From the recording 52 Cards Kosen Rufu Transcension
Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism’s Relationship with Monotheistic Judaism—By John Royce Holtz, J.D.
The CONSISTENT practice of CHANTING MAY TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE LIKE MAGIC!!! IT WILL RELEASE YOU FROM OMNI-PRESENT CHAOS ENGULFMENT, DEBONK CLUTTER, and GIVE YOU THE 52 CARDS YOU MIGHT BE MISSING TO TRIUMPH in LIFE!!!
(Please listen to my upcoming song, 52 Cards Kosen Rufu by John Royce Holtz. It is about the magical, albeit tangible benefits of chanting.)
Nicherin Daishonin Buddhism is a 13th Century form of meditation that involves chanting a mantra over and over: “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.” One chants this mantra repetitively out loud (preferably to a scroll inscribed with symbols called a Gohonzon, although not necessarily. One could chant to a tree, bowling ball, or mirror!). The only issue is if one chants in public, without comprehending the premise behind the spiritual practice, bystanders might inaccurately perceive that the chanter is crazy!
The chanter also simultaneously thinks about positive affirmations, charismatic alpha qualities that s/he would like to imbue, goals to potentially achieve, and people/scenarios that s/he would like to pray for—as well as for the enlightenment of all humanity—however more idealistic than pragmatic for this latter metamorphosis.
Chanting is a more passive way of praying, while achieving similar results as active Praying but in a different way…While PRAYING, you may achieve good results by actively and faithfully appealing for deliverance and reflection of needs and wants under the auspices of a higher creator, whom the believer knows will listen and hopefully act along with the hoper/participant in change.
CHANTING ennobles you to transform by ACCENTUATING potential, alpha qualities entirely within YOUR OWN responsibility for self- betterment by reciting repetitive, positive affirmations in one’s mind while chanting the mantra out loud over and over. This leaves one’s destiny in one’s own hands through an impetus that leads to inertial success, rather than appealing to a higher power, if that higher power can even be proven. And, is not this self-manifestation what G-d would want us to proactively seek anyway, even should S/He make S/Himself seen to us like with Moses and the Burning Bush on top of Mount Sinai?
If we are duping ourselves that G-d exists, which is improbable because we have been afforded the luxury of this blessing of Life, would we not evoke the Comrade of all Companions in our own minds, nonetheless?!
And the great thing is: The two practices of chanting and faith in G-d may become combined!!! Would not G-d want us to transform our lives for the better, from within ourselves’ singleminded, self-manifesting inertia, even if that means more passively chanting to achieve enlightenment?! I believe the answer to this question is that a dedicated chanting/meditation practice can skyrocket our characteristics, goals, and dreams off the f-ing hook by providing us immense wherewithal!!!
But without G-d, we would not even be here as ourselves, let alone reside as a chard of apple filling in a turnover or a fluff of fuzz on a tennis ball, about ready to be beaten senseless…So even if we primarily chant for our own respective enlightenments, we have a lot to be grateful for that is beyond our finite capabilities. Ironically, we may chant for the infinite, however slightly short of our aspirations we may succumb. We will never become G-d, even with chanting.
Nonetheless, chanting amazingly adheres a clamp on one’s mind, allowing the chanter to maneuver the grey matter more seamlessly—blocking out disturbing, mind-f-ing distractions. Also, the consistent practice provides an impetus and the positive inertia that drives one towards accomplishing s/his goals in a more streamlined fashion towards the betterment of the chanter.
One typically chants for 40 minutes to an hour daily or more in order to replenish the practice’s smoothed-out algorithms of the mind that lead to tranquility and prepare one for streamlined triumph over the innumerable challenges of the daily grind. Chanting, like coffee, simultaneously encourages and limits the unsettling fury that activates the grind within!
Chanting is an affirmation of the Hebrew maxim, “To Life!”: My interpretation of L’Chaim, a toast to Life, contains a bit more of a duality of converging forces: “To Prevailing over Life’s Constant and Enthusiastic Challenges that lead to G-d’s Awesome labyrinth of Uncertainty!” Thus, G-d and ourselves are in charge of our respective theatres.
