Despite the fact that almost nobody reads my blog, I’m keeping it online. It’s been interesting to look back over the last three of years to see how my thoughts have changed, and how my view of buddhism has changed. One of the earliest things I learned from Nichiren Buddhism is that we don’t lock ourselves away from the rest of the world in isolated contemplation. Now, I haven’t joined the SGI - I haven’t received a Gohonzon from Taplow Court. I haven’t spent countless hours in study groups. I know I don’t have the energy to do all that, on top of caring for the people and animals I live with. Read the rest of this entry »

November and December have been a busy time. My neighbour who was recently diagnosed with cancer, was kind enough to help me build a butsudan. It was great to see it being made, and it’s now sitting on it’s table waiting for a gohonzon, but again I’ve not been able to get down to Taplow court. Another friend of mine has been suffering from cancer, and had been through a major operation recently, and was in hospital for a couple of weeks before being allowed home. The weekend being the only time I was able to visit, everything else went on hold. Oh, and my dear old mom coming to lunch, and the inevitable distractions with our children. There should be more hours in the day!

Furio was kind enough to send me some 2008 SGI-Italia diaries that he has produced. They look great, and I’m looking forward to taking them to my local chapter if I ever get there!

The weather is so cold. The birds are eating their way through a lot of grain.

My father is once again a part of my life. Its been a rocky road, but I feel enriched now I have started healing the damage caused by my previous anger.

To seek enlightenment for one’s own gratification is surely the path to disappointment and despair. To escape the things which try us in this life through one’s study of Buddhism, and it’s forms of meditation, is to take the view that one can exist as distinct from the rest of the world. This attitude only serves to blind people to their buddhahood and to the truth that they are inseparable from the sufferings of this saha world. This is why students of teachings that promote contemplative meditation in isolation from the rest of the world will only find the briefest relief in this life, and will be awakened only to the two vehicles of learning and realisation in an endless austerity of death and rebirth. The true beauty in awakening one’s buddha nature is beyond description, and yet remains too subtle to be easily explained to one who does not accept the mystic truth extant in all manifestation.

Aniruddha was one of Shakyamuni’s 10 major disciples, but before this he was a poor man who once gave millet to a struggling beggar. He later searched for more millet, but a hare jumped on his back and turned into a corpse. Frightened by this he tried to shake it loose, without success. He rushed home, where the corpse fell from his back, and turned into gold. Evidently, this was the great benefit befalling him for his compassionate act of kindness to the beggar. Now, evil robbers learned of his gain, and came to steal his gold, but when they came to his house all they could find was a corpse.

The evil robbers in this story could be equated to those who only wish to learn Buddhist principles in an attempt to improve their lives alone. The poor mans house is like the Lotus Sutra which contains within it the difficult to attain way, or gold, of the Buddha’s infinite wisdom and compassion for all life. For those who do not genuinely seek the way of the Buddha, and do not take faith in Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, however, the house will seem as though it contains nothing but the cold corpse of learning and realisation.

Be strong in faith above all things, and give the millet of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo to those around you at all times. The corpse upon your back, which weights heavy like one’s karma from kalpas past will gradually, through the daimoku of practice and faith, fall from your back as gold.

Technorati has my little blog at a rank (yes, blogs are ranked) of 4,446,976. I’m not really sure what this is meant to achieve. There must be millions of people out there all beavering away, talking about the latest films, how skinny filmstar X is, or how the latest gadget from the east can store all your MP3’s and navigate you to your nearest Virgin Megastore. Obviously my meanderings are of little consequence - Oh Whine whine whine, I hear you say - but hold on. Technorati don’t even have a blog category for religion, let alone Buddhism.

Technology blogs account for 55,817 blogs, maybe understandable, and encouragingly, Art checks in with 64,794, but then look at Blogs - yes, Blogs about… BLOGS! There are 162,592 blogs about blogs.

In an environment where the amount of meta information supercedes real information, is it any wonder that people begin to wonder what it’s all about? So, with that in mind I’m going to continue talking about the most important things that humanity should be concerned with. How to end suffering, reveal our buddha nature, and bring happiness and peace to the world of the human condition.

If one person reads this blog, and picks up a copy of the Gosho, or reads the Lotus Sutra, or simply chants Nam Myoho Renge Kyo once, then my lifestate will have been enhanced more than by all the money I have earned throughout my professional life!

What a fantastic victory! A couple of weeks ago, my great friend, Mr Jarrett, who runs abuddhistpodcast.com had a comment on his blog praising the Buddhastate t-shirts he had linked to from his site. A great guy called Furio had left the comment, so I got in touch with him.

New Kingo Website Coming Soon!

Furio and his friends in Italy are going to be launching a new website selling a number of SGI buddhism related items, including prayer aids, butsudan accessories and of course, t-shirts based on Buddhastate designs! I had begun to almost forget about the buddhastate website after having a hectic year in my personal life, but this has served to revive my enthusiasm, and has reminded me of the great value that can emerge when you commit some time to Kosen Rufu.

Even better, Furio will be producing the t-shirts on fair trade blanks, so these t-shirts are going to be infinitely more ethical than the ones on sale at Spreadshirt. By day, Furio makes and sells BBQs, but he also runs a company called Kingo that has been trading for the past 3 years selling buddhist accessories to the SGI in Italy and directly to members everywhere. His new website at http://www.kingo.it/ will hopefully be open in December with an online shop, so check it out soon!

The designs we have sent to Furio will be available for a similar or cheaper price that they are available on Spreadshirt, and because they are printed on fair trade stock, you can feel even better about wearing them

Despite my real life business at Sant Media being a little slow of late, events like this convince me that the work I put into Kosen Rufu is always rewarding, puts me in touch with wonderful people, and only serves to expand my lifestate!