Saturday 17 December 2016

my Buddhist blog number 160

Hi Everybody,
We ended the last episode with some words from a very wise Buddhist teacher who put it to me once that if we think in terms of pursuing happiness in some way then we are very much on the wrong track. Where do we start? In which direction do we run? We come much closer to it he argued if we think of happiness as a sort of by-product, a quality that comes into our lives when we take action to create value in some way, particularly in ways that have beneficial effects in other people's lives.

It's fascinating to find that view echoed directly, even down to the choice of words, by a modern psychologist, when she writes in her recent book, The How of Happiness;

' ...even the familiar phrase ' pursuit of happiness ' implies that happiness is an object that one has to chase or discover...I prefer to think of ' creation' or ' construction' of happiness because research shows that it's in our power to fashion it for ourselves.'

So we are getting a closer fix on what we mean when we use this happiness word aren't we? It's certainly not just forcing ourselves to be cheerful regardless of what is going on. We don't get much joy if we try to chase it. And it doesn't just happen to us as a result of good fortune.

The kind of durable, deep-seated, and above all resilient well-being that we a re talking about can't simply be dependent upon the play of external events. This happens and we like it...and we're happy. That happens and we don't like it...and we're unhappy! A bit like a cork in a swell. Now up, now down, dependent upon what comes our way.

It can only come, we now understand, from one place, it has to come from within. We have to make it, through the values that we hold, and the choices that we make, and the kind of value-creating actions and responses that we fold into our lives.

Enough for today.
Thanks for reading.
Back next week asking the question...can we buy happiness?
See you then I hope.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle

Monday 12 December 2016

MY BUDDHIST BLOG NUMBER 158

Hi Everybody,

We're in the middle of this chapter that is exploring the nature of happiness, which Buddhism goes so far as to describe as the ultimate motivator in human life no less. And we've reached the point where we're looking at two fundamental qualities that are deeply interwoven into the Buddhist understanding of well-being, both of which seem to be equally well borne out by what the social scientists tell us they have learned more recently.

So one is that well-being, happiness if you will doesn't exist just in our own heads so to speak, although we commonly believe that to be the case. We evolved very much as members of a group. That basically is why we have been so successful as a species, and we are in our deepest nature very much gregarious animals. We need strong relationships. Our inner sense of well-being is generated essentially through the nature of the relationships we establish with the world around us, from the basic pleasure we take in our environment through to the experience of lasting and fulfilling and harmonious relationships at all levels in our lives. When we experience them they strengthen and reinforce our creative energies so that we feel liberated in a sense, and we find that we can achieve so much more in our outward lives. When those relationships break down for whatever reason, the effects can be devastating in all areas of our life, not simply those associated with the relationship. We are not only less happy, we operate as individuals under stress, out of harmony with ourselves and our environment, and our performance is greatly reduced.

The second understanding, no less profound, is that our own well-being is not in someone else's gift, we have to make it for ourselves. As Daisaku Ikeda has expressed it for example,
' Happiness is not something that someone else like a lover can give to us, we have to achieve it for ourselves.'

That is undeniably a hard lesson to learn, because our wants are so many and because we commonly believe that our personal happiness is indeed dependent upon our partner for example, or our child, or our job. Or on earning a million pounds. Whereas Buddhism tells us that we have to go out and make our happiness for ourselves out of our own determination and action. Just as Stephen Post was asked ( in an earlier blog!) by his perceptive mother to take some action, to go out and help someone to lift him out of his bad mood.

And that phrase ' take some action ' carries a profound truth of its own. As one utterly practical Buddhist teacher put it to me once, if we think or pursuing happiness in some way, then we are very much on the wrong track, because none of us knows how to achieve that. Where do we start? In which direction do we run? We come much closer to it he argued, if we think of happiness as a sort of by-product, a quality that comes into our lives when we take some action to create value in some way, particularly in ways that have beneficial effects in other people's lives.'

Nuff said for today I think.
I'll be back at the end of the week.
Hope to see you then.
Best wishes.
William
The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Tuesday 29 November 2016

my Buddhist blog number 158

Hi Everybody,
Beautiful autumn day again here in Kew. So beautiful as to be Spring -like in fact! We're in the middle of a chapter about Buddhism and happiness, and trying to illustrate that when Buddhism and indeed today's social scientists are talking about happiness they have in mind a much broader and deeper experience than might generally be thought. We ended the last episode for example by describing how this concept of happiness would certainly be strong enough to embrace the pains and the problems that we all commonly encounter and would empower us to look for the seeds of the positive in things that go wrong in our lives rather than being eaten up by the sense of loss or damage.

And both Buddhism  and today's social scientists would want to embrace several other dimensions that are difficult to wrapped up in the simple word happiness but that we would all freely recognise as central to a durable sense of well-being. Dimensions such as
- rich and positive relations with others
- a sense of accomplishment in our endeavours
- a sense of meaning and purpose in our activities, and let's not forget
- a sense of compassion and altruism

In his book Flourish psychologist Martin Seligman recounts for us a brief but very telling anecdote which goes as follows:

' My friend Stephen Post, Professor of Medical Humanities at Stony Brook tells a story about his mother. When he was a young boy and his mother saw that he was in a bad mood she would say, ' Stephen why don't you go out and help someone?' Empirically Ma Post's maxim has been put to rigorous test and we scientists have found that doing a kindness produces the single most reliable increase in well-being of any exercise we have tested.'

So a powerful life-lesson there in just half a dozen lines. Ma Post's natural wisdom he tells us, has been put to rigorous scientific test, and it reveals that showing compassion and altruism towards others produces the single most reliable increase in our sense of well-being. Evolutionary biologists have the devils own job to explain for us the evolutionary benefits of altruism and here we have a psychologist telling us that even the smallest acts of kindness and compassion towards others can have the most powerful effect on our personal sense of well-being.

But that simple human story illustrates two other fundamental qualities that are deeply interwoven into the Buddhist understanding of well-being, both of which seem to be born out by what the scientists tell us they have learned more recently.
We look at those next time.

Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Wednesday 23 November 2016

my buddhist blog number 157

Hi Everybody,
Hope all is well with you. We're in the middle of the chapter on Buddhism and happiness and we've reached the point where I'm suggesting that perhaps well-being is perhaps a more accurate term to describe what we're talking about. Why? Because in the modern idiom it clearly expresses a much broader and deeper and mnore solidly based emotion. On one recent occasion for example when I was talking to an audience of mainly businessmen about Buddhist values, the phrase,' happiness in the workplace got a noticeably cool and somewhat cynical reception. But as soon as I switched to well-being in the work place there was an immediate understanding of what I was talking about, a much more substantial, an altogether more stable and focused state of life, than laughter and good cheer.

And once again that distinction finds support among the scientists. As Daniel Goleman explains in some detail in his book  Working with Emotional Intelligence, when comparisons are made between the effectiveness or productivity of people at work, the difference is very often found to lie not so much in the know-how or the npurely technical skills of different people, but much more broadly in their overall sense of well-being and therefore their greater capacity for handling relationships or dealing in  a calm and measured way with difficulties that arise.

But perhaps more important of all, this phrase well-being has so much greater depth and breadth and capacity that it can even embrace the idea of misfortune and challenge. Buddhism for example, when it speaks of happiness, has in mind a solid, lasting, resilient sense of well-being at the core of one's life, that can endure and be experienced even in the midst of sadness and and loss and crucial challenge. That again finds multiple echoes in the work of modern sociologists, who talk about the need to get real! They argue that optimism and happiness cannot be about being eternally cheerful. That would be hopelessly unreal. It has to be about getting up close to, and embracing the pains and problems we encounter so that we truly understand them and learn how to work through them to a better place.

They talk about the immense value that we can generate in our lives by learning to look for the seeds of the positive in things that go wrong in our lives, rather than continually being eaten up by the sense of loss or damage.

Nuff said for one episode.
Look forward to seeing you again next time.
Best wishes,
William
The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Thursday 17 November 2016

Hi Everybody,

Picking up the thread of Buddhism and Happiness, and my key point is that given that it plays such a key role in our universal motivation, let alone our Buddhist practice, it would seem just as well that we share a common understanding of what we mean when we use it, this much over-used word, rather than just assuming that we have a common understanding.

And that would seem to be a genuine issue, both within and beyond Buddhism. Someone as supremely eminent in the field as Martin Seligman for example is driven to exclaim in his latest book Flourish, that the word happiness...

'...is so overused that it has become almost meaningless. It is an unworkable term for science, or for any practical goals such as education, therapy, public policy, or just changing your personal life..'

Almost meaningless is a bit strong perhaps, but you can see the point can't you, that the word happiness in the modern idiom, or to the modern ear, is unquestionably a bit...well a bit lightweight! To many people, and I would include myself, it means primarily such things as merriment and laughter and good cheer and smiley faces, and I don't think we can ignore those connotations as if they were unimportant. We would be doing ourselves and our discussions a disservice. Particularly since good cheer and smiley faces are certainly not what is meant by happiness, in both Buddhist teachings and in the scientific research centred around positive psychology.

Is perhaps well-being a more appropriate term?

That's where we go next time around. A good look at well-being.

See you then.
Best wishes,
William
The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a downlaod on Kindle.

