It is not true that we and we alone are the source of our environment, our problems, or even overcoming our problems. Nichiren taught that there are Four Powers: The power of faith; the power of practice; the power of the Buddha (Gohonzon); and the power of the Law. The first two powers are cause generated and the last two are condition generated (causes and conditions)
Yes, it was our karma to be born in this Saha realm and to encounter Namu Myoho renge kyo.
However their are also evil societies and retched environments that only massive shakubuku will change. The time is not quite right for billions to chant Namu Myoho renge kyo but i suspect, the time is rapidly approaching. Faster than I even imagined five years ago.
That everything derives from the mind is a type of Yogacara (Mind Only Buddhism) and is basically untrue. For example there are six causes of illness taught in Nichiren's Buddhism and "karma" is but one of the causes. Yogacara basically derives from the Flower Garland Sutra, the third most profound Sutra. It teaches, “The mind is like a skilled painter.” Life and our environment is more complicated than our causes or even our karma.
As we read in Gongyo, "only a Buddha with a Buddha can exhaustively penetrate the Reality of the Dharmas". The Three Realms (of The Three Thousand Realms in a Moment of Thought) is indeed difficult to penetrate. There is The Realm of the Individual which is composed of the Five Aggregates: 1). Form or matter; 2). Consciousness; 3). Feeling or Conception; 4). Perception including memory; 5). Mental formations or volition. It includes, for example one's power and influence. Then there is The Realm of Society, all the billions of people's Five Aggregates and their power and influence. Lastly, there is The Realm of the Environment's Five Aggregates, for example, the Gohonzon's Five Aggregates, its power and influence. This is the most difficult Realm to understand.
Therefore, there is a panoply of the Three Realms. In short, there are both causes and conditions, our own and not our own.
The Sooner State is no stranger to tornados, wildfires, floods and severe winter storms, but it’s not just natural disasters leaving people in despair.
ReplyDeleteAs the price of oil has crashed, the Oklahoma government has declared “revenue failures” three times — in 2020, 2017 and 2016 — meaning it pulled in less money than it allocated for public services.
Oklahoma’s lowest ranking was emotional and physical well-being, at 48th place. In a scathing 2017 analysis, The Guardian said Oklahoma was leading the nation in education cuts, expulsions and female incarceration rates, while it came second for male incarceration.
“The western half of the state is in economic arrest unless they have a military base, oil or gas boom going,” writes Gordon Couger on Quora. “We don’t have much skilled labor left. Most are old or have found greener pastures. It is difficult to hire people and get them to move to Oklahoma due the lousy weather and poor schools.”
Actually, where I live in the east, it is lush with rolling hills and mountains and the weather is good, sometimes with temperatures in the 70s in January and February. 10 years ago, we had a bad winter of below zero temperatures for ten days straight but then it again rapidly climbed into the 60s. Only two ice storms in the last thirteeen years where it was difficult to get up the mountain and one where I had to stay with my daughter in the valley. A rare tornado scare is not too much to bare to see eagles on my fence and a black panther in the distance.
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