Your life is a glass of water.

Think of your life like a glass of water, at the bottom of the glass is mud or sand. The sand or mud is all your hurts, fears, rejections, pains and worries.

When we chant nam myoho renge kyo, we begin to stir the glass of water by chanting, all the stuff at the bottom (which we have been sitting on top of, repressing for years) begins to swirl to the top, a storm appears often.

When we do this we have to face our inner demons, fears and negative self beliefs. It has taken you your whole life to collect all these things, it will take some time to let them go.
The more you chant, the clearer the water will become, but it will take time.

Facing your negative self beliefs by chanting with the Gohonzon, it is like facing a cloudy mirror, the more we chant, the clearer the mirror becomes, becuase we introspect each day and focusing on these fears, working each day to be free of them.

What happens when we polish the mirror every single day? The mirror becomes clearer.

And what do we see in that mirror when it is clear?

Ourselves as we truly are.

Robbie
Letters to a Nichiren Buddhist.

The Life Affirming Art of Kirsty Mitchell

I discovered Kirsty's work some time ago. And from time to time I look at her art pieces and read her story. Each time I see and read something different. Kirsty has learnt to project her pain,  creativity, passion and dreams outward on to the paper/screen and given birth to something that is quite incredible.

There aren't many artists that move me emotionally, but Kirsty's work moves every fiber of my being, I don't know if it is a past life thing, or a childhood memory thing, or that human connection with the magical she has been able to draw out in all her work.

Each piece dances with its own exacerbation magic and it leaves you feeling alive and refreshed, with a deep sense of longing.

Gaia - The Birth of An End' is my personal favorite. Because I really do feel a deep and intimate connection with the Earth, our mother.

Many people go about their daily lives, they forget the importance of the relationship with the natural world. 

Gaia is our connection to the source of life. Gaia is the life energy that flows through all things.

Enjoy. Please scroll down to read more and read Kirsty's wonderful story.

My life is my responsibility. Most of the time?

Your life is 100% your responsibility.

STRICT Guidance! And words we often do not want to hear.

Sometimes this seems impossible, how can I have so much control, but we really do have the power to change any poison into medicine.

There WILL be those who will try to stop you, tear you down, tell you are you not good enough, not funny enough, not slim enough, not young enough, too old, too young, too thin, too fat, too white, too black, too asian, not asian enough, not white enough, not black enough.

Critisism, racisim, sexisim, egosim, abuse, disease, death and misfortune.

It is all there. Waiting to hold you back. Waiting to hold you down. Waiting in the shadows to stop you.

Wave one big fist in the air at all of it, and say, NO, take back what is yours.

Your life. Your future.

I believe we have the power to transform ANYTHING.

NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO

Robbie

Growth is essential

Life is a never-ending struggle to grow. - Daisaku Ikeda

Shane Koyczan: "To This Day" ... for the bullied and beautiful

By turn hilarious and haunting, poet Shane Koyczan puts his finger on the pulse of what it's like to be young and … different. "To This Day," his spoken-word poem about bullying, captivated millions as a viral video (created, crowd-source style, by 80 animators). Here, he gives a glorious, live reprise with backstory and violin accompaniment by Hannah Epperson.

Shane Koyczan makes spoken-word poetry and music. His poem "To This Day" is a powerful story of bullying and survival, illustrated by animators from around the world.

Source: TED TALKS

Finding your purpose.

There comes a time in your life, when if you are lucky enough, you will find your purpose, your calling.

And in that moment it will reach out from every fibre of your being calling to you so loudly that you can no longer ignore it.

Watching PUPPET featuring Dan Hurlins - DISFARMER was and is that moment.

So follow your dreams Becuase you nevet know who you might inspire, to follow in your footsteps.

No dream is too big or too small.

My name is Bobby and I ladies and gentlemen am a puppet maker.

Each life is unique... now go live it...

Life is for living!

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open… No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” — Martha Graham

Buddhism and Suffering

What kind of shield do you have?

Being a Buddhist does not make you immune to suffering, or destined to live a charmed life free from the troubles of mankind.

It simply means you are equipped with the tools to take a different path, it reminds you of the wisdom you posses, to help you navigate the rough seas of life.

When illness, grief or suffering overcomes us, this does not mean we have failed.

We should remind our selves that with every new life, and with every passing moment, we have another opportunity to try again and to win.

There are no failures, only growth.

Namaste
Bobby

The Flying Lotus

The people are dying.

The children are crying.

What, what, what, what...

What will become of our world?

If we don't stop for a minute. Make our love, unlimited.

When will we become one?

Lost in this hell, chained in this cell. We created.

What will become of our world?

When will we stop? When will we see the damage we are doing to ourselves, to our children.

When?

Watch the World Premiere in HD now of Flying Lotus

True Happiness comes from within...

True Happiness comes from treasures of the heart.

Relative happiness is happiness that depends on things outside ourselves, such as affluence or social standing.

While the happiness such things bring us is certainly real, it shatters easily when external conditions alter. Absolute happiness, on the other hand, is something we must find within.

It means establishing a state of life in which we are never defeated by difficulties, and where just being alive is a source of great joy.

A Priceless Jewel

Each moment is a jewel.

