Hi Everybody,
Would you mind if I write out again a brief passage from Daisaku Ikeda that occurred in last Friday's blog? Why? Because it shines so clear a light right into the heart of our practice that if we can just grab hold of it and keep it in our minds, will change all our lives. So it goes,
' Shakyamuni Buddha explained the fundamental spirit of Buddhism as a sense of individual responsibility. ' You are your only master. Who else? Subdue and discover your master.' In other words we must each take responsibility for our own self-discipline and for cultivating meaningful lives. ' Just three lines, and it tells the whole story. And it is particularly relevant for today's theme because it comes under the sub-heading in the book...Life is Tough.
' Indeed Buddhism was created out of the recognistion that life is toug, and that how we choose to respond to that toughness determines the nature of our life. Not just for some of us, but for all of us. Without exception. For those who have a generous supply of the world's goods, as well as for those who don't. It's just that the nature of the toughness is different.
It is something of a digression perhaps, but let me just expand on that thought for a minute or two, because it says something very important about how Buddhist teachings work in the modern world. Whatever we may wish or hope for, or delude ourselves about, there is no perfect defence that we can erect to keep at bay the stresses and strains that come with our humanity. None. Not status, nor wealth, nor success, nor power. Material prosperity may change the superficial circumstances, it may get rid of the hunger and the cold, but it doesn't change fundamentally the nature of the human condition. We are all in that sense in the same boat. And I think you could argue that never has that been more evident than in this so-called age of celebrity, when the lives of those who have the slightest claim to fame are laid bare before us every day of the week, in countless magazines devoted entirely to that task, let alone newspapers ferreting around for another scandal to seel a few thousand more copies.
Scratch a princess or a prime minister or a soap star or a football icon, and however glamorous or shining their lives may seem from the outside, the reality is of course that they go through exactly the same pain and suffering as the rest of us, indeed more or more extreme in many cases. Wealth and success bring their own pressures. So what all that is saying is that none of us can buy our way, or insulate our way, out of life's difficulties. And as we all know, the current crop of difficulties will be replaced by the next crop, and so on. They are as natural a part of our life on this planet as gravity. And just as apples always fall downwards, so human life is always filled with complexity and problems.
So the plain and demonstrable fact is that Buddhism is not in any way about finding some refuge from the troubling complexity of modern life, in some inner meditative sanctuary. Nor most emphatically is it about stoicism, about bearing the burden, learning how to keep the head down and just tough out the storm. Nor about learning how to remain immensely calm and patient, when all around you are losing theirs! None of that, or indeed anytthing like that. If I had to choose a single word to describe a Buddhist practice I think the word would be challenge. Because right at the heart of Buddhism is the idea that although of course we cannot change the inherent complexity and problematic nature of human life, it is possible to change fundamentally our attitude to those recurrent problems and difficulties. We can tha tis train ourselves to challenge them, to respond to them positively, rather than negatively.
That may not on the face of it, seem to be very challenging. 'Is that all there is to it? you might say. But think about it for a moment, because it is challenging. Very. Basically Buddhism asks us to come to understand tha tthe problems and the difficulties and the anxiety-making troubles that we all encounter as we go through life, and that we all spend so much time and energy and ingenuity in trying to avoid, are in fact not just an inevitable part of life, they are invaluable to our well-being. We might even say essential to it. How can I say that? Because this constant flow of difficulties and problems provides the only training ground there is, the only gym in town you might say, for us to develop our emotional and spiritual muscle. It provides, Buddhism constantly reminds us, the only available means for getting the very most out of who we are; for becoming the strongest, the most resilient, the most resourceful, and the most optimistic individual that we are capable of of being. And we all want those qualities don't we? We're just not sure how to get them. Buddhism opens up for us this new perception of how we might do just that. '
I could go on, because I'm enjoying this, but enough to take in for one session I think. Better to stop sooner rather than have you all bailing out. Thanks for reading this far. See you again next time. And of course if you can think of anyone who might get something out of these sessions, I'd be very grateful if you would bounce on the link.
Best wishes,
William
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