Buddhist quotes - December

Buddhist quotes are back!

Boy I've been terrible at keeping my blog up to date, and an experience soon to be published will probably explain why.

Now, for the December quote, I decided to do something slightly different.

Tell me how you chant and I will tell you who you are.

So, I am a Fukushi, yes? I have spent my life listening to people chanting. I honestly can’t quantify the amount of buddhist meetings I have attended. Let’s try anyway. Between meetings, activities and home visits, I do an average of 2-3 buddhist functions a week. Let’s use 2 to make a very conservative estimate (also to take holidays into account). That is about 100 functions a year. I was born in 1985, so that’s around 3000 functions. Not bad. So I can honestly say I have been to THOUSANDS of buddhist meetings. Fab. 

Many (and by that I mean MANY) of those are lilac activities, a fair amount of which (especially in the past year) have consisted in me chanting at the front of a butsuma for, say, three hours. That gives you plenty of opportunities to observe the different ways people chant. Most of the time, there’s a great person leading and the daimoku flows like a majestic river, or runs like a herd of white horses galloping in the clouds. Marvellous transformation then ensues.

Unfortunately, other times, our life state is not that brilliant and we are distracted by people’s quirky ways of chanting or the things they do as they chant.

CAPTAIN OBVIOUS TO THE RESCUE: please take the following with a pinch of salt. It’s not meant as slander, just as honest fun. If it offends you, don’t read. 

The Treasure Tower

I prepared this as a study point for my discussion meeting.
Two years ago, The Gosho on The Treasure Tower was at the centre of the study movement for the Young Women. I must have read it a hundred times, in my head, out loud, at meetings, alone, etc.
I thought I understood it, but as it is with many things in Buddhism, I only understood with my head, and not with my heart. Last year I have gone through the most painful time of my life, largely because I did not fully understand this Gosho. I did not believe I was the Treasure Tower. 
Maybe this will help someone not to suffer as much as I have.

The Treasure Tower. (Jpn hoto)

The term “Treasure Tower” can refer to any of a variety of jewelled stupas (a dome-like structure built to house the relics of the Buddha) depicted in Buddhist scriptures. 

The best known, however, is the treasure tower of Many Treasures Buddha that appears in the "Treasure Tower" (eleventh) chapter of the Lotus Sutra. 

Quote from New Human Revolution, volume 10

To quickly break the long silence in a very cheeky way, here is a quote from the New Human Revolution, Volume 10, page 72-3 of the New UK edition.

I had read the first four volumes ages ago in Italian, then again in English as part of my Taplow Dedicated Lilac training. In September, I decided to read one of these volumes a month until I finish them all.

Here it is. 

The Soka Gakkai spirit is having the courage to discard the shallow and seek the profound. It is selfless dedication to propagating the law even at the cost of one's life. It is to strive with unceasing devotion as taught in the lotus sutra. It is to exert oneself bravely and vigourously with passion and resolve. It is to possess the great power of perseverance that enables one to withstand any persecution with composure. It is to practice in accord with the buddha's teachings, working for Kosen Rufu just as the Daishonin instructs. It is the spirit of refuting the erroneous and revealing the true, giving no quarter to injustice. It is the path of the oneness of mentor and disciple, the very lineage of correct faith. It is the firm unity of many in body, one in mind. It is the spirit of showing others the same respect as one would a Buddha.