London waiting

What to whilst others make up their minds, how to kill time whilst others try (or don't) to fall asleep. When I managed orchestras I would always go to the head of the road and gaze longingly as if the mere act would speed the tardy musician to his/her session. If you did this often enough they always arrived except in one case where they had run off to become a chartered surveyor. I do know of someone who has run away to play checkers - he never mentioned it to anyone. The boss had their interview today - managed to arrive 5 minutes late as their mobile phone had a clock that was slow. This gave us all a bit of a fright and I had a wander round to look for them (note the royal we to disguise his identity) and then went to chant. I chanted and prayed for about 40 minutes. If he/she/they gets the job will it have been on account of my chanting (http://www.sgi.org)? Not directly, the main cause for the success will have the boss themselves. But the chanting will have helped, I believe, to make the right causes for the success to take effect. How can I prove this? Tricky, and it is something I have to struggle with each day as I chant. Does this actually do any good? I've certainly seen some changes in friends and fellows Buddhists, I've heard the most remarkable stories of they have managed to gain jobs, kidney transplants, happiness through chanting. And if I don't have these great changes, is it because it doesn't work or because I didn't chant enough?

OK, let me share a secret. I have a target for my chanting - I want to be the Head of Training at my august organisation by the end of the year with a nearly 50% payrise. Its quite a target. It would mean a big boost to esteem, influence, and the ability to break even at the end of the month.

I received a piece of guidance from another Buddhist. He told me of the Buddhist principle of kyo chi gyo i. Kyo is the objective we wish to achieve, chi is the wisdom we chant for in order to achieve it, gyo is the action we then take and i is the position or status we achieve as a result. Its sort of like a mystic performance management system. Where we arrive and what we achieve (i) is dependent upon our actions, and we chant to ensure that we take action based upon wisdom, wisdom that is rooted in our buddhist faith and practice - respect for life and the value of life, respecting all people as buddhas, working for peace throughout the world and the happiness of all humanity.

My objective to be Head of Training is, with the help of my chanting, leading me to raise my game in order to be worth the position. In that sense, getting the job itself is irrelevant, as the achievement will be to reach that level. The causes I'll have made along the way will lead me to this job or if not something better for my life and for the value I can bring.

... but for now, the kids are snoring. A delightful sound. I have a house to keep and some brakes to change on my bike.