Chanting Growers Group

[PassTheDoobie]

Thank you Big Brother!

Thank you Big Brother!

Thank you for sharing such a personal experience! FYI to everyone, the Gosho VB is referring to is the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin; what you keep seeing referenced as WND, as we quote from it. The text portion of that book is 1,138 pages long of what I would guess is 8 or 9 point type-set. When he says voluminous, we are talking VOLUMINOUS! The Lotus Sutra, of which we utilize a translation by the renowned auther Burton Watson, is 324 pages long.

But as the Buddhas said directly, this is difficult to undertstand. In fact to read it straight up, and not pause ever minute, to think about what you just read for five minutes; is almost an impossibility. It is so heavy and deep (just as is WMD, frankly), it is not an exaggeration to describe it as a mindxxxx (think rez's trippiest seed strain). So taking in well more than 5,000 pages of the deepest literature in Buddhist thought is a hell of a cause. Add two hours of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo every single day, and you can see why I call Pat my Big Brother.

Pat also saw changes in his thinking and understanding as a by-product of his challenges, creating the basis of turning his suffering into the platform for his quest to attain enlightenment in this lifetime. Whether he is a Buddha (has attained his enlightenment), is not for me or anyone else to decide. That can only be validated thoughout the course of his life by his actions, and not by the judgement of others.

Now you know where that confident voice that you hear when you read what he says comes from. It is not arrogance. It is confidence based on the joy he sees and feels in knowing all things to be nothing more than manifestations of the Roar of the Lion, the heart of the Lotus Sutra: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

I hope you didn't mind my addendum, my brother!

Thomas

 

[Guest]

OM Chasers... Tell me this is not true.

OM Chasers... Tell me this is not true.

Cup of urine a day keeps ailments at bay

Thu Sep 2,11:11 AM ET (Yahoo News)

BANGKOK (AFP) - Drinking urine can eliminate sinus trouble, turn grey hair black and even cure cancer, a Thai academic said, citing a study of local Buddhists who engage in the unorthodox practice.

Ratree Cheepudomwit, of the Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine Development Department, said hundreds of urine drinkers attested that consuming a daily cup worked wonders for their overall health and helped slow the ageing process.

She said that in June she queried 250 members of Santi Asoke, a strict indigenous Buddhist movement believed to have thousands of followers, and 204 respondents said they had learned from ancient Buddhist manucripts that drinking one's urine improved health.

"Of the respondents, 87 percent confirmed that it had head-to-toe benefits for them, including for example reduction of dandruff, grey hair, sinus problems and cancer," Ratree told AFP.

The medical elixir was not easy on everyone's system, as about one in 10 urine drinkers suffered diarrhea afterwards, but the practice should not be viewed with disgust, she said.

"Other groups of people who drank urine were Buddhist monks who practised in accordance to scriptures which are more than 2,500 years old," she said.

 

[PassTheDoobie]

VERY funny dude!

VERY funny dude!

But for the record, we're not Om chasers, at least not those of us that talk about Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The dudes in Thailand believe in Hinayana Buddhism, we chanters of the daimoku like to consider ourselves pacticing the highest form of Mahayana Buddhism.

That's the problem when you hear the word Buddhism in the West. We don have it broken down like catholics, and presbratians, and methodists and baptists. So you hear a story about Buddhist beliefs and people have no idea that it has nothing to do with us.

To post a piss drinking article on this thread might be offensive to some. I am not in the least offended. Now the karma created by one who carlessly or frivolously fucks with us, or pokes fun of us, without the context of a serious conversation? Maybe you should go back a bit and read all of the thread. You might consider a more tempered approach to your next posting.

But no matter what, you are always welcome here. I mean that sincerely. This may have been a serious question. Who knows? I can't tell you if it is so, because I don't know. I know piss drinking won't HURT you. People have consumed their own waste water in times of emergency many times and in doing so saved their lives.

Peace to you brother.

Thomas

 

[Guest]

I didn't post it to create an offense... I read this thread quite often, but more as if to bring a lighter side. People spin on tangents and get lost in them.

I'm glad this is taken in the spirit it is posted.

 

[Guest]

A Buddha

A Buddha

Maistre,
Even urine is a fuction of myoh rene kyo. All things are a function of the Great Law of Life and death.

BTW Maiestre. There is a Boiddhisattva named maietre in the Lotus Sutra. He always asked many questions of the Buddha, and his heart always lept with Joy with the answers he received from the Buddha. Peace Boddhisattva maitre

Yes! Lil Brother I am alwasy prepared to announce my Buddhaood. I am willing to recognize my Buddhahhod, as well as my Devedatta. Both ae functions of myoho rene kyo. None seperate from reality.

