Winza

I was at Glen Waverley shopping after work and visited Breadtop to get some bread for lunch tomorrow. There was a girl there who yelled my name.

Girl: Winnie!

Me: Umm. Yes??

Girl: Yeah. Hi, its me… You don’t live here…

Me: No I don’t. I live in [suburb]. Um… Am I supposed to know you?

Girl: Yes, I met you July last year..

Me: Ah.. ok then,

Girl: You did Environmental Science, you came to Melbourne 18 years ago and you work at the water company.

Me: Yes.. Did you go to Monash or something??

Girl: No, I study dentistry at Melbourne.

Me: Do you know my parents?

Girl: No, you still don’t remember me?

Me: No. Can you please tell me where and how we met..?

The girl refuses to answer my question and makes another statement

Girl: You’re a Buddhist!

That rang a bell in my head. I suddenly thought about the incident in the city about a year ago, where the three Christians kept following me for 30 minutes and tried to persuade me into going to their Church.

Me: Ah yes. You go to Church here.

Girl: Now you remember. So how have you been??

Me: I am good. Life is good, everything is good.

Girl: Are you still free on Sundays?

Me: Nope. I’ve fully converted into Buddhism and I attend group meetings every so often.

Girl: Oh no, you won’t have time to come to Mass then. Implying that she wants to get me into her religion

Me: Oh yes, Breadtop is closing down soon, so I have to get to the ATM to get some money to pay for my bread. And that was how I got out of the conversation

Geezz. She must have a good memory. We only spoke for 30-45 minutes in the city and had a conversation about reality. We haven’t seen each other since and yet she remembers me. We are not friends - just strangers talking to each other about the existence of God. She must have a very good memory. A year later, we bump into each other 20 km from where we met.

I’ve made two conclusions from this. One is that it’s a small world here and the other one is that some people are so scary.

1. I have become the leader of the Treasure Tower Group in SGI. Didn’t wanted to at first, but I took up the challenge. In fact, it gives me a bit of motivation to study Goshos and other Buddhist texts.
2. There are 66 days till my probation ends.
3. I don’t have work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Instead, I am going on a Geomedia Training course. Yippee.. Free lunches, learn things and no work.
4. I had a Gohonzon enshrinment ceremony last Sunday. It was cool - we chanted for half an hour and had afternoon tea afterwards. I’ve been chanting almost everyday since..
5. The little girl mimed at the Olympic games opening ceremony. Another girl’s voice was used instead but she wasn’t allowed to perform because she wasn’t good looking enough. How disappointing. I always insist that talents are more important than looks. Imagine how the little girl would feel if she found out that she was picked not because of her talent but because of her appearance. I would certainly be devastated.
6. Petrol prices have gone down for some reason. Don’t know why, but it certainly helps me save money.

Yes, I am watching the Olympics.

I’ve been waiting for this to happen for a long time.

And I remember watching the video stream online when Beijing won it’s bid back in the 2000 to host the 2008 Olympics..

Let the Games begin…

The Gohonzon is an object of devotion in Nichiren Buddhism. It is a paper scroll with characters written in black ink and is hung up within a box, called the butsudan. People say that the Gohonzon contains all aspect of life as it has the words nam-myoho-renge-kyo written on it. To me, the Gohonzon just an ordinary object, an object that Buddhists use in conjunction with chanting/praying to reflect on their lives. This is how I interpret it and this is how I use it - instead of being skeptical about it, I will put my faith in the object as if it is part of my life.

I will receive the Gohonzon tomorrow at the SGI commemorative meeting. It is supposed to be an exciting experience getting the Gohonzon, but I don’t know how I am feeling at the moment. On one hand, I am very happy to receive the Gohonzon - it means that I can strengthen my practise in Buddhism and that it will help me in my human revolution. On the other hand, I feel skeptical about the Gohonzon and what benefit I will receive from it. Sometimes I find myself questioning the purpose of converting into Buddhism. Is it going to benefit me for the rest of my life; is it really going to help me in achieving my personal goals? Or is it just a way to kill time?
No matter what the purpose is, this practise has definitely helped me in my attitudes towards life. My confidence has grown immensely over the past year, I worry less about certain issues and I am starting to appreciate myself, others and the environment. I have become more opportunistic - taking more risks, taking more responsibility and being less hostile towards my colleagues.

I hope the Gohonzon would strengthen my practise in Buddhism and assist me in my developments in all aspects of life. There is a common saying in the practice, “Never seek the Gohonzon outside yourself”. So as long as I have faith in the Gohonzon, the benefits of it in the form of personal transformations will manifest from within.

Last weekend i attended the Victorian SGI youth camp which was two day mini training course about Nichiren Buddhism and personal development. This year we had the camp at Merricks Lodge in the Westernport Bay area. I must say it was an amazing experience going away for two days just to learn and discuss about Buddhist philosophy. It was a fun, relaxing atmosphere and people were so friendly and talkative. Even the shy ones participated in the discussion.

We have had endless discussions about the concepts of mentor and disciple, ichinen sanzen (the three thousand realms of life), the human potential, human revolution and various other topics.

The first discussion was about freedom and what it means to be free. From what I’ve learnt, the word freedom has different meanings based on different perspectives, choices and purposes in life. Some people think that freedom is not being affected by society while others view freedom as not being affected by the current situation by negativity. Whatever meaning we put to it, freedom denotes happiness and it comes with responsibility. In other words, we are responsible for our own happiness through our beliefs which are manifested by our words and actions and in turn affect our immediate environment. It is connected to awareness and clarity, about the purpose of our lives. And from what I’ve learnt, this concept sounds very simple but it sometimes need reinforcement, especially during times of hardship. As long as we know what the purpose of our life is, we will re-determine ourselves towards our goals no matter what the challenge is.

The second discussion was the Gosho study - Letter to Niike. The common theme underlying this discussion was mentor and disciple. I have been always skeptical about this concept - why do members of the SGI choose Daisaku Ikeda as their mentor? Yes, his actions were great and he is a selfless figure but why him? He may be our role model, but to me, he is not my mentor. A member from the discussion group suggested to make the Law (the mystic law) as our mentor instead because the law encompasses everything in life - Nature, society, Daisaku Ikeda, the other two presidents of SGI and us. I personally like this perception of the mentor and disciple concept. It makes more sense to me and I can refer to it when I need further direction in life.

There were also other speeches and talks, but I won’t post about it here as it will take forever to write. The camp was a wonderful experience, I have learnt heaps and the most important thing is that I have learnt how to appreciate myself, others and my surroundings. I have also learnt to understand myself better - why I work in the field that I’m in, why my family and friends treat me the way they do and what accounts for my happiness.