Success is not a matter of accumulating more of this or that; it is not measured in quantity. It means changing the quality of your life. Wealth, power, fame and knowledge alone cannot make you happy, no matter how much of these you acquire. Nor can you take them with you when you die. But by improving the quality of your life you will at last approach true happiness.
Develop yourself so that even just seeing you will hearten and inspire those who have been shipwrecked on the voyage of life. Leave behind great achievements that will encourage all those who follow.
OVERCOMING SUFFERING – Guy McCloskey discusses how to transform the four sufferings of birth, aging, sickness and death. (Sept-Oct 2010, LB, 29-33)
Everything is my karma; good, bad or indifferent. If I accept the premise of causality, that there are no accidents and that life is a continuum, then I also have to acknowledge that the source of everything I experience exists within my life. That's not always easy to do, because there are certainly times when the inevitable question arises: Why me?
Growing up in a Judeo-Christian (actually, overwhelmingly Christian) society, it requires a significant change in orientation to adapt to a Buddhist perspective. For one thing, the Bible begins with an answer to a question that Buddhism doesn't ask: Who made us? In its opening verse, the Bible tells us that God made us.
The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, wasn't interested in theoretical or philosophical issues detached from the realities of life in the here and now. His awakening came from his recognition that this saha world is filled with suffering and there is no escape – we have no choice but to endure that suffering.
Everyone, without exception, experiences the four sufferings: birth, aging, sickness and death.
After the psychic and physical trauma of birth and separation from our mother's womb, we are confronted with unfulfilled desires that continue, and often increase, throughout our lives. Ultimately, birth is the cause for the sufferings of illness, aging and death and all the inescapable sufferings of life.
Although young people don't necessarily recognize it, we all experience the suffering of aging. I now know that getting old is not as easy as it looks.
And we all get sick. There are different kinds of illnesses with various causes, the most severe resulting from karma caused by slander of the Lotus Sutra. That means, of course, that there is also a cure available through the Lotus Sutra.
The scariest of the four sufferings is death, not only because it, too, is inevitable, but because we have no means of actually knowing what it will mean to our self-identity. We can observe the death of others, but death is something that each of us will only experience alone. There is no recourse from that ultimate suffering.
Now, for the Buddhist response to universal suffering – Nichiren Daishonin, in one of his earliest writings, puts it very directly:
If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured since time without beginning and to attain without fail unsurpassed enlightenment in this lifetime, you must perceive the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings. This truth is Myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth innate in all life. ("On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime," WND-1, 3).
Not only can we free ourselves from suffering, we can actually transform the four sufferings into the four virtues. SGI President Ikeda explains in this way:
Nichiren Daishonin teaches that our lives, which embody the four sufferings [birth, aging, sickness and death] are in themselves treasure towers that are one with the eternal great Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
In the treasure tower that constitutes the life of each person who upholds the Mystic Law, the four sufferings are transformed into the four virtues, whose refined fragrance issues forth from our lives. These are the virtues of eternity, happiness, true self and purity. In other words, we can manifest in our own lives – which are subject to birth, aging, sickness and death – the timelessness (eternity), indestructible tranquility and joy (happiness), firm autonomy (true self) and perfect integrity (purity) that characterize the enlightened state of Buddhahood. (Oct 2004, LB, 30)
Some time ago, I attended a discussion meeting where a woman spoke about her struggle with depression. She felt bad, not only because of her illness but because she had been unable to use her faith to overcome it. The district leader is a professional in the medical field, and I asked him about the incidence of clinical, or major, depression among the American population. He said that more than 15 percent in this country require medication or psychotherapy or both to treat this illness, a statistic that remains constant today. That translates to more than 45 million people.
As I stated in the beginning of this article, anything that happens to us is the result of a cause or causes we made at some time during the eternity of our lives, so, in a sense, we brought it on ourselves. The question is: What can we do about it now?
Although we may think no one else could be suffering to the extent that we are – whether from depression, migraine headaches, cancer, AIDS or any number of other ailments – the fact that there are millions of people with the same level of physical and emotional pain.
If we're responsible for everything that happens to us, what is our claim to a cure beyond our personal benefit? In other words, what right do we have to overcome the suffering? I believe I have a responsibility to share my victory with other people suffering similarly. The woman with major depression had a responsibility – and a mission – to give hope to as many of those 45 million people as she could reach.
