Audio recording of this Dharma Talk given live after the service.
Good morning, thank you all for being here today to chant the Sutra and the Odaimoku. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving with family and friends. I hope you remembered to express your appreciation for those things in your life that really matter. When you recited the sutra I hope you remembered to express your gratitude and appreciation to the Buddha for his wonderful gift to us, the Buddha Dharma.
Some time ago a violinist sat in the subway of New York playing his violin. This was a January morning during rush hour. He played six pieces by Bach for about 45 minutes. Since this was rush hour there were literally thousands of people who passed the violinist by. It was three minutes before anyone slowed or seemed to even pay any attention to the fact that he was playing. There was a middle aged man who slowed briefly but then hurried along to his destination.
A minuet later he received his first tip of one dollar given to him by a woman who didn’t even slow down to listen, she merely tossed her dollar into his hat. A few minuets later a man leaned against the wall to listen briefly but looking at his watch he hurried away, probably late for his connection.
The person who seemed to pay the most attention was a three year old boy who’s mother kept pushing him along even though the boy clearly wanted to stay and listen.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
The violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the top musicians in the world and he played for 45 minutes some of the most intricate violin pieces on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days earlier, Joshua Bell had played a sold our performance where seats were averaging $100 each.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty?
The door you have been looking for.
How often do we also fail to see the Buddha in others and in ourselves?
How often do we fail to see the Buddha’s pure land in our own existence?
Chapter II of the Lotus Sutra says:
“The profound and Wonderful Dharma is difficult to see and difficult to understand.” Chapter II Expedients
Notice it says difficult, not impossible. It does take effort on our part to perceive the Wonderful Dharma, we have to make effort. Just as in the story above, we can choose to walk swiftly by without regard to the Dharma in our lives or we can choose to slow down and view our lives as the Buddha teaches us, with great appreciation.
Sometimes we find it easy to blame our unhappiness on other people or on circumstances we believe are beyond our control. But this amounts to nothing more than transferring our personal responsibility to someone or something outside ourselves, this never leads to happiness.
In Chapter II just as the Buddha began to expound the heart of the Lotus Sutra 500 disciples left the assembly on Mount Sacred Eagle. So too, when we fail to examine our own lives for the causes to our suffering we are in fact leaving the Lotus Sutra and choosing to walk away from the assembly. The Buddha says:
“They could not see their own faults. They could not observe all the precepts. They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.” Chapter II Expedients
It is incumbent upon us to diligently apply ourselves to the practice of the Lotus Sutra, to constantly chant the Odaimoku, recite the Sutra, study diligently, and to try our best to show others the joy and benefit of following and practicing the Lotus Sutra.
“The Buddha expounds his enlightenment, difficult to understand, with expedients according to the capacities of all living beings. We obtained merits by the good karmas which we did in this life of ours and in our previous existence. We also obtained merits by seeing the Buddha. May we attain the enlightenment of the Buddha by these merits!” Chapter III A Parable
In a way we can view our daily lives as an expedient to enable us to practice the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sutra. Our lives no matter how difficult are appropriately suited to being solved by our own selves. But fundamentally we must choose to see the Buddha in our lives in order to actually be able to manifest it.
Finally let us remember to keep these words of the Buddha closely held in our minds and hearts:
Anyone who keeps, reads and recites the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma [after your extinction], will be able to see me with such joy that he will make more efforts. Chapter XXVIII.Universal-Sage Bodhisattva
The more we make efforts and perceive the Buddha in our own lives the greater will be our joy and that will cause us to look even deeper to make even greater efforts and thereby enabling us to go deeper into our own Buddha nature and see even more of our lives in the Buddha land.
I hope that each of you continues to strive daily in your efforts to realize your own Buddha life. Every day do your best to recite the Sutra, chant Odaimoku and study.
In closing let me ask you all to promise me that you will do your best. OK?
