I sent a letter to Sensei

I sent a letter to Sensei yesterday. I wrote about three days, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I copied them for me.

I went to the hospital with Giose. he has been ill. He is allergic to the pollens of spring and we could not sleep for two nights. The doctor said he should take medicine three months before spring. She gave him stronger medicine.
We slept for three hours in the afternoon. When we woke up, I studied maths and English for my exam. It will be in May.

I love reading!

I have bought many books. I love reading!

I have read a book called " Daisaku Ikeda's Philosophy of Peace - Dialogue, transformation and Global Citizenship by Oliver Urbain. The book is amazing and I have learnt a lot.

Oliver is Director of the Intitute of Global Peace and Policy Research, Tokyo and Honolulu, and holds doctorates in both French Literature and peace studies. he decided to systematize the philosophy of peace of Daisaku Ikeda because he is deeply grateful for his warm encouragement over the last 24 years, and for his work for peace for over six decades. In this book, Oliver explore Daisaku's essays and he satudied all Daisaku 's Peace Proposal.

I really want to share his introduction in this book. It is so inspiring!

" As a member of the lay Buddhist organization headed by Daisaku Ikeda, I have experienced the positive results of the practice his Buddhist humanist philosophy. I joined the SGI in 1985. At the time, I was 24 years old graduate student in Los Angeles, California, freshly arrived from Belgium with great hopes of becoming a successful immigrant. However, I was facing serious obstacles, one of them being my incapacity to study for long hours due to psychosomatic headache. With meager resources and on a student visa, failure in my studies would have meant going back to Belgium a loser, a prospect that substantially increased the stressfulness of the situation. Another problem was that my underdeveloped social skills did not allow me to quickly build the support network I needed in order to succeed in a huge and dynamic city where I had arrived alone.

After a few months after desperate struggles, I began practicing Buddhism with the SGI...

The power of prayer and chanting were unfamiliar to me. The first results were convincing and, for instance, I was able to use my mind freely and study as much as I wanted without suffering from headache and others ailments. To me, this was a spectacular change that opened up new horizons. Since I was now able to study hard, the sky was the limit.

The first time I met Daisaku Ikeda in person was in Los Angeles, USA, in1987. The occasion was the official opening of the first campus of Soka University of America ( SUA), and I was playing the vibraphone in the local SGI band. At some point I found myself looking straight into Ikedas's deep brown eyes, and even though he did not say anything and was only smiling and raising his arms in a welcoming gesture, I was overwhelmed with the very distinct feeling of hearing someone telling me: ' Please study hard and never give up!' I had just started my first PhD at the time and I was indeed in need of this type of encouragement, preoccupied as I was with my new endeavours. Why I gained the impression that Ikeda was responding to this need is still a mystery to me, but the fact remains that I was able to make a renewed and more profound commitment to my studies at that moment. the memory of this episode is still much alive today."

Oliver Urbain

The first time I read it, I decided to win in my studies too because I had the same difficulties of concentration and believe in myself. I am still chanting to believe that I can break my limits every day. It is a hard work but I want to see until where I can go. As Oliver said, the sky is my limit now.

Thank you Oliver! Thank you Sensei!

more pictures of our meetings

The gift I made for him.
Paula gave me.


It was the chocolate I told you.
These Italians ...
Silmara was supporting us in our first meeting ha ha ha
Jolly made it!!!!
I made misosoup ha ha ha

Our determination to study together

When Giose, Emiliano and Paula knew that they were not accepted to go to Soka University, we decided to have a meeting to study and chant together until we be accepted.

Our first and second meeting were in March at my house and we studied the 2010 Peace proposal by Daisaku Ikeda and some questions from the SAT book that I bought two months ago. Giose cooked Japanese food and made misosoup.

Yesterday we had our third meeting at Paula's house and we studied the 2011 Peace Proposal and maths. She cooked " Caldo Verde". It is a Brazilian food with potato, sausage and cabbage. She bought a delicious chocolate for us. I ate a lot.

I have liked to study this proposal so much. The more I read it, I fell more determined to do my best in my daily life and break my limits. In one part of the proposal, Daisaku Ikeda explains that the development of communication has given us the opportunity to forge new connections with people around the world. However, he says that relations formed online never will be the same as the human relationship. Human contact face a face, heart to heart give us great satisfaction.

I definitely agree with Ikeda. Last week I was at home studying for my SAT exam and I did not go out for many days. Of course I was working on my computer and sometimes I was there from 8 to 9 pm. Last Saturday, I went to the barbecue at my worker friend's house. It was her birthday and I met some people. I really felt satisfaction to be there though I do not have any affinity with them. We work in the same place but we do not have life outside work. It was my second time with them without we are at work. I did not speak a lot but I observed them and enjoyed the time together.

As Ikeda said, It is very important to have this contact life to life.

I would like to share more words from the proposal that I liked a lot.

