Chanting Growers Group

[PassTheDoobie]

"During my studies with my mentor Josei Toda, the second Soka Gakkai president, I read many times the famous novel War and Peace by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). Mr. Toda always urged young people to read books, to read the great literary classics. The training he gave me in this area has proven to be an indescribably precious spiritual treasure that I have valued throughout my life.

"In War and Peace, we find the passage: "It is better to attack than be attacked." In other words, in a struggle, we need to take the offensive; we mustnt be passive in life. We must actively engage ourselves with others and society, reaching out to as many people as possible and forging bonds of trust. By winning in society and in life in this way, through sincere, dedicated efforts, we will steadily accumulate the elements for happiness.

"There may be times when we appear to suffer a setback or defeat. But when that happens, we must get back on our feet and press forward toward ultimate victory. Winning is the key to happiness. To be victorious is to be happy.

"Lets all join in a shared pledge today to become victors in life."

SGI Newsletter No. 7000, SGI President Ikedas Acceptance Speech on receiving his 200th academic honour, Toward a New Dawn of Wisdom, Creativity, and Peace, translated Oct. 19th, 2006

 

[Bonzo]

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the input my Bodhisattva homies!!!!

You know i allmost didnt go to my meeting, i read everything you guys posted and thought and thought and thought, then i chanted. I didnt get a clear answer to my questions or rather i didnt come to any final conclusions as to what i was gonna do except THAT I WAS GOIN' TO MY MEETING DAMNIT!!!! Fuckin' darkness tried and failed to keep me from going.

HHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we did Daimoku (there were only 5 of us there?) and after that we studied the SGI Buddhist Learning Review, 2006 study giude. I gotta tell ya'll i was amazed at how much i allready knew from reading this thread! IT WAS COOL!!! Made me feel good and i just kept thinkin what a fuckin blessing this thread is!!!!

So at the end of the meeting one of the girls who is really cool mentioned that it would be cool if each of us could call some of the other members to remind them that the "test" is next sunday. Thats when i statrted to ask questions and speak up about meeting attendance and WHERE THE FUCK IS EVERYONE??????? Remember T when you said get ready to shorten your leisure time or something to that effect? Well i started questioning what the deal was as far as people supposedly in our district not attending our meetings on a regular basis. I got all kinds of responses about so and so had to play softball or had to walk there dog and all kinds of reasons why they couldnt be there. Well i spoke up and said "ya know the surf is up and i could be surfing right now but this is my priority right now" To me this is about my life!!! I MAKE THE TIME, FUCKING PLAN AHEAD!!!! Anyhow i didnt go totally bananas on em but i was very adament about member attendance. And guess what happened? They were blown away by my enthusiasm!!! They reacted very positively and the enthusiasm spread, it was really cool!!! One girl said she wished she could put me in a bottle and take me with her wherever she went!? Trippy huh?

So maybe i AM right where i need to be to light a fire and help get THE BALL ROLLIN'!!!! So im going to stick with it for now but im not going to sit idle if i dont see things moving forward in a positive, enthusiastic direction.

Your humble answers were right on T, they all make sense and will be applied when and if the situation is right.

"That district can be wherever you want it to be, so long as you support it with your ACTIVE presence" That is what hit me today and you know what, i felt like EVERYONES ENTHUSIASM ON THIS THREAD WAS WITH ME AND FLOWING OUT OF ME!!!
no shit, it was just incredible ya'll!

Dont know what else to say but i left there feeling so positive, where just a short while before i was at home ready to blow it off.

FAITH, FAITH , FAITH!!!!!!! and ACTION, ACTION, ACTION!!!!!!! and the Darkness just fuckin vanished!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VICTORY!!!!!

peace and all my deepest respect and love

bonz





!!!!!>>>>>>>>>>>NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO>>>>>>>>>>>>!!!!!
!!!!!>>>>>>>>>>>NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO>>>>>>>>>>>>!!!!!
!!!!!>>>>>>>>>>>NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO>>>>>>>>>>>>!!!!!

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Bonzo for President!!!

Bonzo for President!!!

You have no idea how much I look forward to hearing what you have to say everyday!

Thank you Bonz!

Much love and deep respect to all!

T

 

[PassTheDoobie]

No matter how earnestly Nichiren prays for you, if you lack faith, it will be like trying to set fire to wet tinder. Spur yourself to muster the power of faith. Regard your survival as wondrous. Employ the strategy of the Lotus Sutra before any other.

[ The Strategy of the Lotus Sutra, WND Page 1000 ]

 

[Bonzo]

good morning!

trippy huh? and most of the people at the meeting had been chanting for alot of years!

