The theme of today in Buddhist retreat land is Human Revolution.
There is a very famous quote written by Daisaku Ikeda – the International President of the Soka Gakkai International (my lay Buddhist organization practicing the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin). The quote is as follows:
"A great human revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and further, will enable a change in the destiny of humankind."
Human Revolution is the name given to the process of a transformation a human being goes through when applying the practice of Nichiren Buddhism to their life. It is fundamental change within the self of a person through the ownership and recognition of causes that make us unhappy and the work of uprooting these causes of suffering from our life through chanting Nam myoho renge kyo.
It involves very active meditation for oneself and others – and over the past two days I've been doing a lot of it here at the SGI-USA Florida Nature Culture Center – a place for study and faith encouragement.
I've also had a lot to eat because the volunteer chefs planned it that way. Today, interestingly enough both lunch and dinner featured artichokes.
I say it was a day of human revolution because today I began the process of some serious transformation in my life and that of my family. A leader over the weekend encouraged us by asking the question – if a single person can change the destiny of a nation how hard can it be then to change a family? And if change starts from within myself in this practice – I must now make a determination to be the change I truly wish to see.
A poem for you:
Human Revolution is effort squeezed
from the interconnective tissue of cause & effect.
A blood orange dripping fabulous red juice
pulled from your veins.
it is all inside you
the scream
the victorious yelp
the possible exploding firework in the sky writing your name.
Own your blood that pumps through the suffering.
Recognize the only thing you can change is you.
Your faith the shovel to find the root of the bush
that just keeps growing back to stab you again and again
until your prayer pick-ax plucks it up and out of your life.
The root cellar is waiting for your harvest.
I’ve made big changes in my life as well this year. It’s true that the first step is often the hardest. I worked in the Everglades years ago, so it’s also nice to come across someone blogging from Florida.
Happy April NaBloPoMo!