“Life contains the capacity, like flames that reach toward heaven, to transform suffering and pain into the energy needed of value-creation, into light that illuminates darkness. Like the wind traversing vast spaces unhindered, life has the power to uproot and overturn all obstacles and difficulties. Like clear flowing water, it can wash away all stains and impurities. And finally, life, like the great earth that sustains vegetation, impartially protects all people with its compassionate, nurturing force.”

For Today & Tomorrow Daily Encouragement, Daisaku Ikeda

Every morning I read from a book written by Daisuku Ikeda, third president of the Soka Gakkai International, entitled For Today & Tomorrow – Daily Encouragement. It is an inspirational book with  a “food for thought” for everyday (365 days-dated), insightful quotes to give you focus for the day. Although I read one for each day, sometime I will randomly open the book and read. Today, I came upon this one written for February 17. Even though I’ve been practicing for over a decade and I’ve been reading from this book every morning for about almost the same amount of time, for the first time, this passage, took on a more profound meaning for me.

Most of the time when I think about life, I have little sayings such as  ‘life is good’, ‘its a beautiful life’, or ‘what a great life’, etc. If things are a tough or challenging, I will say ‘life is tough’ or ‘hard’ or when something goes awry I’ll say, ‘such is life or ‘that’s life.

Reflecting on these lines:

Life contains the capacity to transform.
Life like the great earth that sustains vegetation, impartially –
Impartially protects all people with it’s compassionate, nurturing force.

There’s one other word that strongly comes to mind when I read Ikeda’s words and that word is Love. If you take the passage above and replace the word life for the word love, a slight shift in perception perhaps…., a new opening to the doors of compassion, maybe,….a remembering of sorts, of the unconditional? The willingness to change.

Believing in change is one step, the other is allowing it to happen in our lives.

And so it begins…..