Your welcome T!

Peace and have the best Monday possible!

bonz





>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Nam myoho renge kyo>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[Guest]

I second that motion, BONZ FOR PRESIDENT!

I second that motion, BONZ FOR PRESIDENT!

I got an email from my regional leader first to attend a leaders meeting with Danny Nagashima then to have me do the learning review in another language with the membership in my area. I am soo busy its boardline insane!

HAHA, last year I was dicking arounding growing a plant or two, this year I am knee deep in kosen-rufu and Loving IT! WOW, this is amazing making Nam-myoho-renge-kyo my personal Slogan, Mantra, Battle Cry and Campaign.

We can't Lose!

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!

 

[personalmeds]

I wish I could play Hooky today and stay home But I return back to working solely from home next Monday, so I will hang tough for now. Expect to hear much more out of me starting next week, people!

Oh and Bonz has my vote!

Ah, my friends, I wish I could write more now but I must go. I hope you all have a wonderful day full of strength. Much love and respect to all of you (No time for names but you know who you are!)

Oh and PureSkill - Welcome to the thread!

 

[PureSkill]

I love this thread!!! You guys rock.

 

[SoCal Hippy]

Hello to all fellow Boddhisatvas of the Earth!!!

Thanks to everyone here who continue to make this thread such a valuable part of World Peace; Kosenrufu! I am blown away by what is has become and can see such unbelievable potential for the future. Let's continue together!

2 weeks ago I spoke of a 'Tatsunokuchi Experience' that I had and promised that I would be back to share. Sorry for the delay but things in my life have really been tough and challenging since.

For those who know the story, as Nichiren Daishonin was to be beheaded and executed at Taksunokuchi beach in Japan in the early hours in 1271 a bright light(meteor?) appeared in the sky and scared the crap out of his enemies and they all fled. This proving the power of the Buddhist gods (protective forces) for those who chant Nam myoho renge kyo.

Now my experience wasn't a matter of life or death but I did have a 'Buddhist god' appear and save my ass at a most crucial moment. I would have lost my house on Oct 11 if this person did not appear. My daimoku prior to this was like I was envisioning myself being led to the beach and also felt like Shinjo Kingo, a devout Nichiren follower who was with him and risked his life to be there. What kind of chanting do you think he did then? My chanting and my faith prevailed and was protected.

As Nichiren's story continues it didn't end there and mine didn't either. The Daishonin was subsequently exiled to Sado island, a place where most people in that situation would eventually die. Not Nichiren;he was then was able to present his most profound insights and teachings of the Lotus Sutra from Sado, being in the most difficult circumstances and revealing his mission as the True Buddha of the Latter Age. He rejoiced and was the 'most fortunate person in Japan'.

Me? Subsequently, I crashed and burned. (Bonz, I did some surfing myself in SoCal in the 60's, I love your insights and ramblings, keep um cumming; you for sure can relate to this). It was like I could see the most perfect wave forming on the horizon and was on my board paddling out to catch it. There are other incoming waves to overcome to get to it and as I try hurridly to get out there and as I am trying to get over the crest of the incoming wave I don't make it and it throws me off the board and sends me crashing to the ocean floor and holds me down. So painful! Not only do I almost drown but I lost all chances to ride that perfect wave I thought.

This is how I can best describe my last 2 weeks experience. I am praying and chanting strongly to regain the trust in the one most closest to me now. She must see the power of the Buddha in my life once and for all! This is my determination and have less than 30 days to have another 'meteor over Tatsunokuchi' experience and change this karma forever.

Thanks PTD for sharing one of your most favorite Goshos below as it is mine too and played a significant part in my rebound. Thanks again to all here making this thread such a great vehicle to bring Boddhisatvas of the Earth together.

"It makes no difference if the practitioner himself is lacking in worth, defective in wisdom, impure in his person, and lacking in virtue derived from observing the precepts. So long as he chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, they will invariably protect him. One does not throw away gold because the bag that holds it is dirty; one does not ignore the sandalwood trees because of the foul odor of the eranda trees around them; and one does not refuse to gather lotuses because the pond in the valley where they grow is not clean. If they ignore the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra, they will be going against their vow."

 

[Babbabud]

SoCal thankyou so much for a beautiful and inspiring post. Much love to you my brother .... so glad we can all be here for one another !! What an incredible thread !!
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[scegy]

hello friends,
i'm online again since today, i haven't catch up yet but will do soon. having some bumps on the road made me pretty damn tired...how are you all?

