●Teachings of HONMON BUTSURYUSHU

7. Mentalism Preached by Buddhism:

b. Do not underestimate oneself:

If you feel unsettled, do not interpret things in a pessimistic way or have a tendency to accept everything at face value. It is time to change your way of thinking. The Arayashiki starts out clean, like a clean slate, with the ability to absorb what is given indiscriminately. In short, it accepts what one decides in your soul, therefore, if one believes that one is incompetent or worthless, then those thoughts are sowed into the Arayashiki and become a belief.

In Buddhism, "the mind of self-conceit" is considered reviling of Buddhist teachings and is strongly admonished. This, however, dose not mean that one should underrate the abilities one process. Within oneself there exists a hidden potential which must be cultivated. If one's self-assessment is negative, then one is restricting the growth of his or her potential. This must be avoided at all cost.

To interpret things in a positive manner brings happiness in one's life. Your destiny will be greatly influenced by one's interpretation of events.

A former principal of the Osaka School of Fine Arts, Mr. Kyoto Yano, was born and raised in Hashihama, Ehime Prefecture. He was a master of Chinese ink painting. He was known to be talented in art from childhood, but he was denied a formal training due to his parents' poor financial condition. He went to Osaka to work in a military factory. While employed, he began his study under a leading master of Chinese ink painting, Shunyo Nagamatsu, and vowed to become an artist. However an unfortunate accident occurred at work, which resulted in a loss of his left arm. When this accident occurred, how did he interpret this misfortune? Instead of bemoaning his misfortune of losing an arm, he channeled his energy and effort to the pursuit of art, His art began to improve and he eventually became a leading figure in the Chinese ink painting arena.

A lesson to be learned from Mr. Nagamatsu's personal trying ordeal is that one must maintain a positive attitude toward all life incidents since the Arayashiki will only reflect the attitudes one possesses.

Next. [Teachings] 8. Practices Performed by HBS