12/31 Today’s Buddhist Food for Thought

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Wednesday, December 31, 2008

To lead a life in which we are inspired and can inspire others, our hearts have to be alive; they have to be filled with passion and enthusiasm. To achieve that, as President Toda also said, we need the courage to “live true to ourselves.” And to live true to ourselves, we need the strength of mind not to be swayed by our environment or be obsessed with vanity and superficial appearances. Rather than borrowing from or imitating others, we need the conviction to be able to think for ourselves and to take action from our own sense of responsibility.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 (Buddhism Day by Day)

Buddhism enables us to tap from within the depths of our beings the greatest courage and strongest life force there is. Buddhas are not destined for unhappiness or defeat. Those who practice Buddhism can definitely transform all adversity into something positive, irrespective of the troubled time in which they live, their personal circumstances or the hardships that befall them.

From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 (Daily Wisdom)

I, Nichiren, am the richest man in all of present-day Japan. I have dedicated my life to the Lotus Sutra, and my name will be handed down in ages to come.

Visit my FB pages!

Visit my Facebook  pages for my personal writing and writing biz:

lizwrites:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/lizwrites-Liz-IsaacsWriterEditor/41207109699?ref=mf

Lotus Writing & Communications:

http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Lotus-Writing-Communications/47098860722?ref=mf

12/30 Today’s Buddhist Food for Thought

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Taking good care of our health is most important. In particular, it is vital for those who are advanced in years to get sufficient rest to avoid becoming fatigued. Sleep is the best medicine. I also hope you will put your wisdom to work and find various ways to improve and maintain your health.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 (Buddhism Day by Day)

Defeat for a Buddhist lies not in encountering difficulties but rather in not challenging them. Difficulties only truly become our destiny if we run away from them. We must fight as long as we live.

From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 (Daily Wisdom)

In the yard around the hut the snow piled deeper and deeper. No one came to see me; my only visitor was the piercing wind. Great Concentration and Insight and the Lotus Sutra lay open before my eyes, and Nam-myoho-renge-kyo flowed from my lips. My evenings passed in discourse to the moon and stars on the fallacies of the various schools and the profound meaning of the Lotus Sutra. Thus, one year gave way to the next.

12/29 Today’s Buddhist Food for Thought

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Monday, December 29, 2008

Who is truly great? I hope you can develop the ability to discern true human greatness. A great person is someone who forges unity among human beings through sincere dialogue, armed with a solid philosophy, feet firmly planted on the ground. A great person is one who lives among the people and earns their unshakable trust. Fickle popularity and temporary fads are nothing but illusions.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Monday, December 29, 2008 (Buddhism Day by Day)

Ralph Waldo Emerson writes: “And so of cheerfulness, or a good temper, the more it is spent, the more of it remains.” Cheerfulness is not the same as frivolousness. Cheerfulness is born of a fighting spirit. Frivolousness is the reverse side of cowardly escape. Emerson also said that “power dwells with cheerfulness; hope puts us in a working mood.” Without cheerfulness there is no strength. Strive to advance still more brightly and cheerfully.

From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Monday, December 29, 2008 (Daily Wisdom)

To hope to attain Buddhahood without speaking out against slander is as futile as trying to find water in the midst of fire or fire in the midst of water. No matter how sincerely one believes in the Lotus Sutra, if one is guilty of failing to rebuke slander of the Law, one will surely fall into hell, just a single crab leg will ruin a thousand pots of lacquer. This is the meaning of the passage in the sutra, “Because the poison has penetrated deeply and their minds no longer function as before.”",.

12/28 Today’s Buddhist Food for Thought

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Sunday, December 28, 2008

Kosen-rufu is a very long struggle. It is a march that will continue over the 10,000 years of the Latter Day of the Law. Therefore, let us advance joyfully and unhurriedly. Activities must not be conducted in such a way that people suffer and become exhausted. Meetings should be short and not too numerous and conducted so that they are valuable and productive for all concerned.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Sunday, December 28, 2008 (Buddhism Day by Day)

Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra are as if in winter, but winter always turns to spring. Never, from ancient times on, has anyone heard or seen of winter turning back to autumn. Nor have we ever heard of a believer in the Lotus Sutra who turned into an ordinary person. The sutra reads, “If there are those who hear the Law, then not a one will fail to attain Buddhahood.”-Nichiren

From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Sunday, December 28, 2008 (Daily Widsom)

In the next life you should use this sword as your staff. The Lotus Sutra is the staff that helps all the Buddhas of the three existences as they set their minds on enlightenment. However, you should rely upon Nichiren as your staff and pillar. When one uses a staff, he will not fall on treacherous mountain paths or rough roads, and when led by the hand, he will never stumble.

12/26 Today’s Budhist Food for Thought

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Friday, December 26, 2008

Good health equals Buddhism. Daily life equals faith. Taking care to avoid traffic accidents and making efforts to stay in good health, therefore, are all part of our Buddhist practice. It is important that we live wisely, striving with the awareness each day that all the actions and activities we undertake for the sake of faith contribute to our good health and well-being.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Friday, December 26, 2008 (Buddhism Day by Day)

It is foolish to ignore or deny the contribution of medicine. Otherwise, faith descends into fanaticism. We must use medical resources wisely in fighting illness. Buddhism gives us the wisdom to use medicine properly. Wisdom is the basic ingredient to health, to long life, and to happiness. The new century of health, then, must be a new century of wisdom.

