Outcomes
I have been doing a lot of driving lately, and will be doing even more over the next few months. I set out in my car with a clear destination in mind, a route planned out, a length of stay, a purpose for the trip; all of the details are worked out so upon completion I’ll know I am finished and whether or not I accomplished what I wanted.
Some of my trips will be short others long, some I will drive with purpose the most direct roads and others will be much freer. Some of the journeys will be to accomplish a particular task while others will be merely for the adventure. I’ll have a different set of criteria for judging the outcome of each trip.
I suspect that I would be very unhappy if I expected the same outcome or if I used the same standards of measurement for each of these different trips. Each trip will have a different purpose and so should necessarily be judged by different standards.
Makes sense doesn’t it? Yet it is surprising how many times people, even myself, measure an outcome and judge its success or failure based upon a standard that does not apply to the situation.
Star-King-Flower! This sutra saves all living beings. This sutra saves them from all sufferings, and gives them great benefits. All living beings will be able to fulfill their wishes by this sutra just as a man who reaches a pond of fresh water when he is thirsty…” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter XXIII)
This passage goes on and lists all kinds of examples of wishes being fulfilled. I think it is interesting to note the use of the word ‘just as’ instead of ‘like’. Consider for a moment the experience of having a wish fulfilled or a desire satisfied. Consider the deep down emotional experience and not the physical manifestation of the experience.
There are many ways for us to experience the satisfaction or joy of fulfillment, and we can better see this if we open ourselves up to the experience and not focus on the physical manifestation of the things that surround the event.
My trips will have different outcomes, yet each can be fulfilling. If we focus on the stuff and not the experience we may never be completely satisfied, and we could potentially miss the experience of having our wish for enlightenment slip right on by.
“Just as a torch dispels darkness, this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma saves all living beings from all sufferings, from all diseases, and from all the bonds of birth and death. The merits to be given to the person who, after hearing this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, copies it, or causes others to copy it, cannot be measured even by the wisdom of the Buddha.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter XXIII)
