I received this comment/question from a reader today:
"So I've been chanting a lot for this one job 60-90 mins a day +morning/evening gongyo+studying+attending meetings.It was my dream company and a position I was really interested in.I got a phone interview after which they gave me an assignment to complete and if I passed that they would call me for an interview.I kept chanting and worked really hard on the assignment. 3 weeks later they sent me an email saying I didn't pass the homework round.I am so confused and upset because I gave it my all and I chanted with a lot of determination focusing all my daimoku on getting this position. I know I shouldn't doubt the practice but how am I suppose to have faith when my prayers go
unanswered?"
I know how hard this is...when you feel like you've been making all the right causes and your benefit is still on its way.
This is a crucial moment for you...a crucial moment to REALLY grow and learn and deepen your faith.
This is the HARD WORK OF HUMAN REVOLUTION.
THIS is why I say this practice is not easy, and why we say a sword will be useless in the hands of a coward.
It is important to not turn outward and blame anyone or anything for the fact that you did not get this job. The "Universe" is not to blame, and neither are you. Now is the time to reflect upon yourself. Now is the time to continue taking action and avoid feeling sorry for yourself.
Just dig in, make a new determination, make your list of what you want and keep chanting and encouraging others no matter what!
Please do not lose hope or give up your faith. Did you read kathy's experience in finding a job. I don't want to discourage you, but she did take quite a while...and there were many jobs along the way that she thought were "HER" jobs, that turned out NOT to be her jobs at all.
She did not give up...she stayed the course. She continued chanting, helping and encouraging others, studying, chanting and chanting and taking steady action every single day towards finding her job. And the job she found has benefits overflowing in about a million different ways. I posted her experience about a month ago and I am going to ask her to write more. She wrote her experience before she started, and since then she has had benefit after benefit unfold every day for her at work. It really IS her job!!! Do not give up!!! Be even MORE determined. Many of us have not had our prayer answered yet...but it is our fierce determination that strengthens our characters and I ASSURE you...your prayer will be answered if you don't give up!!!
From Daisaku Ikeda:
"There are many times our prayers seem to take ages to be fulfilled, or when they remain unrealized despite the most impassioned chanting of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. But the important thing to remember is to keep chanting until they ARE answered. Our continued chanting gives us the chance to take a good hard look at ourselves, leading to positive changes on our daily lives. It's like work ~ you get a job, and go to work but you don't get paid on the first day. Or it's like gardening ~ you plant a sapling and water it every day, but it still takes a long time for it to grow into a tall tree...all good things come from continual, repeated efforts."
