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.

Dick Dastardly will be Defeated

Ok .. bit of an odd title but all relates to the Buddhist Study last night which was given by Robert Harrap, national Mens Division leader of SGI-UK. Have to say .. one of the best I've heard. Unfortunately I was unable to make notes as I was doing the reading but it was recorded so hopefully I'll get a copy and will be able to go into more detail later.

I think what made it so good is that Robert was aware that there were at least 2 people there who knew virtually noting about this Buddhism and managed to combine an in depth study with a large introductory elemnt which was great .. we all need reminding about what the practise is for, no matter how long we've practised.

One thing that he said before the meeting which was simple but equally quite profound is that happinness is always just a second away .. which I guess means that by using the practise, we can change our problems into happinness by taking them on and winning .. easier said than done I know but it's a choice we have .. to suffer or to break through !

But onto the Dick Dastardly bit, this stems from when he was talking about the devil of the 6th heaven which is pretty much a mythological figure from the time of Nichiren Daishonin (1200s) who Robert portrayed as a Dick Dastardly like character who tries to prevent us from progressing by sowing doubts in our minds. Of course, this figure is actually ourselves and our own negativity .. the part of us that doesn't believe that we can change things and win in our lives. He's also portrayed on the Gohonzon (no not Dick dastardly) as one of the negative functions in life that we have to challenge to win.

I really liked that analogy as it helps to remind me when I'm feeling negative/lazy etc that it's Dick Dastardly that's stopping me from moving on, so I just need to chant to push him out of the way .. cartoon buddhism .. is that a good thing :-). Unfortunately for Robert, I refused to do a section of the reading in my Dick Dastardly voice (I do Muttly better :-)


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