The 3 Step Process to Overcome a Problem

The fact that we believe in the Gohonzon does not mean that we will be exempt from problems. When a problem arises, however, if we do not give in to doubt but instead chant daimoku seriously to the Gohonzon with the conviction that "through this, I can deepen my faith," we can definitely overcome it. Even beyond that, we will find ourselves better off than before the problem arose. This is the benefit of 'changing poison into medicine.'

- Guidance, Why is Faith Necessary Vol I, World Tribune Press

Thoughts - How encouraging. When I look at a situation from this perspective, I can't help but have more hope. 

For eg, a new situation at work has you in a fix. It may initially depress you. You may feel lethargic, resentful, and low. If at that point, you realise that through this situation the Gohonzon is trying to teach you something, you go from resentful-mode into learning-mode. 

The action required from us becomes as foll: 

1. Chant to understand what is it that I am supposed to learn from this scenario
2. Pray to change that part of my karma that is holding me back in it
3. Do my best in that situation, cheerfully

After applying this 'formula', the sooner something changes in your thought process, the sooner your environment will change. I love Gurpreet's experience in Jamie's lovely blog - it clearly shows that the realization you have after chanting a lot of daimoku can, infact, change the entire environment because you have learnt what you had to from that situation. 

What to do when everything sucks?

Gosho: The difficulty of sustaining faith

'When you are experiencing the worst possible situation and feel that you can't possibly go on any longer, remember that this is the very time when you can change your destiny. I know it is far from easy to keep this in mind at a crucial moment. That is one reason why we have an organization, to encourage one another.
In any event, chant until you feel that your daimoku has reached the very roots of your suffering.
The reaction, "Why do I still have these problems even though I've been practicing so sincerely?" may be a natural one, but if you give in to it, you are being swayed by the fundamental darkness. If you instead resolve to practice all the more earnestly in order to overcome your problems, then you can not only open a path to their solution but further deepen your faith. This is in accord with the Buddhist principles that the sufferings of birth and death can be transformed into nirvana and that poison can be changed into medicine.'

Source: George M Williams, Vice President SGI

How to Respond to Difficulties

When difficulty arises, don’t assume a casual attitude, thinking, “Because I’ve been chanting daimoku, the problem will somehow solve itself.” Instead, take the matter seriously, pray to the Gohonzon to change poison into medicine, and courageously challenge your problem. Your earnest prayer will bring forth abundant wisdom and vigorous energy from within, which in turn will enable you to find a way out of your situation, no matter how adverse it may be.

Source: Guidelines of Faith by Satoru Izumi

You Are the "Lotus Flower"

The only place that a lotus can bloom and grow thick, healthy roots is in the mud and slime of a lotus pond. If the lotus started to hate its dirty pond and snuck away to some school swimming pool, how could it ever bloom? What would happen to its roots? People may complain of all kinds of troubles in life, but it’s only because of such difficulties that you can attain your human revolution. This is the principle of changing poison into medicine. If you clean the mud out of the pond and pave it with concrete, what’ll happen to the lotus? It’ll never bloom. The pond represents our problem-filled world, the lotus is you and the mud is your problems – the indispensable nourishment for your human revolution, your own growth. No matter how muddy or dirty its pond is, the lotus can still bloom beautifully.

Therefore, in order to attain your human revolution, you have to stay in the pond and struggle to grow right in that mud. In other words, without all kinds of difficulties and problems in life, you can’t really grow as a human being. The organization may do something you don’t agree with , but that doesn’t mean you have to get out. Your effort to overcome those difficulties makes you grow. But whatever you do to overcome them should be based on sincere daimoku to the Gohonzon. Otherwise, you will neither change your karma nor achieve any lasting success. In order to change your karma you have to bring forth strong vitality and establish an unshakable self amid this troubled, mundane world. With consistent efforts you can bring the beautiful flower of your human revolution to bloom.

Don’t ever run away again. Instead, chant lots of daimoku to the Gohonzon. Pledge to become an individual who can really contribute to kosen-rufu. Always remember the principle of the lotus flower. 

Source: Guidelines of Faith by Satoru Izumi

Great Misfortune is Always Followed by Great good fortune

How should you deal (or help a member deal) when confronted with serious trouble?

No matter how great the misfortune may appear to be, the question is whether you yourself fully believe this principle of the Mystic Law. You may suspect that since the trouble is so serious, it may not be followed by great good fortune. That is not believing in this principle at all. The passage does not say, “Great misfortune is always followed by great good fortune, but super-great misfortune is not.”

If one of your members (or you yourself) is faced with a serious problem, you must emphasize the above passage and sincerely try to convince him of the Gohonzon’s power. His victory or defeat, so to speak, lies in whether or not he can bring himself to believe in this teaching. If he takes faith in it, then all he has to do is practice exactly as the Daishonin teaches.

There is no problem whatsoever which cannot be turned into a springboard for happiness, no poison which cannot be changed into medicine. Even if one fails in business, he will be able to recover as long as he maintains his faith. If often happens, however, that when one fails in business, he also allows himself to fail in faith. This is something about which we must be careful.

Source: Guidelines of faith by Satoru Izumi

They practice. Then why do they have problems?

