Wednesday, June 17, 2015

My mission as a bodhisattva of the earth

Till quite recently in my practice, every-time I used to face a personal problem, the guidance I would get from my seniors in faith would revolve around three things -

1. Mentor
2. Kosen-rufu
3. Mission as bodhisattva

And it used to irritate the hell out of me!(still does sometimes...shhh)

Simply because I was looking at this practice as a fix for my problem rather than seeing my problem as a fix for my practice and hence life.

Lost me there, didn't you. Don't worry... I lost myself there too. Let me try and explain.

So how I saw this was -
1. have a problem? 
2. will chant, study, attend meetings, tell others about philosophy ie "kosen-rufu" 
3. Will overcome problem. Happiness abounds...

The actual equation and its rationale according to what I have understood:

1. have a problem? Good. I asked for this problem aeons ago when I raised up my hand to say "I will contribute to propagating the Law in the latter day of the law by overcoming this problem and showing actual proof that the Law works! So this is actually my mission."

2. Will chant, study, attend meetings, tell others about this philosophy while at each moment developing an ichinen to contribute to kosen rufu with my secular actions ie gaining trust at work, establishing unity with my better half, and fostering friendships in my environment, thus living the law 24/7 and not only when I am chanting/attending meetings.
3. Will overcome problem for Kosen rufu - so that others are encouraged by my experience of not only overcoming the problem and turning poison into medicine but also by my upbeat and encouraging demeanor while I was neck deep in the problem.

Tadaaaa! so the answer there is to have mission-oriented faith rather than benefit oriented faith. And don't you worry about benefits. In benefit-oriented faith, what you get is a trickle compared to what you get in a mission-oriented faith ...which is more like a dormant volcano come to life!!!

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