The reality is ALL people are Buddha's, and should be treated as such. This is the story of Boddhisattva Never Disparaging. He recognizes the Buddha within all people. In order to accomplish this, he miust first recognize the Buddha within self first.

"The voice does the Buddha work."

Please note The BUDDHA is MYOHO RENGE KYO, Thus Come One. This is the One and Only Original Buddha where all other Buddhas, manifest their lives. This is the HEART of the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra. You and Me. We!

Everyoen repeat after me. I AM A BUDDHA. I HAVE ALL 32 FEATURES AND I RESPECT ALL BUDDHAS EQUAL TO ME WHETHER THEY RECOGNIZE THEIR OWN BUDDHAHOOD OR NOT.

"Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Like the Roar of teh Lion!"

This is the spirit of Boddhisattva Never Disparaging.

Now everyone can go out and chant until you make someone else happierthan yourself today! You are all Buddha's!

Remember with Wisdom one person attains enlightenmentm, while with Compassion many people attain enlightenment.

Taking actions for the happines of others is compassion.

VegasBuddha

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Maistre, I meant what I said!

Maistre, I meant what I said!

Very funny dude! I remembered you having something positive to say here once a while back, so I thought you were just kidding
around. And I guess in retrospect we could lighten this up a bit. I really appreciate you posting back in to make it clear for one and all. None of us can ever really know what one anothers intentions are. But the Universe always does. We should always respectfully warn our friends and so forth when we see they may be making causes that they don't realize. All I was trying to say!

So be cool and be happy brother, and I thank you also for knowing where I was coming from! And what do you know, you are now a Bodhisattva! Very cool. ANY relationship with Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, ANY relationship, ultimately leads to enlightenment.

I'll be thinking about this encounter for days; in a very positive way. Peace!

T

 

[Guest]

Bodhisattva... What a great Steely Dan tune!

Bodhi Sativa sounds incredible!

 

[Guest]

Yo Maistre!

Yo Maistre!

Hey Maistre! I hear that alot of people in Kentucky belong to a group of Southern BAptists that dance with rattlesnakes! If you dance with the rattlesnake and you have no fear and believe in God it will not bite you, but if you don't have faith in God, the snake will sense your fear and kill you. Have you met or partaked in that....being from Kentucky and all.


Sorry PTB Had to!

Vegas Buddha! I aspire to have your life condition!

Ya Gotta Laugh, Southern Girl

 

[Guest]

Southern... I've seen a documentary on those people... holy smokes.

I'm a transplant here... apparently I've not been welcomed into the inner circle here... nor have I gone to the county fair.

 

[PassTheDoobie]

SG, Don't! Please.

SG, Don't! Please.

Dude! Don't sweat it. She wanted to, but couldn't resist. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. You are absolutely welcome and if you want to be part of the circle then just join in. There is no "inner" circle just one, where everyone is able to make whatever Karma they want to and everyone can respect the best parts we can see of each other. As I said "Some may be offended.." Evidently some(one?) were/was. You have to be responsible though, since you threw that in here with no further explaination, and now that I checked, it was your first post. Simple cause and effect, as you know we focus on since you have been reading the thread.

How could you know that to be called an OM Chaser and ask if we knew anything about Thai monks drinking piss to improve their health might offend the people in here that take this stuff seriously? You clarified it, and that was enough as far as I am concerned. This is supposed to be where we are encouraged NOT to act like common mortals, though common mortals we are (most of us anyway). So everybody chill.

I thought it a positive moment to make the distinction of the major schools of Buddhism. Mahayana versus Hinayana. Mahayana is the school that dominates Nepal and Tibet and China, Korea and Japan. Hinayana spread to southern India, Shri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam.

The dudes that burned themselves up in protest for instance are Hinayanas. A Mahayana Buddhist would never kill themselves.

Peace Brothers and Sisters!

T

 

[Guest]

Maistre

Maistre

My apologies for coming back at you with your same sense of humour. I'm not as enligtened as my buddies in here and being born in Kentucky, raised in Texas and living in Florida, I understand that sense of curiosity all too well.

I know that finding a bunch of buddhist in a site based on the growth and useage of marijuana may seem a little odd but we appear where we are needed to if not for ourselves, each other. And sometimes, there are people who want to know and learn more about buddhism and that is the greatest benefit.

So while I'm not as diplomatic as my thread friends, I call a spade a spade. If I was wrong, take my humble apolygies. I am not attempting to make causes of slander. I just felt it very apparent
that what had been written was being taken very seriously from these guys. There are many many things out there about buddhism...dali lama, buddhist art of sand, the statue of the laughing budda, and picking a story about drinking urine was out there, one I haven't even heard.

So if you would like to truly know all you can about NamMyoHoRengeKyo then stick with these guys because they can teach you how to apply this to your life. I'm still a work in progress........Southern Girl

 

[Guest]

I'm a transplant here... apparently I've not been welcomed into the inner circle here... nor have I gone to the county fair.