Faith in your life. Faith in your Family. Faith in your Community. Faith in your Humanity. Together we must build strong faith in our lives, and we must base this faith on the supreme law of the Universe. Each one of us is unique, and each moment is unique.

Never forget that within every passing moment lies a unique new opportunity to start again, like a priceless jewel buried in layers of soil and stone, dig deep and take on the challenge life presents to you.

Namaste!

How do we appreciate what we do have when we have never truly suffered?

July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have a found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

Elizabeth Kübler Ross

The impermanence of life.

a fragile biosphere?

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan is another example of how fragile our lives are on this small blue planet.

Most of us go about our daily lives, playing on our iPhones, updating our Facebook, trying to get attention that our ever growing egos crave. We work, we sleep, we eat and we become so oblivious to the impermanence of our lives.

As we sit and daydream our lives away, we forget how precious each moment really is, until the next massive natural disaster hits our planet and in turn, wakes us up a little more to the important things.

When the sea is raging and the skys turn black with storms; stocks, bonds, credit cards, iphones, fast cars, big houses and our money are all meaningless.

In a world where we have become more and more disconnected from each other, events like this serve as a reminder for our need to be connected with each other.

In the social media world, I look at a lot of clips and read a lot of news. I also soak up the comments and opinions and have been rather appalled by what some people have been saying.

Many of the comments range from; God Bless Japan, to Japan is being washed away because Japanese people dont believe in Jesus or God.

How very loving and compassionate of said Christians…. Frankly if Jesus was in the presence of such comments, I do believe he would weep.

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Storms, Disease, Decay are all natural cycles in nature, every thing that is born must die, and every thing we create will eventually decay and fall apart.

It is the natural law of life. The energy locked with in all living things, the energy that sustains its existence is impermanent, it must and will be freed at some point.

We are part of a framework, in-fact, we are the framework. Unfortunately over the last 1000 years or more, we have become so disconnected from who and what we are.

Human beings see them selves as separate from nature, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. We are nature, we are part of this web. We are the web. But the more we pick at the web and try to re-arrange it, manipulate it, genetically re-engineer it, reshape it, terraform it, farm it, the more we destroy the natural balance.

From a human point of view, earthquakes and tsunamis are tragic, they destroy our homes, our communities and our lives. But from a natural point of view, from the point of view of the earth, its a necessary part of life on earth.

If the tectonic plates didnt move, the earth would be a barren wasteland, devoid of life.

It would have never become the beautiful rich garden of life that is is now.

As the plates crash and churn, they release minerals and life bringing substances to the surface. 

The minerals feed the plants, the plants feed the animals, the smaller animals feed the bigger animals, and the cycle goes around and around.

So without these processes we would not be here right now. And you would most certainly not be sitting there reading this.

The world would be a very different place. Cold, dark and dead.

Cold, Dark ... Dead?

Cherish your life, your family and your friends.

It could all be gone tomorrow.

Time to let go.

There comes a time in life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad, and focus on the good. So, love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy.

We can have it all...

Flying high

Watching as the delicate glass orb floats on a sea of infinite nothingness. Flying with the eagles in skies of exuberant purple satin, and wondering alone on azure shore-lines with clouds so black they block out the sun. Alive in the spirit of NOW.

God, the universe, Allah, Jehovah, yawah are ineffable.

in·ef·fa·ble/inˈefəbəl/Adjective

1. Too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words: "ineffable beauty".

2. Too sacred to be uttered.

When I chant will bad things happen?

Hi Robbie,

Thank you for the channel. I was a great believer and I chanted 10 years ago... I moved to Japan for studies and then for the lack of time and energy and also because I didn't see many ppl following Nichiren Buddhism I gave up on it ... I moved back to Australia ... and since the day I moved here things have been going the wrong way....I found your channel again and gave some hope to me ... I want to start chanting again... I like to talk to you more about the Gohonzon and the benefits...I'm in an out of jobs and for the past five years after I moved back to Australia from Japan it's been hard to find something that suites me and my qualifications ... I have an Australian MBA and a Bachelors Degree from Japan. Anyways my question is if I start to chant again will I encounter problems that I never had before ? because one of my friend told me that chanting to Gohonzon is like cleansing our souls ... so it gets rid of bad karma... and as a result we start getting bad things to our life's... is this true ? I want to turn my life around I think I was a happier and a positive person back then I would like to get good things to my life

Thank you ..
K

Hey K

Sorry I took so long to get back to you, I have been a bit busy at work.

I think the main thing to think about, is that you want your life to change. By chanting you are changing your thoughts and your mind.

Bad things happen to people in life all the time, it doesn't necessarily have anything to with chanting.

But if you study and read more about Buddhism, it will teach you that the struggles in life are there to help has become stronger and grow as people.

We can't escape them. They are part of life. Dark and light. Night and Day. Winter and Summer.

We chant and practice Buddhism not to escape from suffering, but to have the strength and courage and wisdom to deal with anything that life throws at us.

Chanting is changing what is in your mind, it then changes your thoughts, then your life, then your friends, family, community, country, world etc

We are all connected.

This practice is about everyday life, about happiness and being the best as a human being.

This is about human revolution.

Hope that makes sense.

Big love

Robbie