Hi Everybody,
apologies. There's been a bit of a gap since the last episode. I've been tied up sorting stuff out with an Italian publisher who wants to take world rights on Buddhism and the Science of Happiness and The Case for Buddhism. To say that I'm totally blown away is a total understatement. It's amazing. Truly. A big publisher doing the Buddha's work. Can't keep the smile of my face.
Anyway, we're in the middle of this chapter on Buddhism and the problem paradox, which I have to say, on re-reading is quite good!!Well...there's some good stuff in it. .
So we pick up where we left off.
' Buddhism is good at dealing with problems, since it was actually born out of the realisation that the nature of human life is always tough and challenging and frequently involves considerable suffering. So that's the starting point if you like that Buddhism asks us to recognise, in setting our levels of expectation . We should expect it to be tough and challenging. So there is absolutely nothing to be gained, it argues, from railing at problems as they continue to occur in our lives, which we often do of course. ' Why is this happeningn to me? What have I done to deserve this? Or just as often, basing our hopes for happiness on some longed-for problem- free future. The key, Nichiren tells us, in his typically direct style, the key is really just to get on with living our lives;
' Though worldly troubles may arise, never let them disturb you. No one can avoid problems...'
No one. Moreover Buddhism constantly reminds us that in our lives, everything begins with us. That may not sound on the face of it, to be a particularly ground-breaking idea. But is is remarkable how often this apparently obvious principle is ignored. It is our life in every sense. So if there's friction or frustration or difficulty coming at us from various directions, then, Buddhism argues, the place to look for the root cause is ...guess where....within our own life. That may be difficult for us to accept , very difficult. Indeed we may have to go through a huge internal struggle to accept it, but when you think about it even for a minute or two, that is the real meaning of taking responsibility for our life isn't it?
What is it about our behaviour, our thoughts, our words and actions that is giving rise to this difficulty? What subliminal signals are we giving off that trigger this response from our environment? How do we need to change in order to resolve this difficult issue? That may initially as I've said, be a very hard lesson to swallow. sometimes we can manage it. Sometimes we can't. We're only human after all. But when we can it carries with it immeasurably huge benefits that arise in no other way. Namely if we fully recognise and accept that the cause comes from within our own life, then so too does the remedy.
It lies within our grasp.
That's it for today.
See you next time.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism,is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.
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