The Search For Enlightenment

The very reason for my Buddhist Practice is to bring me a little closer to Buddhahood each and every day.

That is to say, to emulate as closely as possible, the Buddha himself in the way he was able to see life and all things in a pure clarity through his enlightened state.

Siddhārtha Gautama was a man, albeit a prince, who forsaking his life of comfort and position, went out into the world to meditate on the causes of, and ways to reduce or remove, the suffering of life.

In Nichiren Buddhism we speak about the Ten Worlds, Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Humanity, Heaven, Learning, Realisation, Bodhisattva and Buddhahood. Each World containing, and being contained by, the other nine.

The Buddha state originates from the very depths of life, called the amala consciousness, meaning the fundamentally pure life force or consciousness. The function of the Buddha state is to bring out the positive side of the other nine worlds.

This principle of the Ten Worlds shows that the Buddha state is a naturally occurring condition of life in every living being. The purpose of Buddhist practice is to enable us to cause the Buddha state to appear; to have it working strongly in us.

In Nichiren Buddhism, therefore, the Buddha is not some perfect ideal being, but is rather an ordinary person living in rhythm with the law of the universe, taking wise, courageous and compassionate action for the benefit of others, through the functioning of the nine worlds in daily life.

The more I practice, the longer I practice, the closer I come to Buddhahood, a very positive thought for today.