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John Chabowski 43, Male Bennekom Netherlands: Like

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SGI President Ikeda's Gu…

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Romantic Relationships

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Daimoku Charts Anyone?

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My Butsudan

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Started this discussion. Last reply by Lynn Feb 8, 2009. 2 Replies 0 Likes

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About Me (tell us a little bit about yourself):: Poet/Writer
Amateur Buddhist at the moment.
Teacher-apprentice of English.

Personal Website:: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1154426966&re...

Bodhisattva Vow by the Beastie Boys

As I Develop The Awakening Mind I Praise The Buddha As They Shine
I Bow Before You As I Travel My Path To Join Your Ranks,
I Make My Full Time Task
For The Sake Of All Beings I Seek
The Enlighted Mind That I Know I'll Reap
Respect To Shantideva And All The Others
Who Brought Down The Darma For Sisters And Brothers
I Give Thanks For This World As A Place To Learn
And For This Human Body That I'm Glad To Have Earned
And My Deepest Thanks To All Sentient Beings
For Without Them There Would Be No Place To Learn What I'm Seeing
There's Nothing Here That's Not Been Said Before
But I Put It Down Now So I'll Be Sure
To Solidify My Own Views And I'll Be Glad If It Helps
Anyone Else Out Too
If Others Disrespect Me Or Give Me Flack
I'll Stop And Think Before I React =
Knowing That They're Going Through Insecure Stages
I'll Take The Opportunity To Exercise Patience
I'll See It As A Chance To Help The Other Person
Nip It In The Bud Before It Can Worsen
A Change For Me To Be Strong And Sure
As I Think On The Buddhas Who Have Come Before
As I Praise And Respect The Good They've Done
Knowing Only Love Can Conquer In Every Situation
We Need Other People In Order To Create
The Circumstances For The Learning That We're Here To Generate
Situations That Bring Up Our Deepest Fears
So We Can Work To Release Them Until They're Cleared
Therefore, It Only Makes Sense
To Thank Our Enemies Despite Their Intent
The Bodhisattva Path Is One Of Power And Strength
A Strength From Within To Go The Length
Seeing Others Are As Important As Myself
I Strive For A Happiness Of Mental Wealth
With The Interconnectedness That We Share As One
Every Action That We Take Affects Everyone
So In Deciding For What A Situation Calls
There Is A Path For The Good For All
I Try To Make My Every Action For That Highest Good
With The Altruistic Wish To Achive Buddhahood
So I Pledge Here Before Everyone Who's Listening
To Try To Make My Every Action For The Good Of All Beings
For The Rest Of My Lifetimes And Even Beyond
I Vow To Do My Best To Do No Harm
And In Times Of Doubt I Can Think On The Dharma
And The Enlightened Ones Who've Graduated Samsara

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From Nichiren's mouth Installment #4‏

Posted on March 20, 2009 at 6:19am 0 Comments 0 Likes

Friday, March 20th, 2009 ---- DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT ----

"Upon reaching a deadlock, it is best to return to the starting point. For

Nichiren Buddhists, this means chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Since the

Mystic Law is the fundamental Law of the universe, prayers invoking the

Mystic Law have the power to make anything happen."

Each day, that we do the gongyo and the daimoku-chant, we all have our own deadlocks, dams built by the gophers in our… Continue

From Nichiren's mouth Installment #3 (Potpourri)‏

Posted on March 20, 2009 at 6:18am 0 Comments 0 Likes

Whatever trouble occurs, regard it as no more than a dream, and think only of the Lotus Sutra.

(Letter to the brothers)

Normally you would think that trouble is actually reality, though it's actually not that way. What's more amazing, is that this is true because you can lose your toils, doubts, fears and reservations in the daimoku by asking for knowledge from yourself in this kalpa from the past to the future for some solution, no matter how great or… Continue

From Nichiren's Mouth Installment #2 (Diversity)‏

Posted on March 15, 2009 at 4:58pm 0 Comments 0 Likes

People have varied tastes. Some prefer good and some prefer evil. There are many kinds of people. But though they differ from one another in such ways, once they enter in the Lotus Sutra, they all become like a single person in body and a single person in mind. This is just like the myriad different rivers that, when they flow into the ocean, all take on a uniformly salty flavor, or like the many kinds of birds that, when they approach Mount Sumeru, all assume the same (golden) hue.

(WND,… Continue

From Nichiren's Mouth Installment #1 (Happiness)‏

Posted on March 14, 2009 at 2:55am 3 Comments 0 Likes

My disciples, you should believe what I say and watch what happens. These things do not occur because I myself am respectworthy, but because the power of the Lotus Sutra is supreme. If I praise myself, people will think that I am boastful, but if I humble myself, they will despise the sutra.

The taller the pine tree, the longer the wisteria vine hanging from it. The deeper the source, the longer the stream. How fortunate, how joyful! In this impure land, I alone enjoy happiness and… Continue

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At 4:38pm on June 29, 2011, Dan said…: Happy Birthday, John!

