(Photo above by Cottonbro / Pexels)
There are many reasons why people move. Maybe for a new job, to finally be reunited with their partner after a long-distance relationship, or it could just be that they want a fresh start.
At the same time, we can run into unexpected feelings when we make these major changes and start to wonder if it was the best move. So, what do we do then?
Buddhism teaches that it’s not the situation we find ourselves in that will determine whether we are happy or unhappy. Ultimately, it is what we feel in our hearts. This doesn’t mean that situations can’t impact our emotions, rather by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to bring out the Buddhability within, we can become stronger than whatever we’re facing.
Buddhism teaches that it’s not the situation we find ourselves in that will determine whether we are happy or unhappy. Ultimately, it is what we feel in our hearts.
In the early 1960s, the late Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda traveled around the globe, encouraging practitioners amid very difficult circumstances. One person in particular shared how she decided to marry an American soldier against her parents’ wishes and move to Hawai’i, hoping for a happier life.
But all she was met with was prejudice and a marriage that was the opposite of what she had envisioned. Although she wanted to move back to Japan, there would be no support as her parents had disowned her. If she stayed in Hawai’i, she felt she would just continue to suffer. Either way, it seemed that she would be unhappy.
Not knowing what to do, during a small group discussion, she opened up to Ikeda about her struggles, and he encouraged her, explaining the Buddhist perspective:
Whether you [go back] is something that you must decide for yourself. However, as you already know, happiness will not necessarily be waiting for you there. Unless you change your karma, your problems will follow you wherever you go. The idea that happiness exists somewhere else resembles the thinking of the Nembutsu (Pure Land) school of Buddhism, which teaches the existence of a distant pure land located billions of Buddha lands to the west. Nichiren Buddhism, however, enables us to transform the place where we are now into “a land of Eternally Tranquil Light” and there construct a palace of happiness. To that end, you have to change the karma that makes you suffer. … There is no other way than to dramatically transform your own life condition. When you change your state of life, your environment will naturally start changing as well. This is the principle of the oneness of life and its environment. A grand palace of happiness exists within your own heart. Faith is the key that opens the door to that palace.
The New Human Revolution, vol. 1, p. 43
Buddhism teaches that happiness already exists within a person’s life. Therefore, by developing a life condition that is unmoved by changing circumstances, we can build a successful and happy life. So rather than feeling like we are stuck or only have a few options, we can start by chanting with a determination to become happy right where we are. No matter what happens, with chanting, we can open a path forward. And it starts by breaking through within.