You’ve probably heard the old adage, ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’.
I believe it means that you can introduce an idea to someone, but you can’t make them accept the suggestion.
So it is with Nichiren Buddhism, or in fact vegetarianism or veganism, but let’s focus on Buddhism in this instance.
I have many friends who show an interest in my Practice. They ask lots of questions, often offer their views and sometimes will join me in Daimoku or Gongyo.
I find that the most difficult thing about this, is to feed their inquisitive nature without allowing my own enthusiasm to take over. It is so easy to appear evangelical and that can be a most unattractive trait, particularly for someone who is just taking the first tentative steps.
If you were teaching a child to swim, you wouldn’t take them to the poolside, explain a little about how to do the breast stroke and then push them into the deep end to experience it for themselves. At best, they might flounder their way back to the side, never to ask you for guidance ever again, at worst they might get into real difficulties, need rescuing and develop such a phobia, that they would never go near deep water again.
And so it can be with Buddhism. Like learning to swim, Buddhist practice can open up amazing new vistas on the world and be a life-long pleasure, but it has to be introduced gently, wisely and at the right pace for each and every individual.
To try to rush someone into Buddhism, or swimming for that matter, may be depriving that person of a life-changing journey, so show some wisdom and let them go at their own pace.
Some people are always ‘up’ for things, they walk around with a smile and a spring in their step, they are Radiators. Other folks always seem to wear a frown, they look as though they are carrying the worries of the world on their shoulders. They never seem to have a good word to say about anything, they are the Drains.
The purpose behind my Buddhist Practice is to bring me a little closer to Buddhahood, each and every day.
Let’s talk about Ichinen Sanzen for a moment, about how each of the Ten Worlds contain all of the other Worlds, meaning we can move from one to another in an instant.
Do you remember the day you mastered the art of riding a bicycle? Of course you do. For me, it was the culmination of a rather lengthy, and very frustrating process, and but for the perseverance of my father, I might never have learned at all.
The first day of my TEFL teacher training course today was great fun. Although it meant an early start and a late finish, the time really flew by.
Sometimes the World of Tranquillity can be a true blessing, a lull after a period of intense effort.
The advent of each day brings us joys and challenges, each of which have the ability to alter our life-state in some way. Joys tend to raise our life-state, challenges may lower it if we let them, and therein 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.
Every now and then it is a good thing to brush up on the basics. That applies to pretty much everything in life, be it academic, occupational, sporting or more especially spiritual. 
The Search For Enlightenment 
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