Sunday 13 November 2016

my buddhist blog number 155

Hi Everybody,
Yet another beautiful sun-kissed autumn day here in Kew. The sunlight glinting off the golden yellow leaves that are still on the trees. The run in the park with Gatsby this morning  was pure pleasure. And as I was running this morning that remarkable and very famous Buddhist text came into my mind, ' there is no path to happiness...happiness is the path. '  I have to say it's not the first time. It often pops in to my head when I'm our running, and I just let it sit there at the back of my mind as I jog on under the trees and over the leaves with Gatsby chasing the squirrels. It is of course immensely profound with many layers of meaning and we can all approach it from many different directions, but the one that seems to work best for me is from the direction of gratitude.
Gratitude not simply in the narrow sense of being grateful to someone for something they have done, but gratitude in the broadest sense, gratitude if you like as a whole  approach to life. Gratitude for all the love that I have in my life from family and friends. Gratitude above all for the knowledge that when things get tough or difficult...as of course they often do in all our lives... then I have the Buddhist practice to enable me to stand back and marshal my energies and my wisdom to tackle the difficulty, whatever it is. And the sure knowledge that that has worked powerfully for me as a positive life strategy for the past 25 years or so.

As it happens we're in the middle of a chapter about Buddhism and happiness, because of course this is one of the many qualities that sets Buddhism apart from other major religions is that it presents itself right from the start as being about ordinary people increasing the sum total of happiness or well-being in their lives. Moreover, as we've shown in the past couple of blogs, there is now a huge amount of research from sociologists and positive psychologists that echoes that basic position, to indicate that is, that the quest for happiness is the ultimate motivational force in life...universally. That is to say it cuts across all the boundaries you can think of...national and religious and ethnic and status etc etc.. This quest for a greater sens eof well-being in life is truly universal.

So that close alignment of views does give us a very different perspective doesn't it? It means for example that this powerful and life-changing idea that Buddhism offers us, an idea that many people find unusual and hard to swallow because it is so bold and uncompromising, is doing no more than recognising the essential quality of our universal human nature. Doing no more than pointing out to us that this is the most powerful motivator in human life, and that it can be harnessed as an instrument of change, to enable us to lead fuller and richer lives.

Enough for one swallow I think!
Hope it helps understanding.
See you next time
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle. 

Thursday 10 November 2016

my Buddhist blog number 154

Hi Everybody,
Almost everybody I've spoken to over the past couple of days seems to feel a genuine low-level anxiety over the election of Mr Trump. Well perhaps not so low-level!! One very balanced very mature professional guy actually used the word ' terrifying.'And to be fair there would seem quite a bit to be fearful about if we take his own words at face value, as to what he is hell bent on doing once he gets in office. I've increased my morning daimoku substantially to lift me over this low point. It's remarkable how much it helps in thinking through to a more positive outlook on the day. Which takes us neatly through to today's topic, Buddhism and Hapiness. Last week we ended on a brilliant quote from psychologist Martin Seligman,

' Optimism is a learned skill and once learned it increases achievement at work and improves physical health. ' Brilliant.

Another psychologist and writer, Daniel Goleman makes a similar point,

'Optimism and hope -like helplessness and despair can be learned .Underlying both is an outlook psychologists call self-efficacy, the belief that one has mastery over one's life and can meet challenges as they come up.'

So they are saying, we have a clear choice. If it so happens that we have built the absence of hope into our lives up till now, or even pessimism and despair, once we become fully self-aware of that situation, we can learn how to replace those negative life states with optimism and hope. That is a powerful modern confirmation of the proposition that Buddhism has always presented to us. A Buddhist practice is entirely about building a wholly capable who can do precisely what Goleman is talking about, having the courage and the resilience to meet ' those challenges as they come up,' rather than being knocked down or disabled by them.

So Buddhism, with it's essential humanism and its focus on the power of the human spirit sets out to define greater happiness for oneself and others as the fundamental objective of human life. Not in some after life, but in the here and now. And as I write that, after many years of Buddhist practice, I am intensely aware of just how bold and uncompromising and value-creating that is as a vision of life. No if's and but's and maybe's. That it says is what we are seeking. And it's all the more remarkable in that it was set out all those years ago when life was considerably rougher and tougher and certainly less forgiving than it is now.

And once again the extraordinary thing is just how closely that principle accords with the views of today's evolutionary biologists and positive psychologists who argue, strictly on the basis of their research that the quest for happiness is the ultimate motivational force in life. What does ' ultimate ' mean in this context? It means that it doesn't require any further definition. It speaks for itself. We may initially express it to ourselves in other terms; we want to be healthy for example, or have better relationships, or a better job, or achieve a qualification and many other items of desire that we might list, but all those items are only important in the sense that they contribute to our happiness. They are stepping stones if you like on the way to our ultimate goal.

Nuff said for today.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Thursday 3 November 2016

my buddhist blog number 153

Hi Everybody,
I can't remember an autumn as beautiful as this one. My run through the woods  in the morning with Gatsby is just a joy with this wonderful backdrop of reds and yellows and browns all around, and the ground carpeted in golden leaves. I think its because its been so dry and so still, so that the leaves are still largely on the trees instead of being soggy piles on the ground. Gatsby's not interested in the colours. His focus is entirely on the squirrel population!

OK so we've just started the chapter on Buddhism and Happiness. , and one of the fundamental qualities that we might argue, sets Buddhism so clearly apart  is that it presents itself right from the start as being about ordinary people attaining happiness in this lifetime. Not happiness in some heaven after death. Or in some idealised utopian life space in this world. Or some vision of a pleasant life we might hope to achieve when this or that qualification or situation has been achieved, or this or that obstacle has been removed.

And that word ' when' is important too. Many of us can find ourselves mentally trapped in the prison of the
' when' as it has been called by the psychologists; this tendency to persuade ourselves that only when this or that change has taken place, only then we might perhaps achieve that happiness we seek. It becomes if you like a self-imposed barrier to moving to a better place.

The way Buddhism responds to that situation is to say that we need to recognise the immense power that resides in our freedom of choice. That whether we realise it or not, whether we believe it or not, we have within us all the resources we need to choose and establish in our lives a stable sense of well-being in our lives. Not when anything has been added, or removed, but now. It argues strongly that we can learn, that we can train ourselves to achieve that goal now. Not just in the good and golden times, but at any time. Mo matter how challenging and disturbing the vicissitudes and circumstances of our life may be.

That is of course a huge and potentially life-changing idea, but it is also so unusual, so counter-intuitive, that it is extremely difficult for most of us to come anywhere near accepting it when we first encounter it. It just doesn't make sense we say to, ourselves. There must be some sort of catch. It took me personally a very long time to learn that there isn't. That the catch is primarily our lack of self-belief, our lack of conviction in ourselves. And it was only much later that I came to learn that this  same promise, this same perception if you like, which is utterly central to Buddhist belief, is echoed in the work of many of today's sociologists. Martin Seligman for example, Professor of psychology at Pennsylvania State University, and one of the founding fathers of the growing school  of positive psychologists,;

'Optimism is a learned skill. Once learned it increases achievement at work and improves physical health.'

That's a crucial point that he is making isn't it? It's not just about having a nice warm feeling within. The happiness associated with optimism he is saying, is life-giving, it serves it serves to enhance and improve the entire spectrum of our lives, at work and at play.

Enough for today.
Hope it all adds up for you.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon as a paperback and on Kindle as a download.

Saturday 29 October 2016

MY BUDDHIST BLOG NUMBER 152

Hi Everybody,
Lovely quiet Saturday afternoon. Arsenal has just won 4-1!! Perfect time to spin a little blog. New chapter, new subject, Buddhism and Happiness.
' Do we really need a discussion about the nature of happiness you might well ask? it's such a slippery and elusive emotion to define, and so intensely subjective, that we're in grave danger, aren't we of just going around in pointless circles? And in any case, however difficult it may be to pin it down in a definition does that really make any difference? Isn't it very much like the taste of the strawberry, we may not be able to describe it, but we all know it well enough when we actualy experience it?

But those arguments clearly cut both ways don't they? It's precisely because it is so slippery and so elusive a term that we might get a great deal out of even a brief discussion of what we really mean when we talk about happiness in this world. And personally I think there's a great virtue in being a bit tougher on ourselves, so that we take the time and the trouble to think our thoughts through more completely, and set them down more precisely. Not least because this particular word is, in my view, in danger of being so immensely overused that its meaning becomes gravely dilutes.

And there are other equally compelling reasons. Above all else perhaps the fact that if you are vaguely interested in, or practice Buddhism, you simply can't escape it. You can't have failed to notice for example the number of times the word happiness has cropped up in these blogs so far. Which mirrors the fact that it occurs a great deal in Buddhist discussions. In fact Buddhists will often say that the fundamental reason for their practice is nothing less than greater happiness for themselves and for those around them. And if we give it a moments thought, that too is somewhat surprising, in the sense that if I were to ask you to go away and search for the word ' happiness' in other religious liturgies you might never come back! Why? Because the simple fact is that we have to search very hard indeed to find the word happiness in those contexts; happiness in the here and now that is, in this life, rather than in some heavenly hereafter. That's a very important distinction. The fact is that most religions don't talk about about happiness in this life as having anything to do with the purpose of their existence. Or indeed, talk about it at all.'

That's the introduction. I think it's a really important discussion.
So hope to see you next time around.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon as a paperback or as a download from Kindle

Saturday 22 October 2016

my buddhist blog number 151

Good Morning Everybody,
Hope all is well with you. We've come to the end of that discussion about the meaning of the word faith in Buddhism. Todays passage is a bit of a leap forward. It comes at the end of Chapter Three which is essentially about the life and legacy of Nichiren Daishonin, and it's headed Actual Proof, and it makes what seems to me to be an essential point. So here goes,
' So it could be argued that the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin is offering you the opportunity to put the claims that it makes to the test in your own life. Make the decision it says, summon up from within this self-belief, this determination that you are prepared to tackle the things about your own life that you wish to change,' exert yourself in the two ways of practice and study' as Nichiren puts it, and observe the results in your own life, to see whether or not it delivers its promise.

