Wondrous Things
As we practice Buddhism and begin to see changes in our lives we frequently have the desire to influence others to also practice Buddhism. We are certain the happiness we experience can be beneficial to our friends or family members. Sometimes we are successful in sharing; yet often we are not.
Convincing our closest friends or our family members to embrace Buddhist practice is perhaps one of the most difficult practices. In some cases it may even seem impossible, or at least we may think it so.
“The mother said to them,’Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees the wonders, he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’” Lotus Sutra, Chapter XXVII)
The story is the desire of two sons to have their father allow them to go to see the Buddha at that time who was teaching the Wonderful Lotus Flower Dharma. The mother encourages them to show some wondrous thing to the father so that he will be moved to allow them to visit the Buddha.
There are a couple of key elements here to consider when we think about sharing Buddhism with other people, especially our closest friends and family. These people probably know us differently than we know ourselves.
There is a concept called Johari Window, which maps out the areas of self in relation to what we know about ourselves and what others know about us. It is interesting in that it acknowledges that there is much about ourselves others see which we are unaware of.
When we speak to others about the wonderful benefits we feel we have obtained through practicing Buddhism we are frequently blind to how others perceive us. We may be only looking at what we think we know of ourselves, and ignoring what we don’t know of ourselves but others clearly see.
The changes we can recognize within ourselves can serve as the motivator for the compassion to share Buddhism with others. However it is the changes deeper down, the ones we don’t see but others do; those changes will have the greatest impact on influencing our friends and families to practice Buddhism.
“Seeing these wonders displayed by the supernatural powers of his sons, the father had the greatest joy that he had ever had. He joined his hands together towards his sons staying in the sky, and said, ‘Who is your teacher? Whose disciples are you?’” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter XXVII)