This was in reference to Kentucky (here). I'm a recent transplant. I relocated here from Las Vegas.

SG... I thought your comments were great... those snake people are scarey.

No harm... no foul...

 

[Guest]

Maistre

Maistre

<Curtsy> To You Maistre!

Great! I have an auntie that Practices in that particular group of Snakes and they are strange I might add. And I've been to many county fairs! ha ha

Nam MyoHO Renge Kyo to You! SG

 

[PassTheDoobie]

(Grinning my ass off)

(Grinning my ass off)

Well on top of all that clarity, I just went to the chat room for the first time and fucking partied with Bodhi Sativa, my lil bro DD13, and a man I respect alot, MyBeans. What a great time! How wonderful this mystic Law is. I love being in rythem!

 

[DrugsDe1an3y]

laughing

laughing

Dude i just chatted with the Doob and mybeans...and you Dudes are awesome...Its nice to be able to have a discussion about almost anything without someones feelings, or sense of worth being wounded by a topic or way of saying things...Its kind of nice to find people that take the little things in stride, cause lets face it, they are all little things...I had a good time partying with you guys and keep the Love Light Burnin..

just my
2 sense..

DD13

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Part one

Part one

Gurrl!

Answer in two parts!:

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Nam sounds like 'viet Nam'

Myo sounds like 'yoyo' with an "m" (long 'o' sound)

ho sounds like Santa "Ho ho ho" (long o sound)

Ren sounds like the hero doggie Rin Tin Tin or the little bird 'wren'

Ge sounds like 'gay' as in happy or sexual orientation

Kyo sounds like yoyo with a 'K' (long 'o' sound)

Have your hubby rent "What's love got to do with it" at the video store. It is the story of Tina Turner, and while there are MANY movies with Nam-myoho-renge-kyo spoken in it, her life story includes actual chanting as part of the story line.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo changed her life. I was there. I saw it happen as a fellow practicing Buddhist.

You do not have to change ANYTHING you already believe or do to include this Buddhism into your belief set. The Power is the power that already exists within you. It is not another "Jah" sneaking in under the cover of our caring so much for the elimination of your pain.

Nor is this about miracle healing, although quite a bit of that type of medically unexplainable stuff happens all of the time. This is about summoning the courage and strength and power of your life and channeling it toward a desire of making things better or different.

Maybe it means finding the right doctor to cure you, maybe it means finding a new medicine that does so, maybe it means finding ways to afford those meds, or MAYBE it means just having the illness mysteriously disappear.

One needn't even believe for the power to manifest itself, though having the expectation is important and directing your life energy from your heart as well as your mind is a great supplimental ingredient, though not a necessary one. Go back a few pages (like at least back to page seven) and read all of our comments about faith in Buddhism. What it is. How it is different from the faith we understand here in the West.

ASK QUESTIONS! You will never embarrass yourself by not understanding. WE ALL HAVE ASKED SHIT LOADS OF QUESTIONS! We are not talking about this stuff from just reading about it. Buddhism cannot exist without life to life communication. That is why we do not propagate it over the TV!

You do not have to change your beliefs for your prayer to be answered! Gotta go chant myself now, so more on the other points a little later.

T

 

[Guest]

Southern Girl

<Bows> To You!

The chat room is awesome Doobie... Please come again!

 

[Guest]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Now that you know how to say Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, you probably want to know what it means and how it works.

Nam means devotion or to embrace. Just like a parent embraces their children. The act of embracing or devoting one's life is called Nam.

Myoho. Myo means Wonderful or Mystical. Not mystical like magical, but mystical, in the sense that it can only be understood between the minds of Buddhas. Ho means law. Together Myoho means Wonderful law or Mystical Law.

I like to use Wonderful Law when I am sharing with others, because it is a Wondeful law. It brings Joy to ALL things, sentinent and insentinent.

Renge. Renge means cause and effect. Renge also means Lotus flower. The Lotus Flower both blossoms and seeds simultaneously, as is cause and effect. The cause and the Effect are simultaneous.

Kyo means sound or teaching. The sound we make when we chant nam myoho renge kyo is kyo or the true sound of life. Kyo also means teaching. Kyo includes all the teachings within this one sound. There ae 84,000 teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, and Kyo includes ALL of them. When we chant nam myoho renge kyo we gain the wisdom of all 84,000 teachings. Kewl

Together Nam myoho renge kyo means, I devote my life to the Wonderful Law of Cause and Effect through sound.

When we chant nam myoho renge kyo, whether we know what it means, it activates the forces within the universe. I like to say, My daimoku moves the universe in the direction I need, to create positive causes for myself and others.

