BLOOMING A SINGLE FLOWER IN ANY ENVIORMENT

Some people are in very prestigious companies and blossom there, while others work hard and blossom beautifully in mid-range or even small companies.

The same goes for school. There are good schools, and there are schools that are said to be "bottom schools", but there are people who study, grow, and flourish in the schools that are said to be bottom schools.

Even within families, there are misfortunes. A family member may become ill, or a family member may be disabled in an accident. A sibling may die prematurely (die young) from an illness or accident. One or both parents may die. There may be many other misfortunes, such as the family running away at night with debts.

However, "No matter what kind of environment we find ourselves in, let a single flower bloom, like a lotus flower blooming out of the mire. If we live our lives with the determination, "Let's live in purity and cleanliness", it is possible for you to bloom your flower in your own way. The size of the flower may vary, but even a small flower is perfect.

Please understand that the lotus flower blooms out of the mud!

If you do not understand what I am saying, you should take a look at a pond with lotus flowers in bloom. Out of the filthy mud, flowers that look out of this world are growing and blooming.

The path to enlightenment that the Buddha strived for was also like that.

You cannot purify and cleanse everything in this world. But even in the midst of it, let a flower bloom, just as a lotus flower blooms out of the mud. That is enlightenment in your environment.

You cannot change the environment itself. You cannot erase all the past misfortunes you have experienced.

However, even if you are born into an unhappy environment, it does not mean that everyone in a similar environment must go to the bottom of misery.

It is possible for you to refine your mind, seek your own path, and produce a flower in that environment. It should be possible for everyone.

That is what the Buddha was teaching.

Enlightenment in that sense is possible. It is possible to be enlightened in the sense of "to blossom a flower in one's own situation, circumstances, and environment."

In this sense, the idea that "all people have Buddha nature and have the potential to become buddhas" is correct. Not everyone can become Buddha in the sense of "being able to preach the Dharma to save the world, but it is possible to blossom a flower in one's environment, in one's mire. We must not forget such a path.

And do not have too much desires. Do not have too much greed in this world. Knowing to be content, find the path to happiness in "making your own flower bloom in any environment and in any adversity.

It is not true that if all objective conditions are met, one will be happy. There are many people who are born into an environment that is the envy of others, and who seem to have all the conditions, but whose hearts are empty and dark.

On the other hand, there are many people who shine brightly even in modest circumstances. From a Buddhist perspective, it is important to aim for and attain that radiance.

In other words, "If you look at the environment around you, or at the way you have lived and the mind you have now, it may be a quagmire. But from there, you must let enlightenment bloom, however small it may be.

Please, do not end up being a worldly consequentialist, and do not think that "if worldly things are good, all is well".

To "make one flower bloom in one's own way in any environment" is the answer to the phrase, "Life is a workbook of problems."

From "Recommendations for Faith" by Ryuho Okawa