 

[Babbabud]

Scegy welcome home!!
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!!

 

[Guest]

Thank you Socal! Welcome back Scegy! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo Babbabud!

Thank you Socal! Welcome back Scegy! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo Babbabud!

What It Takes to Be Great
Fortune on CNNMoney.com
By Geoffrey Colvin

Research now shows that the lack of natural talent is irrelevant to great success. The secret? Painful and demanding practice and hard work

What makes Tiger Woods great? What made Berkshire Hathaway (Charts) Chairman Warren Buffett the world's premier investor? We think we know: Each was a natural who came into the world with a gift for doing exactly what he ended up doing. As Buffett told Fortune not long ago, he was "wired at birth to allocate capital." It's a one-in-a-million thing. You've got it - or you don't.

Well, folks, it's not so simple. For one thing, you do not possess a natural gift for a certain job, because targeted natural gifts don't exist. (Sorry, Warren.) You are not a born CEO or investor or chess grandmaster. You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years. And not just any hard work, but work of a particular type that's demanding and painful.


Buffett, for instance, is famed for his discipline and the hours he spends studying financial statements of potential investment targets. The good news is that your lack of a natural gift is irrelevant - talent has little or nothing to do with greatness. You can make yourself into any number of things, and you can even make yourself great.

Scientific experts are producing remarkably consistent findings across a wide array of fields. Understand that talent doesn't mean intelligence, motivation or personality traits. It's an innate ability to do some specific activity especially well. British-based researchers Michael J. Howe, Jane W. Davidson and John A. Sluboda conclude in an extensive study, "The evidence we have surveyed ... does not support the [notion that] excelling is a consequence of possessing innate gifts."

To see how the researchers could reach such a conclusion, consider the problem they were trying to solve. In virtually every field of endeavor, most people learn quickly at first, then more slowly and then stop developing completely. Yet a few do improve for years and even decades, and go on to greatness.

The irresistible question - the "fundamental challenge" for researchers in this field, says the most prominent of them, professor K. Anders Ericsson of Florida State University - is, Why? How are certain people able to go on improving? The answers begin with consistent observations about great performers in many fields.

Scientists worldwide have conducted scores of studies since the 1993 publication of a landmark paper by Ericsson and two colleagues, many focusing on sports, music and chess, in which performance is relatively easy to measure and plot over time. But plenty of additional studies have also examined other fields, including business.

No substitute for hard work

The first major conclusion is that nobody is great without work. It's nice to believe that if you find the field where you're naturally gifted, you'll be great from day one, but it doesn't happen. There's no evidence of high-level performance without experience or practice.

Reinforcing that no-free-lunch finding is vast evidence that even the most accomplished people need around ten years of hard work before becoming world-class, a pattern so well established researchers call it the ten-year rule.

What about Bobby Fischer, who became a chess grandmaster at 16? Turns out the rule holds: He'd had nine years of intensive study. And as John Horn of the University of Southern California and Hiromi Masunaga of California State University observe, "The ten-year rule represents a very rough estimate, and most researchers regard it as a minimum, not an average." In many fields (music, literature) elite performers need 20 or 30 years' experience before hitting their zenith.

So greatness isn't handed to anyone; it requires a lot of hard work. Yet that isn't enough, since many people work hard for decades without approaching greatness or even getting significantly better. What's missing?


Practice makes perfect

The best people in any field are those who devote the most hours to what the researchers call "deliberate practice." It's activity that's explicitly intended to improve performance, that reaches for objectives just beyond one's level of competence, provides feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition.

For example: Simply hitting a bucket of balls is not deliberate practice, which is why most golfers don't get better. Hitting an eight-iron 300 times with a goal of leaving the ball within 20 feet of the pin 80 percent of the time, continually observing results and making appropriate adjustments, and doing that for hours every day - that's deliberate practice.

Consistency is crucial. As Ericsson notes, "Elite performers in many diverse domains have been found to practice, on the average, roughly the same amount every day, including weekends."

Evidence crosses a remarkable range of fields. In a study of 20-year-old violinists by Ericsson and colleagues, the best group (judged by conservatory teachers) averaged 10,000 hours of deliberate practice over their lives; the next-best averaged 7,500 hours; and the next, 5,000. It's the same story in surgery, insurance sales, and virtually every sport. More deliberate practice equals better performance. Tons of it equals great performance. The skeptics

Not all researchers are totally onboard with the myth-of-talent hypothesis, though their objections go to its edges rather than its center. For one thing, there are the intangibles. Two athletes might work equally hard, but what explains the ability of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to perform at a higher level in the last two minutes of a game?