From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Friday, December 26, 2008 (Daily Wisdom)

In addition, we live today in a time of trouble, when there is little that ordinary people can do. And yet, busy as you are, in your sincerity of heart you have sent me thick-stemmed bamboo shoots of the moso variety as offerings to the Lotus Sutra here in the mountains. Surely you are sowing good seeds in a field of fortune. My tears flow when I think of it.

The end of an era—Eartha Kitt’s recent passing

How ironic the announcement of Ms. Kitt’s passing came on the day of the year that she is most associated with, Christmas with her classic 1954 hit “Santa Baby”? It’s one of the highlights of the holiday with her most probable recognized voices.

Her 2006 rendition of Santa Baby w/ W and Laura in the audience. She’s still got it.

Here’s an earlier version:

Her legacy will live on for this and her more memorable accomplishments:

Her sultry sex appeal and elegance. Her having the chutzpah (nerve, courage, guts) to speak out against the Vietnam War to later be blackballed by the government. Her activism for animal rights. Her numerous screen roles including her famous line from “Boomerang”–Mah-kus Dah-ling”. Being a dance and Broadway legend. Being an author of several books. Her being the quintessential Catwoman (TV) and the distinctive voice of Yzma on Disney’s “Emperor’s New Groove” with her character bearing a strong resemblance to her.

She embodied a genuine Buddhist spirit with her struggles and victories of turning poison into medicine.

Am sending you and your family daimoku (chanting nam-myoho-renge-kyo).

Enough said…dim the lights on Broadway…you will always be PuRRRRRRRRRRRRfect.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081226/ap_on_en_tv/obit_eartha_kitt

Nancy Singing Hello Dalai?

Photo of US Rep/Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on her visit with HHDL from a few years ago speaking to reporters after the meeting with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. China turned its back on appeals for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, vowing to smash anti-China forces in Tibet, where it said the death toll in recent unrest had risen to 19 at that time.

While I know the Dalai Lama has been dialoging with China this past year, Nancy, I know the US is the World watchdog on social injustices in the world, but we also need to take care of our own. Regardless of us being a democracy in theory.

While her efforts were noble, let’s hope she’s more diligent this time around with Obama being the next President than she was being a tool for the Bush administration.

Amazing how she got re-elected w/73-76% of the vote vs opponent Cindy Shehan?

Guess the folks in SF were hoping for the lessor of two evils. While I may not always agree with Ms. Shehan’s approach (no offense Cindy), her chutzpah and political fervor is more than commendable with some of her viewpoints did have merit but it wasn’t enough.

I’m not pissing and moaning about Nancy ignoring the 10,000 calls, emails and letters daily calling for W’s and his cadre of goonies head on a platter regardless of others in Congress still pushing for Bush’s impeachment.

She helped pass a lot of the governmental decisions that are effecting our present country. I am not going to list them. But she like those in Government still need to be held accountable for their actions. I still think

Bush Sr. should have let W. be baseball commissioner when he so aspired to so. Being a long-time baseball fan, I lived with W. messing up the ‘great American pastime’.

Somehow, that is more accepting than messing up America all around. Amazing how a man with several failed business ventures can be selected as President of the U.S., much less any country. Ain’t America great! What a country!

So much for our checks and balances system?

Don’t know if getting a new bunch in Congress would solve the problem?

Or letting Wall Street and/or the auto industry fail and start afresh would have solved the problem either?

I will continue to chant for Ms. Pelosi and Congress to make prudent decisions ‘of the people, for the people,by the people’ in the new Administration.

Sure, we’ve seen gas prices drop to $1.48 or less for a gallon of gas. Can’t remember the last time $9.00 put me at right under 3/4 of a tank. Granted I have a 2003 Toyota Corolla LE and it beats the $40 plus from a few months ago to fill my tank.

I hate to think what Christmas retail sales while be this season.

While I do have great optimism in the Obama administration, I will continue my “Peace for America” daimoku (chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo) campaign well beyond the end of our campaign well into the New Year…

…I also have great determination in attaining many of my personal, professional and financial goals in 2009.

I still believe as the gosho (writing by Nichiren Daishonin from letter correspondence to his disciples) quote, “Great Good will come from Great Evil.”

But Can She Type? Golda Meir

Picture of the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir looking pensive listening to talks most likely in the Knesset/Knesseth (Israeli Parliment).

Same photo was made into a poster several years ago with the caption, “But Can She Type?”

~Photo courtesy of Photobucket.

Saw poster at an eclectic used bookstore in Bloomington, Indiana (Cavaet Emptor) in the later 80’s-mid 90’s. Don’t if they still have the poster after all these years.

Adam Sandler’s Chanukah Song

Don’t put up the dreidels (spinning tops/game) and menorahs (candleabra for Chanukah) just yet even though Chanukah ended on Tuesday.

And if you’re still recovering from all the potato latkes (potato pancakes made with shredded potatoes, onions and spices served traditionally with sour cream and apple sauce), Chanukah gelt (coins filled with chocolate or bubble gum) that you ate.

Here’s something to make the post-holiday digestion seem a little easier. Adam Sandler’s Chanukah Song which he’s added two more versions of this new holiday ditty. I’m not even going to attempt to list all of the names of who is and who isn’t Jewish. Nor do I hope none of you are offended by any of the lyrics.

The original version:

2nd Version:

3rd Version singing w/his Dreidel choir: