deeply the profound principles of life as taught by Nichiren Daishonin. The pivotal meeting is the discussion meeting. It is at this gathering, usually monthly, where members and their guests come together to discuss a theme or topic relevant to everyone. It is a unique forum that is planned by the members. 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 What does gongyo mean 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 The Japanese word gongyo literally means assiduous practice. Generally speaking it means to recite Buddhist sutras in front of an object of worship. In the practice of Nichiren Daishonins Buddhism it means chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and reciting parts of the second chapter Hoben and the sixteenth chapter Juryo of the Lotus Sutra in front of the Gohonzon. This is the fundamental practice, which is performed morning and evening. The standard form of gongyo practiced by the SGI is reciting the essential portions of these two chapters of the Lotus Sutra, chanting daimoku, and offering silent prayers. I hear people say they chant to the Gohonzon. What is the Gohonzon? The Gohonzon is the object of devotion in Nichiren Daishonins Buddhism. The Gohonzon that members receive is in the form of a paper scroll, on which are printed a variety of Chinese and Sanskrit characters in black ink. The Gohonzon is a transcription of the Dai-Gohonzon (Dai meaning great) inscribed by Nichiren Daishonin on October 12, 1279. The characters represent life in all its aspects. Down the center, for example, in characters larger and bolder than the others, are the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo Nichiren. This represents a principle called the Oneness of the Person and the Law and means, specifically, that Nichiren Daishonin was inherently enlightened to Nam-myoho-renge-kyo; in other words, he did not learn the Law from anyone else, but realized it himself. As he says of the Gohonzon in a letter to one of his followers, I, Nichiren, have inscribed my life in sumi ink, so believe in the Gohonzon with your whole heart. (Major Writings, Vol. 1,p. 120) In a general sense, the Oneness of the Person and the Law also means that all people possess the same Law within their own lives, and the same potential as Nichiren Daishonin to become enlightened. Grouped around these large characters are smaller characters representing the totality of life - the Ten Worlds, for example, from Hell to Buddhahood; the principles of using ones desires and sufferings to achieve enlightenment; the great qualities of true self, purity, happiness and eternity that lie dormant in each person; the relationship of ones life to the universe; and much more. In short, then, the Gohonzon embodies the enlightened life condition of Nichiren Daishonin and represents life in its highest possible state — Buddhahood. 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 I do not have the Gohonzon as yet. Can I get the same benefit from my practice without having the Gohonzon? 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 Actually, most people start to practice this Buddhism without the Gohonzon. In fact, it is valuable that we should do so, because it is important that we have the time to practice, study the teachings and develop the desire to actually receive and protect the Gohonzon. As time goes on and you receive benefits from the practice, quite naturally you will want to practice with a Gohonzon. Although the benefit is the same with or without the Gohonzon in the beginning, the daily effort required to bring forth your Buddha nature and continue your practice requires you to at some point receive a Gohonzon. 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 Is chanting a form of meditation or is it positive thinking? 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 Chanting is neither meditation, nor positive thinking, though it reaps the benefits of both these practices and much more. The essence of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is that in the very act of doing so we are expressing our Buddha nature. Meditation and positive thinking do not have Buddhahood as their objective. It is not possible to express Buddhahood through these means. Although meditation and positive thinking may have value they cannot change the fundamental element in our lives which makes us unhappy and unfulfilled as human beings — our karma, nor can they bring out the highest condition of life, Buddhahood. Meditation is a more passive exercise than chanting; one usually calms ones mind by concentrating on a particular phrase or image. At first glance this may seem close to the practice of Nichiren Daishonins Buddhism, but actually the difference is apparent. The practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo enables us to express and experience our innate Buddhahood and release the powerful energy contained within that, rather than to calm our minds or negate certain ways of thinking. Again, while it is true that our thinking does become more positive as a result of chanting, this is because chanting draws out our Buddhahood which, in turn, influences every aspect of our lives, both mental and physical. Therefore, chanting is not so much a question of thinking positively or exercising mind over matter, which implies restriction; rather, through chanting, our highest state of life naturally influences our thoughts and actions towards the most valuable ends. 