The Secret to Happiness and Overcoming Depression and Anxiety Through Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism

Modern Method of Coping With Depression Through The Power of Chanting

Depression, anxiety, self-doubt, and emptiness are just a few feelings when one is facing financial hardship during a tight economy. Any of these feelings can arise from life events such as death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, grave illness of loved ones, etc. It always seems that after overcoming one hurdle, another major hurdle pops up. Many families, even ours, are fairing much worse economically than a few years ago. How did I overcome the stress and anxiety during hard times? Although I am a voracious reader of self-help books, I have kept close to my religion Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism for strength and confidence to overcome my hardships. The core philosophy behind Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism is that each person already possesses unlimited potential within us. By chanting, each of us brings out and elevate our life condition. Easing the suffering of depression cannot be more timely during October, National Depression Awareness Month.

 

Nichiren Daishonin Discovered Unlocking One's Potential...

Through Chanting "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo."

 

Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo polishes our lives at the deepest level.

 

 

 I also recommend watching a 20-minute full length movie called "Our Shared Humanity"

Optimistic Thinking Through Chanting "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo"

Depression has a wide spectrum. Lee Wolfson, a psychologist at Western Psychiatric Clinic and Institute (WPIC), a division of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. and a practitioner of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism with SGI since 1972 wrote a World Tribune article which was published on February 9, 2001. In his article, Lee reviewed a book by Martin Seligman, Ph.D., called "What You Can Change and What You Can't whose compelling argument is that mild depression is caused by pessimistic habits of thinking. Pessimists falsely believe that the causes of failure and rejections are permanent and pervasive while an optimistic person's thinking is a powerful antidote to pessimism and depression. A power method of optimistic thinking can be found in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism and chanting "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo."

Background of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama, known more popularly as Shakyamuni Buddha, lived twenty-five hundred years ago in India where he was awakened to a path of enlightment or Buddhahood. He believed and taught that all people have the ability to attain this state of enlightment through his teaching in Lotus Sutra. A 13th Century Buddhist reformed monk in the 13th Century found that path to enlightment is everywhere through the practice of chanting "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo" confidently , awakening the Buddha nature innate in all of us, dispelling delusion and moving forth everyone's inherent strength, wisdom, and compassion. Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, an educator, founded Soka Gakkai in 1930, as he was searching for a humane system of education. He and his disciple Josei Todai were imprisoned for refusing to compromise their religious beliefs in the face of pressure from Japan's militarist government. Now under the third president of Soka Gakkai, President Ikeda, Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism is now in 192 countries and territories with 12 million practitoners.

 

Daisaku Ikeda

Soka Gakkai's Third President

In 1975, President Ikeda established Soka Gakka International and took Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism globally. Under his leadership, Soka Gakkai International is now in 192 countries and terrorities, with Nichiren Buddhism being practiced by more than 12 million people.

 

Experiencing Both The Positive And Negative Experiences In Our Lives

Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism teaches us how to make the best of everything-positive and negative-and take control of our lives. The way we react to external situations and circumstances is a reflection of our inner state of life. If we are in a state of anger, for example, we will form angry thoughts, emotions, appearances, and influence. An angry person see the world and believes that there are reasons to be angry. However, each person experiences moment to moment, day to day, differently, even when going through the same situation. The way we relate to our environment depends on how we have lived our lives, thus coloring how we react, either positively or negatively. Therefore, the best way to deal with external situations, however, unexpected or however seemingly uncontrollable, is through an elevation of our life conditions.

 

 

 

Elevating Our Life Condition

The way to elevate our life condition is to chant "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo" and unleash our inner strength, thereby allowing one to find wisdom, courage, and energy to find the right action and improve our interaction with the world around us. By chanting, one can break thorough darkness and bring forth our Buddhahood. This struggle with our fundamental darkness or ignorance is why we chant "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo." To learn more about Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, go to http://www.sgi-usa.org or contact me directly. As a educated person who kept my mind open and kept questioning the practice, I have embraced this SGI Buddhism whole-heartedly, and in return, it has completely changed my life.

 

 

 

 

Nam

Nam means devotion and respect. So, the whole phrase has the simple meaning of 'devotion to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra'.

