We all live absorbed by our daily reality, whether we want to or not, we have to challenge ourselves in situations and relationships with other people who often have different attitudes to our own. For each of us, some of these interactions we have to face effect us on a very deep level, to the extent that we can react in a way similar to what disturbs us in the other person.

But, how do we change these types of situations in our families, work, with our neighbours and in society in general? Most of us have struggled deeply with the question of How can I make the other person change? We have all probably been through this type of situation with somebody we considered arrogant or unjust, and who did not change even though our reasons were coherent and justified. Until one day, suddenly, we clicked in our inner self and we were able to understand how this person felt and why they reacted in that way. Probably, from that moment on we perceived that person in a different way. Consequently the person started to open up, to dialogue and even to show us a different part of themselves that we did not know existed. Why? Because we were able to recognize their value and to see how this person could be when fully developed. Because seeing them in this way made us appreciate and respect them and this person started to feel secure with us.

"The challenge to create human value also depends on treating people with respect and to believe totally in their inherent capacity. To treat others as subordinates will not bring out their potential". (Daisaku Ikeda)

Of course, this change in attitude requires a great effort, especially when, often, we have difficulty recognizing our own Buddhahood. "Be it as it were, we have to carry out the practice of never looking down on others, conscious that we are the Bodhisattva Never Despising and that we are entities of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, that in reality he was not more than myself”. If we understand that starting again from our inner self is the only thing that can change our environment and, slowly, the world, maybe, in the same way as Bodhisattva Fukyo, we will decide to look at our husbands, wives, sons, parents, colleagues, with another set of glasses, bowing to their "good side", to their Buddhahood. In this way, again, with this sincere attitude, others will respect us and show us an image of ourselves which is different, helping us to discover our true identity, "in the same way that when one bows to a mirror the reflected image returns the reverence”.

Daisaku Ikeda says: "Respect generates respect, and disdain generates disdain. When one changes, the other person changes too. To make distinctions between good and bad considering Bodhisattva never Despising as a "good" person and the arrogant people as "bad" is a sign of ignorance. But when one is aware of this and bows with respect, he is bowing to Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, to the principle of inseparability between good and bad, between true and false.

Sentence from the Gosho
"The essence of all the teachings of the Buddha is the Lotus Sutra, and the essence of the practice of the Lotus Sutra is expounded in the chapter "The Bodhisattva never Despising". What does the deep respect that Bodhisattva Fukyo felt for all people mean? The true meaning of the advent of Buddha Shakyamuni to this world lies in his behaviour as a human being". (The Three Kinds of Treasure, MW-2 p.273)

… IN THE SAME WAY THAT WHEN ONE BOWS TO A MIRROR THE R E F L E C T E D IMAGE RETURNS THE REVERENCE

ONLY WHEN WE DEVELOP OUR OWN LIFE WE ARE ABLE TO SHOW THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR HUMANISTIC MOVEMENT

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This page was last modified on Sunday, August 20, 2006.