Change Is Good "The Seal of the Three Laws & the Fourth Law" by Karen Fujii

1. Introduction to the Teaching of the Law. The theory according to the text.

Change is Good! Is change Good? Yes, I think change is good? Why is change good?

Good Morning! My name is Karen Fujii and Today , my topic is….change is good! It’s actually one of the basic teaching in Buddhism called the Seal of the Three Laws and the Fourth law.

The first law is: All Things are Impermanent

If we look at nature and all the things around us. The sun, for instance,
Science has proven that the sun, which seems to shine in the sky without changing, is actually changing every moment.

Every day our bodies also go through many changes. Did you know that the cells of the human body are constantly dying and being reproduced, that every seven years all the cells of your body is replaced ? Each cell of our body is continuously changing without us even knowing it.

So we have birthdays and we get older. Without change, a fetus would not be born, a baby will not become a teenager, that teenager will not mature into an responsible & gung ho Rissho Kosei Kai Practicing adult .

These are changes in our lives that change with time. Changes that we have no control over.

So All things are impermanent.

Now let’s look at ourselves. As human beings We’ve all experienced, going thru all kinds of different emotions, such as frustration, sadness, happiness, or love. It’s emotions that we feel, that can change in an instant.

For example, I have a new puppy. She is the cutest thing, so sweet, I love her so much. She sleeps above my head on my bed, I’m so happy. I wake up and I see that this cute dog has chewed a hole in the wall. In an instant, I am so upset….I want to kill her.

So what I just experience is the state of constant emotional change, Everything is changing. and it’s and example that confirms the teaching that all things are impermanent.

So as a practicing Buddhist, I thought how can I change my thinking to practice “all things are impermanent”? So I thought when I saw the Hole in wall, maybe I should of said, Ah She is such a great puppy, doing things puppies do perfectly.
Or I’m so sorry puppy, I must have starved you because you made such a humongous hole in the wall. (by the way, these situations can be applied to humans too).

Well we cannot change others, we cannot change the laws of nature, but we definitely can change ourselves. By seeing things differently, changing our thinking , changing our actions, we will all be able to change our situations to positive ones. We all can be happy! Change is good.

What we are trying to accomplish is learning to control our thinking so our emotions is smooth and not so much extreme up or down.

This is how I relate to it, Just think of how the founder acts….I’m so happy, I’m so sad. His feelings is within himself. He really feels a sense of appreciation and compassion. His feelings are inside and not so much from the outside.

To accept the fact that everything is always changing will help us practice to be flexible in any situation and will bring out our sense of Compassion.

The second law is: Nothing Has An Ego

The law that “Nothing has an ego" is the teaching that all things in this world, without exception, are related to one another. There is nothing that leads an existence that is completely separated from other things.

For example, When we consider that insects, fishes, birds, plants and animals are all part of the same matter at the beginning of time on earth billions of years ago, we can see that these creatures are created by the same life energy that gives us life. It also applies to the earth, the stone, clouds, and air we breathe.

If we look at our own existence, did you know that we are given life by earth and stone?

For example: if there were no clouds in the sky, we would have no rain;
if there was no rain, plants would not grow,
if there were no plants we would have no food and no oxygen from the plants;
and if there were no air, we could not live in this atmosphere for even a few minutes.

Without exception, we have some invisible link with things that seem from the outside to have no connection with us.

-everyone, everything is inter-related
when we apply this law to ourselves, The law “Nothing has an Ego”, means, no one is better than the other- we all are equal. The buddha equally gave us the tools to be happy. It is up to us to use these tools in our daily life to be happy.

All of us depend on others to live. All of us are supported by others. All our accomplishments are a successful effort made up of many people.

Take me for example, I’m here today because, I woke up early and came to church. Wrong!

I am here today because of my ancestors,
I am here today because of the love of my parents,
I am here today because of the compassion of my sisters who encourage me to come,
I am here today because I want my kids to understand the teachings and have the tools to be happy.
I am here today because of my husband supports my belief.
I am here today because of the teaching.
I am here today because I was given the opportunity to learn this teaching.
I am here today because I was given the opportunity to share what I learned.
I am here today because I want to be here.

No one lives in this world because they “did it themselves”. It’s like if each of us were a part of a football team…Each of us have different role, all equally important

…..from the coach to the quarterback

to the referees to the fans

to the water boy to the grounds keeper, all has an important role to play.

Each of us,has an important role in life to play. How you do your part could have a good or bad affect on the people around.
So we must practice our sense of appreciation for everything and everyone around us.

The third law is: Nirvana is Quiescence

The law “nirvana is quiescence” teaches us that we can completely get rid of all our sufferings of human life and obtain peacefulness when we let go of all desires.

And the only way is to achieve this level of peacefulness is to accept and practice the two laws “all things are impermanent” - (compassion) and “nothing has an ego” – (appreciation).

If you can Live by appreciating everything and everyone and being humble and flexible and compassionate in different situations and relationships, you will be able to achieve this level of peace and satisfaction in your life.

So when things don’t go our way or we argue with others it’s because we lack harmony or we do not recognize the truth that, “all things are impermanent” or “nothing has an ego” or we are not practicing it.


The seal of the four laws or :

The Fourth law is: All Existence is Suffering
This law teaches us that all is suffering if we do not realize the law of “ all things are impermanent” and “nothing has an ego.”


“All Existence is Suffering”

We all create our own suffering. All of us have certain expectation of how we want things to be and we all experienced disappointment or frustration when it doesn’t go the way we expected it to. If we can keep in mind to always be flexible, humble & compassionate, feel an appreciation for everyone, different situations and things. We all can be happy together!


PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Did everyone get their words of wisdom from President Niwano to practice this year ? I Did. I was very careful to pick it. When I read it, it said, “You have a keen Eye”, I thought Wow, this is good. I read on and it said, to see the faults of others, But, blind to your own. Ouch! How did the buddha know me?

Well, I’d like to share with you my experience I have at work. There’s this girl at work that constantly calls in sick. She’s sick so often we joke about it and I started to get irritated by it. When she’s out I have to answer the phones and do the mail and other of her duties. It really puts the pressure on me, and I can’t get my work done I can’t get anything done. I think to myself, why can’t she just suck it up and come in, doesn’t she know that everyone is depending on her to be there? But, there goes my keen eye busy at work, till I turned it around and looked at myself. In the past 5 years that I have been working at my job, I have taken off more times than the 7 people that I work with put together. Every year, I take off at least twice the amount of leave that I actually have. But, with no complaints from anyone in my office, they always encourage me to have a good trip and stay longer. I didn’t realize that I was doing the same thing as the girl that called in sick all the time. I didn’t see how much everyone had to sacrifice for me to take vacation. A couple of days ago I was sick, although I went to work, when I came home, I couldn’t do anything, I had to rest, I felt miserable. During that time I could feel how my co-worker feels when she calls in sick. Through this experience I could honestly feel compassion for my co-worker who is always sick and I can appreciate her everyday that she comes in. I also have a deeper appreciation for my boss and the other people that I work with who rely on me and unselfishly support all my vacation requests.

LIKE IN GOLF, TO HIT THE BALL STRAIGHT
YOU MUST FOLLOW THE RULES

- KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BALL
- KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN
- BEND YOUR KNEES
- SHIFT YOU WEIGHT
- KEEPING YOUR ELBOW IN AT THE TOP OF YOUR SWING
- GOOD FOLLOW THRU

IF YOU FOLLOW THE RULES, YOU WILL HAVE A GREAT SHOT
BUT IT’S HARD TO BE PERFECT ALL THE TIME
YOU NEED TO PRACTICE AND EACH TIME YOU HIT THE BALL YOU’LL GET BETTER AND BETTER.

JUST LIKE IN THIS TEACHING
YOU ALSO MUST FOLLOW THE RULES
- STUDY
- PRACTICE
- LEARN

IF YOU FOLLOW THESE RULES, YOU WILL GAIN HARMONY IN YOUR LIFE AND YOU WILL SEE THE REWARDS OF YOUR PRACTICE.

Your life will get better & you will become a better person

As the founder says, “Because we can change, We can have Dreams.” …..So Dream BIG!

CHANGE IS GREAT!

 

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