Magic
The art of being a successful magician is the ability to play to the assumptions of their viewer. A magician holds up his palm to the viewer and there is an assumption that the hand is empty. Yet while there may be nothing in the palm there is most certainly something there, perhaps a coin held between the fingers in such a way it is not visible. The viewer expects things to look and behave in certain ways because that is the way they have always looked and behaved.
“We have never seen nor heard of such a wonderful thing as this before. Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha appear Somewhere in the universe?” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter VII)
How often do we have habitual assumptions of illusions? We may look at our lives and fail to see what is so plainly there and so we continue to live a life based upon a false idea.
“It is difficult to see a Buddha, who can be seen only once in hundreds of millions of kalpas.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter I)
Throughout our days we repeat patterns of behavior based upon nothing other than habitual illusion. We engage in the same patterns that have lead us to suffering in the past and will do so now. Why do we do this. We suffer from the illusion that either there is no problem to begin with or that somehow this time those same efforts will yield differing results. Either way it is an illusion just as clever as that of the magician.
We become frazzled over some situation, we panic because of some trigger, we become enraged due to some perceived wrong. We do it all over and over as if repeating some nightmare.
“Having seen all this, and having heard the Dharma from him, they took faith in him, and followed him.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter XX)
Now we have the great Dharma of the Lotus Sutra, we can chant the Odaimoku so that we no longer live under false illusions of using suffering to eliminate suffering.
“They are now troubled by many sufferings. They are in the thick forests of wrong views. They say “Things exist,” or “Things do not exist.” They are attached to sixty-two wrong views. They are deeply attached to unreal things.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter II)
Sometimes our personal struggles are so familiar and so deeply ingrained in our lives that we can not see them, as if we can not see the forest for all the trees.
“All living beings are dying of thirst. I will water them. I will save them from suffering. I will give them the pleasure of peace, the pleasure of the world, and the pleasure of Nirvana.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter VII)
The next time you find yourself falling into the trap of repeating your patterns of behavior, take a moment and breathe deeply from your abdomen, and chant the Odaimoku to yourself. Ask yourself what are you responding to and is there some other way that you might respond which will break the cycle, your pattern. At first you may not succeed but gradually, little by little you can change. Chanting Odaimoku will enable you to find the middle path through your sufferings.