Myoho

Myoho relates to Mystic Law, the essential Universal Law and its manifestations.There are two main relationships: one between life and death, and the other between our most enlightened, or Buddha, state and all our other nine conditions or states of life.
 

Renge

Renge literally means "lotus flower." The reason why the lotus is such an important symbol of Buddhism is that it blooms and seeds at the same time. 'Renge' signifies the process of cause and effect at work deep within the life of each person.

Kyo

Kyo means sutra or teachings. It is the vibration of our voice which is so important in our Buddhist practice. 'Kyo' is the interconnectedness of all phenomena; and how our prayer or the sound of our chanting can affect people and situations out of our immediate sphere. This is why we do not chant in silence.

Peace

 

 

 

Here is another great find: Iherb.com

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I love my health food coop, BUT I can find practically everything at iherb.com for 1/3 of the price or more off, including organic free trade teas. I recently bought niacin at the coop for $5.99. It''s only $3.46 at iherb.com. Free shipping for purchase of $20 or more. And I am always getting an organic lip balm for free or some other greatly reduced trial items just for the heck of it. Sorry Co-op, I may just stick to fresh produce instead of enabling you to open a second store at a location over which I have no control. For your first purchase at iherb.com with the promotional code in the photo "cew288," you receive $10 off $40. Or $5 off less than $40.

 

Nichiren Daishonin Buddhsim Slow Gongyo Chant With Words

 

 

 

How To Start the New Year with Iherb.com

Use promo code 'cewoo' and you will receive $10 off $40 or more purchase or $5 if purchase is under $40. Free shipping for purchase of $20 or more. Choose a  full size free sample with purchase and also a lot of full size samples at trial prices.

Iberb.com is a great find for me. I have always shopped at different drugstores for my vitamins, but I end up coming back to Iherb.com. Well, this one is well worth your time.  I can practically find  everything at iherb.com for 1/3 of the price or more off as compared to my Co-op, including organic free trade teas. Recently, I bought niacin at the coop for $5.99. It's only $3.46 at iherb.com. Plus, free shipping for purchase of $20 or more. And I am always getting an organic lip balm for free or some other greatly reduced trial items just for the heck of it.   For your first purchase at iherb.com, please use the promotional code  "cew288" to receive $10 off $40; or $5 off less than $40. 

Here are 10 reasons that they say to shop there:

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If you visit their site and read the reviews, see how many orders there are internationally. It's incredible and yet I received my order within 2 days.  

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The Price of Credit Cards

I have been an advocate of using credit cards as a means to earn a little back. However, upon returning from holiday travel, I opened up a credit card statement online only to discover that someone charged $1020 on my credit card to purchase airfare on American Airline and an additional $7 charge using Expedia. Having just started my staycation, I am on the phone together with my husband to combat credit card fraud. It was bad enough that Target's database had been breached, and I was not sure whether we had made any visits to Target during that period of time. Now, part of my vacation is wasted on making sure that we are not responsible for this latest credit card fraud. In fact, just a few months ago, we fought three online purchases from a high-end bicycle shop with Discover Card, and this even threw off someone auto-payments using the old number. There have been times when the credit card company automatically shuts our card down as a preventative measure. So, I am starting to wonder whether this whole game is worth playing. On the other hand, nobody buys a TV online without a credit card; that seems foolish. Well, there is a great price to pay with credit card. And I pay in full every month. The question to myself is at what point will I be fed up.

If You Are Going To Shop Online, Then Please Read About Ebates

How many of us are too lazy to shop at a store after a long day of work. Instead, you want to watch your favorite television program and see what is out there. You have a list of recipients and now the shopping begins. Well, you can do it better online. I learned from my Black Friday sales through Ebates that I saved even more than the people those people who skipped Thanksgiving hoping for a doorbuster deal.What I received was doorbuster sale prices + Ebates (that would vest at a certain day in the future, for me February 15, 2014) + coupon code discount. I also learned that even with the coupon code used, I am earning a rebate on the original price rather than the sale's price. So, an item at Origin which was $38 before the $10 off and free shipping deal became the base to calculate my 12% rebate on Cyber-Monday. So, I saved $10, and I was informed that the rebate would be $4.56. On Cyber-Monday, I purchase 2 Entertainment Books, the first for $20 and the second one for $15. This was already a great deal, but then the rebate was a whopping 45 percent. So, although I paid $35 for these two books, they would just cost me $19.25 after my rebate. This is a great deal, since eating out a couple of times with my family and I will have recouped my investment in the Entertainment Books. I have a sense that the same deals will be available after Christmas.