I chant to imbue various modalities, connotations, and derivatives of G-d that might not be initially apparent. For example, three modalities of G-d that I believe are affiliated with Judaism’s holiest prayer are that G-d is #1 so we should not care what anyone else thinks of us Unduly, including ourselves. G-d is One so we should chant for Diversity, Tradition, and Evolving Tradition. G-d is Alone and so are we: So on this shared continuum of Aloneness, a hearty Jewish sense of humour is forged! Yank the funny out with a wrench, if you must!!!
A broad-based connotation of G-d is Goodness and our relation to It. That is the gamut to have the requisite filtration lens of purity to constantly inundate ourselves with wholesomeness— G-d’s serenity, joy, and mysticism—with G-d as a default awareness during most occasions—except while chanting! This connotation paints the portrait of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, forgiving G-d whose auspices we all may fall under, so should we choose, if these auspices are ingrained into us by those more wizened. If we foster gratitude and basic positivity, this enhances Goodness and our relation to It.
G-d objectively loves each of us by our temporal existence v. non-existence. Therefore, it follows that G-d wants us to chant to objectively love ourselves, by extension. We can subjectively love ourselves from an objective standpoint when we ameliorate our Spirit or “Ruach,” our Thoughts, our behavior, and deeds to maintain Good Consciences.
Some of us are consumed by hurtful fear and ignorance of others whom are dissimilar, as well as the more nefarious, bloody thirst for dominion over divergent innocents. While racism is a despicable human trait that zero people are potentially immune from, we all have moral imperatives to supersede unsavory dispositions through better communication and/or more egalitarian actions. We may chant for Kosen Rufu (or in Hebrew, Tikun Olam)—universal harmony, and a collective coming together over those good forces that will ultimately bond humanity.
Lastly, through faith and belief in ourselves, G-d wants us to pray for the theatre. G-d wants us to Control the majority of our Thoughts in order to impact matters favorably. Therefore, S/He offers us ample maneuverability on the thin meridian of Free Will to effectuate change. We may chant to control more of our thoughts, which may lead us to control more of our actions to court sprawl as we see fit, within our proverbial “shoebox.” Remarkably, even without controlling a good deal of our thoughts, we may control many of our actions to accomplish the right things, nonetheless. Chanting gives us even more control over the streamlined process of towing our respective lines for deeper, action-packed approaches to Life without bulging our eyes with an irresistible urge to self-destruct, to make a tennis analogy.
Switching up Personas is as easy as my Grandma Helen counter-intuitively flicking the novelty switch on her driver’s side console of automatically unlocking and locking the front and back doors of her 1983 Cadillac with all of the bells and whistles:
As Persona Jacque D’Artichoke might proclaim— Take a load off, go INDEPENDENT, and EMBRACE Weaknesses with Humour to neutralize pain, hurt, and loss—however non-conforming this might initially and longstandingly seem.
D’Artichoke knows that we have been losing a long time but that we are NOT losers. He somewhat paradoxically maintains Low Expectations while Harnessing Optimal Yield with Incessant Striving and Accentuating Faint Hope in Ourselves/G-d. Thus, he gets the job done with virtual certainty and faith in himself/G-d while ironically not expecting too much!
He knows he is doing better than he THINKS he is and he is okay with being perfectly imperfect.
Jacque is unbelievably Openhearted: He smiles, tells himself to be elated, and ends up Content most of the time. This is kind of like a syllogism of Dr. Richard Kunin’s Inner Smile that he instructs patients to practice donning a few minutes to begin each day. Jacque is also a nice, kind, friendly person. We should chant for these attributes.
D’Artichoke is Humble: He thanks G-d for the Qualified, Finite Gift of Life. He remembers that life is a temporal privilege to be taken advantage of momentarily, not a right nor guarantee.
Finally, Jacque Incessantly Strives. He is utterly tenacious, he is a journey-person who constantly spurts new growth. And, Jacque enjoys the process of incessantly striving because it simultaneously actually and fictitiously gives him the impression that he is Winning in the survivalist game of life. The prospect of Winning gives him something idealistic to think about and immerse himself with—supplanting his mind off the more hellish aspects of existence.
Hip positivity, which is a stronger threshold to maintain than regular positivity, is like actualizing the goal of becoming one of the superb, trail-blazing, one-person electronica rock bands around (johnroyceholtz.com), transforming into one of the better collegiate, competition tennis players in the United States, and scrawling perhaps the most poignant, inter-disciplinary novel on Persona Theory in the 21st Century. The above are alpha characteristics of Sir Arthur C. Stackerazz….!
