Hi Everybody,
I had a great day yesterday that I must share with you. In the morning I received an e-mail telling me that a young lady in North Bogota ( got that...North Bogota!) had bought the Spanish version of one of my books a few monthsa go, and she is now goingto receive Gohonzon this saturday, and wanted to thank me. And in the afternoon I received a euro cheque posted in Bratislava ( Bratislava!!) for 102 books bought there. Obviously in English because none of the books has been translated into Czech...yet. To say that I am amazed whenever this happens is an understatement. That the books should reach into so many corners and touch so many people's lives just blows me away. Every time. So there, I've shared it.
Today we round off chapter 8, so we're really motoring through the book, and this passage has the sub heading, The great vision.
' So the Buddhist vision is one of growing numbers of people seizing the opportunity...and that word seizing is important because it does express that element of positively taking hold of something that you have come across in your life, rather than simply letting it pass you by...growing numbers of people seizing the opportunity to create this transformation in their own lives, not simply for their own sake, but for the good sake of their families and friends and colleagues and all those in the wider circle of their lives. Then indeed we could come to see a cumulative change, in the way groups and communities and societies and eventually nations function. It is of course a journey of great vision, andn its distant objective is immense...nothing less than peace and harmony in our oh so troubled world.
But the constant Buddhist argument is that it is not a journey that is in any way remote or inaccessible. We can all choose to join it, since it starts really at our own feet. Peace...as Buddhism puts it...begins with me. And as bold as that sounds, it happens to be a view that has been shared by many great and inspirational leaders down the years, from Ghandi and Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela and John F. Kennedy. Kennedy chose deliberately in his Commencement Address at the very beginning of his presidency, to make clear his personal vision of what a bold and positive approach to conflict might deliver. He declared then,
' First examine our attitude towards peace itself. Too many of us think it impossible, too many think it unreal, but that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are man-made, therefore they can be solved by man, and man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly impossible, and we believe we can do so again.'
It is a vision and a message that unquestionably continues to resonate in all our lives today. Buddhism too would argue that, 'We need not accept that view. Our problems are man made therefore they can be solved by man...' with each one of us making the determination to create peace in his or her own sphere. '
I still find that speech so inspiring no matter how many times I read it. I hope you do too.
So it's goodbye to chapter eight and on to chapter nine, next tiem, Buddhism and Negativity.
Hope to see you then,
Many thanks for reading to here.
William
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