SGI-USA WOMEN'S LEADER MATILDA BUCK
THE STRATEGY OF HUMAN REVOLUTION
The keys to victory in life are determination, prayer and action.
The conclusion of a two-part essay on human revolution. Part 1 can be found in the July
18 issue.
SGI President Ikeda tells us over and over that the keys to victory in life are determination,
prayer and action. A Soka Gakkai leader in Kansai once suggested that these components bear fruit only when we do not bear grudges. Maybe we can use these guidelines to map out a strategy for our human revolution.
• Determination: We are chanting because, on the deepest level, we are Bodhisattvas of
the Earth—we are connected to something greater than our own needs, and we made a
vow as such. A vow contains both pledge and desire.
The Buddha desires to save all people, to make all people equal to the Buddha. If we
develop the desire of the Buddha, we will awaken the power of the Buddha within us.
The most sustaining kind of determination comes from a higher perspective of the
meaning and purpose of life—like Nelson Mandela, like the first three presidents of the
Soka Gakkai, like Ronnie Smith.
But sometimes our determination comes from a much more human, yet still effective,
spot. For example, the feeling that "I won't live like this anymore." That's what happened
to me several years ago.
President Ikeda has said that determinations have a shelf life of about three days, so he
advises us to renew them about a hundred times a year!
• Prayer: If we start with the premise that, because we are Bodhisattvas of the Earth, we
will do such and such, then our prayers should match that level of seriousness. We can pray resolutely for wisdom to find solutions, pray strongly for people's happiness and growth.
Nichiren Daishonin tells us, "Therefore, when you chant myoho and recite renge, you must
summon up deep faith that Myoho-renge-kyo is your life itself " (The Writings of Nichiren
Daishonin, p. 3).
Chant until you feel confident in your prayer. Nothing can match the power and
outcome of chanting abundantly.
• Action: Our self-mastery, our models of humanity and transformation make us always
free to act, no matter what the circumstance. It is our existence that can lead others to
happiness.
Action also includes stopping actions of negative value. We may pray hard for a job or
to finally lose weight or to improve a relationship, but if our actions contradict our desire,
we gain nothing but frustration.
How we actualize our prayer is the greatest challenge in human revolution.
It is not enough to chant like a Buddha; we must also act like one. The energy we put
into helping others find the Law and practice it is the important thing. Our commitment
to our Buddhist community, our actions to protect it from the ill-intended, to ensure its
growth and protection all reflect our determination toward our human revolution.
• Living without grudge: Bearing a grudge is the opposite of transformation, revolution
or transcendence. It is isolation, joylessness, and it breeds divisiveness and unhappiness.
But, well, 'fess up. It feels so righteous, doesn't it? Don't you think people like Nelson
Mandela and Ronnie Smith had a right to hold the biggest grudge in the world?
But they knew it would only poison them.
The secret to ridding ourselves of grudge is to be proactive, to say: "This is no good,
rotten, unfair, and for this very reason I will definitely use this for my human revolution,
my polishing, my self-mastery. It will not use me."
Back in 1996, an SGI leader once shared with a small group of us one of the most
succinct explanations I have ever heard about human revolution. He said: "What you are
feeling and going through right now is your true Buddhist training. Use it for the sake of
the future."
He urged us to challenge our situations, but not by judging or evaluating others.
"Determine to use it to develop yourself," he said. "Because you are pained by this, you
must take it on. If you don't take it as your mission to improve the situation, you will never
hit that thing that is exactly what you need for your personal development." He cautioned
us not to let it get the better of us.
Solving problems is an endless process, he continued. "Don't get pulled into a quagmire
and become deluded yourself. Instead use it to catapult yourself to change. Rejuvenate
yourself through prayer. It will bring out the conviction and courage that you can solve the
problem. If you truly struggle with this as your problem (not someone else's) and listen to
many voices as a source of wisdom, faith will show you a way. Don't analyze it, saying,
'If only this person would change (or disappear),' thinking that they must change in order
to end your suffering. If they change, that will be part of the solution, but not the whole
resolution.
"If you take it as your problem, then you create your own solution, one that can never
be taken from you, your human revolution. If you can feel that 'this is my work to solve
this' and if you suspend criticism and really pray deeply to affect some change, you need
never again feel trapped or hopeless or apathetic. Each breakthrough builds strength," he
said.
He inspired us to take responsibility, pray deeply, listen, talk together, exchange
wisdom.
"When you approach problems in this way, determining all can become capable, when
you can say, 'I will find the humanity in my life and in this situation,' this is human
revolution," he said.
As Bodhisattvas of the Earth, we can identify our karma (no matter how troublesome)
as our mission. With these tools, we can find inner riches and true spiritual freedom.
In Webster's Dictionary, I found these definitions of freedom: free of restraints, capacity
to exercise choice, full access. As long as we continue practicing Nichiren Buddhism, we
have this freedom.
And if all of this is too much to remember, here is the simplest thing I once heard
President Ikeda say about human revolution: It is not some great huge mysterious thing, it
is really simple. For instance, if you don't like to read, but you know it will improve your
life to know more, then try reading even just 15 minutes a day. At the end of the year, you
will have done quite a lot.
If we take this example and say our lives are a book and each day a page, when we exert
the effort to "read" each "page," then when we come to the end of our book, we will have
done quite a bit—and I dare to call it human revolution.
KEYS TO HUMAN REVOLUTION
There are many components of human revolution. Some of the important ones outlined by
SGI-USA Women's Leader Matilda Buck (see her article on this page) are:
• a desire to transform our suffering
• a sense of mission
• a desire for humanity's happiness
• remembering the bodhisattva vow to help others
• having a mentor to strive with forever
