Welcome to my Blog. I'm a practising member of SGI-UK a lay buddhist organisation practising the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin. It is often described as a practise of Active Humanism which I think reflects it perfectly. The basic practise is the chanting of 'Nam Myoho Renge Kyo' on a daily basis and putting the practise into use in our daily lives thereby making this a practical rather than esoteric form of Buddhism. For more information, please follow the Buddhist links on the right of this page

“Prayer is the courage to persevere. It is the struggle to overcome our own weakness and lack of confidence in ourselves. It is the act of impressing in the very depths of our being the conviction that we can change the situation without fail. Prayer is the way to destroy all fear. It is the way to banish sorrow, the way to light a torch of hope. It is the revolution that rewrites the scenario of our destiny... Believe in yourself! Don't sell yourself short! Devaluing yourself is contrary to Buddhism, because it denigrates the Buddha state of being within you.”.
Daisaku Ikeda.

Radio Star and Catch Up

Well .. once again it's been a while since I posted but as I was on BBC Radio Nottingham yesterday it seems a good time to post.

I was asked to appear on the morning show to discuss Karma .. however the presenter turned out to be a bit of a female Alan Partridge so it was hardly an in depth discussion but on the whole I was happy with it .. bit light hearted but that's fine. You can hear it at the link below:


What else has been happening ..... ??

Went to Taplow again recently as a District Leader representative at the HQ leaders assembly which was really good (though I did draw the line at doing exercises and went for some air instead !).


Key points were:


  1. Find concrete ways of moving forward together

  2. One to One dialogue is the way to World Peace and Kosen Rufu

  3. Always think of the best way to do activities/meetings. No need to stick to regular formats.

  4. Spring is the season of victory - big meetings are springboards to individual actions

  5. Use Sensei's guidance , heart and spirit to strengthen our activities. He wants us to LIVE the guidance not just blindy nod our heads and gree with him.

  6. Continually transform ourselves and our districts - think differently .. outside the box

  7. Belief plus Daimoku creates Reality

    And I think that's about it for now .. will add more if I remember anything.

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2 Quotes


Been a bit flat out so no time to post but came across these two quotes today by Daisaku Ikeda which I thought I would share.


"Using your voice to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo will spur you to action and give you strength and vitality. It will even activate the protective forces within the universe. By chanting for the people you meet, you are embracing them with your spirit and influencing them in a most positive way. And through such prayers, you will strengthen your ties with those people to whom you naturally feel close. Your prayers profoundly affect friends who may not embrace faith, creating heart-to-heart bonds and helping them form a connection with Buddhism."


"In Buddhism, nothing is wasted. Freely tell others about this philosophy, in your own words. It isn't necessary to cite complex theories or arcane terms. Since the Buddhist Law is inherent in your life, you don't need to be anything other than yourself. Chant about whatever your concerns are, whether they be problems you are facing, your goals, kosen-rufu or the happiness of yourself and others. Your earnest prayers will bring forth your inherent Buddhahood, enabling you to build an eternal and indestructible state of life."


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My Book


Will post something soon maybe but a bit late up after Jazz (and whisky) so need to work now.

In The mean time if you've £6 to spare you can buy my poetry book at

http://www.lulu.com/content/761774

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How do you solve a problem like .....


Had a request on the Midget Submarines myspace site to be our 'friend' .. turns out it was from our one time occasional chick-bassist Maria Spadafora (well .. it was compulsory then :-) ... Where as Shuggy was probably our most competent, Andy definitely our most miserable, Maria was our funniest .. running off stage during a battle of the bands competion in fits of laughter .. mind you ... we were shit .. and actually got disqualified for doing a non original song. Ironically that one was an original and the others weren't !!!


Anyway .. good to hear from her again ... but no midgets reforming in the future .. we're not the Police ya know :-)


Ok .. 4 days off now .. planning to spend a lot of tomorrow watching Buffy DVDs in bed but there's cricket starting again on Monday. Think I also need to do a fair bit of chanting over weekend too .. been lazy recently .. been doing some .. but not enough.


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Fraser's Big Southern Adventure

Well .. talk about Sansho Shima (buddhist obstacles) yesterday !!!
Up early in order to get an early start to Taplow as Fraser and Swampy were both receiving gohonzons.
As always I was a little late and the car with Alan, Robert and Swampy had left a few mins before us. As we drove off, Steve made a comment that Charmain wasn't coming (hen night the previous night) however I pointed out I'd had a text from her saying she was on her way so I called and she was back at Steve's so we had to turn back and pick her up .. thankfully we hadn't gone far at all.
Journey down was good and nice sunny weather though Charmain got in the car saying 'I'm tired .. going to sleep' and then proceeded to talk at 100mph ALL the way !!!!
We took the M40 and about an hour away from Taplow, we got a call from Alan that they'd broken down and were at Toddington. Unfortunately if we'd turned and gone back both Swampy AND Fraser would have missed the ceremony. Anyway to cut a long story short, phone calls were made and someone else collected them without going too far out of their way !
We also found out later that Swampy's mum had been unable to start her car and had borrowed her dads and it had blown a gasket too and she was towed to Taplow .. obviously not a good car day !!!
Anyway the ceremony went well (though Kazuo's chanting was REALLY hard to follow !) and the entertainment was ok though she sang 'what a wonderful world' which was the first song I heard in the hospital waiting room after my Dad had tied so that brought a few tears !!
After the ceremony (pics to follow when I get them), we did a tour of the stately home (bit dull to be honest) and had a walk around the grounds which are really nice. Finally got home around 5.30pm with no car problems !! Had a quick cuppa then headed into town to watch Beverly Knight perform in the New Market Square which was quite good, then had a couple of pints in the Bell with Charmain after.
All in all a nice day if a little full and Fraser actually got to travel down South (Yorkshire boys eh :-)
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Early to rise

Aaaaaaarghhhhh . It's early !!!!!!
Awake a bit before 6am to get ready for lift to Taplow for Kosen Rufu GOngyo and Fraser and Swampy aka Swampmonster are getting their Gohonzons today .. God .. it's over 10 years since I got mine !! Anyway .. best shower and go .. report back soon.
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