At age 32, Nichiren Daishonin a studious Japanese monk declared nam myoho renge kyo to be the only teaching of the Latter Day of the law that would truly bring happpiness to all of Japan and the World.

In fact Nichiren Daishonin declared that his teaching of just chanting nam myoho rene kyo was the Only teaching that would lead all people to true happiness as Shakyamuni Buddha declared in the Lotus Sutra, for teh next 10,000 years. Thats right, he said ten thousand years.

Nichiren Daishoinin refers to His Buddhism as the Buddhism of Sowing, while he rfers to Shakyamuni Buddha's Buddhsim as the Buddhism of Harvesting.

The reason is Nichiren revealed for the first time the key to become truly happy in this lifetime; or attain enlightenment; Most importantly, not in the next lifetime or after this lifetime, but in this lifetime, just as we are. This is most important as no other teaching has ever revealed the ability to bring happiness and erradicate the suffering of the people. Attain enlightenment in our present form.

I encourage everyone to chant nam myoho renge kyo until you feel happy. A friend of my wife's said, "the first time I chanted nam myoho renge kyo, my heart lept with Joy!" This is a typical response when you chant daimoku; chanting nam myoho renge kyo over and over; for the first.

The first time I chanted daimoku I forgot my problems and felt all tingly and warm inside.

VegasBuddha

 

[Guest]

Gohonzon

Gohonzon

You have also heard us talk about the Gohonzon. You are probably wondering what it is, as the picture is very old and grainy. Perhaps you can go to an SGI center in your city and they wil show you a Gohonzon, or you can ask one of usor any SGI member to show you a Gohonzon as well.

Nichiren Daishonin inscribed the Gohonzon for the establishment of the understanding of three thousand realsm in a single moment of life or just ichinen sanzen. The mutual possession of our own Ten Worlds, and teh Eternal ten Worlds of teh original Buddha.

The Gohonzon is a caligraphic mandalla that is written in sanscrit with sumi ink. A language similar to hyroglithics (sp). It is a kanjo like structure. Nichiren says, "I inscribe my life in sumi ink" Meaning his life and our life are both one with the Gohonzon. We can reveal or own Buddhaood just as he did. We can become happy in our present form.

Down the center of the Gohonzon, Nichiren wrote Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Nichiren. The Gohonzon is a reflection of the Treasure Tower Chapter of the Lotus Sutra. It is called the Ceremony in the Air, or the One ceremony in three places.

On each side at the top of the Gohonzon are placed Shakyamuni Buddha and Many Treasures Buddha, Shakyamuni represents Compassion and Many Treasures represents wisdom.

Flanking these two great Buddhas, are the four Boddhisattva's of teh Earth. They are called the Four Leaders of the Boddhisattvas of Earth, and they represent, purity, true self, eternity, and happiness. They are called Pure Practices, Boundless Practices, Superior Practices, and Firmly Established Practices. These four oddhisattvas represent us. We are on the same level as Shakyamuni and Many Treasures Buddha's on Nichiren's Gohonzon. We are all EQUAL! under the Wonderful Law.

On the next level down on both sides are the reflections of the ten worlds. One side represents Evil; Left; and teh other side reprsents Good; right. Both good and evil are aspect of reality.

Each of the Ten Worlds is represented by an historic Buddhist figure written in sanscrit. The most notorious is Devedatta. He tried to kill his cousin Shakyamuni Buddha three times, and is said to have fallen into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. He represents the World of Hell.

So the Gohonzon is no more than a physical representation of nam myoho renge kyo, which Nichiren manifetsted the great life of the Buddha and called it Gohonzon.

The Gohonzon is a three-dimensional object. All the Ten worlds revolve around nam myoho rengo kyo, because this one great law lies at the center of our lives, as well as the center of the Universe.

The Ceremony in the Air is just that. The entire ceremony starts out on Eagle Peak in India, is elevated into the air, along with the entire group of practitioners, and returns to the ground at the Ceremonies completion.

Nichiren inscribed his name at the bottom to indicate he is grounded in reality, as are we. The Gohonzon is a reflection of our own life-state. It is sometimes referred to as the clear mirror in which to see our true self.

Nichiren says, we should observe our own mind, if we expect to see the Gohonzopn in our own life. Even though we have the mandalla Gohonzon , we all realize our life is a Gohonzon. Everyoen is a Gohonzon, whether they realize it or not.

Nichiren says, Abusts-bo is the Treasure Tower, and the Treasure is Abutsu-bo. No other knowledge is necessary!" Abutsu-bo was one of Nichiren's followers. A converted priest from another sect of Buddhism. The Treasure Tower is the Gohonzon within our own life.

When we awaken to this one simple principle of the eternal nature of our life, we have awakend to our own Buddhahood, just as Nichiren Daishonin did in the past.

VegasBuddha