The Buddha in Your Mirror: Practical Buddhism and the Search for Self by Woody Hochswender & Greg Martin & Ted Morino

Author:Woody Hochswender & Greg Martin & Ted Morino [Hochswender, Woody]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Middleway Press
Published: 2012-03-01T06:00:00+00:00

Optimism: The Dawn of Hope

Tapping our absolute happiness also means living optimistically. Optimists are healthier and more successful. “No empowerment is so effective as self-empowerment,” wrote Harvard University historian and economist David S. Landes in his 1999 book, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. “In this world, the optimists have it, not because they are always right, but because they are always positive. Even when wrong, they are positive, and that is the way to achievement.”

Buddhism teaches us to regard everything in a positive light, as an opportunity for growth, as the raw material for developing absolute happiness. Chanting Nammyoho-renge-kyo is the wellspring of this optimism and growth, what Buddhism calls “value creation.” This well-spring enables practitioners to turn everything in their lives, joys and sufferings alike, into causes for absolute happiness. As a result, individuals develop confidence in their power to transform even intense suffering into the raw material of happiness. With this power, everything is a benefit, an opportunity.

Let’s turn to another real-life example. One fifty-eight-year-old engineering executive and Buddhist practitioner, who had devoted his entire career to a large company, found his happiness and self- confidence seriously tested when he lost his job as a result of downsizing.

At his age, his job prospects were poor. Although he made extraordinary efforts to look for work, weeks turned into months with no job on the horizon. Family savings were exhausted, bills were unpaid.

But the real challenge was that he began to lose hope. This loss of hope drained him of the determination and energy necessary to investigate and prepare for a new career. He was confronted with the prospect of losing everything for which he had worked. He came face to face with the fickle nature of a happiness based on success, status and material wealth.

He sought spiritual counseling from other experienced Buddhists and learned to see his situation as an opportunity to develop a more solid foundation for his inner life, to pursue the treasures of the heart rather than those of the storehouse. He realized that he had been neglecting his family and other important relationships as well as his health and personal growth. He had been, in effect, trading gold for dross.

He focused his chanting, using this crisis as an opportunity to set a new course in life with his priorities straight. He began to see his problem as an important opportunity. With this shift of perspective, renewed optimism and determination began to flow from deep within his life. This filled him with fresh energy and a willingness to seek opportunities in directions he had previously not considered.

Almost immediately, an entry-level opportunity opened in a completely new field. He investigated and found it surprisingly exciting. There were possibilities for unlimited advancement. He eventually developed a highly successful new career that became far more fulfilling than the work he had done before. More important, his newfound success did not distract him from his commitment to self-development, family and friends.

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