- Using cool Japanese lingo all the time.
- Origami. You always get shedloads of origami for presents. Especially cranes.
- You're never short of stuff to read, what with the magazines, daily guidance and books.
- Every person you invite into your house is bound to ask about your "altar". That makes you look cool.
- Ringing a bell. Even if I can do it only in the evenings, I LUV ringing bells.
- An hour daimoku is better than a workout. Seriously, do it while having a hot drink and you can head straight for the shower after.
- Sitting around a table studying Buddhist philosophy with five young women eating ice lollies. It happens.
- Sitting in Starbucks with the same five young women sharing fruit and talking about transmigration. Also happens.
- Picnics. Especially those where you have a massive ring of Italian people and a little one with all the other nationalities.
- An average of two people every day will ask you (or clearly ask themselves) how can you be so happy/have so much energy, or variations.
- Pretty postcards. Especially with cherry blossoms on them. I have tons around my room.
- You get to go to Buddhist centres on a regular basis.
- You get to do Lilac. (or Soka, for the boys, or Sunflower for the women, or Guardian for the men, or Keibi or Dinamo).
- If you're a lilac, you get to do Dedicated lilac, be in a team of other dedicated lilacs and meet once a month to study and eat junk food together.
- You will never be short of things to do on weekends.
- Nibbles. Most meetings involve them.
- At some point you will get to be a leader, which means you get to stop thinking about yourself only and actually move your life forward by taking care of other people (even when all you want to do is lining them up and spanking them).
- You get to use juzus and pretty fukusa. I have two sets of book and beads, and I need to buy a pink juzu to complete the third. To my defense, I'm planning on keeping the third ready to give it out to a shakubuku, but juzus are pretty as ef.
- Summer courses. Awesome stuff.
- HQ courses. Amazing stuff.
- Ok, ANY Buddhist training course.
- Lilacing at a Buddhist course.
- The incredible satisfaction of taking your Lilac scarf off to tell the world you're on a break.
- Sharing a room with seven other lilacs at a training course.
- ... which involves getting drunk on the last night (in the room), then still waking up at 5am for action gongyo.
- Generally any "behind the scenes" activity is amazing. Especially when you went to a feckton of action meetings beforehand and then you go to the final activity. Massive sense of accomplishment.
- Studying on the train, then noticing the person next to you is reading your paper.
- Going out for dinner with a bunch of Lilacs and take turns in lilacing at the restaurant.
- Having a meeting with a bunch of Lilacs and literally create a choreography of seven steps and three people to light the candles.
- Having seven lilacs at a major meeting and suddenly realise noone lit the candles and we are well past "Hoben pon dai ni".
- Trying to read a random bit of Gongyo conversationally and finding out you actually can't. However, in context you can recite it all by heart.
Anything you would like to add?
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