A Guide to the - Rissho Kosei-kai

Desires in the Service of VirtueAs Japan has come to assume a greater role in international affairs, its people have placed greaterimportance on ability in foreign languages and on professional knowledge and skills. These areindisputably significant, but does it not seem that there is something even more important,namely the possession of a certain "mirror" with which one can view one's way of life?We have various desires: to be found sexually attractive, to obtain a better lifestyle, to succeedin business, to attain positions of honor and distinction, to raise our children to be respectablemembers of society. Desires such as these‐‐for self‐improvement‐‐are manifold and entirelyreasonable. However, if one becomes enslaved to such desires, then one may lose sight of theright way to live. Therefore one must be extremely cautious.The delusions that lie concealed in the depths of the human heart are not easily extinguished.The eminent, virtuous priest Saicho (767‐‐822), finding this to be the case, humbly referred tohimself as "Low‐down Saicho," and a holy man like Honen (1133‐‐1212) disparaged himself as"Grumbling Honen." This self‐awareness in and of itself is priceless. Too often those who areconceited enough to think themselves virtuous never improve spiritually.If we were to negate all human desires, we would be left with a mere shell of humanity.Buddhism says that human beings possess 108 delusions, so even if one hoped to make a cleansweep of them all, it would be well‐nigh impossible. On the contrary, one's whole spirit mightbe caught up in the impossible task, and one would find oneself in a great predicament. YetMahayana Buddhism teaches that these same delusions are means for progress along the roadto enlightenment. For example, while the agony of lost love may drive one person to heavydrinking, it may lead another to write a superior novel. Aggressive enterprise may lead a personeither to break the law or to contribute to a whole nation's prosperity.Now then, how might these delusions be put to good use? I believe that the foundation for thismay be found in the Eightfold Path preached by the Buddha. Following his enlightenment, theBuddha first expounded the Dharma to the five ascetics in Deer Park, at Sarnath, and preachedthe Eightfold Path, consisting of right view, right thinking, right speech, right action, right living,right endeavor, right memory, and right meditation. If one set out to practice all eight from thevery beginning, one would very soon abandon the attempt as impossible. As a first step, let usconsider putting the first three into practice. As one endeavors to see, think, and speak rightly,the remaining five naturally follow along in good order.The terms "right" and "rightly" mean thinking and behaving in ways consistent not only withreason and ethics but with the two truths "All things are impermanent" and "Nothing has anego.""All things are impermanent" means that everyone and everything is constantly changing. Thesun and the innumerable other heavenly bodies are incessantly metamorphosing; thesubatomic particles that constitute all matter change from moment to moment. Neither ourbodies nor our environment are exempt from this law of change. For example, Japan's lifetimeemployment system, so often pointed to as a special feature of Japanese companies, is slowlyundergoing a change. More and more workers change jobs in pursuit of work where they maymake better use of their abilities, and even large corporations have begun to hire people inmidcareer. Furthermore, there are continuous changes in management styles, from a stress onapplied technology to an emphasis on basic technology, from the pursuit of efficiency to aquest for creativity.23