Awakening to Your Mission

Becoming People Who Enjoy Practicing the Way

Tachibana Akemi (1812–68), who was born in present-day Fukui Prefecture, was a Japanese poet of the late Edo period. He left us many poems bursting with happiness, full of gratitude and joy for the minor incidents of daily life.
“What a joy it is / When, spreading out some paper, / I take up my brush / And write far more skillfully / Than I could have expected.” “What a joy it is / When my wife and children / Are at peace with each other, / Their heads nodding / in harmony as they eat.” “What a joy it is / When, rising in the morning, / I go outside and / See a flower that has bloomed / That was not there yesterday.” From such poems of his that start with “What a joy it is,” we can sense the serenity in a mind that can always accept, gratefully, whatever happens in any situation.

During these eight months, I have discussed, one by one, the practices of the Eightfold Path and described what each of them means to me. This month’s topic, “right meditation,” is the last practice of the Eightfold Path.

Right meditation means that because your mind is always peacefully abiding in the teachings of the Buddha, you are not shaken up by the changes happening around you. In a sense, the attitude apparent in the poems of Tachibana Akemi is one example of right meditation: namely, even if you have very little, you do not feel disappointed and wholeheartedly accept the happiness to be found in your situation.

Your state of happiness and being happy is truly important, which is something that I previously mentioned in my discussion of right view, the first practice of the Eightfold Path, when I wrote in the May issue of this newsletter that right view means seeing things in a way that “puts your feelings at ease.” Also, to quote from the Analects of Confucius, “One who knows it, falls behind one who likes it; and one who likes it, falls behind one who enjoys it.” In other words, when people are making an effort to practice the Way, the best thing of all is to enjoy doing so.

Joyfully accepting anything and everything, and taking care to maintain that perspective, puts your feelings at ease. Unswayed by the suffering before your very eyes, you can lead a life that is truly calm and pleasant.

The Aspiration of a Bodhisattva

Incidentally, the Chinese character meaning “right” (正) in each of the practices of the Eightfold Path is made up of two characters: the one on top indicates the numeral “one” (一), and that on the bottom, the verb “to stay” (止). In Buddhism, of course, one indicates the Truth and the Dharma. That is, each of the practices of the Eightfold Path is, for us, a practice of “staying with the Truth” and the basis for doing so is the first of these, right view. In this sense, I think it is important that those people who say that it is too much to practice all of the Eightfold Path in the course of living each day, somehow make a habit of reflecting upon themselves and returning to right view.

In particular, when things are at an impasse or your heart is in pain, if you correctly look at the phenomena occurring before your eyes, which means returning to “one”—that is, the Truth—you will be better able to understand what is troubling your mind and how to put your feelings at ease, won’t you?
The group of people who are seeking a way of life that accords with the Truth are, in Buddhism, called “the assembly of those resolved to become awakened” (in Japanese, literally, “the assembly of those with right meditation”). Plainly speaking, they are people who are “determined to become like the Buddha,” and from this description, we can more deeply grasp the meaning of right meditation.

By seeing things just as they are (right view), like the Buddha does, you attain the purified mind of tranquility (right meditation)—which is leading a life according to the aspiration of a bodhisattva to relieve the suffering of others and help them attain the mind of compassion.

However, the method of advancing to such a vow is, of course, not limited to “right view.” The presentation of the Eightfold Path as eight distinct virtuous practices is none other than Shakyamuni’s kindness in manifesting ways of teaching appropriate to every kind of individual’s own diligent effort.

We are all mutually causing one another to live. I hope that, in the midst of this state of existence, we who have learned, through the teachings of the Buddha, a lifestyle that is appropriate to humanity, will continue to walk on the Buddha Way and fulfill our mission to reveal the buddha-nature in as many people as possible.