Some members leave the faith simply because other members are involved in a traffic accident or lose property in a fire. Isn’t this acting a little too impetuously? Such people seem to believe that someone with faith should not die, get hurt, meet any accident or suffer loss in any way. Were that to be true, it would create terrible confusion in society.

“How old are you, granny?”

“Three hundred and sixty-five.”

A person’s face already bears quite a few wrinkles at the age of sixty-five; what would it look like 300 years later?

Refrigerators would sell poorly.

“Even if we eat spoiled food, we won’t get sick because we practice faith.”

“Since we have faith, we won’t die even if we don’t eat. Therefore we don’t need to work.”

Thus the world would be filled with lazy people. However, none of these things are in any way true.
Now, some members may protest, “Then it makes no difference whether we have faith or not, does it?” But we cannot tell just by looking at the immediate occurrence whether it is a benefit or loss. No incident can be categorically defined as benefit or loss in and of itself. Each phenomenon invariably contains the potential for either.

Suppose someone’s house burns down. At the moment we cannot tell whether it is benefit or loss. What is important is how things will go after this mishap. Will he be able to live in a better house, or will he be reduced to living in a wretched shack? We need to wait for some time in order to determine whether that fire was a benefit or loss. As long as we continue our faith, we can change any kind of poison into medicine. Don’t be defeated by any difficulty or swayed by any external influence. Instead, continually strengthen your faith so that you can turn anyone and anything into a good influence, a springboard for you to advance towards your happiness.

Source: Guidelines of faith by Satoru Izumi

Buddhist Concept: Changing Poison into Medicine

UKE January 1995 by Nicko Vince

In a play I saw recently, one of the characters tells how she once found a butterfly struggling to emerge from the cocoon. Pitying the creature, she gently released it from its prison. The butterfly unfurled its wings and fell to the ground. What she hadn’t known was that it is the fight to break free of the cocoon which builds the strength that enables the butterfly to fly.

The same lesson can be applied to people. A man’s business fails and he is left by his wife and children. He blames the economy for the failure of his business and the government for the state of the economy. He blames his wife for not supporting him. He puts his misfortune down to bad luck, or fate, or the displeasure of a deity.

The man goes on to start a new business and a new relationship. Eventually, these too fail. This time he looks harder at himself and realizes some of the mistakes he’s made in business, and the relationships, which caused their failures. However, having resolved to reform his attitude when similar problems arise, he finds himself reacting as he was before. Soon he’s back where he started, cursing his own stupidity and feeling frustrated and angry at his inability to change his life and his habitual attitudes. His attitudes have become his cocoon. Nichiren Daishonin taught us how to reveal the wisdom, courage, compassion and life-force necessary to change the deep-seated attitudes which cause us to repeat suffering in our life. By chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo we can reveal our Buddhahood and make this the dominant state in our life, through consistent daily practice.

What’s more, when looked at from the perspective of our Buddhahood we come to see problems and obstacles as opportunities for growth, growth that will lead us to greater happiness than before. This principle is called ‘turning poison into medicine’

This process is not a matter of putting a brave face on things or simply ignoring our problems, but a vigorous philosophy of challenging problems and using our struggles to strengthen us. For example, fellow workers can react very differently to the news of their redundancy. Some will see it as the end of their working life and fall into despair; others will see it as an opportunity to start again or take early and active retirement. When confronted with problems our usual reaction might be to shrivel up and waste our energies on blaming others, or to start trying to work out a solution. The latter attitude is more positive but still may not lead to the best result. As with the man whose business failed in the example earlier, our solution might have the appearance of action but deal only with the immediate situation. Without acknowledging the underlying causes that created it, we rise simply repeating our mistakes in different form.

However, just as we have made those underlying causes ourselves the answers to our problems also lie within us. Viewed this way problems can be seen as opportunities to deepen our understanding of ourselves and our circumstances, and used as a springboard to greater happiness. Daisaku Ikeda, President of the SGI, has written:

Some may suffer sickness even though they practice to the Gohonzon. Others may be under trying circumstances in business. Still others may go through difficulties for the sake of their activities for kosen-rufu. There are many kinds of difficulties and sufferings in life. However, when you are going through a difficult situation, you are actually in the best position to change your destiny and open a road to great benefit.

As our practice continues, we will inevitably have failures, but as long as we continue to practice correctly, these setbacks can be likened to the valleys encountered by a traveller crossing foot-hills towards a mountain. Although the traveller may occasionally move downwards, the overall journey is upwards.

Through focusing our minds on seeking the Buddhahood within us while we chant, we can reveal the qualities of wisdom, courage and compassion. These in turn will help us come to the solutions to our problems that are best both for us and those around us.

Keeping your mind concentrated on that thought can be a problem in itself! However, by winning that battle you gradually train yourself to win others in daily life. These battles may be small, but just succeeding in completing the minor, irksome tasks of daily life strengthens us for more major challenges. The challenge of sticking to a budget, returning a difficult phone call, or simply keeping our space tidy, can all be conquered and help change our attitudes and direction.

It is in the moment-to-moment living of your life that you turn poison into medicine. As you face each new obstacle and decide to challenge it, you will find new strengths you didn’t suspect you possessed. Strength enough to break free of the tightest of ‘cocoons.’