posted July 20, 2010 01:00 PM              

the other day i came across this chant introduced as a "money mantra" in a book i was skimming in the bookstore (where i hang out when on call)...and decided to try it again.

within 4 days i have raised the money i needed to reinsure and register my car, quite a sizeable sum really especially in a barren summer as i have been having workwise. things have really picked up - for me - and a couple of logjams elsewhere in my life have resolved too.

any one ever taken this all the way, to the buddhism behind it? or have any experiences to relate in connection with this chant?

posted July 20, 2010 01:42 PM            

I'd be interested to know how exactly you pronounce that.

Really cool that it worked for you!

I don't have any experience with this chant but would love to learn more.

quote:

---

but i did learn how the "real" followers do the chant...and it was interesting.

---

posted July 20, 2010 04:43 PM              

as to what forum i leave that up to the moderators...this is about faith and spirituality even though MANY people are lured by the "money mantra" approach it goes WAY beyond that once you get into it. tina turner and sandie shaw both made their autobiogs very much about their practice, including introducing the chant.

posted August 23, 2010 12:56 AM            

As we consider each of the constituent parts of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we start to sense its profundity. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is referred to as the 'Law of life'. Although it is just six syllables, each signifies profound truths that go to the heart of the universe, the issue of life and death, and the law of cause and effect.
Nam

'Nam' is an action word. The act of praising our potential will make it emerge. 'Nam' is the word that turns this principle from a theory into a reality. The Lotus Sutra, although profound, is merely a teaching. But Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is a practice that will have actual results. The literal meaning of the word 'Nam' is 'respect' or 'dedication' - so the whole phrase has the simple meaning of 'devotion to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra'.
Myoho

'Myoho' explains at least two major principles of life: the relationship between life and death, and the relationship between our most enlightened, or Buddha, state and all our other nine conditions or states of life. The 'ten states of life' or 'ten worlds' will be covered in a future part of this series.

How do the teachings of Buddhism view the relationship between life and death? We all have a birthday. That is, quite simply, the day when we emerged into the world as a baby. We also have some idea of what was happening to us in the nine or so months before we emerged from the womb. Before that, however, other than the knowledge that a sperm and an egg came together at a particular moment, things are not so clear. Biologists cannot give definitive answers as to where or what our consciousness was before conception and philosophers have also struggled to explain this. Buddhism teaches that all our constituent parts, not just physical ones, but mental and spiritual as well, existed in a state of latency, waiting for the right conditions to emerge before we could start the process of being born after conception. Before conception, we are latent, or 'myo'. This means that our life energy is waiting for the necessary circumstances before it can take on a physical form. 'Ho', which means law, or phenomena, describes the manifest state and particularly the emergence of the new-born baby into the world. We remain alive - manifest - until the point when, for whatever reason, our bodies can no longer support our lives. The body dies, and the constituent parts separate. At this point we cease to be 'ho' and return once more to the latent state of 'myo'.

Buddhism teaches that life is a cycle. We emerge from 'myo', become 'ho' and return to 'myo' again. This rhythm continues forever. The cycle of the seasons echoes this process. We see new growth in spring, maturity in summer, harvest and decline in autumn before a period of apparently bleak withdrawal in winter. But winter never fails to turn into spring once more, and the cycle starts again. We feel our Buddhahood at work because our chanting has caused it to appear according to another fundamental life principle: 'renge', which is about how the effect exists simultaneously with the cause.
Renge

This literally means lotus flower. The lotus flower rests on the surface of the pond, its roots going deep into the water and drawing on the nutrients it finds in the mud at the bottom. This image of the lotus flower also means that the Buddha is not a perfect being, detached from the realities of life, either in a monastery or in some other, unearthly realm. Rather, the Buddha is an aspect of our own lives which we can draw upon. It is because of the trials and tribulations of real, everyday life in this world that the Buddha's qualities can be revealed. 'Renge' signifies the process of cause and effect at work deep within the life of each person. (The topic of cause and effect will be covered in a future part of this series.)
Kyo

posted August 23, 2010 01:58 PM            

quote:

---

the other day i came across this chant introduced as a "money mantra" in a book i was skimming in the bookstore (where i hang out when on call)...and decided to try it again.

---

quote:

---

within 4 days i have raised the money i needed to reinsure and register my car, quite a sizeable sum really especially in a barren summer as i have been having workwise. things have really picked up - for me - and a couple of logjams elsewhere in my life have resolved too.

---

quote:

---

as to what forum i leave that up to the moderators...this is about faith and spirituality even though MANY people are lured by the "money mantra" approach it goes WAY beyond that once you get into it. tina turner and sandie shaw both made their autobiogs very much about their practice, including introducing the chant.

---

Highlighted the L.O.L. bits that made me feel it should be at there too.
I know it is more than a money chant, but it seemed right to link it there.

quote:

---

Labors Of Love
Career, money, work, prosperity, abundance, and Linda's Money Mystique; talk about your dreams, aspirations, and job/career--including the most magnificent labor of Love there is--that of being a parent

---

posted October 23, 2010 05:59 PM            

She didn't use it to get money though, she was introduced to it by a friend because she needed strength and the ability to center before she could leave Ike.

posted October 28, 2010 02:51 AM              

quote:

---

i just am not really a follower when it comes to organized religion of ANY kind.

---

That's good.

I don't think being a follower is part of ANY honest religion.

The people who have honestly practiced religion have either founded religions of their own, or creatively reinterpreted the existing religious symbolism, filtering it through the subjective lens of their own consciousness. Even most of the founders, it seems, set out with the more humble intention of reinterpreting, clarifying, or purifying the religion(s) of their ancestors. If they branched out on their own, it was not by choice, but because their vision was rejected by the orthodoxy; which they originally sought to elevate from within.

I think it's wise to make use of the traditions, and the ones who've gone before us. Though much of it has been polluted, the wine is undoubtedly ancient, and not to be scoffed at by a connoisseur. Being true to ourselves means filtering and pouring the old wine into new skins. But so many people pour new wine into old skins, and wonder why they don't imbibe the ancient spirits. I think it's safe to call them "followers", but I wouldn't call them religious.

As I see it, all spirituality (to the extent that it is manifest) is religion, and all religion (to the extent that it is manifest) is organized, technically. If your practice isn't organized, it isn't practice. It's neglect. In that sense, saying you're not into organized religion is kind of like saying you're a "non-practicing seeker". Not a seeker at all.

posted August 13, 2014 02:28 PM            

I am not alone!