I shared my journey... i shared how i have kept
winning each day... i shared how our practice gives us the way to be victorious
each day. I am just trying to learn from what sensei has done over the years.
My secret to find my smile in midst of all the
challenges is my faith, it is how i have understood practice and the meaning of
¨Victory¨.
5 years back, a leader showed me the hard truth of
my life that how selfish i am as i just couldn´t reach my goals. That day in
fact even one month following that i struggled to even understand what he
really meant. How can a person like me be nothing but selfish? He was right, i
was only focused on reaching my goals, reaching those end results that only represented how my whole existence and happiness was dependent on something outside.
Fast forward to today, i am in most uncertain time of my life, being in foreign land and having no back. For many i am not okay or happy or any close to victory. But i know i have won already. Truth is in all the uncertainty, i am still OKAY. I don´t need world
to see it that i have won today as i made it out of my bed, I am victorious
each day in multiple ways. Believe me or not same goes for you. Just because
dream, job, a perfect soul mate or love or money is not happening even then you
can win each day. My biggest victory is my smile, the warmth i carry with me
for people around me including strangers i walk by on streets or the lady who
sat next to me in the bus. My smile and kindness and hope i shared with others
through my eyes is how i win each day. We can´t keep waiting for days and
months or even years in hope of someday it will happen or someday i will meet someone.
Wake up tot the truth, opening that Butsudan and chanting each morning is like embracing the
law that says ¨Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is happiness¨. This absolute
happiness is in your hands. I know you feel like crying and your heart aches as
relative things didn´t work out as you wished but despite that when we start
living our life as bodhisattva of the earth, we are already victorious.
I won the day I personally came to accept the truth that my face is a
reflection of Soka Gakkai spirit, or my smile even on tough day shows how Buddhism
helps me improve day to day life. Now that´s how i have seen real proof of
practice. Proof is when at night i still have a bed to sleep in or
some days have even the food. Some day’s just one person who can sit by my
side. Victories have no name, they are what you think they are.
Reflect upon your journey, earlier i will have
tough times and i will complain and stay sad till life wasn´t fixed. Now, i am
conscious of my life, my emotions yeah may be i feel hurt but acceptance of my
emotions doesn´t mean that my emotions have to control me. The concept of ¨Master
your mind¨, put that into application and i have learnt to do this and i do it
consciously each day. With all i am going through, i am come closer to my
family, a hard core person like me has learnt to lean on to my family. That’s
my victory. I have learnt to put my problems aside and be there for others. I have
to continue living and enjoying those beautiful meetings.
The real meaning of our faith and how to apply in
our daily life is explained again and again by sensei. In fact the book,
discussion on youth talks about, ¨Drawing on the belief that every person has within them an “inexhaustible wellspring” of
strength and wisdom, the authors assert that every difficulty, no matter how
serious, are essential experiences to achieve a fuller, happier life. The most
fulfilling way to live, they assert, is one spent for the happiness of both
oneself and others.¨
Sensei has written his journey over
the years explaining the hardships he had to go through and his spirit to go on
without weighing his past or present in terms of victories. You know for me you
are victorious when despite all you are going through or a night spent in tears
yet you showed up next morning for the meeting with a smile on your face.
Sensei says, ¨ In
society we find those who win and those who lose. Fortune and misfortune cannot
be calculated. However, even if one wins, his elation will not last
indefinitely. But a person of self-awakening, even if temporarily defeated, can
go on to build a future vaster, broader, deeper and greater than that of the
person who originally won. As long as one is not defeated fundamentally, he
should continue step-by-step, confident of his eventual victory.¨
Fortune and
misfortune cannot be calculated. However, even if one wins, his elation will
not last indefinitely. But a person of self-awakening, even if temporarily
defeated, can go on to build a future vaster, broader, deeper and greater than
that of the person who originally won. As long as one is not defeated
fundamentally, he should continue step-by-step, confident of his eventual
victory.
Chanting diamoku is
the only way to break deadlocks, whether of the body or the mind.
The sooner one knows the Mystic Law, the
sooner he can attain happiness and peace. Even a day’s hesitation will cause a
day’s delay of happiness and peace.
Only the Gohonzon enables us to solve
everything. All I must do is reflect on my own faith, and whether or not I am
committing any slander.
Now about your goals, well you
will reach them if not today then tomorrow but all you got to do till then is
live your life to the best and work on your human revolution. You can´t spent
all this time weeping and only smiling in good times as that is no what Soka
spirit is. Anyway, if you ask me but I don’t feel happy so how do I do it…
remember what sensei said, ¨Gakkai activities are shortcut to the happiness¨
-Happy Chanting
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