I lost my job today...

[jkarlins]

yes, good post

Jake

Why

[Minobu]

well, the fact is, jobs can be lost chanting or not chanting. Things happen. Life happens. I mean no offense to Buddhism.

thats so far from the reality of the situation .
you would do well to try and understand a tad about what it means to practice Lotus Buddhism .
Again your statement is about a samsaric eternal nightmare...do you want to get off that trip or dwell with it in the way you deal with your life now.

[Lindama]

then, take credit for the message in the picture you posted.... the classic samaric nightmare of power and it's long implication.

[Caoimhghín]

well, the fact is, jobs can be lost chanting or not chanting. Things happen. Life happens. I mean no offense to Buddhism.

thats so far from the reality of the situation .
you would do well to try and understand a tad about what it means to practice Lotus Buddhism .
Again your statement is about a samsaric eternal nightmare...do you want to get off that trip or dwell with it in the way you deal with your life now.

Remember when the asura asked you why you were constantly living in "lower life conditions", Minobu? You got awfully mad at him.

[Minobu]

ah!
i see poor lindhama needs help saving her from the dreaded reality of Nichiren buddhism as portrayed by the mean and nasty minobu...i've been told people via pm poison letters from the nether regions of DW./


we got Coëmgenu at 2:41 timestamp roflmao.

look there is a lot that modern day psychiatry can do for people in the proper hands.
and a lot of well and good is done in social services...
but none of this is the cause for Buddhahood or stemming the repeats in life after life..
so like Coëmgenu if you want to save lindama from anything ...save her from herself.

[Lindama]

thank you very much, I have no complaints

[Caoimhghín]

we got Coëmgenu at 2:41 timestamp roflmao.

You don't even know what your own practice is man, but you pull this nonsense on me.

Terrible things may well happen to you when you chant. Indeed, regardless of it you chant. Lindama is absolutely correct in saying this, and you are levelling a cloud of obfuscation at her.

Case-and-point: the OP chanted. The OP lost his job. The OP chanted.

Even if he had retained his job against all odds, that he chanted would be the miracle, not his retention of employment.

For that matter, no matter what you get when you chant, the chanting is the miracle, not what you think you got for it.

[Queequeg]

For that matter, no matter what you get when you chant, the chanting is the miracle, not what you think you got for it.

I'm rather dense and don't understand the hubub above... but this I agree with wholeheartedly.

To hear the Buddhist teachings and to be able to practice them is a wonder.

[Queequeg]

At this time, I remind everyone about this:

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=26060

[Minobu]

we got Coëmgenu at 2:41 timestamp roflmao.

You don't even know what your own practice is man, but you pull this nonsense on me.

Terrible things may well happen to you when you chant. Indeed, regardless of it you chant. Lindama is absolutely correct in saying this, and you are levelling a cloud of obfuscation at her.

Case-and-point: the OP chanted. The OP lost his job. The OP chanted.

Even if he had retained his job against all odds, that he chanted would be the miracle, not his retention of employment.

For that matter, no matter what you get when you chant, the chanting is the miracle, not what you think you got for it.

just so you know...i'm not actually talking about the drivel that happens in samsara...lost job , wife cheats on you, gets cancer...
all this stuff...is just stuff that happens down here....

from a Nichiren Buddhist perspective ...thats the leaves of the tree...each year or in our case each life they return...turn yellow and die only to come back next year or next life...

i might sound all harsh and sgt majoreee but this practice is to end all that...

we use the drivel...no matter how harsh or how trivial...we use the drivel to end it...

so like i'm coming off cold...cause it's drivel.... samsaric drivel ... the real task at hand is ending it all..

or using to learn and develop..
the practice is designed for the average joe caught in samsara ....read the goshos...see where Nichiren Shonin used the daily life happenings of the peasants and Samurai to encourage them to carry on..with their practice in spite of it all.


we are not on the same page here...

i'm not here to debate the workings of social work or psychiatry...thats a whole other paradigm and life system. Lindmama no matter how well intentioned is talking this whole lost job thing from like ..well not from a life after life karmic samsaric view..

she said ...in a Nichiren section..

. Now, as adults, ......... You will find a new maturity that won't rely on chants and prayers ....
best wishes
linda

[Caoimhghín]

she said ...in a Nichiren section..

. Now, as adults, ......... You will find a new maturity that won't rely on chants and prayers ....
best wishes
linda

This "new maturity" could well be a better understanding of Nichiren Buddhism, in which we are mature enough to continue practice and to practice at all despite either getting or not getting what we want.

well, the fact is, jobs can be lost chanting or not chanting. Things happen. Life happens. I mean no offense to Buddhism.

thats so far from the reality of the situation .
you would do well to try and understand a tad about what it means to practice Lotus Buddhism .
Again your statement is about a samsaric eternal nightmare...do you want to get off that trip or dwell with it in the way you deal with your life now.

She clarified what she meant. You don't seem to accept that? This is a perfectly reasonable thing to say because it is perfectly true. Jobs can be lost chanting or not chanting.

[Caoimhghín]

just so you know...i'm not actually talking about the drivel that happens in samsara...lost job , wife cheats on you, gets cancer...
all this stuff...is just stuff that happens down here....

from a Nichiren Buddhist perspective ...thats the leaves of the tree...each year or in our case each life they return...turn yellow and die only to come back next year or next life...

i might sound all harsh and sgt majoreee but this practice is to end all that...

This framing of things as "drivel in samsara", lost job, wife cheats, someone gets cancer, this framing of things as "stuff that happens down here", this only the leaves of the tree, would Ven Nichiren not refer to that as the seperate teaching? Samsara vs dharmakaya? That separation?

[Queequeg]

Jobs can be lost chanting or not chanting.

I realize you two are having a particular discussion, but pertinent to this thread...

Losing your job in the course of samsaric ups and downs is one thing. Losing your job because of your practice is another. In the latter case, this is the suffering of persecution for the sake of the dharma and has a different meaning and implication.

Teachings on such persecutions can be found in the series of personal letters to Shijo Kingo. Shijo Kingo was a close supporter of Nichiren. He was a samurai as well as a medical doctor. For a time, he lost his fief because his lord opposed his practice. Shortly after, Shijo Kingo's lord fell ill, and despite the falling out, Shijo Kingo went to treat his lord and cured him. His fief was restored and additional lands were given to him.

Part of Shijo Kingo's story, he was pretty Alpha - kind of stereotypical macho warrior who liked to party hard. In the course of carousing, he was often staggering around town late at night. In a series of letters Nichiren advised him to exercise caution when he went out at night because there were other samurai who harbored enmity against him due to his relatively elevated status and his staunch and outspoken faith in the Lotus. They wanted to kill him.

One of those counsels is one of my favorites:

"Drink sake only at home with your wife, and chant Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens. How could this be anything other than the boundless joy of the Dharma? Strengthen your power of faith more than ever."

Later, when Nichiren was sentenced to be beheaded, Shijo Kingo and his brothers accompanied Nichiren to the execution ground and resolved to die with their teacher. The execution never happened... miraculously. Another story.

You can visit a temple in Kamakura today that was Shijo Kingo's residence.

[Minobu]

just so you know...i'm not actually talking about the drivel that happens in samsara...lost job , wife cheats on you, gets cancer...
all this stuff...is just stuff that happens down here....

from a Nichiren Buddhist perspective ...thats the leaves of the tree...each year or in our case each life they return...turn yellow and die only to come back next year or next life...

i might sound all harsh and sgt majoreee but this practice is to end all that...

This framing of things as "drivel in samsara", lost job, wife cheats, someone gets cancer, this framing of things as "stuff that happens down here", this only the leaves of the tree, would Ven Nichiren not refer to that as the seperate teaching? Samsara vs dharmakaya? That separation?

it's metaphor.
leaves of the tree are like your life and all the different karmic appearances in one's life.

pruning the leaves and making the tree look more appealing...you are still grooming the effects...the leaves..

the sap that makes the tree is like your karma..

as long as the sap remains the same the same karma is played out over and over...hence the same leaves year after year.