Researchers also note, for example, child prodigies who could speak, read or play music at an unusually early age. But on investigation those cases generally include highly involved parents. And many prodigies do not go on to greatness in their early field, while great performers include many who showed no special early aptitude.

Certainly some important traits are partly inherited, such as physical size and particular measures of intelligence, but those influence what a person doesn't do more than what he does; a five-footer will never be an NFL lineman, and a seven-footer will never be an Olympic gymnast. Even those restrictions are less severe than you'd expect: Ericsson notes, "Some international chess masters have IQs in the 90s." The more research that's done, the more solid the deliberate-practice model becomes.

Real-world examples

All this scholarly research is simply evidence for what great performers have been showing us for years. To take a handful of examples: Winston Churchill, one of the 20th century's greatest orators, practiced his speeches compulsively. Vladimir Horowitz supposedly said, "If I don't practice for a day, I know it. If I don't practice for two days, my wife knows it. If I don't practice for three days, the world knows it." He was certainly a demon practicer, but the same quote has been attributed to world-class musicians like Ignace Paderewski and Luciano Pavarotti.

Many great athletes are legendary for the brutal discipline of their practice routines. In basketball, Michael Jordan practiced intensely beyond the already punishing team practices. (Had Jordan possessed some mammoth natural gift specifically for basketball, it seems unlikely he'd have been cut from his high school team.)

In football, all-time-great receiver Jerry Rice - passed up by 15 teams because they considered him too slow - practiced so hard that other players would get sick trying to keep up.

Tiger Woods is a textbook example of what the research shows. Because his father introduced him to golf at an extremely early age - 18 months - and encouraged him to practice intensively, Woods had racked up at least 15 years of practice by the time he became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship, at age 18. Also in line with the findings, he has never stopped trying to improve, devoting many hours a day to conditioning and practice, even remaking his swing twice because that's what it took to get even better.



The business side

The evidence, scientific as well as anecdotal, seems overwhelmingly in favor of deliberate practice as the source of great performance. Just one problem: How do you practice business? Many elements of business, in fact, are directly practicable. Presenting, negotiating, delivering evaluations, deciphering financial statements - you can practice them all.

Still, they aren't the essence of great managerial performance. That requires making judgments and decisions with imperfect information in an uncertain environment, interacting with people, seeking information - can you practice those things too? You can, though not in the way you would practice a Chopin etude.

Instead, it's all about how you do what you're already doing - you create the practice in your work, which requires a few critical changes. The first is going at any task with a new goal: Instead of merely trying to get it done, you aim to get better at it.

Report writing involves finding information, analyzing it and presenting it - each an improvable skill. Chairing a board meeting requires understanding the company's strategy in the deepest way, forming a coherent view of coming market changes and setting a tone for the discussion. Anything that anyone does at work, from the most basic task to the most exalted, is an improvable skill.

Adopting a new mindset

Armed with that mindset, people go at a job in a new way. Research shows they process information more deeply and retain it longer. They want more information on what they're doing and seek other perspectives. They adopt a longer-term point of view. In the activity itself, the mindset persists. You aren't just doing the job, you're explicitly trying to get better at it in the larger sense.

Again, research shows that this difference in mental approach is vital. For example, when amateur singers take a singing lesson, they experience it as fun, a release of tension. But for professional singers, it's the opposite: They increase their concentration and focus on improving their performance during the lesson. Same activity, different mindset.

Feedback is crucial, and getting it should be no problem in business. Yet most people don't seek it; they just wait for it, half hoping it won't come. Without it, as Goldman Sachs leadership-development chief Steve Kerr says, "it's as if you're bowling through a curtain that comes down to knee level. If you don't know how successful you are, two things happen: One, you don't get any better, and two, you stop caring." In some companies, like General Electric, frequent feedback is part of the culture. If you aren't lucky enough to get that, seek it out.

Be the ball

Through the whole process, one of your goals is to build what the researchers call "mental models of your business" - pictures of how the elements fit together and influence one another. The more you work on it, the larger your mental models will become and the better your performance will grow.

Andy Grove could keep a model of a whole world-changing technology industry in his head and adapt Intel (Charts) as needed. Bill Gates, Microsoft's (Charts) founder, had the same knack: He could see at the dawn of the PC that his goal of a computer on every desk was realistic and would create an unimaginably large market. John D. Rockefeller, too, saw ahead when the world-changing new industry was oil. Napoleon was perhaps the greatest ever. He could not only hold all the elements of a vast battle in his mind but, more important, could also respond quickly when they shifted in unexpected ways.

That's a lot to focus on for the benefits of deliberate practice - and worthless without one more requirement: Do it regularly, not sporadically.

Why?

For most people, work is hard enough without pushing even harder. Those extra steps are so difficult and painful they almost never get done. That's the way it must be. If great performance were easy, it wouldn't be rare. Which leads to possibly the deepest question about greatness. While experts understand an enormous amount about the behavior that produces great performance, they understand very little about where that behavior comes from.

The authors of one study conclude, "We still do not know which factors encourage individuals to engage in deliberate practice." Or as University of Michigan business school professor Noel Tichy puts it after 30 years of working with managers, "Some people are much more motivated than others, and that's the existential question I cannot answer - why."

The critical reality is that we are not hostage to some naturally granted level of talent. We can make ourselves what we will. Strangely, that idea is not popular. People hate abandoning the notion that they would coast to fame and riches if they found their talent. But that view is tragically constraining, because when they hit life's inevitable bumps in the road, they conclude that they just aren't gifted and give up.

Maybe we can't expect most people to achieve greatness. It's just too demanding. But the striking, liberating news is that greatness isn't reserved for a preordained few. It is available to you and to everyone.

**********************************************************
Great Article I wanted to share with everyone. Buddhism is Reason and Shining your mirror all the time is a must! How can you expect to grow if your only chanting once in a while and not everyday.

Its soo important to work hard everyday, that its simply a must! Keep applying yourselves to your faith, your study, and most importantly chanting
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"It is like the situation when one faces a mirror and makes a bow of obeisance: the image in the mirror likewise makes a bow of obeisance to oneself.'"

(Ongi kuden - Gosho Zenshu, page 769, The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, page 165) Selection source: Q & A on Buddhism, Seikyo Shimbun, October 22nd, 2006

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"Therefore, those who become Nichiren's disciples and lay believers should realise the profound karmic relationship they share with him and spread the Lotus Sutra as he does.'"

(Letter to Jakunichi-bo - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 994) Selection source: "Kyo no Hosshin", Seikyo Shimbun, October 23rd, 2006

 

[PassTheDoobie]

The sutra known as the Lotus Sutra is a scripture that has no match among all the sacred teachings of the Buddha's lifetime. And, as indicated by its words "between Buddhas," it can only be understood between one Buddha and another. Those at the stage of near-perfect enlightenment or below, on down to ordinary mortals, cannot fathom it. This is why Bodhisattva Nagarjuna stated in his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom that persons below the level of Buddha should simply have faith, and in that way they can attain Buddhahood.

[ Reply to the Mother of Ueno, WND Page 1072 ]

 

[sackoweed]

I am just stopping by to say hello to ya'll Been awhile since i said high peace..

sack

 

[Guest]

I am just stopping by to say hello to ya'll Been awhile since i said high peace..

sack

Whats up sack.

Hi there Pureskill.

I just wanted to say when I chant for someone's immediate safety and know they were totally protected as a result of our chanting its friggin unbelievably (just a figure of speach because I do believe!) amazing.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!

 

[Babbabud]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

No trimming, no scary meetings, no work, I have some real time today. I will clean my living area, feed the bullrider and I will spend lots of time in front of Gohonzon today My chants will go out to you all. Thanks so much for being here for us. We appreciate each and everyone who reads this thread.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

-----------------------------------------------------------------
At one time, the second president of the Soka Gakkai, Josei Toda, explained the purpose of embracing the Gohonzon as follows:

The natural power of human beings is very weak. No matter how hard one tries to live one's own life in one's own way, in the end one is easily influenced by others and by external factors.... I believe that to make one's life its strongest, most brilliant and happiest, there is no way but to live the Buddhism of ichinen sanzen [a single life-moment possesses three thousand realms] and the mutual possession of the ten worlds. This is the ultimate philosophy that Nichiren Daishonin delivered to the vast universe more than seven hundred years ago. He perceived people's ignorance of this profound principle and bestowed upon them the gem of ichinen sanzen so that they could attain the state of happiness. This gem of ichinen sanzen is nothing other than the Dai-Gohonzon that he inscribed.... (Buddhism in Action, vol.7, pp. 107-08)

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!!

 

[Delta9-THC]

back and just to say hope your all good ... babba ... enjoy your time : )

PTD ... Keep it up bro !

Scegy ... hi again !

TreeHuggers... As always : )

Socal ...nice to see your still about ...

EVERYONE ELSE HERE ....... stay well




Peace