And that ' whether or not ' is crucially important of course. Both options are wholly valid. It's not a practice that one could continue on the basis of someone else's belief! But basically that's the process that I went through some 25 odd years ago, with no small measure of doubt and scepticism as I've mentioned. But there's nothing wrong with a with a dash of healthy scepticism, or even a heavy dose of it. Scepticism is a great asker of difficult questions that demand answers. In the event I've travelled, as I'm sure many others have befor eme and since, from a profound scepticism to an equally profound commitment toa practice that has brought immense value and joy into my life. and I have not the slightest doubt, into the lives of those around me.

People frequently ask me, ' where do you get your constantly positive spirit from? ' I have only one answer, from the daily practice of Nichiren Buddhsim.

Enough for today.
See you next time.
Best wishes,.
William

Saturday 8 October 2016

my buddhist blog number 150

Hi Everybody,
Hope all is well with you. We're in the middle of a discussion about the meaning of the word ' faith ' in Buddhism, that is to say how is it different from the use of the same word in say Christianity or Islam. And right from the start we learn that the fundamental difference in Nichiren Buddhism is that faith is not in any way to be equated with belief in something external, something outside of oneself. The word only has meaning in relation to a quality or a resource that we are seeking  within. As Nichiren Daishonin expresses on so many occasions,

' ...perceive the true nature of your life...if you seek enlightenment outside yourself then your performing even ten thousand practices and ten thousand good deeds will be in vain. It is like the case of the poor man who spends night and day counting his neighbour's wealth but gains not even half a coin..'

So what must faith mean then in this context...if we are to perceive the true nature of our lives?

The somewhat surprising answer is that faith in Buddhism is essentially about belief in oneself, self belief. And it is related directly to the strength of the desire or the determination that we can summon up within our own life to act or to live in accord with Buddhist values and principles. it means going into battle if you like against our own inner weakness or lack of self-confidence or self-belief, so that we can create for ourselves a life that is overwhelmingly resilient and positive and optimistic and compassionate, and always concerned with creating value out of whatever circumstances we might encounter.

Faith in Buddhist terms then is not all that different from the sheer determination or the self-belief we work hard to summon up to pursue any major goal or objective in our lives. We find that we have to learn how to dig deep within ourselves to achieve success in a chosen career, or to turn a crisis situation around, or to overcome a life-threatening illness, or create a lasting and fulfilling relationship. The fundamental difference, and of course it is fundamental, is that in this case the self-belief is anchored firmly in the powerful humanistic philosophy introduced into the world by Shakyamuni, and developed and amplified by  a series of remarkable thinkers and teachers over the past two and and a half thousand years.

So faith in Buddhism is also very much about method; about how we can develop such a life, such an enduring self-belief.
Enough said for today.
Hope you enjoyed it.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Sunday 2 October 2016

my Buddhist blog number 149

Hi Everybody,

Beautiful day. Too nice really to be in and sitting at the keyboard, but I've been totally busy and I promised myself that I would get a blog out today. So we're talking about the meaning of  this word faith in Buddhism.
Big subject. Faith is a chameleon of a word, and we're trying to pin down what it does mean for Buddhists, and of course what it doesn't! Both are important.
So in all the major religions with which we are most familiar, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam for example, we all know that the word faith is used to bind together all those elements of the teaching that are beyond the reach of proof, or beyond the reach of experience. And inevitably, in religions that deal with the nature of divinity itself and how it works in the world, and the nature of the unknowable after life, those un-provable elements are very substantial indeed. so faith in these circumstances has a truly immense role to play. The believer is asked to make what we have come to call a leap of faith to accept those elements of the teaching or doctrine.

And the word leap in this context describes very accurately what we are being asked to do, namely to leave the solid ground of our experience and what we absolutely know to be the case, and put our trust and belief in something that is way outside our normal experience, and what's more, will always be outside our normal human experience. That is not of course questioning in any way the sustained and hugely sustaining power of these religions for countless millions of people over several thousand years. I am simply trying to explore the differences in the way we use this key word faith.

It is clear therefore that in all these major religions faith has much to do with the firm belief in the powers of God and of Allah and the decisive role that power plays in the daily lives of ordinary people. That is to say, this kind of faith which is so deeply embedded in western culture has very much to do with entities, powers, people that are outside of oneself.

Indeed I would go so far as to argue that this idea of taking a leap of faith is now so deeply embedded that it has become the essential meaning of the word itself. Whenever we use the word faith in the West we are normally talking about faith in something  ' out there,' something very much outside ourselves. And I thinkm it helps to be totally aware of that..

which brings us back to the central fact that since there is no all-powerful creator god ' out there' in Buddhism, the word must carry for Buddhists, a very different meaning.

Which we'll look at next time around.Thanks for reading this far.
See you next time hopefully.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon or as a download from Kindle.

Tuesday 27 September 2016

my buddhist blog number 148

Hi Everybody,

Back from the beautiful blue and gold of the Mediterranean to a somewhat more autumnal England. Had a great time I must say. But back to work. This passage follows on directly from the previous one about the central message of Shakyamuni expressed in the Lotus Sutra. This accumulated wisdom about learning how to create for oneself a better and a happier life no matter what challenges or problems we all encounter every day of our lives, continues to be about the present and not about the past. It continues to demonstate its direct immediacy and relevance despite the vast changes mankind has lived through in every area of our lives; immense immeasurable changes.

But those are of course external changes, whereas our inner humanity remains unchanged. We still find ourselves blocked and limited by all kinds of disabling doubts and fears. Fears of so many things; fear of inadequacy, fear of rejection, fear of failure and of loss and much else. We still find ourselves knocked down and disabled by problems and difficulties that sometimes seem so overwhelming that we don't know where to turn. We still find it difficult to acknowledge let alone to draw on our inner resources of courage and hope and and optimism to make the very most of our lives.

Indeed some of Buddhism's central teachings about how to recognise and draw upon our inner resources and so overcome many of the negative impulses and responses that we experience, have been taken up and used on a regular basis by some of today's leading psychologists in helping people cope with severe and persistent depression and sadness.

So Buddhism continues to touch and change people's inner lives, in the West now as well as in the east, in increasing numbers. If we ask the question why that is, there are of course many threads to the answer. But undoubtedly one of them will be that there is something immensely powerful, immensely empowering about this central idea that comes from Shakyamuni and Nichiren, about learning how to take hold of our lives in a rational way and moving them towards the positive end of the spectrum. We all want to know how to do that. And that really brings us back to this question of faith in Buddhism? What does it mean? In some ways it is the most important question of all. And that's where we go next time.

Hope to see you then.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Wednesday 7 September 2016

my buddhist blog number 147

Hi Everybody,

I'm about to go off to Antibes again I'm utterly delighted to say...I love the place...so I thought I'd get in at least one more episode before I go. we're in the middle of a discussion about the nature of Shakyamuni's enlightenment and the we've reached a point where the implications of that enlightenment are expressed in the Lotus Sutra.

The Lotus of the title is seen to be a powerful and many-layered metaphor for many things, but undoubtedly one of the most important, the very heart of the message that it seeks to transmit, is that the lotus is a plant that grows ina muddy swampy environment, and yet produces flowers of extraordinary beauty. Thus it is symbolic of the immense potential that can be revealed, created, brought out of the ordinary, muddled, mundane circumstances of our daily lives, no matter how difficult and challenging the initial circumstances of that life may be.

Thus in the Lotus Sutra Shakyamun essentially turned the religious world on its head. At a time when people saw themselves as being limited and hemmed in by powerful external controlling concepts such as destiny and the will of the gods, Shakyamuni taught them that was not the case, that was not an accurate representation of the reality of human life. Everyone he said could come to understand that man carried his own destiny in his own hands, that our lives are our own to shape and to make. That we have the resources within us, and the freedom to make our own choices, to take control of our lives and move them in the direction we wish to go. Provided only that we accept full responsibility for the choices that we make and their implicatiopns for others around us. That concern for others is the very basis of Buddhist morality.

It was unquestionably a revolutionary teaching then, which is one of the reasons it spread like a bushfire across south East Asia, but what is also unquestioned I suggest, if you give it a moments thought, is that it remains pretty revolutionary today.

Enough for today I think.
Hope to do one more episode before I go.
All my best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on amazon and as a download on kindle.

