In all of our lives we sometimes experience frustration, right? We all have things we've chanted about for a long time and we think maybe they will never happen...and we face the choice of being discouraged, or encouraged.
Let's think about those words for a moment:
DIS-COURAGED.
Lost courage.
No more courage.
Negative courage.
We do feel this from time to time, I know. It is at exactly this point that we can put our faith to its best use. We have a unique tool.
We have faith we can use to re-EN-COURAGE us.
En-Courage
Filled with courage
Inner courage
In the state of courage
Much better, right?
I know this from experience. This weekend I had an event I was pretty excited about. I chanted three hours the day it happened, and it ended up being a bit disappointing. Thank goodness I chanted all those hours. I was a little miffed, but not depressed or upset. My life condition was sky-high!
So I had a choice. DIS couraged or EN couraged? I must admit, after this incident on Saturday, on Sunday morning I woke up and sat in front of the Gohonzon (my life) and said "Really Gohonzon? Is that the best my life can do?" and I realized I was just facing an obstacle. And yes, it was really hard to chant!
Today I woke up, and because of YOU, because I live not just for myself, I re-encouraged myself and was able to focus, chant and redetermine to WIN in all aspects of my life. That is the power of this practice. That is the power of our lives!
I turned to the great writings of Daisaku Ikeda.
In Faith in Action he writes in the section Perseverance:
"It is important to take a long range view.
No great achievement is accomplished overnight
or without difficulty.
Should benefit be obtained easily,
and without making serious efforts in our Buddhist practice, we'd probably easily abandon our faith
and end up miserable."
p. 145
And he continues on the next page:
"It is important to become strong
and to not be defeated.
Don't become the kind of people
who are always depending or leaning on others
or who weakly and timidly
leave hard work and responsibility to others.
Whatever obstacles you may encounter,
please use them as a launching pad for your growth
and keep advancing,
bravely enduring all hardships,
telling yourselves,
"I'll show them what I'm made of!"
p. 146
And:
"No matter what the circumstances,
you should never concede defeat.
Never conclude that you've reached a dead end.
You possess a glorious future.
Precisely because of that,
you must persevere and study.
Life is eternal.
We need to focus on the two existences
of the present and the future
and not get caught up in worry about the past.
We must always have the spirit to begin anew
"from this moment,"
to initiate a new struggle each day."
p. 146
I was also thinking about the wise words of my own personal mentor and good friend in faith Kate Randolph. She explained the concept of setting deadlines, and what it means to our Buddhist practice and our lives in this wise way:
"We set deadlines to motivate OURSELVES into action.
A deadline is not for the universe to respond to us.
We chant.
We take action.
The deadline comes.
We either win or we don't.
If we don't get the result by the deadline
we pick ourselves right up again and redetermine.
The goal is to never be defeated.
Sensei always says "To win in life is to never be defeated." That does not mean that we will never fail.
It's our spirit that matters.
The battle we fight is not with the universe.
It's with our inner demons...
the ones that say things like
"obviously chanting doesn't work
because I did not get my dream by my deadline...or...maybe I should have a different goal...
maybe I wasn't MEANT to have that thing!....
or what am I doing wrong?
Maybe I wasn't chanting the RIGHT way!"
It is at that juncture that we must recognize
the opportunity to deepen our faith and our understanding of the profundity of Buddhism.
ANYTHING that DRAINS OUR LIFE FORCE
is the negative function.
Any inner voice that causes us doubt and hopelessness
IS the negative function.
Once we decide we will win no matter what ~
we need only to continue.
We've already won.
The battle is with the negative function within.
Ultimately, deadlines are irrelevant.
Set them if you need them to motivate yourself.
But decide from the onset that you will win no matter what. And hold YOURSELF accountable. Not the universe.
If it is a crucial moment and you are in a dire predicament, financially, or health-wise, i
t is time to DEMAND the protection of the Shoten Zenjin.
No prayer of a votary of the Lotus Sutra will go unanswered. If your prayer is going unanswered find out what it means to be a votary of the Lotus Sutra. STUDY. And as you are chanting DEMAND the result that you want through your prayer. Awaken to your mission and realize that all your suffering is your opportunity to encourage other people. That is what is meant by turning Karma into Mission."
