Hands up all those who never thought they’d see that title on my blog … but today has been pretty awesome so far. Ok, so it’s Tuesday, and I’ve just had the perfect long weekend, but in work terms this is a notional Monday after all. But it has been a really great day, even though things have been a little hectic in the office, and all because I now have the ability to pour a certain calm over everything.
You know the calm I mean, at least I hope you do, when slowly everything starts to come together, to fit into place and there’s a soft and easy feel about things. At work, at home, in my practice, in fact in life, I seem to have turned some magical corner and tranquillity is the result.
Not that tranquillity itself is necessarily a good thing. It can make us lazy, complacent, stop setting goals for ourselves or making the causes for the effects we want to see. But the tranquillity that accompanies the calmness of a balanced situation is magical indeed.
Sometimes we have to go through a rough ride to reach the place we want to be. During the ride it’s tough, tranquillity is a million miles away and sometimes appears to be receding fast. But if you stick with it, learn from the pain and make the necessary causes, you will reap the benefits of the effects when they arrive. Today has been one of those days for me.
So stick with it. If you have confidence in your goals, remain determined in your quest and have the courage to withstand the pain, you too will see the benefits. It’s marvellous.
One of the many aims of Nichiren Buddhism is to smooth out the emotional highs and lows in life. through right thinking. However, one of the most difficult things to do, personally speaking, is to remain in a constant life-state when confronted by the highs and lows of life.
Ultimately, happiness rests on how you establish a solid sense of self or being. Happiness does not lie in outward appearances or vanity. It is a matter of what you feel inside, it is a deep resonance in your life.
Sometimes it feels as though nobody is listening to us. No matter how important our message may be, it is falling on deaf ears, or so it seems. So maybe we speak a little louder, make our words a little more pronounced, like we are speaking to a child, nothing happens.
Illusion about the true nature of existence is literally illusion about the nature of one’s own life. This is the fundamental source of all illusions.
Each day brings us joys and challenges, each of which have the ability to alter our life-state in some manner. Joys tend to raise our life-state, challenges may lower it if we let them, and there lies the conundrum. We need to be vigilant, to observe our life-state from moment to moment, but in doing so, we affect that life-state.
Going back over our mistakes, asking ourselves painful questions and giving honest answers is a difficult, but enlightening experience.
Self awareness, the realisation of who, or what you really are, comes to some people with age, but for me, it came at a point in life where I was at my all time low. Seeing my true reflection in the mirror was a long and painful process, there’s no joy in realising that you are someone you don’t really like, but it lead me to the turning point that has allowed me to change for the better.
Determination grows out of adversity. To accomplish an easy or pleasant task does not require determination, it is the difficult or unpleasant task that most definitely does.
The human being is not a frail wretch at the mercy of fate. Shakyamuni insisted that to change oneself now is to change the future on a vast scale. The Western impression that Buddhism is all about meditation is alien to the spirit of Shakyamuni. 
The Search For Enlightenment 
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