At 10:13am on June 29, 2011, Frankie T said…

At 3:06pm on September 11, 2009, Aiko said…: John,
Pleased to meet you.
Could you please tell me about Dragon Lady,my friend,Elizabeth?

At 6:06pm on June 20, 2009, Cherie Dennis said…: Thinking of your Gohonzon application. Will send you an email soon!

At 9:40am on March 17, 2009, Dan said…: Dude, get a gohonzon already! (big smile) When I got mine, I had no idea I would be doing this for the next 26+ years. Myself & my girlfriend had been practicing together for about 3 months in college. She decides to get one, I of course (having been raised born-again Christian) waffle a bit, but I go ahead and get one because I felt what the hey! I'll have it and I go home during summertime I can always keep it in the drawer until I get back to school. I go home, i chant at the community center for about 4-5 hrs and I decide I'll go ahead and enshrine it in my room (which I shared with my brother). I was encouraged by other members that the way I protect my practice was to chant. I have 4 brothers and they're pretty merciless in terms of taunts, mocking, and criticizing and on top of my poor sensitive mother and my very hot-tempered dad. I thought there was no way I was going to be able to keep this enshrined in its altar for 24 hours. NO ONE said a word, and in short, 3 months later before I left for school again it wasn't an issue anymore. (some slight ribbing from my brothers, of course, and the occasional flareup 'space' with my roomie brother). Still took me another 5 years of human revolution before I really came around to understanding that I was a Buddhist for life ;-D...go figure!

At 2:31am on March 9, 2009, Yulia said…: hi there...my parents were simple people; they named their children based on the months when they were born...so, it means that is was born in the month of ......... :-)

At 12:56am on March 9, 2009, Ms M said…: Hi John,

Maybe I can dig up an apple pie recipe from some where lol. I hope all is well :).

Marcy

At 2:42pm on March 6, 2009, Robbie Fry said…: Hi again John,
I hope you were not too taken aback by my diatribe that I wrote yesterday; I was half way through when I considered zapping what I'd written then thought I'l keep going as I had already spent a bit of time tapping away!
Even after so many years I still need to be reminded of the basics and I wrote what I consider helpful + I hope it is.
Well congratulations for starting to practice - I have just realized that you are a true beginner + fortunate to have started young with some experience of life.
Good to see you are a writer too; the more we read Sensei's guidance we can see that he has been inspired by many a great writer - the power of the pen and all that! I have joined the Poetry group so some day you might get to see a few of mine; I should do more but my main creative concern is photography [my job] and watercolor painting as I am teaching it and need to be a few steps ahead, not just for the class but purely for my own development.
I have had enormous benefits including photographing Nelson Mandella [ an exclusive that i got six + a half years after getting back into photography; I was still painting and decorating at the time and after sending it to the national papers I rushed back to finnish a ceiling; it made the front cover and it was my first time using digital - I am still on a sharp learning curve]. Also Pele, Prince Charles and Damien Rice Band including doing 6 tours with them [merch is another string to my bow]; all over Europe,the U.S.,Canada and Iceland. They call me Captain Chaos - not without reason - ah ha.
Your open relationship sounds like what I call 'the democracy of love'.
I hope this finds you well, in friendship, regards Rob
P.S. I am also on Facebook - same picture and I have a fair few images if it interests you to have a look.

At 4:00pm on March 5, 2009, Robbie Fry said…: Hi John!
You don't know me I'm an Irish Buddhist!
I don't wish to be a buddhist nag or bore but I just read on another wall something you wrote saying something like 'things will get better when I have finished my studies.' A very normal statement to make. Last year a friend gave me some guidance ( I've been practicing since July 1983 ) and he said . . . apologies to the Gohonzon for your stupid linear western thinking . . . by thinking when I achieve this that will happen and when that happens etc etc. He then said remember when you started to practice and you were taught the simple yet profound visual of a stone being dropped in a pond and all the ripples going outwards . . . that represents our life state [going in all directions - microcosm/macrocosm] so when you chant muster your faith so that you find your purest thought. He didn't put words into my mouth but for me that means acknowledging that I am a Buddha and that I can make the cause to reveal absolute happiness in my life based on this principle . . . so the effect of our thoughts HAVE TO become manifest. It relates to the understanding that the future is now + minimum effort maximum result.
Maybe this is of use to you on the other hand as I know nothing about you this might be a totally unnecessary intrusion either way I'm not going to be this sites agony uncle etc I'm too slow a typist, for one thing + what with MySpace + Facebook my life is sliding into the internet vortex.
My life has taken many twists and turns with this practice; one thing I have learned is that it really doesn't matter how long we have practiced but how wholehearted and sincere our faith is today or at any given moment.
Keep well, regards Robbie Fry

At 10:58am on February 2, 2009, Jinja Cales said…: Hello, John, Wow, you are SGI member in Netherland!
I love your country and have a friend from there although she has been here so many years, but she has left me a beautiful memory when I just arrived USA from Korea in more than 45 years ago. Alice Toppenberg is one of my Buddhist gods! Hope that you will carry on your Bodhisattva spirit and work ever---