" Bergson's philosophy, or rather disposition, is diametrically opposed to any
kind of passive acceptance of human weakness or inertia. "Tension,
concentration, these are the words by which I characterized a method which required of the mind, for each new problem, a completely new effort." Eschewing indolence and stagnation, Bergson continues to inspire us to look forward and to live better and stronger lives: "Thus I repudiate facility. I recommend a certain manner of thinking which courts difficulty; I value effort above everything."
Tension, concentration, effort--such mental tautness is essential in developing the dynamic vision that enables us to reject rigid thinking and grasp the constantly changing conditions of the times. Bergson defines this tautness as "deep-rooted mental healthiness" expressed in "a bent for action, the faculty of adapting and re-adapting oneself to circumstances, in firmness combined with suppleness, in the prophetic discernment of what is possible and what is not, in a spirit of simplicity which triumphs over complications."

These qualities deeply resonate with the spirit of striving to strengthen and brace oneself found in a person of courage, to which I referred in my proposal
last year. People of courage with the spirit of ceaseless striving know no limits.
The essence of Buddhist humanism lies in the insistence that human beings
exercise their spiritual capacities to the limit, or more accurately, without limit,
coupled with an unshakable belief in their ability to do this. In this way, faith in
humanity is absolutely central to Buddhism.

Daisaku Ikeda

bye for now...

My mentor

I decided to write to Sensei again. I have not written to him for four months. I miss writing to him. he doesn't answer me every time when I write to him, but I feel happy to know that he is receiving news of one of his disciple. I can also reiterate my vow for kosen-rufu, to win in life and be absolute happy. I feel stronger.
When happened the Tsunami last month in Japan, I wished to be there and help his disciples with my friendship and faith.
Bad things can happen in any country. In his message for Japanese people after the Tsunami he wrote, " I am fervently praying and calling out to each of you: " Never be defeated! have courage! Have hope!"
I know he is waiting for my victory to go to SUA. I need to win for Sensei. It is not about going to College. It is about break my limits.
I went to see " Sensei Video" at the Ikeda Peace Center last month and I cried when Sensei said, " Please, win!".
I will win Sensei! I promise!
I am happy to be your disciple. I am happy to have a mentor in life.

Giose is helping me...

More work

I am making bags

My friend sent me a bag some months ago and I had a idea of making bags again.
When I went to Japan in 2001 I was not working because I had asked my manage for dismissal because I wanted to work in a place when I could have more opportunities to development my skills. But my manage did not accepted my resignation because he knew I was going to Japan and I probably would need money when I came back . Then, he dismissed me and I could received money from the company until I got another job.
When I was on the plane going to Japan I had a idea to create bags and sell. A month later, I was already in Brazil, I made my first bags and begin to sell them. I worded making bags until I left Brazil to live in Portugal.
Now, living in London, I was looking for some extra work to save money to go to Soka University. When I received the bag form my friend Sonia, I realized it could be the way.
Giose has helped me. He sews, puts buttons and gives good ideas.
I hope you enjoy it.

For Japanese People

Tsunami in Japan

My Japanese friend is selling this bag. The proceeds from this bag will go to Tsunami relief efforts in Japan. I bought two.

Lie on the grass

I went to the park near my house to lie on the grass and read a book. Had many people in the park. I always find funny to see people dressed in beach wear.

Sunshine week

The weather has been sunshine every day. It's wonderful! I would like to go to the beach but it is too far from London. I miss swimming in the sea. I love when the waves come crashing over me.

I love this ice cream!

I went to the supermarket and it was half price. I bought 4 !!!!

It's red!!!

I ate this orange three days ago. When I peeled it I thought it was spoiled. I never had eaten an orange red.

The blood orange is a variety of orange (Citrus sinensis) with crimson, blood-colored flesh. The fruit is smaller than an average orange; its skin is usually pitted, but can be smooth. The distinctive dark flesh color is due to the presence of anthosyanis, a family of pigments common to many flowers and fruit, but uncommon in citrus fruits. The flesh develops its characteristic maroon color when the fruit develops with low temperatures during the night. Sometimes there is dark coloring on the exterior of the rind as well, depending on the variety of blood orange. The skin can also be tougher, and harder to peel than other oranges.

Blood oranges may have originated in either China or the Southern Mediterranean, where they have been grown since the 18th century. They are now the primary orange grown in Italy. The anthocyanins which give the orange its distinct maroon color will only develop when temperatures are low at night, as during the Mediterranean fall and winter. Blood oranges cultivated in the United States are in season from December to March (Texas), and from November to May (California).

It was so delicious!!!!!!

Each of you is hope itself

I was reading Sensei's guidance for the leaders of the future and I wished to share with you. He says, " DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. said, " I have a dream!" What dreams do you have in your heart now? What hopes? A life filled with hope is strong. Hope is the greatest weapon in the world."

I am feeling stronger after reading these words.

I have to stop studying because I am going to teach Portuguese at 7pm. I need to have shower and eat something.

When I am at home studying I never want to stop. I love reading, writing and researching...

I will tray to write more later.

See you soon
xx

why did I decided to have a blog?

Hello my friends,

I have decided to have a blog because my dear friend started to write her daily experience and I really loved it. Her initiative has inspired me to create mine. Thank you Ana. I would like to write in Portuguese but I have to practice my English to achieve my goals to study at Soka University. Then, I have to write in English. Sorry my friends from Brazil. However, I think it may be a great motivation for someone starts to learning English. Maybe you can translate it in google. My teacher always says I have a formal written. I think it happens because I love reading classical books and I am studying hard for my SAT exam, which has a formal vocabulary. I sometimes make mistakes in grammar but I will tray to write well. I promise! I hope you enjoy it!