Fight Negative Karma with   Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo

Deepika, a 33-year old YWD (Young Women Division) from India, has been
practicing Nichiren Buddhism for one and a half years. Through her steadfast
practice and chanting daimoku – Nam-myoho-renge-kyo – to get rid of her
negative relationship karma, not only is she seeing positive results in improving
relationship with two of her family members, Deepika has also overcome
depression caused by a personal relationship failure. Encouraged by a
guidance from President Ikeda, she has set herself a daimoku target to achieve.

I would like to share my experience I had since I began my practice, which have
lead to very significant transformation in my life.

My very old and very dear friend introduced me to this wonderful practice. She
often talks about Nichiren Buddhism but I just listen to her but never tried.

I was having bad relationship karma and she knew everything about me. But my
problem is that I am a very practical girl and does not believe in things just
because others are saying it to me.

I believe what I do and I do what I believe. I believe only that you can know
things best when you dig deep into it.

Being a responsible girl, I was supposed to handle not only my problems but
take care of them as well.

As they are growing older, my parents need extra care. There is a huge age gap
of 40 years between my parents and I. As I told you earlier about my bad
relationship karma, I am having two male members in my house – my father
and brother – one who never drink but never respected the female members in
house while the other drinks daily and never thought of respecting female
members in house.
My brother stopped talking to me in December 2009 while my father always
showed disrespect my mother in front of us.

With these circumstances I was determined to buy a small house for me to

invest the money I earn. I joined a new office with good pay hike.

A month later, my boyfriend, who had been talking about marriage since two
years, ago left me.  This is despite having made marriage agreement with my
parents.  As a result, this relationship failure caused me to fall into a depression.

I started crying day and night, thinking of my relationship karma. I was not able
to concentrate in my office and was not able to control myself at home. My
mother, who is very close to me started to worry about me. I was fighting my
depression, trying to overcome it.

At that time, I did not realize that I actually have a key to unlock and solve all
my problems.  This key is Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism.

One day, my dear friend called me and asked about me. I talked to her very
normally and let her know about my situation.

However, she could sense that I was not fine as she was able to hear the heavy
sound from my heart.  I denied that I was having problems and told her to call
back in the evening.

Even though my friend was correct, I was thinking not to tell her my depression.
But I couldn’t control my tears and was not able to stop myself from crying
over the phone.

Then she reminded me about the practice I have joined. But still, I was not
convinced to chant for my happiness.

One day, I was in my room thinking about my new house and who could
support me in buying it.
The answer was from three sources.  The first two were my mother and brother-
in-law.  However, my father and brother were strongly against this and created
many unpleasant scenes at home.  My brother began to drink even more than
before.

The third but most important source is Gohonzon.

You may wonder how this is the case as I had not been practicing Nichiren
Buddhism and was not chanting any daimoku.

What happened was on the day I finished all the necessary administrative
formalities for the house, I came across a small piece of folded paper, which
was kept in my purse for around a year.

One page contained some selling prices of houses.  When I turned over to the
other page, I saw a few lines of a Gosho written on it.  In fact, this piece of
paper was given to me when I attended a discussion meeting for the first time at
my friend’s house.

At that moment, I sensed that I am somehow connected with this faith and
should dwell deeper into it.

I was one who tends to take a long time to make a decision and usually waiver,
just like a pendulum. It took me 10 months to start chanting.

I took up faith in Nichiren Buddhism because of my sister-in-law. She knows

about this faith and was ready to start practicing.  She would feel better if
another member of the family were to join her and so, we joined in April 2009
and became active members in February 2010.

Ikeda sensei said, “Being members of same family implies a deep karmic
relationship. It is no doubt because of karmic forces they become my parents
and I their child and with regard to marriage it is not a matter of this life
alone.”
These lines deeply touch my heart and I have also started chanting for my
kosen-rufu partner.

An Ikeda sensei’s guidance said, “Not the strategy. Only daimoku does it.
When you are convinced of that this very moment is the opportunity to
change your state of life.”

These lines moved me tremendously and I set a goal to complete one million
daimoku.

I am happy to announce that, since 15 May 2010, I have completed 460,000

daimoku (as of 24 October 2010).

Chanting daimoku everyday has helped to improve my relationship with my

father and brother daily.  My father is showing more respect for my mother
while my brother has started talking to me since two months ago.

Also, with the financial help from my mother and brother-in-law, I bought the
house rent it out.  The monthly rentals collected have given me strong financial
support.  As a matter of fact, my finances are so strong that I am always ready
to help those with financial karma.

Human Revolution

From an essay series by Daisaku Ikeda first published in the Philippine

magazine Mirror, in 1998)

Life is about expressing and developing our individuality as fully as possible--it

is about self-realization. This process is what I call "human revolution."

