Tina Turner

I watched the movie "What's love got to do with it?" Tuesday night. It was recommended by our teacher training teacher, Darren Main. It is based on an autobiography book written by Tina Turner, who was married to Ike Turner, her manager and musical partner. He was physically abusive and sometimes mean, but she stayed with him for a very long time. Towards the end of the movie Tina's friend introduces her to Buddhism, and teaches her to chant. In the movie they show Tina chanting one line over and over on many occasions. The movie shows a clip of an interview in which Tina talks about Buddhism and the meaning of the chant. Tina's character says "In Buddhism we do a chant called 'Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo' and what that signifies is that everything in our life is cause and effect. If there's anything within you that needs to be changed, you do it, you change it."

I researched other translations of the chant, and what I found was that it means to devote oneself to the mystic law of the lotus flower as taught by the teachings of a Buddha or the Sutras. That is my summation of what I learned about the chant on the SGI Buddhism website (http://www.sgi.org/english/Buddhism/nmrk.htm). I also learned there that the lotus flower represents cause and effect because the lotus blooms and produces seeds at the same time, and that demonstrates the simultaneity of cause and effect. Recognizing the law of cause and effect can help us to acknowledge our power and to take responsibility for our thoughts, actions and the results they create in our lives.

I see how chanting is one path to peace. I'm feeling a little more open to try more chanting. I'm curious about it. I've enjoyed the Buddhist books I've read (by Pema Chodron and Thich Nhat Hanh), and I'm learning that chanting is part of Buddhism. I'd like to know the meaning of a line before I chant it, and I suspect that some of the chants won't be aligned with my beliefs, and some of them will.