by Nichiko Niwano

Finding Spiritual Satisfaction

The ability to be profoundly moved by the things we see, hear, and touch greatly enriches life. Emotional experiences of this kind resound in the mind with a freshness that makes us feel alive. The inability to be moved is one of life's greatest unhappinesses, since it cripples the spiritual activity of beings thought to represent the pinnacle of creation. Without the ability to be moved, a person may as well be dead.

Humankind has largely lost the ability to be touched by the beauty of a flower or to be stirred to admiration by a good deed. And that loss, experienced by most adults, influences the world of children.

The solution lies in having aims in life. Too many people either concern themselves solely with immediate material desires or simply drift through life without aims of any kind. Such people not only lack interest in spiritual matters but also sometimes allow selfish calculations to stimulate them to act against their conscience. As long as life goes on as usual, these people do not run into problems. But hard times and setbacks can cause such people to lose sight of life's meaning and to despair.

When things take a turn for the worse, such people tend to blame circumstances or other people. Laying blame elsewhere neither solves problems nor leads to self-improvement. Many passages in Buddhist scriptures stress our responsibility for our own acts and attitudes.

We often act out of fear of what others might say or out of fear of the consequences of failing to act. But even if the results of our acts are good, we are not likely to get much spiritual satisfaction if we act out of fear.

For example, a child goes shopping for his or her mother out of fear of a scolding, and the child's mother rewards the child with a small coin. Another child goes shopping out of a desire to be helpful. This child's mother, too, rewards her child with a small coin. The second child's satisfaction is much greater. That child knows what joy a good deed brings his or her mother. The mother's joy is the child's joy, and the good deed is the child's greatest reward. All the first child gets is small change. This illustrates the psychological advantage of spontaneous virtue.

All people subconsciously desire to do good and to find happiness in the happiness of others. The fulfillment of this desire brings the deepest possible satisfaction. Choosing service to others as one's highest ideal helps anyone, not just a few special people, discover profoundly moving things every day. People devoted to this ideal see and think about things differently from people without this ideal.

When we are moved by something, we should immediately express our feelings to the people around us, since doing so is certain to awaken a response in them. In a world with so many problems, people of religious faith must have the desire to awaken the capacity for deep emotion in everyone they meet.

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We often hear our age described as one of diverse values, but a reexamination of events occurring around us suggests that it would be more accurately called an age of confused values. After World War II, most Japanese devoted their energies to satisfying economic and material needs instead of concerning themselves with spiritual matters. Though some people say the present age is one of major interest in religion, confused concentration on material things and money continues to cause social problems.

Many people are unaware that their real motives for doing things stem from subconscious material desires. These subconscious desires cause human beings to spin the dark web of slander, hatred, jealousy, bribery, corruption, anger, conflict, and despair that ceaselessly ensnares society.

Though we need money and material goods to sustain life, they should not be our highest goals. Nonetheless, the idea that they are worthy goals has a growing influence on education, politics, and other aspects of society. To halt the recurring cycle of social problems in this age of confused values and to restore true humanity, we must put material goods and wealth in their proper places and then reexamine our highest goals in life.

In A.D. 604, as Japan was first attaining national awareness, Prince-Regent Shotoku promulgated his Seventeen-Article Constitution as a guide to government at a time when, just as today, society faced many problems and lacked spiritual unity.

The second article of the constitution states that the Three Treasures of Buddhism should be the mainstay of all people: "Sincerely reverence the Three Treasures. The Three Treasures--the Buddha, the Law, and the monastic order--are the final refuge of the four categories of living creatures and the supreme objects of faith in all countries. What person in what age can fail to reverence this law? Few people are utterly bad. They can be taught to follow it. But if they do not betake themselves to the Three Treasures, how shall their crookedness be made straight?"

We must not allow the three poisons of greed, anger, and folly, which afflict all people, to cause us to despair, for all of us are endowed with the buddha-nature, the potential for attaining buddhahood. If we constantly and diligently devote ourselves to the Three Treasures, we will without fail be awakened to our buddha-nature and therefore do good deeds. Each time I read the Seventeen-Article Constitution, Prince Shotoku's ideas and words make me realize how deeply he must have wanted to create an ideal country imbued with a profound religious spirit and the teachings of Buddhism and Confucianism.

While faith in the Three Treasures is a requisite for Buddhists, it is also, as Prince Shotoku's text points out, fundamental to living in a way consonant with the best in human nature. Faith in the Three Treasures is of supreme value for our time. We should be grateful for the Buddha's compassion and should live according to his teachings, constantly improving ourselves through contact with others who share our aspirations. Doing these things will enable anyone to find meaning in life and discover true goals.

In times of adversity or confusion, we should never slacken our diligence but should have faith in the Three Treasures and all the more fervently seek the Way of enlightenment. When we adopt this attitude, even hardship and adversity become opportunities for self-improvement and progress.

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Reflecting on our thoughts and actions in order to correct our mistakes or our behavior is extremely important. But we must not become obsessed with our past, lest religious faith seem merely a matter of reflection and repentance. We must be especially cautious in this, since people often develop obsessions unwittingly.

In accordance with the principle of cause and effect, we are the sum of our past thoughts and deeds, but the goal of Buddhism is much more than simply to point this out. Buddhism teaches the great importance of the present, which influences the future just as the past has influenced the present. Unless these influences are taken into account, the principle of cause and effect becomes mere fatalism, generating resignation, self-deprecation, and lethargy. These hinder faith from aiding our progress toward the attainment of buddhahood, which is the goal of our faith. We must never forget that reflection and repentance should always be opportunities for further spiritual growth.

Some people try to eliminate undesirable phenomena through reflection and repentance. But this is a mistake, because such elimination neither brings about a basic solution to the problem of the moment nor helps one learn from the phenomena themselves.

Essentially, all phenomena amount to sermons by the Buddha to enlighten us to various truths. In this light, seeming misfortunes like illness, accident, and economic hardship can be viewed as the Buddha's guideposts to more profound, richer spiritual states. Such a view in turn gives us the courage and determination to overcome all hardships and to accept all phenomena with gratitude and joy. People who can do this have made great strides in developing the best in themselves.

Not only do the results of merely reflecting on and repenting of one's past differ from the results of making one's past a guide for spiritual progress, but the difference also grows ever greater with time.

We tend to define happiness and the true merits of faith as avoiding hardship and living in peace. That definition is imperfect, however. Whereas such things as recovering from an illness or overcoming financial difficulties are certainly good in themselves, they are but one kind of merit of faith.

The greatest merits of faith are accepting the compassion of the Buddha in all phenomena with gratitude and joy and adopting this attitude daily in creating a hopeful way of life. Accepting the Buddha's compassion in this way and unflaggingly and resolutely living to share our happiness with others are both our reason for living and the core of our religious faith.