Power of Will?

As mentioned in the previous post, I've been exposed to this Buddhist sect by a friend who's rather a firm believer in it because she believes it's worked for her, that I wasn't aware existed. It's a Japanese one called Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society), based on Nichiren Buddhism, which in turn was based on Mahayana Buddhism. It's apparently based on an ancient sect, and was founded in the 1920's, but gained popularity only post-World War II, due to its coercive tactics, use of evangelism, and afterwards, a charismatic leader, Ikeda Daisaku [link]. (Note: do read the article employing your better judgement and with a pinch of salt, please let us not commit the mistake we often do of bbiasing ourselves for or against something of which we know nothing).

Basically, and all the information I have is froma conversation with her, that it is possible to get what you want if you chant this particular mantra: Nam-myo-ho-renge-kyo (Adoration to the Lotus of the Wonderful Law), 3 times, and to state (in a specific way) that you want a particular thing, as long as it is in keeping with karma and the balance of things in the universe. She claimed that it was simply by chanting that she got what she wanted. She tested it out with a Chanel bag she wanted that her mother refused to buy her, and after a week or so of chanting, out of the blue, her mother did. That was pretty confusing for me to absorb, but fostered her faith in the tradition. She chants twice a day now for about 10-15 minutes each, and sometimes for a couple of hours. She has group chanting sessions with other members of the sect and so on.

I was quite impressed by her faith, though she also follows our traditional Hindu practices, myriad as they are. Can simply chanting for something make you get it? Of course there is that clause, that provided it is in keeping with your balance of karma. But what if you wanted someone to fall in love with you or get a promotion or manage to raise money to buy a car... can you get it SIMPLY by chanting? Or does the chanting serve to channel your energies to focus on your goal so that you may get what you want by your own appropriate actions?

I know this discussion seems pretty simplistic but it does bring into question the whole concept of prayer. On one hand, we can pray/chant and forget about it and leave the results to God. If it happens, well and good, if it doesn't, maybe you didn't deserve it or it wasn't good for you or in your karma/taqdeer whatever. Alternatively, that prayer, those few minutes of actually thinking about what we want and need can actually be the seed of an action plan. It could serve to change our mindset without our realising it so that our actions become more constructive and specifically designed to meet our goals. If we get what we want, what do we attribute it to? Our prayers? Our actions? The combination of the two? If we took out the time and energy to barinstorm about a problem in our lives, without praying, and un/consciously let the problem stew in our brains before a plan emerged from the mess, would we get the same result?

Read the above article as well as this Soka Gakkai International's official website. It states, and I quote, " Buddhism aims to awaken people to the limitless potential and value of their own lives. Buddhist philosophy and practice bring about a positive transformation in the depths of life, transforming fear into courage, deluded impulses into wisdom, and egotism to compassion.Buddhism begins with individuals deciding to take responsibility for their own individual lives, reforming first themselves and their immediate surroundings and relations, and then gradually extending their wisdom, courage and compassion into a wider sphere."

It also answers all your burning questions on this aspect of Buddhism (and I'm not being sarcastic!).

Looked up Nam-myo-ho-renge-kyo on the website. Very close to Hindu ideals. Reading this website, the article above, and knowing people who follow this, or any religion, who are as fallible as the rest of us, shows us how humans are innately imperfect in their interpretation of God, if there is one. *muses* It almost seems as though anything pure and holy, even nature, even knowledge, gets tainted when it is touched by human hands, usually too many or too wrong. Universality seems a lost cause when confronted by a teeming smelly stew of humanity, in which most of the ingredients are wilted and bitter. I mean, who is anyone to judge anything when no one is perfect? I guess that's why we attribute perfection to God and universal right to a lost age we can only imagine.

My conclusion? If you're a believer, you are. If you're not, nothing can make you believe but yourself.

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My latest profound realization (maybe not so profound to you): It doesn't matter whom you ask, what the odds are, how afraid you feel, what action you deliberate upon taking. You'll do exactly as you do because the answer is already within you. It's just waiting for you to have the courage/clarity to doscover it.

I guess I have my answer.