Hi Everybody,
Today we're looking at a principle that is really central to a Buddhist view of life, the principle of cause and effect. So we dive in at the deep end.
' Central to a Buddhist practice is this principle that we alone are responsible for the action sthat we take, or the causes that we make, good, bad and indifferent, and in the same way, wholly responsible for the effects that those causes plant in our life, like seeds, good, bad and indifferent. At some time, and in some place Buddhism teaches, those seeds will surely bear fruit. This notion of course embraces the whole spectrum of behaviour, thoughts and words as well as actual deeds, and it's clearly central to a fuller understanding of Buddhist ethics.
Buddhists often use the phrase, ' Buddhism is reason ' to describe their practice. What they are talking about isn't simply that much of Buddhist teaching would seem to be sound common sense. They also have in mind that there is a profound sense of balance, a sense of a reasonabe, meaningful inescapable relationship, between what we do, the causes that we make, and the effects that those actions, those thoughts words and deeds, plant in our life. We inevitably reap if you like, what we sow. Although of cours eit goes without saying that we may very rarely, if ever, be able to perceive or work out the connection between the causes and the effects they generate.
In fact even to expect that is in a sense to miss the point of the principle. Of course we can all think of some experience when a connection seems fairly clear.; when we made huge efforts say, and achieved what we were after, or when we we didn't, and saw an oportunity that was within our reach slip away. But those clear connections are very much the rare exception. And since Buddhism is wholly concerned with the down-to-earth reality of everyday, it isn't in any way, talking about a direct, perceptible connection between causes that we make and their effects. That would be simply unreal.
What it is saying however is that once we take on board this central idea, accepting total responsibility for the values that we embrace, and the choices that we make, and the actions that we take...and see them as our causes...then we are introducing a new and powerful dynamic into our lives. A dynamic that can only have very beneficial and positive results, for us and for our families and friends, and workmates and communities, all the various societies we inhabit, because it empowers us, it puts us in charge of what you might call both halves of the equation.
Of course it's also pretty demanding; particularly when our life is going through a rough patch, and we would much rather point the finger of blame at someone or something else. Just look at what happened to me, we sa, or look at what they made me do. We commonly point at anything else as a cause of our current predicament, rather than at ourselves. We all do it. And of course accepting complete responsibility in any sphere of life is always challenging. You could argue in fact that Nichiren Buddhism is both immensely refreshing in that it doesn't lay down a prescriptive code of behaviour we are expected to follow, and immensely challenging, in that it asks us always to accept total responsibility for the causes that we make. Always.
But as we've already mentioned, with a moment's thought we can see that it is an approach to the daily reality of our lives, tha tis also full of hope and optimism, since once we accept that the causes lie within our own life, then so too do the remedies. We can see where things are going wrong, and we can set out to put them right. We may not always succeed of course, we are only human, but we can set off down that road.
Nichiren Buddhists often talk about this particular aspect of their practice as ' doing their human revolution,' and the phrase is undoubtedly appropriate, in the sense that simply to take hold of part of our life that isn't working, or causing us a fair amount of suffering, and set about changing it, is indeed, something of a revolution. It's what we all want to be able to do. And if you think about it even briefly, there aren't many teachings, or philosophiesor life-style techniques around, call them what you will, that help us to recognise the source of the problem in this way, and offer a practical and proven, and down-to-earth method for putting it right.'
Thats plenty enough for one session I'm sure. Hope it helps to emphasise how practical and useful a Buddhist practice is in dealing with the stuff of our everyday lives.
See you next tiem I hope.
Best wishes,
William
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