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 What is Human Revolution 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 The human revolution is a term used by Josei Toda, second president of the Soka Gakkai, to describe the process by which an individual gradually expands his life, conquers his negative and destructive tendencies, and ultimately makes the state of Buddhahood his dominant life condition. The idea of revolution as most people understand it usually refers to a political or economic revolution. Such a revolution usually imposes new ideas upon people at large, and thereby effects change. Rather than changing society directly, through improving or reforming social or political systems, the object of change lies deep within the life of each individual. As Josei Toda states: The human revolution I am talking about...refers to the establishment of ones ultimate purpose in life and working towards the perfection of self. We carry out our daily lives according to our own views on life and society. However, human revolution refers to the change that we bring about in the way we view life, society and the world. A fundamental change occurs in the way one has led his or her life up until that point. The human revolution of an individual becomes apparent when he or she establishes an unwavering and absolute conviction in the eternity of life. Rather than focusing on short-term goals which apply only to ones present lifetime, this conviction becomes the basis for the pursuit of loftier goals and greater good, in contrast to ones previous satisfaction with the accomplishment of lesser goals and good. SGI President Daisaku Ikeda wrote these words in the foreword to his novel The Human Revolution: A great revolution of character in just a single man will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, will cause a change in the destiny of all humankind. 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 What is karma? 🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌🎌 The question of destiny or karma has greatly preoccupied philosophers in both the West and the East. One Western theory is that when we are born our lives are like a sheet of paper on which nothing is written. Each life then develops as a result of its surroundings and the forces acting on it - parents, friends, society, the dominant culture, and so on. Buddhism, however, teaches the eternity of life; that we have lived countless lives already. This means that we are not born as blank pages, but pages on which countless impressions have already been made. According to Buddhism, life is forever existing in the cosmos; sometimes it is manifest and sometimes latent. Just as when we sleep and then awaken; our conscious mind awakens and our body feels refreshed. Between the sleeping and awakening, our consciousness carries on in a sub-conscious state. Similarly ones life continues eternally in alternating states of life and death. Death is as much a part of living as sleep is part of the process of living. Karma is thus the accumulation of effects from the good and bad causes that we bring with us from our former lives, as well as from the good and bad causes we have made in this lifetime, which shapes our future. Karma is a Sanskrit word that means action. Karma is created by actions - our thoughts, words and deeds - and manifests itself in our appearance, behavior, attitudes, good and bad fortune, where we are born or live - in short, everything about us. It is all the positive and negative influences or causes that make up our complete reality in this world Unlike some other philosophies though, Buddhism does not consider ones karma or destiny to be fixed; since our minds change from moment to moment, even the habitual and destructive tendencies we all possess to varying degrees can be altered. In other words, Buddhism teaches that individuals have within themselves the potential to change their own karma. All that we do in one lifetime affects the negative and positive balance of our karma. For example, if we are born poor in this lifetime and spend our life giving to others whatever we can give, we are making causes to change the negative karma of being poor. On the other hand, if we spend our life envying or hating or even stealing from others, we are adding to our negative balance of karma. Buddhism teaches we have all amassed karma throughout countless lives and that we not only experience the effects of this karma now, but we continue to recreate it. However, the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin teaches that there is an area of our life that is more profound than our karma - our Buddhahood or Buddha nature. The purpose of our Buddhist practice is to reveal this area and to allow its pure life force to purify our lives and change our karma at the deepest level. As SGI President Daisaku Ikeda explains: It is the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin that enables the pure life force of the Buddha state, which has existed within us since time without beginning, to well forth in unceasing currents. It changes all the tragic causes and effects that lie between and unveils the pure causes and effects which exist from the beginningless past towards the present and the future. This is liberation from the heavy shackles of destiny we have carried from the past. This is the establishment of free individuals in the truest sense of the term.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 02:58:02 +0000
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