https://www.quora.com/Can-I-chant-nam-myoho-renge-kyo-silently-from-inside-during-a-bus-trip-Would-it-count-as-my-daily-practice
Nam myo ho renge kyo, essentially means "I dedicate my life to the mystic law of cause and effect". It is one of the most practical spiritual approach I have encountered and it taps your inner potential, giving the confidence to face every obstacle and day to day life problems.
I will try to answer your second question first. Daily practice does not ONLY include chanting. Nichiren Buddhism is a three way path - Faith, Practice & Study. Lacking in any of them may shaken the believe.And it is said to be not the correct way of practicing.
Faith - No doubts at all. I hope it works ?.... No !! It WILL work. It has to. Trust the gohozon and nam myo ho renge kyo. Faith in itself will bring you a sense of satisfaction that I am safe. I am protected.
Practice - This aspect may not be same as other forms of spirituality. But, Nichiren Buddhism has a very important mode of self development through attending the monthly discussion meetings,chanting Nam myo ho renge kyo,daily Gongyo & home visits, that offers great encouragement and warmth by fellow members. It is very inspiring to see how other people take effort to walk by your side when you are in trouble. Rare , isn't it ? :) Nam myo ho renge kyo has the immense power to transform your current life.
Study - As this practice believes in Karma. It is very important to read and understand the teachings of lotus sutra that we MUST apply in our daily lives and make a difference to our life, family,friends and society.
Nichiren Buddhism includes the above three and to practice right, it is important to do all of these.
Answering the first question. Yes you may chant silently when ever it is not possible to chant aloud. As NMHRK will bring up your life state where ever you are. But chanting loud is also important and to understand more, instead of explaining further, I would first request you to try chanting aloud and see the difference in your thought process and how the mind comes at ease :) .Our mind tends to be more focused. Chanting with the right attitude is definitely more important. Have faith in gohonzon and clarity of what you are seeking and chant . Daimoku should not be desperate, it should be powerful :) . When we are feeling low, it may not start with the right conviction. But chant. With faith in heart. It will.
I am practicing since 5 years and grown leaps and bounds. :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Years ago I was lead to believe that to practice Nichiren’s Buddhism correctly, one had to attend meetings and belong to an organisation. Nowadays I’ve come to understand that anyone, regardless of whether they become a ‘member’ of a group or not, can benefit from their own personal practice.
The reason for this is that the Law of myoho-renge-kyo represents the identity of what some now refer to as the ‘unified field of all consciousnesses’. In other words, it’s the essence behind all existence and non-existence, the ultimate creative force behind planets, stars, nebulae, people, animals, trees, fish, birds and all phenomena, manifest or latent. All matter and intelligence is simply waves or ripples manifesting to and from this core source. Consciousness (enlightenment) is itself the true creator of everything that is, ever was and ever will be, right down to the minutest particles of dust, each being an individual ripple or wave. The big difference between chanting ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ Nam = to awaken and align with one's inner-self) and most conventional prayers is that instead of depending on a middle man to connect us to our state of enlightenment, we’re able to do it ourselves by tapping directly into it by way of self-produced sound vibration. On the subject of ‘what or who is God?’, when we compare the concept of ‘God’, as a separate entity that is forever watching down on us, to Nichiren’s teachings, the true omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of what most people call ‘God’ is our enlightenment, which exists nowhere else but within us. When the disciples asked Jesus where the Kingdom of God is, didn’t he tell them that it was within them? Some say that ‘God’ is an entity that can never be seen. I think that the vast amount of information that is constantly being conveyed via electromagnetic waves gives us proof of how an invisible state of what many call ‘God’ could actually exist. It’s widely known that certain data being relayed by way of electromagnetic waves has the potential to help bring about extraordinary and powerful effects, including instant global awareness of something or mass emotional reaction. As well as many other things, it’s also common knowledge that these waves can be used to detonate a bomb or to even enable NASA to control the movements of a robot as far away as the Moon or Mars. However, none of this is possible without a receiver to decode the information that is being transmitted. Without the receiver, the information would remain impotent. In a similar way, it’s very important for us to have our receiver switched on, so that we can activate a clear and precise understanding of our life, all other life and who we and all else that exists truly is. Chanting ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ helps us to achieve this, because it allows us to reach into the core of our enlightenment and switch it on. That’s because, as I mentioned before, the sound vibration of ‘myoho-renge-kyo’ represents the combination of the three major laws that underlie all existence. ‘Myoho’ represents the Law of latency and manifestation (Nature), and consists of two alternating states. One state of ‘myo’ is where everything in life that’s not obvious to us exists. This includes our stored memories when we’re not thinking about them, our hidden potential and inner emotions whenever they’re not being expressed, our desires, our fears, our wisdom, happiness, karma, and more importantly, our enlightenment. The other state, ‘ho’, is where everything in Life exists whenever it becomes obvious to us, such as when a thought pops up from our memory, whenever we experience or express our emotions, or whenever a good or bad effect comes forth from our karma. When anything becomes apparent, it simply means that it has come out of the state of ‘myo’ (dormancy/latency) and into a state of ‘ho’ (manifestation). It’s the difference between consciousness and unconsciousness, being awake or asleep, or knowing and not knowing something. The second law, ‘renge’, governs and controls the functions of ‘myoho’ – ‘ren’ meaning cause and ‘ge’ meaning effect. These two laws, ‘myoho’ and ‘renge’, work together simultaneously and underlie all spiritual and physical existence. The final and third part of the tri-combination, ‘kyo’, is what allows the law ‘myoho’ to integrate with the law ‘renge’. It’s the great, invisible thread of energy that fuses and connects together all Life and matter, as well as the past, present and future. It is often termed the Universal Law of Communication. Perhaps it could even be compared to the ‘string theory’ that some scientists now suspect exists. Just as our body cells, thoughts, feelings and all else are constantly fluctuating within us, everything in the world around us and beyond is also in a constant state of flux, in accordance with these three laws. In fact, more things are going back and forth between the two states of ‘myo’ and ‘ho’ in a single moment than it would ever be possible for us to calculate or describe. And it doesn't matter how big, small, important or trivial anything may appear to be, everything that’s ever existed in the past, exists now, or will exist in the future, exists only because of the workings of 'myoho-renge-kyo'. These three laws are also the basis of the four fundamental forces and if they didn't function, neither we nor anything else could go on existing. Simply put, all forms of existence, including the seasons, day and night, birth, death and so on, are moving forward in an ongoing flow of continuation, rhythmically reverting back and forth between the two states of ‘myo’ and ‘ho’ in accordance with ‘renge’ and by way of ‘kyo’. Even stars are dying and being reborn again in accordance with the workings of ‘myoho-renge-kyo’. ‘Nam’ is like a password or key; it allows us to reach deep within our life and fuse with or become one with ‘myoho-renge-kyo’. On a more personal basis, nothing ever happens by chance or coincidence, it’s the causes that we’ve made in our past, or are presently making, that determine how these laws function uniquely in each of our lives from moment to moment, as well as our environment. By facing east, in harmony with the direction that the Earth turns and rhythmically chanting ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ repeatedly for a minimum of ten minutes daily, any of us can gain actual proof of its effects in our life. By building up a force from within, it allows us to pierce through even the thickest layers of our karma and reach directly into the ultimate wisdom of our and all other life. Unlike the fantasy of a magic wand to make our problems vanish, chanting ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ awakens our innate wisdom and brings to the surface our hidden potential, a much clearer realisation and understanding of our good and bad karma, and positive ways that we can both cope with and change our negative circumstances into positive ones. It brings forth the wisdom that can free us from the ignorance and stupidity that is preventing us from accepting and being proud of who we truly are, regardless of our race, colour, gender or sexual preference. It also allows us to see and understand things outside of ourselves more clearly and, by way of the electromagnetic forces of which we are all a part, helps us to connect with, or draw towards us, any external circumstances or help that we need. Proof of this effect soon becomes obvious to anyone who chants ‘Nam-myoho-renge-kyo’ on a regular basis. Of course, the more sincerely we chant, the more powerful and faster its effect will be.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes.
However, let me be clear: I am not a trained or ordained Nichiren Buddhist in any order, and I cannot speak for their particular ‘requirements.’ That being said, the idea of ‘counting’ as your daily practice in the sense of a quota or obligation seems to fly in the face of what I understand to be the spirit of Nichiren’s Buddhism. SGI members, for one, ‘chant (only) to their heart’s content’: you don't owe it to anyone, but will likely get addicted and not want to miss your practice once you see what it can do for you, and wish to fortify your commitment to your goals.
Let me relay an anecdote from the British Nichiren Buddhist, Richard Causton’s book, about a young man deep in the life state of Anger with an uncanny ability to invite unprovoked fights, on a tube train in London:
“After a few seconds I realized that apart from a couple of people at the far end of the carriage, I was alone with a group of about a dozen youths. They were tearing up seats, writing graffiti and generally causing havoc. One of them started giving me dirty looks and then yelling abuse at me. That sparked off his friends. I didn't return his ugly expression and obviously didn't smile. They started vying with another, saying things like ‘Who's going to stab him?’ and ‘Who's going to take his money, then?’ I ran through various courses of action in my head. I’d actually studied karate for quite a while but I didn't want to slander their lives, or my own by being violent. The only thing to do was chant, not aloud but inside. Incredibly I could really feel Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo penetrating the environment. It wasn't a case of chatting with the attitude that “if this doesn't work now, perhaps it will next week” because it had to work right there and then, or I’d have been badly wounded, maybe even killed. Sure enough, within less than a minute, the youths completely change their tone. “Oh forget it,” they said and walked into the next carriage, probably to continue their vandalism in there. I found myself in situations like this nearly 10 more times and I always chanted to myself. Every time a violent situation occurred, I really had to chant with my whole life to change my karma, which was obviously so deeply rooted that I needed to go through these challenges to change it. But at some point I broke through.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although that would be convenient, I don’t think that would technically count as your daily practice!
Even if you aren’t chanting nam myoho renge kyo in front of a gohonzon (which would be the ideal situation), it is meant to be chanted out loud. Nichiren states, “The voice does the Buddha’s work,” which is very true of this practice.
One translation of nam myoho renge kyo would be “Devotion to the mystic law of the Lotus Sutra.” I, however, have also heard it interpreted as “To dedicate one’s life to the mystic law of cause and effect through sound and vibration.”
The word renge literally means “lotus blossom,”; because it seeds and blooms simultaneously, the lotus flower represents the simultaneity of cause and effect. Thus, the sound of your voice when chanting this is a major component of the practice.
Nichiren Daishonin, whose writings are the basis of my practice, says that when we chant nam myoho renge kyo, in addition to manifesting our own Buddha nature, we also summon the Buddha nature of all Buddhas!
To quote him, “…when a caged bird sings, birds who are flying in the sky are thereby summoned and gather around, and when the birds flying in the sky gather around, the bird in the cage strives to get out. When with our mouths we chant the Mystic Law, our Buddha nature, being summoned, will invariably emerge.”
Therefore, to sum up, you really do need to chant out loud, even if quietly. If you’re on a bus trip, maybe chant, but not so loud that you would disturb others. Or, just wait until you have a chance to be separate from the group, and do your chanting then. (I know this can be tricky; I’ve experienced it.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment