God bless you, son!

i went to my ex-headmaster house with SP & SC yesterday as part of my Chinese New Year visits. Sir was bed-ridden for more than a year after he was last diagnosed with brain tumor. Yesterday we saw him being able to start moving by himself on his wheel chair! Great improvement! SP even brought some of the cards Sir sent to us after we left school, trying to help Sir to regain his memories. Sir's mom was very grateful seeing us visiting Sir. When we are about to leave, sir's mom embraced us with both her hands and said to us,"God bless you, son!" I was thinking we are all blessed in our own way by our faith. I will also chant for Sir for his fast recovery.

Monetary contribution

I drove to Singapore with BC yesterday. He was concerned about those rumors going around criticizing Gakkai wealth. He heard one of the MD member told his wife not to subscribe to Cosmic because Gakkai is very rich... I have heard this many times before but never had a chance to seriously talk to anyone about it. Yesterday was my first attempt to explain this to a concerned YMD. Not too sure how well he take it but my explanation was no matter how rich (or poor) Gakkai is today. Our thoughts of contribution shall come from one's heart. It shall never depend on any external circumstances. The spirit of intent is we want to contribute in our own small little way for this great cause of kosen-rufu. Never for once we think we are 'subsidizing' the kosen-rufu movement. One will stop 'subsidizing' once one find out there is enough in the pool and no point 'subsidizing' anymore.

Courage of a YMD chief

KS who was from PJ that had never encountered any Danto members in his life, chanted an hour of daimoku to summon up his courage to go knock at his Danto neighbour's house today. He was nervous initially but he pushed on to press his neighbour's door bell. They became friends. This was his first step in Soka Spirit. I truly admire his courage to step out from his comfort zone to be involved in Soka Spirit. Courage is not being fearless, but overcoming our fear!

Youthful Flag bearers

KP sent out an email, "A Call for Soka Spirit", yesterday. Calling all YMD Chapter and Honbu chiefs to answer to this call for Soka Spirit.
Till today, none of the YMD chiefs replied except a WD (SB, she is wife of one of our Chapter YMD chief) wrote to me to register herself into this once-in-a-ten-thousand years battle of the Law. I cannot hold back my emotion when I see her email. Partly I truly grateful to her and the youthfulness of her spirit, and on the other hand, I feel Where are the Youthful Flag Bearers?
Must chant and dialogue more!

Discussion Meeting at Dist. V.

I went to District V. for discussion meeting at FH's house last night. I was the YMD District leader at District V. before I went oversea. After 14 years, last night was my first time to attend their meeting again. Familiar faces and a few new faces greeted me with mixed feelings. Auntie SM hugged and kissed me when she saw me walked into the house. She told me she was very sick few years ago. She is still challenging. Auntie HE spoke to me enthusiastically after about her family challenges for the past few years. Besides her extremely poor eye-sight, three of her right leg's fingers were removed due to virus infection. She is grateful of the protection of Gohonzon and she told me she has overcome! Met CV, uncle TL, uncle WK, YW, auntie SH, CL, AL and YT in the meeting. JC and KC was there in the meeting too. It was a lively meeting. :)

I was really touched by the members sincerity. Something that I always seek in Gakkai and this is something that make Gakkai beautiful as it is.

I wanted to talk to FH for 2 weeks already but couldn't find time to do that. Finally, I met FH at the end of the meeting and encourage him to reflect on his human revolution & put everything unhappy behind & be diligent in Gakkai activities.

Soka Spirit Dialogue

Tonight I went to District J. with some S7 WD, YMD & YWD to homevisit the Danto members. There are plentiful, but our team managed to visit 2 Danto household and a Gakkai household. A youth from one of the Danto household said times are bad now. His job has slowed down a lot. I had a in depth discussion with this YMD on the true spirit of Buddhism and how a real Buddhism is going to make a person stronger and more independent especially in this economy down turn period. After the homevisit, we all meet at the stall to have the famous 'Oil-fried devil'! We split into 2 groups, 1 group went back to Klang after supper and PL & myself went to a YMD house to help a YMD to prepare for his coming Tuesday Discussion Meeting topic. Happy that I have so much today! Thanks to the S7 leaders arrangement. Came home to chant an hour of daimoku to complete my daily daimoku target.

2009 first Soka Spirit Chant & Chat

Attended Kota Kemuning Soka Spirit Chant & Chat last night. It seems like the District Chief is more interested in next week pot-luck get-together for all district members than Soka Spirit. Anyhow, when come to my turn to speak, I talked about Soka Spirit again. Talking about freedom of spirit, I studied with them this...

Buddhist teachings that view the Law as existing outside one's own life tend to be authoritarian or formalistic, disregarding and repressing people. They are prone to emphasizing rituals or clerical authority, while their followers passively seek to assuage their anxieties through dependence on ceremonies or clergy.

YMD Dialogue

We conducted our first Region/Chapter leaders dialogue meeting last night. Managed to hear from most of them their testimonies, concerns and problems in carrying out 2009 1st campaign. Truly happy to see JY joining the meeting after more than 2 years absence. Did not get the chance to talk to FH as the meeting ended at 10pm. Will try to arrange to talk to him another day.

Oneness of Mentor & Disciple

We studied Oneness of Mentor & Disciple last night with Soka Talent Group. One of the questions we posted to the youth division was "Can we have a mentor in life other than Ikeda Sensei??" Lots of them say yes. I did not agree, but I was not able to answer to them convincingly on the meeting. Spoken to Region chief and a few YMD leaders, and come home to continue another hour of daimoku...

"A blacksmith’s apprentice is a blacksmith; a fishmonger’s trainee is a fishmonger. In the same way the Buddha’s disciple is a Buddha. It all works out very neatly..."

Toda Sensei said.

Nichiren Daishonin inherited the oneness of mentor and disciple relationship with the Law of Myoho-renge-kyo, the Buddha. He endured all the persecutions befalling him with utmost conviction and determination. And in 1930s, Makiguchi Sensei personalized the Daishonin's spirit and become one with the Daishonin, and summoned the courage to retain the pure spirit of Daishonin lineage in the face of government persecution. Toda Sensei was one with his mentor, Makiguchi, and with his ailing body, his spirit was high and achieved 750,000 households conversion in his lifetime. With his severe tuberculosis in his youth who were diagnosed not able to live beyond 30s, Ikeda Sensei is one with his mentor and spread this seed of humanistic Buddhism to 192 countries and territories. Where did all this wonderful and magnificent power come from? They are all ONE with their mentor, who inherited the lineage of a Buddha, the Law.
So, can we have a mentor in life other than Ikeda Sensei?? The answer is "yes" if our ultimate goal in life is NOT attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime. A Buddha disciple will definitely become a Buddha!

1st Campaign All Leaders Meet

Completed 1st 2009 Campaign All Leaders Meet. I lectured on "On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime". I thought I did badly but some leaders came to me telling me I did a good job (wanted my presentation slides some more). It must be the working of daimoku. Leaders attendance was no good. Only 42% of the entire leadership turned up. We can't even pass the passing mark of 50%!! Region chief spoke to me and YWD chief after the meeting. Encouraging us to take the full responsibility of the entire Selangor region kosenrufu, and not confining to our own division only. I pondered over this many times in the afternoon and chanted another hour of daimoku to accept this. I was telling myself, let launch the 'shinichi yamamoto campaign' in me first before I can foster more sensei's disciples for sensei. I must overcome!

Sensei's Birthday

We had a truly wonderful daimoku session together with all other Honbu leaders last night to chant to Sensei's good health and longevity. KP & I managed to come out a slide presentation on Sensei. Region chief likes it so much and want us to present it again on Sunday's All Leaders Meeting. Even there is only a 5-minute slide show about sensei, but I can feel both KP & I have already deeply pledged our life for sensei on this significant 81st Birthday of Sensei.
The student division last night was collecting 81-hour daimoku drive for sensei too. Wonderful efforts and "cool" campaign (as how they put it in their sms).
Text my sister wishing her Happy Birthday late at night. It was her birthday too.

New Year Resolution

2008 was actually my first time writing down my New Year resolution concretely. On the Eve of 2009 New Year day, we went over to TP & SB's had our New Year mid night gongyo. SB gave us back our written resolution and everyone went through it with mixed feelings. Some achieved some didn't. I personally feel for the first time I have done something meaningful (concretely) for the past one year. No doubt I did not fulfill every single resolution made on 2008, but I am happy there are few that I have challenged and overcome!
2 days ago when I attended an organization statistic meeting with CK, he mentioned about his recent homevisit to District J. There are plenty of Danto members out there and the WD is having a hard time to cope. According to him, there are 1 YMD and 1 WD from the N. Sect who are actively converting the locals to their misleading group. This statement really cut through my heart deeply!
What have Sensei's disciple been doing?! How could Sensei's disciple lose to the evil N. Sect youth?! I must fight on! Unless I move, no one will move; unless I fight, no one will fight!
With this in mind, this has become part of my 2009 New Year resolution. A resolution I must fight through! The rest of the resolution are:
- To find my career in life that will proof the greatness of Sensei and Gakkai in 2009.
- To dialogue with 100 people in 2009.
- To challenge 1 million daimoku in 2009.
Completed my first 1-hour daimoku in 2009 yesterday.