Sunday 4 September 2016

my buddhist blog number 146

Hi Everybody,
had some real trouble getting here! Google Chrome seem to have made the old pathway I used via explorer no longer viable. I had to use the skills of my nerdy son Sebastian to get me to this familiar pro-forma that enables me to publish the blog. So much gratitude to him. And a new awareness that one can quite easily get mashed in the tech wars that clearly go on between these internet giants. Hmmm.
So where were we? We were trying to get a grip in Shakyamuni's enlightenment. To clear away some of that fog of  mysticism and mythology to understand it more clearly. And we ended the last passage with an image of a Ghandi type figure, immensely approachable, immensely compassionate, surrounded by a crowd listening intently as he taught about a new kind of hope and a new kind of possibility for their lives. But what precisely was that new hope and that new possibility? It is expressed most completely and most powerfully in a teaching or a sutra called The Lotus Sutra. This was the mainspring of Shakyamuni's mission during the final phase of his long teaching life. It represents if you like the summit of that staircase of understanding up which he was steadily taking his followers. It is described as the core and essence of his life's work. The Lotus Sutra is the central text of Mahayana Buddhism, which embraces Nichiren Buddhism. It is a long involved work full of stories and parables which stands alongside the Bible and the Koran as one of the great religious texts of human history. As Daisaku Ikeda, one of the greatest authorities on the Lotus Sutra describes it, at the very heart of the philosophy it teaches is the perception that ...' the inner determination of an individual can transform everything, it gives ultimate expression to the infinite potential and dignity inherent in every human life. '

And Daisaku Ikeda, in his account of Shakyamuni's life gives us a compelling image of Shakyamuni's ordinary humanity when  he writes, ' ...he was a man who, in almost astonishingly plain and unaffected language, employing anecdotes and analogies that could be comprehended by anyone, sought to awaken in each individual the spirit that dwells in the inner being of all people....When he speaks in his unassuming way to mankind, one catches within the clear and simple words echoes from another realm, that of the truly enlightened man who has contended with and overcome darkness in himself, and attained the final resolution of truth.'

It's a memorable image.
Enough for today.
Hope I don't have the same trouble navigating back here again for 147.
Best wishes,
William
The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Sunday 28 August 2016

my buddhist blog number 145

Hi Everybody,
We're in the middle of a discussion of Shakyamuni's enlightenment and how we might strip away the mystical envelope that inevitably surrounds it and come to terms with it in a more modern, more everyday idiom. Shakyamuni taught for a surpisingly long time, over 50 years, and throughout that time he was tireless in his efforts to convey the essence of his new understanding of reality, in ways that made a practical difference to ordinary people's lives. Right at the heart of his teaching was the clear message that the new understanding that he had gained of human life and motivation, although radical in its direction and implications, was not in any sense divine, or alien to ordinary human existence. How could it be since he was no more nor no less than that. What he had come to understand was simply the highest reach of an ordinary human mind.

He was clearly a man of great charisma and an inspirational speaker and he talked of taking people up a sort of staircase of understanding pitching his teaching always at a level that could be received and comprehended by whatever audience he encountered. So it wasn't remote and theoretical and removed from the concerns of ordinary people. But when seen against the centuries-long background of Brahmanism nothing like it had been taught before. Because his teaching eliminated the received wisdom of a pantheon of gods who basically controlled human destiny, and introduced a wholly new perception of reality, concerned with the growth and liberation of the individual human spirit.

He has been described as setting motion, ' the true great adventure of self reformation. '

It was this powerful human -scale  philosophy focused on daily life, and deliberately expressed in the dialect of ordinary people rather than in the dialect of the priestly class, that touched and drew in people from all backgrounds and all walks of life; the rich and the poor, the young and the old, the educated and the unschooled. They all wanted to see and hear him speak in person. The image that most readily comes to mind perhaps is of a Ghandi-like figure, immensely approachable, immensely compassionate, surrounded by a crowd listening intently as he talked about a new kind of hope and a new kind of possibility for ordinary lives.

More than enough for one session I think. The last 3 episodes go together to provide a kind of brief overview of Shakyamuni's enlightenment. Hope you enjoyed it.
Best wishes, william
PS The Case for Buddhism is available as a paperback on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Friday 19 August 2016

mybuddhist blog number 144

Hi Everybody,
Nice damp cool rainy day outside. It's always so much easier to sit down at the computer to write when it's raining, than when it's bright and sunny. So we're in the middle of this interesting issue of how we deal with the idea of Shakyamuni's enlightenment, which is the well-spring if you like from which Buddhism has flowed out into the world. A key point for me in coming to terms with this is that whatever elements of the enlighenment story we find difficult to grasp or to understand, perhaps...we do well to remember...simply because of the limitations of our own experience or our own imagination; whatever the precise nature of the truths that Shakyamuni came to perceive, the key thing to hang onto I would argue, is that what resulted from his experience is clear enough for all to see. The immense power of the experience that he went through changed him forever. He became truly a different man. In many ways it seems similar to the experience that Saul went through on the road to Damascus that transformed him from a fierce persecutor of the Christians into Paul, the great teacher and primary architect of the Christian Church. But in the case of both Paul and Shakyamuni the experience they went through was like walking through fire, and it lit a fire in them that was so strong that it was never extinguished.

Shakyamuni was never able again to separate his existence as a human being from his desire to teach the truths about the life we all lead, that he had come to understand. And his desire to improve the well-being of all of humankind. He set out if you like to reveal a new understanding of reality, which is what enlightenment ultimately means. And central to that new understanding is the seemingly simple, and yet truly revolutionary idea, that life is not a rehearsal for some sort afterlife. It is the real thing, and it makes sense therefore to learn how to build the best life for ourselves today, in the here and now.

Enough for today.
Back in the middle of the week.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon in paperback and as a download on Kindle.

Saturday 13 August 2016

my buddhist blog number 143

Hi Everybody,
Find it hard to believe that I've been posting this blog since 2013!! Amazing how time flies when...you're seeking to create value. During that time the book has been published in English and Spanish, and seems to be very popular, particularly in the USA., for which I'm deeply grateful. OK so we're in the midst of this discussion about faith, what can it possibly mean in a religion that has no gods to have faith in? One hurdle we have to leap over before we get to that is the subject of Shakyamuni's enlightenment. What's that all about? Enlightenment is ina  sense a technical term in Buddhism and I think it really helps to see it in that light. Indeed the word Buddha itself essentially means the enlightened one, it comes from a Sanskrit verb that means to be awakened. or to be aware of or to know deeply. And the key thing to note is that those are quite human-scale activities aren't they? Nothingn divine about them. We can all wake up, or be aware or know deeply.

So how should we deal with the fact of Shakyamuni's enlightenment? In many ways the concept of a state of being, or a state of mind labelled enlightenment is strange to us, not to say alien. It's a word we're not likely to use often, if at all. In an essentially intellectual and materialist age we are much more attuned to, and likely to be much more comfortable with down-to-earth explanations and scientific patterns of  proof. But of course as we all know, there is much more to our humanity, particularly our humanity when it is lived at the highest level,than can be observed and measured in a laboratory. So we have to accept I think that in using an unusual word like enlightenment, we are reaching out in an attempt to describe something that may be very difficult to actually pin down, but which nevertheless remains a wholly valid part of human experience. Put simply we might say that enlightenment involves a completely different view of reality. One analogy that comes to mind is the sort of phase change as it's called in physics that takes place when water turns to ice for example. It is exactly the same stuff so to speak, precisely the same molecular substacne, nothing has been added or taken away, but it is also a complete transformation.

Is that similar to what happens to ordinary people when they achieve a measure of enlightenment? They are exactly the same people. But they are also transformed.

Enough for one swallow.
Hope it makes sense.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available in paperback on Amazon and a download on Kindle.

Sunday 7 August 2016

my buddhist blog number 142

Hi Everybody,
Sitting here at my desk with the evening sun streaming through the windows after a beautiful midsummer's day. The grass in Richmond Park is bleached golden with the sunshine and Gatsby just disappears when he runs into it. OK so today's episode runs on from the last sentecne of the last one, ' The point is that we are undoubtedly spiritual animals, however much we may try to convince ourselves that we're not!

Madonna once told us most persuasively that this is a material world and that she is very much a material girl. That may indeed be so, but ther'es a powerful line from Bruce Springsteen that brings us a completely different message and one that reflects perhapsa growing change in social sentiment.

' It's time to start saving up ' he tells us...' for the things that money can't buy...'

The things that money can't buy...what can he possibly mean other than a deeper and more meaningful spiritual life beyond the bounds of mere materialism? What is remarkable I think is just how close that sentiment comes to something that a great and influential Buddhist teacher called Nichiren Daishonin wrote to his followers all those years ago.

' More valuable than the treasures in any storehouse..he wrote... that is to say more material stuff..' are the treasures of the body'... that is to say good health...' and the treasures of the heart... that is to say an active and meaningful spiritual life...are most valuable of all. '

And in our deepest selves we know that to be true don't we?

That's it. short and I hope sweet!
See you next time.
Keep reading
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Monday 1 August 2016

my bvbuddhist blog number 141

Hi Everybody,

This passage follows on almost directly from the last line of the last episode........never before have so many people in the West turned to Buddhism to find answers to their questions about life, the universe and everything.

What makes it all this more remarkable is that this global movement is taking place not on the backs of missionaries or itinerant preachers as you might expect, or anything resembling them, but slowly steadily, almost imperceptibly, in a truly modern way, as a result simply of people talking other people, largely on a one to one basis. ' This is my experience. You might find it useful in your life.'
The very basis in a sense on which this book, this blog, is being written.

Moreover it's taking place in an age, as I've said, that is far more notable for its rampant materialism and its widespread cynicism than for its religious commitment, and despite the fact that a Buddhist practice is genuinely demanding. It calls for application and effort and commitment, because we are learning a new set of life skills, fundamentally new ways of thinking about ourselves and our relationships, and how to tackle the tough and challenging stuff that is inherent in all our lives.

Clearly it is fulfilling some perceived need for a stronger and more meaningful spiritual life for many people; a searching for something more to life, a reaction perhaps against these powerful influences of cynicism and materialism at work in society. There is so much more available to be 'done' these days, and so much more to ' hunger' after in shopping malls and supermarkets and on the web, that we can find our lives almost entirely taken up with ' stuff.' With the doing and the arranging and the acquiring and the moving on from one event, one party, one club to the next.

