The Real Key to Peace on Earth, by Daisaku Ikeda

"Efforts to reach out
and engage others in dialogue
with the aim of fostering mutual understanding
and bringing people closer together
may seem ordinary and unexciting, 
but they in fact constitute a bold and daring challenge
to create a new era of human civilization."

Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhism Day by Day, page 299

This quote embodies our lives as Bodhisattvas of the earth...people who are actively engaged in creating their own happiness, through chanting the name of the Mystic Law, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with the deep determination to create a better world for all. We are all dancing together on this earth and throughout the universe. 

I write this blog, as always, to encourage you that anything is possible. This morning I received an email asking if I was  disappointed when my son Ben died last summer. And the answer is, of course I was. I am a normal human being and would much rather my son had stayed alive...although I would not have wanted his suffering to be prolonged. His brain was sick. He was suffering. Did I want him to die? No. But, as long as he DID, that gives me the opportunity to embrace my life and my practice in a whole new way...with the determination to turn the biggest poison into medicine. That is the way of the Bodhisattva

Because of Ben, I've had to deepen my faith in all possible ways. I HAD to turn poison into medicine...not just for myself, but for my friends and family and my beloved blog readers.  

And look at me now. I'm planning a trip back to Chicago from Florida for Hope For The Day's Health Fair in the Thompson Center so I can sign my books there. And that same week (the last week in October) we will have a ribbon cutting in NAMI DuPage's office for the Cafe that Ben's Memorial Mile is contributing to. I know Ben would want to help in career development, and that's what the cafe, and its new career advising service will do. 

Right now I'm writing programs to help others who are suffering from grief, and looking for grants to support this work through Hope For the Day. It all comes down to the quote by Daisaku Ikeda above...it all comes down to heart-to-heart connection, and mutual understanding. 

Mutual connection makes our lives worth living...builds understanding and bridges of love...
May all of you build a bridge of love today!

Sending love from Asheville, North Carolina where I'm on a brief trip with my sister visiting my Dad and Janis.