I also picked up a $5 referral bonus for recruiting someone to sign up and make a first purchase. 

There is a promotion right now that if you sign up 2 individuals who then make purchases through Ebates, you will be eligible for a $50 referral bonus. As a blogger, I can make additional bonuses. So, if you have never used Ebates, there is no harm signing up to start your savings. I urge you to use my referral code (http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=pAs%2F2bGlRETQkLFE1DExpg%3D%3D) before December 31, 2013. Soon, you want to make your own referrals. Well, Happy Shopping.

Don't Be Fooled By Omaha Steaks

I am not a big steak eater like my husband. However, in any loving relationship, there is compromise, and so, I look for good Omaha Steak deals. Recently, I spent $29.99 and received two additional piece of top sirloin. I didn't expect it to break apart like extremely tender steak. However, I was appalled by the immensely sinewy pieces that I received for free. In other word, they were willing to sacrifice their good name by offering customers with poor quality lost leaders, which is a term in the sales industry to lure customers into buying their product. We were so disappointed that we will no longer buy Omaha Steak. Typically as a smart consumer, I would try to write to the corporate office and ask for replacement. However, I will not do this because I will not patronize this business any longer. I have not been disappointed with poor cuts of meat at Ralph's, yet I am thoroughly disappointed with Omaha Steak, which I thought was trying to set itself as a cut above the rest.  Now, I am looking into eating better quality of beef like grass-fed kind.

No Web Browser Searches Should Be Unpaid

So everyone likes Google searches. I took the comparison test between Google and Bing and found them to be similar. The one difference is that Bing pays for your searches. Little by little, your points accrue and you have enough for a $5 Amazon gift certificate. If you have made 150 searches per month on Bing, you elevate yourself to a Gold Status, which gives you a bit of discount on your reward.
Swagbucks also pays for your searches. From my observation, you can search on Swagbucks which incidentally is powered by Bing, and as soon as you are rewarded, then your next searches should then be on Bing. If you take a break and return to your searches, then use Swagbucks. Why? I have never seen frequent rewarding in a short period of time, but you can assure yourself that you can max out your 15 credits per day on Bing by earning 1 credit for every 2 searches. Occasionally Bing will lower its rate of search per credit. Happy searching and earning Amazon gift certificates, which isn't too difficult to do. 

Good Auto Loan Interest Rate Equals Money Earned

At any social gathering, whether a person is buying a Tesla or a used Jetta sedan, people will often gravitate their conversation to auto loans. I recall using Pen Fed's auto buying service which is comparable to a fleet service and obtaining an oral approval for 0.49 percent in September 2012. I checked the rates recently and it was up to a whopping 0.99. I recall that if the PenFed auto loan failed for any reason, Power Toyota had the car guaranteed under its own loan of 4.99 percent. I calculated that the financial charge on my used Sports Trac was only $25 per year. That's less than 2 value meals from McDonald's or Wendy's, and it was great to have a backup car to a car that broken down twice in 6 months prior to buying our second vehicle. If you are not convinced that PenFed offers the best auto loan interest rate, this is my last passing comment, a comparison to USAA Auto Loan. In September 2012, I asked a colleague about USAA Auto loans, which are supposed to be the best since they offer these loans only to military personnels and their families. At that time, the rate was 2.99 percent while mine was 0.49. Granted mine was the military, too, I did notice that Pen Fed Federal Credit Union is member-owned whereas nothing was said about member ownership of USAA Auto loan. And there you have it. If you are not convinced yet, just make sure that you compare the rate of your loan with Pen Fed as a due diligence before closing any auto loan transaction.

PenFed's auto loan also covers refinancing. So, if your existing car loan is terrible, you don't have to feel trapped. It may not be as good as the loan through the auto buying service, but it may still be better than your existing loan. A little homework may save you a bundle of money and that's money you earned for yourself.