President Ikeda describes this way:
We all have our own karma or destiny, but when we look it square in the face and grasp its true significance, then any hardship can serve to help us lead richer and more profound lives. Our actions in challenging our destiny become examples and inspirations for countless others.
In other words, when we change our karma into mission, we transform our destiny from playing a negative role to a positive one. Those who change their karma into their mission have "voluntarily assumed the appropriate karma." Therefore, those who keep advancing, while regarding everything as part of their mission, proceed toward the goal of transforming their destiny. (Aug 2003, LB, 14).
A very personal example of changing karma into mission concerns the death of our oldest son just before his 29th birthday. I have never experienced such pain. My heart felt like a heavy weight in my chest. I asked myself repeatedly what I could have done to save him and was absolute in my conviction that I would have gladly exchanged my life for his, but I didn't have that choice.
Nichiren understood that this is the greatest suffering for a parent:
Though old and young alike dwell in the realm of uncertainty, it is part of the natural order for the elderly to die first and the young to remain awhile. Thus, even as we grieve, we can find some causes for consolation. Sometimes, however, it is the old that remain and the young who die first. No one feels more bitter resentment that a young child who dies before its parents. No one despairs more deeply than parents who see their child precede them in death. ("The Fourteen Slanders," WND-1, 757-58).
I've been responsible for giving encouragement in faith to other members for most of my Buddhist practice. On multiple occasions, I've had to speak with a parent who had lost their child, but it is no longer theoretical for me.
I have thought and chanted about what it means to transform this karma into mission. I have concluded that at least part of the answer is to share compassionately in the suffering of other parents who have experienced a similar loss and in some small way demonstrate to them that it is possible to overcome that suffering. Almost everywhere I go, I meet one of those parents and am grateful to them for what they have shown me about the importance of the surviving family leading lives of fulfillment and, ultimately, joy. In encouraging me, I have experienced how they have transformed suffering into mission.
I will never forget my son, nor will I ever be "happy" that he died, but I remain convinced that his life and death were part of our shared karma and that we can both continue to show others the path to victory in life – and death. That, I believe, is our mission.
The Daishonin tells us, "When, while in these four states of birth, aging, sickness and death, we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we cause them to waft forth the fragrance of the four virtues" (OTT, 90).
We cannot avoid encountering suffering as long as we are alive, but we practice Nichiren Buddhism to not be defeated by it. President Ikeda writes:
We experience one suffering after another. We are assailed by hardships. That is the reality of life. But each of us possesses the power to solemnly face and overcome all these obstacles. The point is whether we believe this and are actually able to manifest this strength. That is the key to victory…
It is precisely by challenging and overcoming difficulties as ordinary people that we can demonstrate the greatness of the Mystic Law. That we are ordinary people is an expedient means that enables us to fulfill this mission
To be defeated by suffering and filled with complaint is to be shackled by our karma. It is when we squarely our suffering that we can transform it into our mission. Everything depends on our determination. (Sept 2002, LB, 2).
In a study article, he adds even greater clarity to this issue:
Everything that happens in our lives has meaning. Moreover, the Buddhist way of life is to find and discover meaning in all things. Nothing is futile or meaningless. Whatever a person's karma may be, it definitely has some profound significance.
This is not just a matter of mere outlook. Changing the world starts by changing our fundamental state of mind which is a key Buddhist principle. A powerful determination to transform even negative karma into mission can dramatically transform the real world. By changing our inner state of mind, we can change any suffering or hardship into a source of joy, regarding it as a means for forging and developing our lives.
To turn even sorrow into a source of creativity – that is the way of life of a Buddhist. Nichiren Daishonin teaches us this essential path through his own life and actions as a votary of the Lotus Sutra. (June 2005, LB, 39-40)
If I'm going to suffer anyhow, then I will make it meaningful by transforming my suffering and helping others overcome their suffering. That is the Buddhist way to gain a deeper sense of oneness with the life of the universe itself and everyone and everything within it.
Wending my way through the four sufferings and finding more connections with the four virtues, I am encouraged by this portion of any articles President Ikeda contributed to a general circulation newspaper:
The ultimate proof of having won in life is to be able to look back with a sense of pride and satisfaction, to be able to say that one lived fully and without regret. Perhaps the most crucial element for an aging society is a spirit of mutual encouragement toward the goal of each of us being able to say, with no hint of hesitation, that this has indeed been a good life. ("Realizing the potential of an aging society," The Japan Times – Mar 8, 2007).
That's my determination.
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