There are many kinds of revolutions--political, economic, industrial, scientific,

artistic, and so on. But no matter how external factors change, the world will
never get better as long as people remain selfish and apathetic. As John F.
Kennedy said, in 1963, "Our problems are manmade--therefore, they can be
solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants."

An inner change for the better in a single person is the essential first turn of the
wheel in the process of making the human race stronger and wiser. This "human
revolution" is, I believe, the most fundamental and most vital of all revolutions.
This revolution--an inner process of self-reformation--is completely bloodless
and peaceful. In it everyone wins and there are no victims.

Life is a struggle with ourselves; it is a tug-of-war between moving forward and

slipping backward, between happiness and misery. We are changing constantly,
but the real issue is whether we change for the better or the worse, whether or
not we succeed in enlarging our narrow, self-centered focus to take a broader
view.

Every day we are faced with countless choices and decisions. We have to decide
which path to take in order to feel good about ourselves and become better,
more generous-spirited individuals? If we just allow ourselves to be ruled by
force of habit, the way we've always reacted to a given situation, we will be
drawn down the path of least resistance and stop growing as a person.

But if we succeed in challenging ourselves on a fundamental level, we can

change from someone who is buffeted about by the environment or the people
around us, to someone who can positively influence our situation and
surroundings. We actually create the unique shape of our lives by the infinite
choices we make each day.

True individuality and character never come to full flower without hard work. I
feel it is a mistake to think that who you are right now represents all you are
capable of. If you passively decide, "I'm a quiet person, so I'll just go through
life being quiet," you won't ever fully realize your unique potential. Without
having to change your character completely, you can become a person who,
while still basically quiet, will say the right thing at the right time with real
conviction. In the same way, a negative tendency toward impatience could be
developed into a useful knack for getting things done quickly and efficiently.

But nothing is more immediate, or more difficult, than to confront and

transform ourselves. It is always tempting to decide "That's just the kind of
person I am." Unless we challenge this tendency early in life, it will become
stronger with age. But the effort is worthwhile in the end, as I believe that
nothing produces deeper satisfaction than successfully challenging our own
weaknesses. As the Russian author Tolstoy wrote, "Supreme happiness is to
find that you are a better person at the end of the year than you were at the
beginning."

Human revolution is not something extraordinary, or divorced from our daily

lives. It often begins in a small way. Take a man who thinks only of himself, his
family and friends. Then, one day, he makes a move to break out of these
narrow confines just a little, going out of his way to help a suffering neighbor.
This is the start of his human revolution.

But this process of human revolution cannot be undertaken alone. It is through

our interactions with others that we polish our lives and grow as human beings.
In Japan, mountain potatoes known as tarosare rough and dirty when harvested,
but when put in water and rolled against each other, the skin peels away, leaving
the potatoes shining and ready for cooking. The only way to hone and polish
our character is through our interactions with others.

By taking action for, and being positively engaged with others, we become
better and more disciplined people. But this doesn't mean making others happy
while ignoring ourselves or our own happiness. The happiness we create as
individuals, and the strong bonds we create with each other, result in the
happiness of all mankind.

Transforming our own lives at the most fundamental level actually holds the
key to changing society. A deep change in our outlook, the inner reality of our
life, produces changes in the external workings of our life, in other people, and
our community.

I firmly believe that a great human revolution in just a single individual can help
achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and enable a change in all
humankind.

The life of Mahatma Gandhi illustrates this point. As a boy he was painfully
shy. He was always worried people would make fun of him. Even after passing
his exams as a lawyer, he was still timid. When he rose to present the opening
arguments in his first court case, his mind went blank from nerves and he had to
leave the courtroom.

But a turning point occurred when he was in South Africa, where Indian
residents faced severe discrimination. Gandhi was riding in a first-class carriage
on a train, when he was ordered to move to the freight car. He refused, and was
eventually forced off the train. In the waiting area at the station, Gandhi stayed
awake all night, debating whether he should return to India or endure the
hardship of taking a stand and fighting for human rights. He finally realized that
it would be cowardice to run from his fears and disregard people being
discriminated against as he had been.

From that moment, Gandhi squarely faced and challenged his timid nature,
determined to challenge injustice. And his inner change sparked one of the
greatest developments of the twentieth century--the movement for social change
through non-violence.

Every single person has tremendous potential which is largely untapped.

Through the hard work of our human revolution, this potential can be revealed
and we can establish an independent, unconquerable sense of self. We can deal
creatively with any situation that life has to offer. This open-ended process
enables us to keep growing and developing throughout our lives, and beyond.
We will never meet a deadlock in our eternal journey of self-realization.