But is that enough? Is that what we really want? The point is that we are undoubtedly spiritual animals, however much we try to convince ourselves that aren't.'

Nuff said.
Thanks for readingn thus far.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and on Kindle in English and Spanish.

Saturday 30 July 2016

my buddhist blog number 140

Hi Everybody,

It's been a really productive week with the new book, which is called by the way A Personal Journey, because its very much about my own personal interests and my journey into a Buddhist practice. But back to today's blog with a little piece on Buddhism's modern relevance.
' These distinctive elements of Buddhism, its essential humanism, its dynamic humanism, as it's sometimes called because its purpose is to change and move our whole life towards the positive end of the spectrum, and its unbounded inclusiveness, are perhaps the key qualities that give Buddhism its universal relevance and its astounding everlasting modernity. It may have begun in the deer park in the little town of Sarnath in Northern India all those years ago when Shakyamuni first sat down to talk to a small group of people about his newly-won ideas, but in no sense is it ancient, in no sense is it stuck in time or backwards looking. It continues to be powerfully about the here and now of our daily lives.

Witness to this is the fact that over the past 40 or 50 years many tens of thousands of people in Europe and the Americas for example, and elsewhere, have chosen to place a Buddhist practice at the very centre of their lives. For the very first time in its history, during what might well be described as the most materialistic and possibly the least spiritual of all the ages of man, Buddhism is flowing strongly westwards out of Japan and Asia, and into the western-way-of-life parts of the world. Indeed never before in its history has Buddhism spread so rapidly or so widely in terms of its geographical area, and never before have so many people in the West turned to Buddhism to find answers to their questions about life, the universe and everything.'

That'll do for today. Off now to spen some time in a care hom,e form people with dementia to see if I can create some value.

With all my best wishes,

William. have a great weekend.
The Case for Buddhism is available as a paperback on Amazon and as a download on Kindle in English and Spanish

Saturday 23 July 2016

mybuddhistblog number 139

Hi Everybody,
I'm just continuing this process of flicking through The Case for Buddhism and picking up themes and issues that I wasn't able to cover on the first pass. At the moment we're talking about Buddhism and humanism.
There are of course many profound implications that arise from Buddhism's basic humanism. By no means least is that since it isn't about a God of gods, we have to be careful about how we use key words like  'faith ' for example and ' prayer.'  They occur all the time in the writings of all religions, including Buddhism. But if there isn't a God to have faith in or to pray to, then clearly these words will mean something very different in Buddhism, from the way we commonly understand them on the basis of our Judaeo-Christian heritage. And it goes without saying doesn't it, that it's crucially important that we have some understanding of what that difference is.

Thus one key implication that is absolutely fundamental to anyone approaching Buddhism for the first time, is that the wisdom and the understanding that has been generated by this process of evolution down the centuries on the nature of human life and motivation and relationships is passed on to all men and women on the basis of equality. Complete equality. That is such an important point, but it's one that is extraordinarily difficult to grasp, even for those who have been practising for many years. Because we are so accustomed in the West, we might even say conditioned, to believing that there is this vast unbridgeable gulf that normally exists between the teacher, the bearer of the wisdom, the Jesus of Mohammed figure, and the rest of humanity, us ordinary human beings. That gulf simply does not exist in Buddhism.

Shakyamuni tells us repeatedly , so that there should be absolutely no doubt, that he is simply one of us. Indeed for him to be deified in any way by his followers would run counter to the central thrust of his teaching. It would deny if you like the central idea that the life state he achieved, filled with hope and optimism and courage and resilience, despite the toughness of his life, is available to all of us. We can learn that is how to achieve it in this lifetime. That learning is indeed what the practice is all about. '

Nuff said for today I think.
Hope it's clear.
See you next time around.

William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon

Thursday 14 July 2016

my buddhist blog number 138

Hi Everybody,
Had a great great time away in the sun. Just back. Picking up the blog trail with a little piece on Buddhism and belief.
' The essential starting point for anyone seeking to understand a little more about Buddhism  is that it doesn't have a god at its centre. It is atheistic or humanistic. That is to say it doesn't have at its heart, or anywhere else for that matter, the all-seeing, all-powerful, creator-god figure that sits at the heart of all the other major world religions, particularly those with which we are most familiar in western  societies, Christianity and Judaism, Islam and Hinduism.

That is very easy to say and very easy to comprehend on an intellectual level, but in my experience it is much more difficult to grasp on a sort of daily, practical, down-to-earth level, because the implications are so profound and far-reaching.

Thus ther eis no divine hierarchy in Buddhism. It is this characteristic above all that gives Buddhism its wholly distinctive character. Instead of there being a set of dogma and beliefs handed down to mankind in various ways by a divine presence or divine being, Buddhism is firmly rooted from first to last in ordinary humanity. Moreover, since it is not attached to any definition of divinity, Buddhism doesn't have any boundaries. It doesn't have for example the boundaries that have been the source of so much conflict down the centuries that divide the Islamic defintion of divinity from the Judaic, or the Judaic from the Christian or the Christian from the Hindu. It is wholly inclusive. No one and indeed no thing is excluded. It is wholly inclusive.

So it is a colossal humanist vision that reaches out to embrace every man's relationship with himself, man with his fellow human beings, and man with his universal environment. Buddhism in effect draws three concentric circles round our lies. Ourselves at the centre. Then othe rpeople, society as a whole, a truly global society. Then the outer ring of the universal environment. So Buddhism is immensely forward looking, immensely modern you might say, in that it has always argued that all three are intimately connected in every way, and for us to live a truly full and fulfilling life we need to learn how to be creatively connected to all three. '

That's it for today.
Pleased to be back.
Look forward to seeing you again next episode.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available in paperback from Amazon and as a download from Kindle.

Thursday 23 June 2016

my buddhist blog number 137

Hi Everybody,
Just time for one more episode before I'm off to the sun sand and blue sea!
A brief piece that seems to me to be particularly relevant to today's society.

' We have become accustomed in the West to seeking our solutions not so much in individual change but through political manoeuvring or through the promises of science and technology. But it's quite clear that both have severe limitations when it comes to achieving profound social change. Inevitably societies are made up of individuals, and in essence, Buddhism is about transforming society in the only way that profound social change can be sustained, from the bottom up, by transforming individual lives. It talks indeed of human revolution, individual by individual. We could certainly argue I think that rarely in human history has there been a greater need for a philosophy of society based upon individual responsibility, and profound respect for the welfare of others.

Both describe what Buddhism is about. '

Thats it!
See you when I get back.
Best wishes,
William

Wednesday 22 June 2016

my buddhist blog number 136

Hi Everybody,
Just about to escape to  Antibes in the south of France with Sarah for a couple of weeks of sun and sea and windsurfing, but I thought it would be good to get in an episode before I go. So here goes.
The Case for Buddhism page 9.

'...without wishing to push the analogy too far Buddhism might be said to provide a significant bridge between s living spiritual philosophy and the ever-increasing lines of books in the self-help section of your local bookshop, with their various forms of instant advice on how we might get better at the game of life, because Buddhism in a sense has a foot in both camps. It has the bedrock of a profound and all-embracing philosophy that touches upon every aspect of human life, and which has truly stood the test of time. But it is also just as genuinely about self-help and about self-belief. The very heart of Buddhism is about our learning how to handle the daily business of living more confidently and more bouyantly.

As Daisaku Ikeda, one of the greatest living authorities on Buddhism has expressed it, ' Buddhism is a movement emphasising self-education.'

That is to say Buddhism is about learning how to accept total responsibility for all the determinations and all the causes that we make as we go about our daily lives. '

Best wishes.
Hopefully see you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available as a paperback from Amazon and as a download from Kindle.

Monday 6 June 2016

my buddhist blog number 135

Hi Everybody,
On this brilliant summers day in London. Literally azure blue skies from horizon to horizon. So i'm sitting in the garden in the slanting rays of the hot evening sun, listening to a blackbird singing its heart out at the top of a nearby tree. One of the ancillary purposes of writing The Case for Buddhism was to clear away some of the many stereotypes that obscure the western view of what Buddhism is about.
One of the many such stereotypes for example, that obscures the general perception of Buddhism in the west is that it is very much about giving things up, or, at the very least, about introducng a kind of spare asceticism into our lives, in pursuit of spirituality. The plain fact is that Buddhism is very much focused on increasing the richness of our experience of our lives, and in the here and now, rather than inn some heavenly hereafter. In the process it talks to us a great deal; about what we mean by happiness or well-being. In fact it is alone among the major world religions in proposing the extraordinary idea that happiness isn't a matter of chance or accident as we commonly believe, something that comes to us if we just happen to be particularly lucky or fortunate, but essentially a matter of choice. Indeed Buddhism goes further and argues that we can all without exception, learn how to make that choice. The learning process, it declares, is neither particularly difficult, nor exclusive, nor, most important of all, it is not dependant upon our external life circumstances. Again that is a truly life-changing idea, and one that is clearly worth discussing at any time, since what we all want, one way or another, is a greater measure of this stuff called well-being in our lives!

But it is, I would suggest, an idea of particular relevance at this time we happen to be living through. Why do I say that? Because for the very first time in its history, science too seems to have become keenly interested in the idea of happiness and how it might be achieved. So, it could be argued, we are privileged to live in very unusual times when very considerable and genuinely scientific energy is focused on understanding precisely what it is that makes people feel good about their lives and their relationships, in all kinds of circumstances, not just in wealthy or well-heeled or fortunate ones.

