Hi Everybody,
We're exploring the meaning of the mantra that we chant in our daily daimoku, nam myoho renge kyo and we're talking about the various meanings of myoho, and we've talked about examples from music and painting. If we think about ourselves, then ho refers to all the elements in our physical make up that can be observed with our senses, so that includes of course our appearance, the way we happen to stand and walk and talk, the way we gesture with our hands, and the various facial expressions we use to communicate. All the elements in fact that enable someone to recognise us as who we are, even from some considerable distance away. But what is quite clear is that so many of those external physical attributes, those gestures and movements, the expression in our eyes for example, and the tone and modulation of our voice, the animation in the face and the postures of the body, are also an expression of our inner life, our myo. These two aspects of ourself are so clearly inextricably interwoven.
As we continue with our daily practice and seek to strengthen the vitality of the myo or spiritual aspect of our lives, it can have a very considerable manifest effect upon our physical persona, the general expression on our face for example, the light in our eyes, our tone of voice, our readiness to smile and greet others warmly and generously. The more active our inner spiritual life, the more readily it becomes apparent in our external appearance.
That's quite a big thought so I think we'll leave it there for today, to enable you to do a bit of rumination on that thought. We do want to greet others warmly and generously don't we? And we do want to have a persona that is vital and alive. Chanting nam myoho renge kyo is a genuine way of achieving those goals.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism, is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.
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