Wisdom is the greatest benefit of our Buddhist practice
“Prayer in Buddhism is significantly different from the prayer that many of us were familiar with in our upbringing. If we don’t understand the difference, then there will be a tendency in us to continue to pray as though we are trying to communicate with some external power. This would be taking on only the superficial aspects of a Buddha, while remaining attached to previous ways of thinking…
In Buddhism, the “source” or the “power” is within us. A Buddhist prayer is inner-directed. We are seeking assistance from our own Buddha nature within. In Buddhism, human beings are inherently worthy and good. We possess the Buddha nature. Buddhist prayers are then filled with a sense of responsibility and appreciation….
Our prayer should be that we are going to try to gather lotuses in the muddy swamp of our own life. Chanting daimoku to the Gohonzon is intended to open our eyes to see that lotus blossom. It is extremely difficult for us to perceive what is at the depths of our lives. The Daishonin created a prayer for us to open our eyes and see revealed, the treasure that we possess.
If you are chanting in front of the Gohonzon and searching for some power out there to come to you and bring you a miracle, you are looking in the wrong place. Our Buddha nature is in the deep dark storehouse of our lives. It is not easy to find. We tend to look for our Buddha nature in the areas in our lives where we can see easily. Within our lives lie not only the cause of our suffering, but also the solution to all of our problems.
If you pray with an outwardly-directed prayer, your prayers will not be answered. Nothing will happen…
The intent of our prayer in Buddhism is to transform illusion into wisdom. Wisdom is the greatest benefit of our Buddhist practice. Our society tends to promote the view that the purpose of life is to collect as much material possession as possible. Buddhism says that this is not the purpose of life.”
Greg Martin
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