This is a photo of me and Tomell Casear deSilva. When he was visiting his family this summer he gave this experience at the Chicago Buddhist Center. He has given me permission to share it with you. What an inspiration! ENJOY:
I have always embraced this extraordinary philosophy since I was born, never letting go even for a single moment. I have always held tightly onto the promise of the great Buddhist sages that came before us – Shakaymuni Buddha, Nichiren Daishonin and Daisaku Ikeda – That ultimate happiness for the world and for oneself is ours for the taking and is etched in the very fabric of our life itself. We need not look very far for it, the treasures of this life stem from our heart. Nichiren Daishonin wrote to one of his followers that, “A blue fly, if it clings to the tail of a thoroughbred horse, can travel ten thousand miles, and the green ivy that twines around the tall pine can grow to a thousand feet.” Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is a towering stallion of the spiritual world that takes you wherever your heart desires.
It was the start of the financial crisis in late 2008, I just graduated from Stanford University and due to a host of seemingly coincidental reasons my life led me to the Middle East in Dubai working for a fast growing internet start-up. At the time I was 21. Truthfully, I never heard of Dubai or even knew where it was on a map. I had no connections or ties to the Middle East and never once considered living there. But having grown up in this faith and through timeless experience after experience, I began to learn that whenever I believe – so as long as I believed and trusted in myself and my prayers – as Daisaku Ikeda assures, we will absolutely NEVER fail. Without friends or family, and only two suit cases as my possessions I boarded the plane to Dubai direct from Chicago.
January 16, 2009 I landed in Dubai. As I walked out of the airport into the thick desert air, I entered a cab and arrived to a remote hotel in an area that looked nothing like my eyes had ever seen. Everything around me was foreign. I was truly alone. But there was not a single glimpse of fear in my heart. I had taken my Gohonzon with me and thus had taken all of my dreams, hopes and assurances. I knew in the pit of my soul that I would be okay. The Daishonin says that, “This Gohonzon is the essence of the Lotus Sutra and the eye of all the scriptures. It is like the sun and the moon in the heavens, a great ruler on earth, the heart in a human being, the wish-granting jewel among treasures, and the pillar of a house. When we have this mandala with us, it is a rule that all the Buddhas and Gods will gather round and watch over us, protecting us like a shadow day and night, just as warriors guard their ruler, as parents love their children, as fish rely on water, as trees and grasses crave rain, and as birds depend on trees.”
The first 6 months of my time in Dubai were difficult beyond belief. Without a doubt it was the single harshest period of my life - one that was overwhelmed with deep negativity and profound misfortune. Every day I woke up with the hope that the day would soon come to an end. In the isolation of being alone, across the world from all family and friends with no financial support, I chanted deeply for answers and for a new way forward. My circumstances were truly abysmal.
But Buddhists never lose. We only taste defeat so that the juice of victory can be enjoyed that much more. I believed this with my heart and chanted profusely to understand the depths of my suffering. Within my suffering, I came to deeply appreciate my circumstances. For the first time in my life, despite my circumstances, I established a deep sense of happiness and gratitude and realized that so as long as I am a victim to my circumstances, I am a victim of life.
In the end, through a series of mystic connections I ended up getting the exact job of my dreams down to the minutest detail. I truly feel from my core that the exact place where I am is the training grounds for my future success.
While greatness comes with great turmoil, I do not want to spread the story of my suffering. Rather, I want to focus on the incredible truth and immense fortune that comes with practicing this philosophy in the true spirit of mentor- disciple. Since overcoming the initial difficulties, I have managed to manifest every one of my wildest dreams including the greatest highlight: Traveling to a total of 31 countries, none of which were visited for work related purposes. These included: Australia, Cambodia, Israel, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Nepal, India, Lebanon, Qatar, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Spain, Greece, Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Oman, Egypt, China, England, Turkey, Bethlehem (West Bank), Italy, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, and Czech Republic.
I never imaged or expected these blessings to come to me the way they have or in the form that they did. But I had great faith that as long as I clung to the thoroughbred of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, I would be taken on the wildest ride I could ever imagine. I feel now deeply moved to live for the true depth and fundamental aspect of life – That of living for the welfare and posterity of people.
In November 2010, I began chanting for my true mission and my mother soon sent me a passage from my life mentor, Daisaku Ikeda. In the book, Daisaku Ikeda and Voices for Peace from Africa , Ikeda states, "The founding president of the Soka Gakkai, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, struggled against the forces of Japanese militarism during world war II, dying in prison as a result. One of his strongly held beliefs was that, when faced with a deadlock, we must return to our original point of departure. Contemporary civilization is clearly at an impasse. What is the point of origin to which we can most profitably return? It is, I am convinced, the rich and fecund spirit of humanism that lives in the great mother earth of Africa, the cradle of human-kind.” Based upon this single paragraph, I chanted wholeheartedly to be able to fulfill this vision by returning to the original departure from which all humanity was born: Mother Africa.
Soon after chanting, doors flew open with stunning force. Soon, I will be moving to Uganda to lead a project with an extraordinary group of people. I will lead the development of a 150 acre master plan sponsored and funded by investors and 45 members of the Ugandan Parliament to build a premiere graduate university dedicated to creating thousands of jobs in Uganda and indeed East Africa. I will give my all for this country and indeed the continent. I will spread the seed of this great Buddhism with everything I have in me.
It is not enough to simply chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo without regard to the fundamental spirit of this Buddhism - without regard to the reason why Buddhism came to being in the first place. That is why our mentor in faith, Daisaku Ikeda, spends himself exhaustingly to develop our understanding of this original purpose. His words are like a lighthouse in a dark night. With so many ways to advance in life, he assures that if we diligently enact the wisdom of the Lotus Sutra with all our might, we are promised not only the manifest treasures but the more worthy and noble inconspicuous ones. Daisaku Ikeda states that, “If we cherish the spirit to repay our debt of gratitude in the depths of our hearts, then our good fortune will increase by leaps and bounds. No matter how much action people might seem to be taking outwardly, if they lack the spirit to repay their debt of gratitude, their arrogance will destroy their good fortune." Gratitude for those who have enabled us to see clearly and to our faith allows us to reach the highest mountains of good and in turn will lead to our greatest possible life victory.
