(From my book Lotus Path Vol. I)
It could be Legos or it could be anything. How many times have you gotten some item that required some assembly and just jumped right in without reading the instructions?
Children are frequently enthralled with the bright colored building blocks that snap together and can be used to construct all manner of things. Legos can be used to build almost anything the imagination can conceive. But sometimes our ability to conceive something is limited by our ability to assemble the pieces. That is why directions can be very helpful.
I know that I consider myself to be a somewhat clever person, sometimes too clever for my own good. I have on numerous occasions taken out of the box some item I have purchased that requires assembly, and jumped right in putting things together. Yet often times I find that I have to take something back apart because I didn’t realize that I had done things out of order. Other times I realize that I can’t quite get it to work just right. I pull out the instructions and either undo what I have already done or begin again.
We are given the perfect instructions in the Lotus Sutra for our individual attainment of enlightenment. It really doesn’t matter who we are, or even who we think we are, we can achieve the same enlightenment as all the Buddhas, though it will be unique to our individual selves.
The directions are pretty straightforward, they are not complex, though they are difficult to maintain. Keeping, or upholding the sutra, reading it, reciting it, copying it and teaching are all we have to do. Praising the Lotus Sutra in all we do is fundamentally at the heart of each of these things.
It isn’t the body of the Buddha we praise it is the teachings, which are perfectly contained within the Lotus Sutra.
Do you take shortcuts in your Buddhist practice?Honestly?
Do you view your entire day’s activities as Buddhist practice or do you set boundaries; some things Buddhist and other things not?
What is the first thing you do when you wake up?Is it to chant the Odaimoku?
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