Let’s Go Home to the House of Life – 2

(Continued from last time)

The Mindset for Going Home to the House of Life

Most people living on the land of Earth spend their days with a self-awareness that separates “themselves” from “life,” convinced that “I’m living by my own strength,” aren’t they?

Even people who turn their attention to life live with a feeling of complete dependence, pinning their hopes on something out of reach far off in the heavens, called God or Buddha.

On Earth today, fewer than ten thousand people are trying to live by drawing out the infinite wisdom and creative power that dwell within their own life.

To tell the truth, it’s precisely because they’re convinced “I’m living by my own strength” that their suffering never ends, and it’s precisely because they live leaning on God or Buddha (depending on other-power) that they can’t actively set the power of life in motion. But a great many of Earth’s people haven’t noticed this.

Being home in the house of life means a state in which a human being remembers their true nature, draws out the power of their own life without relying on anything, and lives expressing a strong reason and intelligence.

The mindset that forms its base is called an unshakable heart.

An unshakable heart is what religion would call the state of enlightenment, a state of mind that doesn’t get snagged on or caught up in anything or anyone.

It’s the state of mind that lies beyond thinning out, as far as possible, the kinds of unresolved thoughts such as assumptions, fixations, snap judgments, and attachments.

Let Words Ferment and Give Off Light

In a world that seems stuck with no way forward, offering prayers of love for people who are suffering, for the natural environment being wounded, and for all living things being mistreated is a precious thing, but that alone can’t bring you to that state.

“Then what on earth am I supposed to do?” you ask?

Yes, I’ll explain in order, so settle down.

Telling you is easy. And it’s easy for you to hear it (take it in).

But the most important thing is to let what you’ve taken in drop once to the bottom of your heart, let it ferment fully (so that it gives off light; in Japanese, “fermenting” and “giving off light” sound alike, “hakkō”), and then put it out again as your own consciousness and express it in your words and deeds.

Unless you follow these steps, no matter how many good teachings you cram in, they just become a pile of useless knowledge.

Talk of the truth, whether it’s inspiration you gained from reading a book or a good story you heard from someone, doesn’t become the real thing unless you make it completely your own and can express it in your own words and deeds.

When you just pass along what you heard from someone else as is, the words can sound a bit hollow, can’t they?

The secret to growing yourself into the real thing is to let the vibration of the truth you’ve read or heard drop once to the bottom of your heart and ferment (give off light).

When you let “words with the vibration of truth” ferment deep in your heart, they give off light.

That light seeps out from deep in your heart, and before long it comes to overflow without end. It always does.

Once that happens, you’ve got it.

When you reach that stage, you no longer need to force anything on yourself, so thoughts, words, and deeds in accord with the truth become natural for you. You naturally send out divine thoughts, speak words that embody the truth without effort, and can act “as you truly are,” going beyond merely “as things happen to be.”

(To be continued)