"The earth is beautiful. If you start living its beauty, enjoying its joy with no guilt in your heart, you are in paradise. If you condemn everything, every small joy, then the same earth turns into a hell. It is the question of your own inner transformation. It is not a change of place; it is change of inner space.
Live joyously, guiltlessly, live totally live intensely. And then heaven is no more metaphysical concept, it is your own experience"
THE
MYSTIC NATURE OF OUR LIVES – “BECOME THE MASTER OF YOUR MIND RATHER THAN LET
YOUR MIND MASTER YOU”
It is
the heart that is important, writes Nichiren Daishonin. Our heart, our mind,
is truly wondrous and unfathomable. We can expand and deepen the inner
realm of our spirit infinitely and boundlessly.
Like
the elation of soaring freely through the vast blue heavens, the heart can feel
immense and untrammeled joy. Like the clear, bright sunshine illuminating all
things, the heart can embrace those who are suffering with warmth and
compassion. And like a lion of justice, the heart can also at times tremble
with righteous anger and defeat evil. Indeed, our heart or mind is constantly
changing, like scenes in a drama or like an unfolding panorama. And nothing is
more wondrous than its ability to manifest the world of Buddhahood. Even people
weighed down by delusion and suffering can bring forth in the depths of their
lives the state of buddhahood that is one with the universe. This momentous
drama of transformation is the greatest of all wonders.
Buddhism
finds supreme nobility and the potential for great change in all human beings.
In “On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime”, the Daishonin therefore
concludes that when we thoroughly polish our lives through chanting the daimoku
of Myoho-renge-kyo, it is possible for us to tap the life-state of
Buddhahood no matter how steeped in delusion we may be, and to transform even
the most impure and evil into a pure land.
“We can all learn how to tap the highest
potential of our lives, to create value each day, each moment. As we can’t
avoid sufferings, our only choice is to overcome them and live joyfully and
vigorously while we do so. No matter how unpleasant the circumstances we find
ourselves in, we can transform them into hope and good fortune.
The secret to leading a fulfilling life
is living based on the life philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism. Resolute faith is
the best means for drawing out one’s inner potential and ensuring that we win
each day.”
Happiness
is not a life without problems, but rather the strength to overcome the
problems that come our way. There is no such thing as a problem-free life;
difficulties are unavoidable. The manner in which we experience and react to
our problems depends on us. Buddhism teaches that we are each responsible for
our own happiness or unhappiness. Our vitality – the amount of energy or “life-force”
we have – is in fact the single most important factor in determining whether or
not we are happy. We can never find happiness if we don’t challenge our
weaknesses and change from within.
The practice
of nichiren Buddhism empowers us to increase our life force overcome our
weaknesses, face our problems, transform our karma, enrich the quality of our
lives and become happier people.
“If you want to understand the causes
that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the
present. And if you want to understand what results will be manifested in the
future, look at the causes that exist in the present.”
Basics
of Buddhism
The idea
that every human being is born with the ability to become happy is not new. Gautama
Buddha taught this principle more than 2500 years ago. He realized that all
human beings possess the potential for enlightenment – or Buddhahood – in the
depths of their lives. He preached various sutras to help people actualize that
potential. After Gautama Buddha’s death, different schools of Buddhism based on
based on different sutras arose, with Hinayana and Mahayana emerging as the two
key streams.
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