My most heart-felt thought is that I want to introduce you to the most remarkable life affirming philosophy I have ever encountered. I participate in “active” meditation (as opposed to a passive meditation). I chant NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO. This is an invocation that fuses your life with the source of the universe, the Law of Cause and Effect. This chant is part of a Buddhist practice that has helped me change at the core of my life, an inner transformation. I live with more awareness, compassion, wisdom and joy when I chant. Chanting raises my life condition which is similar to our vibration (everything has a vibrational frequency). When my life condition is high, I notice that I live joyously and attract the things that I desire or need. We all need things including safe housing, food, money, love, health, etc. There is a saying in this Buddhism, “Earthly desires lead to Enlightenment”. That means that it is guaranteed that if you chant for the earthly desires that you need in your life, you will not only get the thing you were chanting about, but you will become enlightened at the same time. Awesome, right?! This philosophy centers around the Law of Cause and Effect. If you believe in Karma or have ever heard the phase, “what goes around, comes around,” this is the universal law that makes all that happen. When we make a cause, we get an effect. Similarly, when one tosses a pebble into a pond, the ripples in the water eventually hit the shore. Every second of the day we are making causes and whether we believe in the Law of Cause and Effect or not, those causes generate effects. Today, we know or believe in a sub-law, the Law of Gravity and it works every time whether one believes that it “exists” or not. Newton may have discovered this phenomena and gave it a name, but it was always there. With the understanding of gravity, humans have learned to use it to their advantage to get humongous, jumbo jet airplanes into the sky to transport people all over the world. Just imagine if one could learn to use the Law of Cause and Effect to change their internal and external causes and, in turn, change the destiny of their lives for the better. When one learns to use this universal law (which is above all other sub-laws) they can elevate their lives with greater awareness, universal protection, unlimited good fortune, wisdom, compassion, and absolute happiness. World Peace, through the happiness/enlightenment of every individual, is the goal of this practice. A lofty goal, but obtainable through the self-empowerment of each individual and through sharing this knowledge with others. This principal of sharing this knowledge is like the following parable: Give a man a fish and he eats for one day. Teach him to fish and he eats for a life time. There is so much more I can tell you about the benefits of chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, but the reality is you have to experience it for yourself. Please look into it. I want you to eat for a lifetime. See and read for yourself how you can apply this great philosophy to your life. Don’t let limiting beliefs hold you back. It can be an instantaneous transformation, but you have to make the cause to try. Go to http://WWW.SGI-USA.ORG then click on any of the tabs across the top of the page.