In the late sixties, I started at a Cathedral Grammar School in the UK. The surroundings were beautiful. It was truly a joy to have daily morning assembly in one of Englands finest Norman cathedrals, but I felt no connection or resonance with the Christian part of my uppringing or education.
I felt that aside from the humanistic values common to most religions, there was an undercurrent of fear and denial. For example, “thou shalt do this or face a life in hell.” Surely you dont have to live in fear to be happy?
Let me at this stage point out quite clearly that I have no predjudice towards anyone in, or affiliated to any religion. I deeply respect each person’s faith, but I knew that Christianity was not for me.
In the light of the much-publicised Beatles’ assosication with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, I enrolled in a Transendental Meditation course.
What a breakthrough! Here was a teaching that showed that one could achieve inner peace, enlightenment and happiness by looking WITHIN, and that everyone was totally accountable for their own actions which results in the causes and effects of one’s own life.
KARMA – how you are now is as a result of how you have been, and how you will be in the future depends on how you are now.
Now THAT makes sense!
I continued (on and off) with my practise, and it led me to The Friends of the Western Buddist Order (FWBO) and in the eighties I joined Buddhist Meditation Classes, developing my meditation techniques via the Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana, which involves cultivating good thoughts towards those people or circumstances you find difficult.
The final link in the chain came via Tina Turner. I was deeply inspired by her autobiographical film ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’. The opening titles read “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo – The Lotus is a flower that grows in the mud. The deeper the mud, the more beautiful the flower.’
Everyone knows what it feels like to be in the mud. I wanted to find that lotus flower. The rest, as they say, is history.
Great to find this – hop over to my site and join a vibrant portal for SGI members worldwide!
I found this buddhism or I should say it found me. One day my husband said out of the blue. If I was to get my heart around any religion it would be buddhism. I just said what is buddhism. We got distracted then a week later I started a new job and found out that the two owners and office manager were SGI Buddhists. I asked the office manager about buddhism and it sounded like how I’ve lived my entire life already, except for the chantting. My husband and I join 3 weeks later. The day we went to seek out a suitable piece of furniture to place a butsudan on we were in a consignment shop in Las Vegas. And we found a SGI Butsudan sitting there with a sign on it Japanese Prayer Cabinet? Opened it and it just beamed at us as we beamed back. Our butsudan found us.
It has been just over 3 years and we couldn’t be happier.
Just had to share with you. I’m on Twitter and found your blog.
Kellie