Some knowledgeable observers even sugges that we might be looking at the beginning of a whole new science, a science of happiness indeed. Perhaps. But at the very least we are being offered a wholly new way of looking at so many things about our motivation and behaviour that Buddhism has been talking to us about for many many years. That is one of the central themes of this book.'

Enough for today.
Thanks for reading.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available in English and Spanish! on Amazon or as a download on Kindle.

Monday 30 May 2016

my buddhist blog number 134

Hi Everybody,
Many people have written to me over the past year to tell me that The Case for Buddhism is the book they most readily give to people they are seeking to inform about Nichiren Buddhism or, hopefully, introduce to the practice. That's immensely encouraging, because as I think I mentioned in the introduction, somewhere, it was specifically written to be given to the most sceptical and the most disinterested, hopefully to spark their interest in what a Nichiren Buddhist practice has to offer anyone trying to make the most of their life in today's busy, crowded, time-slicing, media-addicted society. So
what I've decided to do is to go back to the beginning of the book and sort of cherry pick my way through it, covering some of the bits that I think are most effective in conveying difficult stuff, or most perceptive.
'  So a major part of the purpose of the journey this book takes us on is to clear away many of the vague and totally unhelpful stereotypes that exist in the West and replacing them with a much clearer sharper understanding of what Buddhism  is about. I believe strongly that Buddhist values and principles can enhance any life, lived anywhere, in any circumstances, whehter or not that person has the slightest interest in taking up a Buddhist practice. So this is certainly a serious committed personal account of Buddhism, but only in the sense that Buddhism is about ordinary daily life. It is not in any way about a remote, inaccessible and other worldy philosophy. Not at all.

It's about the problems and the challenges and questions that we all encounter every day. What should I do in this difficult situation? How should I best handle this relationship or that problem.? And it's about some of the deeper issues we're all concerned with , even if they rarely actually surface in conversations in families or among colleagues at work, because they are too deeply buried in our lives. Concerns we all share such as the fundamental desire for a stronger and more consistent sense of well-being amidst the unexpected and challenging turbulence of our lives; the crucial and deeply-felt need we have for a genuine sense of connectedness and engagement with other people, and a concern for their well-being too; and the intimate realtionship that we now know exists between a resilient sens eof hope and optimism and a fit and healthy and fulfilling life. and how do we maintain that spirit of optimism amidst the hurly burly of daily life. As one psychologist expressed it to me in conversation,
' Cheerfulness matters. Hope and optimism really matter. They make a huge difference to the quality of our daily lives. They are not just a sort of optional salad dressin gon the surface of life!'

So put simply, this particular case for Buddhism is basically about learning in a wholly practical way, how to build a stronger and more resilient sense of well-being, for oneself and others, no matter what the circumstances we find ourselves in.'

Nuff said for today!
See you next time. Thanks for reading.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon of as a downlaod on Kindle, in English or Spanish!!

Monday 16 May 2016

my buddhist blog number 133

Hi Everybody,

I was in the park this morning running with Gatsby at not much after 7.30 and it was just heavenly. The stillness. The light. The bright promise of the day to come. And Gatsby who knows the run as well as I do now, bounding off between the trees. There is so much to be grateful for in an English summer morning. Not least a Buddhist practice that makes one aware of the transforming power of the gratitude.

I think this is thelast post for this book, unless I retrace my steps and pick out some of my favourite passages. Meanwhile, we're rounding off the passage about the practice in front of the Gohonzon.
' What the practice in front of the gohonzon does require is real application and effort, and the commitment to persevere, to give it our best shot if you will. Of course there are ups and downs. You stride forward one months and stand still the next. But the stark reality of course is that people only continue with this practice because of the benefits that appear in their lives. That has to be the acid test, and the implications are profound. We are not talking about a heaven of whatever form in some hereafter, coming for the way one lives this little life. Buddhism, as we have said so often is daily life.
this life in the here and now. The benefits have to be felt in the home and in the workplace, in how one feels about life today, and tomorrow and the day after.

There is no test more exacting, more strenuous, more meaningful...than daily life. '

THE END.

Its been such an interesting journey for me. It may seem a strange thing to say, but going through the book again so slowly and carefully has taught me so much. I hope that there has been at least something of that for you as well.
Can't tell you how grateful I am to anyone who has hung in there and made it to this point. A truckload of gratitude.
With my best wishes,
William
PS A case for Buddhism is available as a paperback on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Monday 9 May 2016

my Buddhist blog number 132

Hi Everybody,
Brilliant sunny day. All's right with the world. Had a brilliant intro to Buddhism meeting here last night.
Some really  interesting discussions with people who hadn't encountered Buddhism before about the kinds of things that can change fundamentally how we feel about our lives. Anyway here we are very close to the end of this book, talking about the meaning of the Gohonzon.

' The characters on the Gohonzon are there to make clear that there isn't a life state or a condition that a human being can experience that would in some way prevent that journey towards our greater self. Everythign but everything can be transformed.

That is the scale of the promise.

And that really is the Gohonzon's basic purpose. It is something physical to focus on. It is that practical. Something to keep our wandering mind on the task in hand, namely chanting. Nichiren has given us this picture of what it is we are seeking to achieve. It is nothing more than that. Nor, it's important to remember nothing less. It is sometimes described as a mirror that reflects back at us our true nature. And just as we cannot see our face without a mirrored surface to reflect it back to us, so Nichiren argues, we cannot really perceive our Buddhahood without the ' mirror' of the Gohonzon to reflect its image.

Does it really happen? Yes, undoubtedly, and for many thousands, millions indeed, of ordinary people.
Can we clearly say why? I do not believe so. '

Lets leave it there. On the cliff edge so to speak.
Back next week with the last episode in this series.
Thank you for reading thus far.
all my best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon as a paperback and on Kindle as a download.

Thursday 21 April 2016

my buddhist blog number 131

Hi Everybody,
Hope you're enjoying this beautiful spring.
We're talking about the Gohonzon and we're re-affirming if you like Nichiren's famous declaration;  ' I Nichiren have inscribed my life in sumi ink, so believe in this Gohonzon with with your whole heart.'
We've talked about the meaning of the word Gohonzon itself. We've talked a bit about what seems to be going on when we chant in front of it, that transformation of the spirit. And we've talked about what the inscription itself means.  That's where we pick it up.

The Gohonzon is said to depict in its complex calligraphy all the aspects of our ordinary human life. The good the bad and the ugly, the positive and the negative, the light and the dark. All those aspects of our everyday life are there, and Nichiren's too of course , for he was after all an ordinary human being. The ten life states that we discussed in an earlier chapter are set out clearly on the Gohonzon. But they are illuminated...that's the key word... illuminated by the principle that can enable us, however strong our anger, or however deep our despair, to move our lives towards the life state of Buddhahood that Nichiren captured in sumi ink. Nothingn is excluded. No life state is rejected. We don't have to get rid of anything, or feel guilty about anything. The characters on the Gohonzon are there to make clear that ther eisn't a life state or a condition that a human being can experience, that would in some way prohibit that journey towards our better self. Everything can be transformed.

That is the huge scale of the promise.

That's a big promise to absorb. So enough for today.Enough to dwell on and think over.
See you next week.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon and on Kindle. Good value!!!  

Monday 11 April 2016

my Buddhist blog number 130

Hi Everybody,
We're talking about the Gohonzon, what it is and what it does and we've come to the famous passage from Nichiren's letters when he writes.
' I Nichiren have inscribed my life in sumi ink, so beleive in this Gohonzon with your whole heart.'

I have inscribed nothing less than my life he says, his life as a Buddha. With that simple phrase Nichiren sums up the scale of the task he has accomplished; he regarded the creation of the Gohonzon as the fulfilment of his life -long mission as a teacher of men. The characters on the scroll, in Chinese and Sanskrit script are held  to  represent the reality of human life. Right down the centre of the Gohonzon in bigger and bolder characters than the rest, and as it were illuminating all of the human life those characters represent are the characters, nam myoho renge Nichiren.

That bold central inscription is the key to understanding the nature and the intent of the Gohonzon. When Nichiren wrote these words he was, as I've said, talking about his life as a Buddha or in the state of Buddhahood. So when we are chanting we have it there in front of us, a representation of what it is that we are seeking to draw out from within our own life, our highest life state, our Buddha nature. It is his great legacy if you like to all of humanity, this representation of the Buddha Nature, and in that sense it embodies the fundamental principle first revealed in the Lotus Sutra, namely that all ordinary human beings have the potential for Buddhahood inherent within their lives.

It is difficult to think of a meaningful analogy that come sclose to expressing what it is that is going on when we chant in front of the Gohonzon. One that might come close is perhaps the musical one. When Beethoven or Mozart for example sat down to write a piece of music, they too were expressing their life state, their passion, their spirit, their elation or their melancholy, at that moment in time. A supremely inner world transmuted into bold marks in black ink on whit epaper. Wgatever happens subsequently to that piece of paper, the spirit that flowed through the writer's inner world has been indelibly inscribed on it for all of time. The sheet of paper with the ink marks could rest unnoticed on a dusty library shelffor decades on end. It could be copied out lovingly by a clerk's hand, or it could be put through a digital copier to churn out a thousand copies. But whatever journey it travels, when the thousandth copy is placed in fron tof a musician and played, then the spirit embodied in the original ink marks all those years ago is, to a greater or a lesser extent, brought back to life, to fill the room with its sound and its vibration, and to recreate in those who hear it, some measure of the spirit that went into it when it was first written.

