A letter to my little brother Ley Yeow

Yo Bro,

Loosen up a bit, dont let those kind of dissapointment feeling affect your emotion.

Even though your situation is not as good as you expected, yet the main reason for you to be not really happy in your situation or in your life in within your heart. It is the way you think which make a decision whether you want to be happy or not.

Many people think that, well, I had paid my school fees, why didn't I get these, why the lecturer is like that, why everyone get all the lecturer notes and I dont have it etc etc etc......

To be happy, is not only though chanting, no doubt chanting is the first step, but after chanting, you need to also transform the way you think. For example, you learn how to appreciate things the best way no matter what. Make it your best moment in your life although it is not in your favour.

Nichiren Daishonin say in his writting in Happiness in This World: Suffer what you have to suffer, and enjoy what you have to enjoy. There is no other true happiness than chanting Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo. Because when you chant, you will understand that you are creating happiness or creating sadness. You are the cause, but not the environment which cause you the sadness. When you are creating good cause and good mindset, then you will feel happy no matter what situation it is. It is not a fantasy escape mindset which people created to escape their problem. But Nichiren Daishonin buddism is teaching us to be happy and face our challenges with full of courage and fighting spirit,

When you chant, you also have to set your mind set and telling yourself that you are truely bless in many ways, and reciprocate and bless the people around you to be happy. It is not possible to be happy when people around you is sad. So maybe you try to chant for the happiness of people that you love, then more importantly, you MUST chant for the people that give you the most trouble. They give you trouble is because they are not happy in the first place, then only they give out on you.

Secondly, you must also chant for the courage to face your challenges in your study. Mom told me that you face a lot of challenges which you feel like helpless in many ways and also feel like going over to India to study. Well, I guess you have to ask yourself what is the reason you want to study dentistry. Think of the mission that you first started to do your dentistry. You studyin this course because you have a wonderful mssion in this field, and you are going to help other with their dental problem. So are you going to defeat by your challenges and forget about your great mission?

Please chant for your success, chant for your courage, chant for your faith to grow and chant for your happiness.

I would like to share this quote by Ikeda Sensei:

"There is a saying that the earth upon which we fall is the same ground which enables us to push ourselves up again. There's another which maintains that barley grows better after it has been trampled on. Human relationships are sometimes painful, but there is no such pain from which we cannot recover. It is up to us to decide to live a life free from self-doubt and despair in spite of our failures. Indeed, it is during our most humbling moments that we should show greatest poise and grace. Then the dignity of our lives will truly shine"

There is no reason for you to be sad while facing challenges. Sometime we win and sometime we lose, but never the less, we shall never feel defeated, because we will be standing up again in no time. Remember Ikeda Sensei's guidance and use it in your daily life