This Practice is all about cause and effect /or our karma..

one must deal with the root cause...the karma..

for me the practice is like an alchemy to solve that ...

nothing that happens is coincidental...or

Lindama wrote:
well, the fact is, jobs can be lost chanting or not chanting. Things happen. Life happens. I mean no offense to Buddhism.

she misses the karmic connection to it all..it is offensive in the sense it is not even hinting at the fact all that we all are are resulting from karmic results.

shit happens..meh...
that will keep you locked in the cycle of samsara forever...

so if i sound cold ..it's because she ignores , and now you, everything that is taught in Nichiren's gosho.

it's simple.

[Caoimhghín]

Well, "shit happens meh" can be likened to Buddhadharma without the implied apathy, which I certainly did not read into the post in question.

Monks, an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. A well-instructed disciple of the noble ones also feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. So what difference, what distinction, what distinguishing factor is there between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person?

(Sallasutta)

[Caoimhghín]

nothing that happens is coincidental...or

Lindama wrote:
well, the fact is, jobs can be lost chanting or not chanting. Things happen. Life happens. I mean no offense to Buddhism.

she misses the karmic connection to it all..it is offensive in the sense it is not even hinting at the fact all that we all are are resulting from karmic results.

"Dear OP, you lost your job because when you were the duke of a vast kingdom on a far-off world-system you embezzled money".

Is that substantially more helpful?

[Minobu]

Well, "shit happens meh" can be likened to Buddhadharma without the implied apathy, which I certainly did not read into the post in question.

Monks, an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. A well-instructed disciple of the noble ones also feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. So what difference, what distinction, what distinguishing factor is there between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person?

(Sallasutta)

we are in the Nichiren section...you said i don't know what i am talking about...

i kept it simple...and with the proper care in directing the focus to practice and the simple reason as to why...

she is asking for us not to chant...be adults....so i guess you are too. there is something more adult and effective than chanting...

cool ...knock yourself out.

[Minobu]

nothing that happens is coincidental...or

Lindama wrote:
well, the fact is, jobs can be lost chanting or not chanting. Things happen. Life happens. I mean no offense to Buddhism.

she misses the karmic connection to it all..it is offensive in the sense it is not even hinting at the fact all that we all are are resulting from karmic results.

"Dear OP, you lost your job because when you were the duke of a vast kingdom on a far-off world-system you embezzled money".

Is that substantially more helpful?

very adult and caring of you..

[Caoimhghín]

she misses the karmic connection to it all..it is offensive in the sense it is not even hinting at the fact all that we all are are resulting from karmic results.

"Dear OP, you lost your job because when you were the duke of a vast kingdom on a far-off world-system you embezzled money".

Is that substantially more helpful?

very adult and caring of you..

I'm just trying to understand your complaint. You said she is "not even hinting at the fact all that we all are are resulting from karmic results". Hence my reply.

[Caoimhghín]

Well, "shit happens meh" can be likened to Buddhadharma without the implied apathy, which I certainly did not read into the post in question.

Monks, an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. A well-instructed disciple of the noble ones also feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. So what difference, what distinction, what distinguishing factor is there between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person?

(Sallasutta)

we are in the Nichiren section...you said i don't know what i am talking about...

i kept it simple...and with the proper care in directing the focus to practice and the simple reason as to why...

she is asking for us not to chant...be adults....so i guess you are too. there is something more adult and effective than chanting...

cool ...knock yourself out.

I read the exchange very differently. I read an OP stating that he lost his job. I read a Lindama saying that such things will happen regardless of practice. That is the cold-water-on-the-face reality, the "all harsh and sgt majoree" truth. Lindama gave it, not you.

If one were to teach the opposite, then people would leave Nichiren Buddhism the second they didn't get what they chanted for.