Hi Everybody,
I was in the park this morning running with Gatsby at not much after 7.30 and it was just heavenly. The stillness. The light. The bright promise of the day to come. And Gatsby who knows the run as well as I do now, bounding off between the trees. There is so much to be grateful for in an English summer morning. Not least a Buddhist practice that makes one aware of the transforming power of the gratitude.
I think this is thelast post for this book, unless I retrace my steps and pick out some of my favourite passages. Meanwhile, we're rounding off the passage about the practice in front of the Gohonzon.
' What the practice in front of the gohonzon does require is real application and effort, and the commitment to persevere, to give it our best shot if you will. Of course there are ups and downs. You stride forward one months and stand still the next. But the stark reality of course is that people only continue with this practice because of the benefits that appear in their lives. That has to be the acid test, and the implications are profound. We are not talking about a heaven of whatever form in some hereafter, coming for the way one lives this little life. Buddhism, as we have said so often is daily life.
this life in the here and now. The benefits have to be felt in the home and in the workplace, in how one feels about life today, and tomorrow and the day after.
There is no test more exacting, more strenuous, more meaningful...than daily life. '
THE END.
Its been such an interesting journey for me. It may seem a strange thing to say, but going through the book again so slowly and carefully has taught me so much. I hope that there has been at least something of that for you as well.
Can't tell you how grateful I am to anyone who has hung in there and made it to this point. A truckload of gratitude.
With my best wishes,
William
PS A case for Buddhism is available as a paperback on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.
No comments:
Post a Comment