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How can we make shakubuku in the lockdown to reach the objective of the year 2020?
by Younousse Tamkeloe
- August 29, 2020
I am a Nichiren Daishonin Buddhist of the Nichiren Shoshu school. Before the lockdown, I was sharing my life experiences and talking about Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism with my friends, my colleagues, and people around me. And I was explaining them how my life had changed since becoming a Buddhist. However, now we don’t have much opportunity to meet in person.
We live in a very messy moment. And life is becoming harder and harder for a lot of people, regardless of whether they live in a first-world country, a second-world country, or a third-world country. A lot of weird things are happening at the moment: wars, demonstrations for the human rights, sickness, natural calamities and disasters, etc. But the other way around, there are still some people who are happy. They don’t even realize that some calamity is happening, they don’t have any stress, they are laughing their whole day, and they are healthy. All these people live on the same planet, in the same world.
Nichiren Daishonin, who is the Buddha of the current moment, explained that if people refuse to meditate by chanting the mantra of the moment, which is Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, then the Three Calamities (hunger, war, and sickness) and the Seven Disasters* will happen to them. Today, when we observe our life and what we are passing through in our world and on our planet Earth, everyone and every country are passing through at least one, two, three, or all of these Three Calamities and Seven Disasters. It is an undeniable fact. Nichiren Daishonin was making people aware of these Three Calamities and Seven Disasters and helping them not become a victim thereof. He was saying that “when people do not revere the true Law, and when heretical teachings, which are false doctrines and erroneous religions, run rampant in the land, various calamities and misfortunes will occur”.
So, it is very important for us to focus on the real teachings: to meditate by chanting the mantra of the moment, which is Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, and to make shakubuku. When you chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, you will not be a victim of these Three Calamities and Seven Disasters. They can occur in your house, your city, your country, etc. but you will not get affected. It is because of this that Nichiren Daishonin was telling people to chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo both when you are happy and when you are sad. Thereby, when you are happy, you will be happy in a positive way. And when you are sad and you are passing through a complicated or bad situation, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo will cool you down and transform the negative situation to a positive situation, happiness, and freedom; and everything will be good for you.
Moreover, I would like to continue explaining to everyone how to do shakubuku in this lockdown moment. Nowadays, we are already passing through a very complicated and bad moment with the coronavirus and we have to keep meditating. You need to respect the lockdown conditions according to your country’s regulations (working at home, social distancing, wearing a mask if necessary, getting informed about the preventive measures and the treatment options, etc.). The virus is already there, and we have to live with it. But how do we have to live with it? Nichiren Daishonin said that both in the good situation and in the bad situation you should continue chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and you will always have the better side of all situations.
Nowadays, a lot of people do not have courage anymore to talk to other people physically because they respect the lockdown conditions and it becomes complicated to talk to people in person. Nevertheless, we have social media and different platforms such as WhatsApp, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Zoom, etc. In all these platforms, you can create a group, organize a video conference, etc. You don’t even have to be a professional in social media marketing because everything is easy nowadays. You can sit at home and when you have time, you can create a group and share the good news about Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism to help people benefit from it. You can explain to people in your circle about the benefit that you are gaining from the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin while chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, without forcing people to follow it. You just need to explain it to them and the rest will be done by Nichiren Daishonin. Doing shakubuku is like planting a grain: when its time arrives, it will grow. Don’t feel guilty or sad when you talk to someone about Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism and he or she doesn’t show any interest or starts arguing with you. This is not bad—it is very good. With time, this person will understand it, and it will help this person become an awake, wise, enlightened, and happy person.
So, as a Nichiren Daishonin Buddhist, you don’t have an excuse to let other people feel sad or become a victim of a complicated or bad situation. You don’t have to ignore people who are passing through calamities and disasters, you have to talk to them about the True Law. And even in the lockdown, there are numerous ways to reach people using new technologies and social media platforms.
[…] explained in my previous blog article how to do shakubuku in this digitalization moment, for example, people can share the good news […]