The Gohonzon in this analogy, is the musical score that presents  to us the life state of the writer when he first wrote it. We occupy the role of the musician seeking to recreate to the very best of our ability...no more can be asked of us...the spirit or the life state embodied in the original. '

Enough for one episode. I have to say I love that analogy, and it took so long to find it in my head!!
Thank you for reading thus far.
See you next time,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available, in Englsh and Spanish now on Amazon, or as a download on Kindle.

Saturday 2 April 2016

my buddhist blog number 129

Hi Everybody,
We can't leave this brief account of thr daily practice of Nichiren Buddhism without a touching upon the meaning and the implications of the Gohonzon as a central feature of that practice. The Gohonzon is a simple rice paper scroll, and it marks out Nichiren Buddhism from all other Buddhist schools. It is its distuingishing characteristic. Hinayana or Theravada Buddhism is very much focused on the person of Shakyamuni Buddha and the worshipping or honouring of him as a unique human being, almost to the point of deifying him. Mahayana Buddhism, which embraces Nichiren Buddhism is, by contrast, very much more concerned to bring Buddhist teachings into the daily of ordinary people everywhere. That in essence is what Mahayana means, it translates as roughly the greater vehicle. And in Nichiren Buddhism, the Gohonzon as a point of focus, and as we've seen over the past few episodes, the chanting of the title of the Lotus Sutra, myoho renge kyo, make up the primary means of achieving that aim.

The word ' go' in classical Japanese means ' worthy of honour,' and the word ' honzon' means ' object of fundamental respect.' So it is clearly an object that is held in the highest esteem in Nichiren Buddhism. With it's bold and graceful calligraphy it is also I have to say, a work of considerable beauty.

The Dai Gohonzon ( dai means 'great' or  'original' )was inscribed by Nichiren on 12th October 1279. The original Gohonzon that he inscribed is still extant in Japan at a place not far from Tokyo, but anyone who is prepared to make the commitment to practice in accordance with the principles of Nichiren Buddhism , and to look after their own Gohonzon as an object of fundamental respect receives a smaller block print version to enshrine in their own home, as a focal point for the daily practice. This is how members of the Soka Gakkai practice. Soka Gakkai means esentially Value Creating Organisation, and it's important to emphasise that it is an entirely lay organisation. No priests, no temples. Nichiren himself during his lifetime established this pattern of committed individuals receiving a personal Gohonzon to make it easier for them to practice in a place of their own chosing. Not long afterwards he wrote in one of his letters,

' I Nichiren have insctibed my life in sumi ink, so believe in this Gohonzon with your whole heart.' 

Sumi is the form of ink used particularly in Japanese calligraphy, and with this immensely simple phrase Nichiren sums up the scale of the task he had accomplished; he regarded it as nothing less than the fulfilment of his life-long mission as a teacher of Buddhist principles.

Enough for today I think.
Thanks for reading thus far.
Next week we discuss the symbols inscribed on the Gohonzo scroll.
Best wishes,

William
The case for Buddhism is available from Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Sunday 27 March 2016

MY BUDDHIST BLOG NUMBER 128

Hi Everybody,
Easter Sunday. A time for peace and friendship. Lets hope in the next few months we see peace breaking out in Syria and the pain and suffering of so many people brought to an end.

The ground we've covered in the past dozen or so episodes has been a necesssarily brief account of the many meanings locked up within nam myoho renge kyo. But having a more comprehensive understanding of those meanings isn't really the key to unlocking the value that it embodies. The fact is that it's this practice focused around the chanting of this phrase that is Nichiren's great legacy to all of us. Nichiren was in many ways a great modernist, and he makes it clear in his writings that this practice was fashioned for ordinary people no matter what place or period they inhabit, 13th Century Japan or 21st century Europe. People with busy everyday lives and much else to grab their attention, to enable them to get to grips with the values and the principles of Buddhism, and so to understand that even in the very midst of life's difficulties and challenges, it is possible to build lives filled with hope and optimism and resilience, and yes...great happiness too.

That's it. Done for today. It's shorter than normal I know but it brings us to a neat end for the discussion of nam myoho renge kyo, and next time we can launch off into a discussion about the gohonzon.

Hope to see you then.
All my best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon and as a download on Kindle.
Very soon out in Spanish!!!

Sunday 20 March 2016

my buddhist blog number 127

Hi Everybody,
Hope all is well with you.
We're closing in on the end of this chapter and this book. Only half a dozen pages to go.
I've just learned that the Spanish version is about to be published! Which is really great news. It makes the book available to the huge Spanish speaking audience in the US and in South America.
Right well we've been explorign the meaning of the mantra that Nichiren Buddhists chant, nam myoho renge kyo. It is the title of the Lotus Sutra, which contains the key teachings of Mahaayna Buddhism in classical Japanese. Over the past few episodes we've looked in detail at the underlying meanings of nam, and myoho and renge. So you can revisit those episodes if you wish to refresh your memory, and in this one we're talking about kyo.

So justas with myoho and renge, the word kyo embodies many meanings. It is literally translated as ' sutra' or the voice or teaching of the Buddha. But it also measn vibration or sound, so can be taken to represent the vibrations that spread out from someone in the process of chanting. Indeed there is a well-known Buddhist saying that ' the voice does the Buddha's work,' and there is no question that the sound or the vibration that is created by a group of people chanting, even quite a small group, can be very powerful.
I can still recall with great clarity for example, the very first Buddhist meeting I went to, some time before I actually started practising. It was a dark cold winter's evening I remember and we were walking along this street of narrow Victorian houses in West London, with me thinking not particularly positive thoughts such as, ' Oh well, it can't last much more than an hour this meeting!' And then, as we turned up the short garden path to the house, coming through the closed front door was this wonderful resonant sound. Strong. Confident. Vibrant. It actually made the hair tingle on the back of my neck I recall. A sound produced by just a dozen or so ordinary people, chanting nam myoho renge kyo.'

Enough for today I think.
I have to say re-writing that passage I can still recall that first meeting. And I've been chanting every day since then. When I say that this practice has profondly changed my life, I mean precisely that. It has changed my life in more ways than I can recount, all of them immensely beneficial.
See you next time,
William
The Case for Buddhism is available in paperback from Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Saturday 12 March 2016

my buddhist blog number 126

Hi Everybody,
On this beautiful spring day. Well it is in southern England. Clear skies. Soft slightly hazy sunshine. Birds everywhere kicking up a spring-type fuss. Beautiful. Runnning in the park with Gatsby early this morning and we even suprised a few spring baby rabbits back into their burrows! We're in the middle of the detailed explanation of the meaning of the mantra Nichiren Buddhists chant morning and evening, nam myoho renge kyo. We've talked about nam at asome length, and myoho at even greater length, and we're into renge, which means essentially cause and effect.

Basically Buddhism argues that every cause we make, good bad or indifferent, plants a balancingeffect in our lives. Thus there is for all of us an on-going chain of causes and effects. That is if you like the fundamental dynamic of our lives. Good causes good effects. Bad causes bad effects.

I think it's pretty easy to see how even a superficial understanding of this principle can have a powerful effect on our behaviour, on our awareness of the kind of causes that we are making. And since that process of linked causes and effects is going on all the time, you can see that where we are now in our lives, who we are now in our lives, is the sum of all the causes we have made in the past, that have planted effects in our lives.

By the same token the causes that we are making now, Buddhism reminds us, contain the seeds of our future. So you might say, the key factor in shaping our on-going lives is how we respond to the situations and events and encounters that face us now, today and tomorrow and the next day.

What that is saying so powerfully is that however much we might feel it to be the case, we are not simply subject to chance and accident and encounter that come at us out of our environment. The decisive factor is how we respond to those situations. The causes that we make and therefore the effects that we plant in our lives.

The basic message is therefore on eof immense hope and optimism. Whateverhas happened in the past good positive causes made now, will plant good positive effects, into our future.

Enough to absorb for one go  I think.
Next time we will be looking at kyo.
All my best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available as a paper back on Amazon and as a downlaod on Kindle.
The good news is that the Spanish version is about to be launched for all those Spanish speakers in US and South America.

Sunday 28 February 2016

my buddhist blog number 125

Hi Everybody,
Thanks so much for visiting my blog. It's really appreciated when there is so much else to grab your attention. We're in the middle of a detailed discussion on the meaning of nam myoho renge kyo, the mantra that we chant as Nichiren Buddhists morningn and evening. It is the title of the Lotus Sutra written in classical Japanese, with the addition of what is called the committal word, nam, which means basically I commit to, or I believe in. So we've talked about nam. We've talked at some length about myoho. And we've come to renge.

Renge means lotus flower, but most significantly it also means cause and effect. The lotus flower adopted as the title of Shakyamuni's ultimate teaching is an immensely significant symbol in Buddhism for many reasons. It is a plant with a particularly beautiful flower and it happens to grow and flourish with its flower and leaves floating on the surface of the water and its roots dangling into the mucky muddy conditions on the bottom of the pond. In this sense it is seen to symbolise the great potential locked up in every human life; the promise that we can build strong and positive and flourishing lives, however difficult the circumstances and environments we find our lives rooted in. Moreover the lotus happens to carry both blossoms and seed pods at the same time, simultaneously today's flower and the seeds of tomorrow's plants. In this sense it is seen to symbolise one of the fundamental and most important principles of Buddhism known as the simultaneity of cause and effect.

Once again it is a principle with which Buddhism asks us to challenge the way we are accustomed to thinking about everyday lives and relationships. Basically it argues every cause we make, good bad and indifferent, plants a balancing effect in our lives. That effect Buddhism argues, will, sooner or later, make itself felt in our lives, without fail. Thus there is for all of us an on-going chain of causes and effect. That is if you like thr fundamental dynamic of our lives. It ties together for each one of us, the past, the present and the future.