A Subsidiary Persona whose qualities to chant for also encapsulate various capacities of the Competitive Sports Mindsets and Ego(s) include Sir Arthur Stackerazz. He is one very chichi, suave dude…And, “This cool dude is heading your way!” as the frisbee from the ‘90’s eloquently states…An aspiring mensch, Sir Arthur is the “last of the famous, international playboys…” as the Morissey song proclaims. He chants to be both Fearless and for Absolute Self-Confidence. Sir Stackerazz refuses to Self-Doubt nor Second-Guess himself.
“Stack” dupes himself upon his own vulnerabilities and elects to bypass them completely. Sir Arthur doles out angst controlled wrath incrementally to swerve himself back on proper course. However, he chants for maintaining optimal self-control.
Sir Stackerazz has Zero Weaknesses to speak of, he is Impervious to Loss, so he fools himself into thinking. Arthur believes he may eliminate the chokehold of human need. Sir Stack is the ultimate bullshitter purely for his own gain… He Harpoons life with a no holds, barred approach—and simultaneously with a no holds-barred approach….And the funny thing is that G-d would want us to subjectively f-ing love ourselves to the max for bravado’s sake alone—so who gives a flying f if anyone thinks contrary to that self-infatuating boon?!
Sir Arthur consummately Prevails over Life’s constant and enthusiastic Challenges that lead to G-d’s awesome labyrinth of Uncertainty! Stack Plays for the Theatre—Nothing else matters, even if he lives or dies…
He invokes the existential self-challenge, especially before tackling a gargantuan obstacle: “For You!” in spite of all adversarial input from himself and others...Sir Arthur believes that he deserves to Win at all costs and must assert needling inconveniences for all opposed… He cockily, yet cynically realizes that there is the potential for the challenge not coming to fruition in his favor. This remote possibility of failure despite his sheer will power to steamroll simultaneously makes the confident probability of far off “For You!” morphing into “For Me!” a virtual certainty that becomes actuality via absolute, seamless effort. He invokes, “For You” primarily to achieve his goal and prevent the antithetical result.
Sir Stackerazz does not give a f what you think of him. He does not give a f about catastrophizing for the machines— he opts to Play for the Theatre instead. Sir Stack does not give a f if you Hate him…”For You…” He lands himself the W.
The Eghost is the only dastardly Persona that attempts to eat away at our sanity and well-being with our impossibly, unmet desires, like a malignant parasite. The Eghost will keep noshing against us, cannibalistically, until we expire. It may never become satiated, yet it is ravenous…We must squash our respective Eghosts from the inception.
Imagine a furry red creature representing The Eghost in a garbage can. One of the critter’s eyes is pointed at you, then it turns its head towards the garbage can’s hermetically sealed lid until the lid smashes down—suppressing The Eghost’s naughty revolt in captive darkness. P.O.W.! Slam that Eghost!!! Pay-it-forward with generous inattention! Unclasp, Dangle, and Disconnect! Blink eyes together to symbolize the darkness that ensues when the Eghost will not only not be entertained—it will not be tolerated at all. Zero…Zilch..No!!!
There is a hierarchy of Personas, under whose auspices we may best thrive. The exception to this hierarchical pecking order of Personas is when certain situation-specific Personas are best suited to tackle the best of five existential dilemmas than other Personas. (The battleground is primarily between second and third place.)
Nonetheless, we may chant for multiple facets of any particular Persona to take front and center stage in our mind that subjectively suits our fancy, whether that Persona is in the customary hierarchical order or not. Sometimes we call upon the protective auspices of ancillary Personas to ennoble us to bullshit our dreams to fruition, more precisely and quicker—by various out-of-the-customary-order of associations that we merely happen to more easily gravitate towards than others.
Thus, consistent chanting allows us to realize our ideal states of mind, our goals, and our dreams. Inceptual impetus leading to inertial inundation produces focus, grit, and confidence. We may apply these adjectives to the otherwise chaotic turmoil of daily existence. Focus, Grit, and Confidence that we may chant and pray for create a whirlwind of Wherewithal to Accomplish, complementing our natural talents.
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