Buddhism argues that it is only be coming to understand this constant linkage, that we can grasp fully what it means to take responsibility for our actions, and to seek to change those inherent tendencies in our life that are causing us to suffer. So it is a fundamental teaching that carries with it all sorts of implications, since we are of course, making causes all the time, both within our own lives and in relation to those us, all day every day, in everything we think and say and do. Good causes, good effects. Bad causes, bad effects.

Enough I think to chew over for today.
Back during the week to conclude the renge section.
All my best wishes, and gratitude for your being here.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available as a hold in the hand paper back from Amazon or as a read-on-the-screen download from Kindle.

Saturday 20 February 2016

my buddhist blog number 124

Hi Everybody,

Hope all is well with you. Thanks for coming to the blog. I try hard to keep it going at least once a week, but it's been really busy this week completing a script. So to recap, we're in the middle of what I think is a really important section exploring the meaning of myoho in the mantra we chantnam myoho renge kyo. I notice I give fully 5 pages to this section which is an indication of how important an understanding of this phrase is to the practice. Anyway, we've reached the cart and horses!! This is an analogy that is often used because it presents such a graphic picture of the relationship between the myo and the ho aspects of our life.

So, our life is the cart and it's pulled along by our myo horse, or our deepest spiritual energy, and our ho horse, our physical life. In general it's true to say that we are accustomed to spending a great deal of time and effort nurturing the strength and the well-being of our ho horse, because of course it is so visible and so accessible to us. We can look at it in the mirror for example and worry about its shape! We can feed it three times a day and take it to the gym to work out and off to play sports to ensure that it is kept fit and healthy and suitably diverted. As a result we tend very much to equate our happiness and our sense of satisfaction with life with how well we are getting on with looking after our ho horse.

By contrast we tend to spend relatively little time, if any, nurturing and exercising our myo horse, because of course it is wholly unseen and and in general has a less powerful presence. The result is a gross imbalance in the pulling power of these two dimensions of our life. The wagon of our life is pulled off strongly in one direction dictated by our physical needs, our strong ho horse. Indeed it is often pulled round in circles, repeating patterns of behaviour, because the spiritual side of our make-up hasn't been nurtured enough to influence, to change that is, our habitual behaviour. We can, as we all know so well, become very much creatures of habit, tending to repeat patterns of thought and behaviour even when they lead to considerable pain and suffering in our lives. People very often for example, go through a whole series of similar relationships each one of which might follow a very similar pattern of rise and fall.

What we need to do, Buddhism tells us, is to become aware of the effects of this gross imbalance between the strength of our physical and spiritual lives, and so allocate more time and energy to keeping both horses, the myo as well as the ho, in a fit and active and healthy state.

That is very much the role that is played by the daily Buddhist practice, it is the regular daily work out for our myo horse.

That's plenty enough for this episode.
Next time we are on to renge.
Hope to see you then.
With all my best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle and if you read it and enjoy it, I would be immensely grateful if you would be prepared to put a few words into into the review section. Readers reviews are apparently a very powerful factor in encouraging new readers. And please accept my gratitude in advance!

Monday 8 February 2016

my buddhist blog number 123

Hi Everybody,
We've been exploring the meaning of the mantra nam myoho renge kyo that we chant as a central part of our practice as Nichiren Buddhists. We've talked about nam which is the committal word which has a range of meanings such as I summon up  or  I make great effort. And we went on to talk about the meaning of myoho which essentailly describes the relationship between the myo or spiritual aspects of our life and the ho or physical aspects. And we touched upon the way in which the regularity of the practice strengthens the vitality of this spiritual diemnsion in our lives. That's basically where we pick up the theme today.

Rather more difficult to accept, indeed one of the most difficult concepts to understand, particularly if you have a background in science I suspect, is the Buddhist belief that all material existence, everything on Earth both animate and inanimate hasa physical and a spiritual aspect. Everything but everything we are told, has both myo and ho; the tree, the rock, the river, the mountain.

That is undoubtedly a difficult idea to take on board, although Buddhism is by no means alone in holding this view. Throughout the length and breadth of human history, artists and poets have been constantly seeking to open our eyes to this view of reality, in all languages and in all cultures. Wordworth for example, the great English romantic poet, when he famously described the myoho of a lake and a bunch of daffodils.

The waves beside them danced but they outdid the sparklin g waves in glee,
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company,
I gazed...and gazed..but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought;
For oft when on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon my inner eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Buddhism simply stresses this aspect of the continuity and the close association that runs through all things, so it teaches that we are not separate from, but closely linked to everything around us. Thus in Buddhist terms, statements such as being in harmony with, or being at odds with one's environment are not simply figures of speech. They are held to represent a fundamental truth, a truth that is the basis for the Buddhist principle of oneness of self and environment. Essentially this argues that as we change, as we gradually strengthen and reveal our Buddha nature through our practice, so that change resonates through our environment.

Right. Enough said I think for one day!
I'll be back mid week to continue the thread.
I nust say I'm really enjoying going over the ground again.
I learn somethingnew every time I do it.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon and on Kindle.

Wednesday 27 January 2016

my buddhist blog number 121

Hi Everybody,

We're exploring the meaning of the mantra that we chant in our daily daimoku, nam myoho renge kyo and we're talking about the various meanings of myoho, and we've talked about examples from music and painting. If we think about ourselves, then ho refers to all the elements in our physical make up that can be observed with our senses, so that includes of course our appearance, the way we happen to stand and walk and talk, the way we gesture with our hands, and the various facial expressions we use to communicate. All the elements in fact that enable someone to recognise us as who we are, even from some considerable distance away. But what is quite clear is that so many of those external physical attributes, those gestures and movements, the expression in our eyes for example, and the tone and modulation of our voice, the animation in the face and the postures of the body, are also an expression of our inner life, our myo. These two aspects of ourself are so clearly inextricably interwoven.

As we continue with our daily practice and seek to strengthen the vitality of the myo or spiritual aspect of our lives, it can have a very considerable manifest effect upon our physical persona, the general expression on our face for example, the light in our eyes, our tone of voice, our readiness to smile and greet others warmly and generously. The more active our inner spiritual life, the more readily it becomes apparent in our external appearance.

That's quite a big thought so I think we'll leave it there for today, to enable you to do a bit of rumination on that thought. We do want to greet others warmly and generously don't we? And we do want to have a persona that is vital and alive. Chanting nam myoho renge kyo is a genuine way of achieving those goals.

See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism, is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.

Monday 18 January 2016

my buddhist blog number 120

Hi everybody,

Had wonderful news from Italy this week where one of my books, The Reluctant Buddhist, or Il Buddista Rilutante as it is called in Italian has sold over 5500 copies in the past year which just blows me away, that it has touched so many people's lives. Don't know how to express my gratitude.
But here we are in this Approaching the Practice chapter launching into a slightly more detailed and yet wholly practical account of the meanings locked up in these characters nam myoho renge kyo. Not one that carries us off into the deeper realms of Buddhist philosophy perhaps, in case we get lost without trace, but one that might serve as a working reference, bearing in mind that if it stimulates you to know more, you can seek out one of the references in the bibliography. So, goggles on, here we go.

Nam. The word nam comes from the Sanskrit word namas and although it is commonly tranlated as, to devote one's life to, it has a multiplicity of overlapping meanings. Perhaps the most important among these meanings are ' to summon up,' or ' to awaken,' or, ' to draw forth,' or ' to make great effort.'

Why is knowing about these other meanings so helpful? Because they express subtle differences in our life state or state of mind when we are chanting at different times. When we are faced with a major challenge for example we may be thinking about summoning up or making great effort to draw out this inner resource rather than just awakening.

Myoho
Myoho is seen to describe the profound relationship between the very essence of life, or the life force that is inherent throughout the universe, and the literally millions of physical forms in which that life force is manifest or expressed at any given time. As Nichiren Daishonin defines that idea,

' Myo is the name given to the mystic nature of life, and ho to its manifestations.'

Thus in the Buddhist tradition, everything that exists, both sentient and insentient, is an expression in some way of that life force, and is subject to the eternal rhythm of life, formation, continuation, decline and disintegration. Everything but everything is subject to that process of change or impermanence as it is so often described in Buddhism.

So myoho is made up of two elements, myo which refers to the unseen or the spiritual element which is beleived to be inherent in all things, and ho, which refers to the physical manifestation that we can observe with our senses. In Buddhism all things, all phenomena, have a myo aspect and a ho aspect. They are the two different but inseparable aspects of all life, ' two but not two'  as Buddhism often expresses it, as inextricably interlinked as the two sides of a sheet of paper.

Thus the ho aspect of a painting for example, is made up of the canvas and the paint that is spread across it. The myo aspect is the feeling or the emotion or the creative energy within the artist as he applies the paint in a particular way, and the emotional impact on us as we view it. Music similarly has a clearly recognisable ho aspect in the arrangement of the black and white strokes or the notes on the page, and the physical vibrations in the air caused by the instruments as they interpret them. The profound myo aspect is the effect the music has upon our emotions and feelings as we receive the sounds produced by the instruments in that particular way. As Shakespeare expressed it so pithily in Much Ado About Nothing, it is wholly inexplicable that a sequence of sounds produced on violin strings made out of the guts of a sheep...can move our hearts so readily to tears!

Enough for today.
Next episode we'll deal a little bit more with myoho and then move on to renge.
See you then.
Best wishes,

William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and on Kindle.