Human · Revolution

As much as we would like to keep a nice job that matches our strength, experiences, needs, wants and interests, it is as hard as or even harder than finding an ideal soul mate. While we each have our own criteria we use while choosing our jobs, employers have their own. Even if we have temporarily secured a job, the terms and conditions of the position are ever-changing due to factors such as the business operation, the economic situation, and the environment. There are too many variables to watch and control. Almost everybody has experienced endless frustration in trying to land a steady, sound, promising and dignified job. For some, it is a tough task even to grab any job at all. The ball, seemingly, is by no means in our hand.
The wounded economy has made keeping a stable and decent job even more challenging. The job market has been affected the most, and has been drastically cut without mercy. The meager job positions available are far less than enough to go around. Tens of thousands of workers are being laid off. The luckier ones still get to keep their jobs but don’t know when it will be their turn to lose them. Facing this impact head on but helplessly and defensively, many of us have started to realize how feeble and incompetent we are when our job karma is being played out.
Our bad karma in our jobs looks so abstract and overwhelming that we seem to have no control over it. The truth is, we can treat it as a springboard to advancing in our jobs. The key is how earnestly we want to eradicate our bad job karma, transcend it and bid it good-bye for good. We absolutely hold the power, the wisdom and the means to turn this poison into medicine, because we practice Nichiren Buddhism.
A successful fishery exporter in Taiwan once shared his trial-and-error experience in exporting mackerel to Japan. His first few shipments were total disasters. Each time, all the mackerel had died en route. Knowing that mackerel were energetic and active, he had immediately increased their food supply, pumped more oxygen into the enlarged fish tanks and filled the tanks with perfectly conditioned water in preparation for the next shipment, but the improvements did not help much. Then, an experienced friend suggested that he put some catfish into the tanks with the mackerel. “Catfish are the mortal rival to mackerel. Wouldn’t they eat up all my merchandise?” he wondered.
In fact, the presence of catfish placed the mackerel on high alert, forcing them to stay in constant motion in order to quickly dart away from their predators when being attacked. Due to such life-threatening urgency, the mackerel were able to manifest enough of their potential energy to stay strong. Thus, according to the fishery exporter, most of the mackerel arrived safe and sound, except those few that were weak in body and mind, and lacking in fighting spirit.
It was a military strategy in old times to deploy troops in such a way as to leave no room to maneuver and no route for escape, so that the soldiers would fight desperately for their lives and eventually win the battle.
Don’t the above two examples demonstrate that a crisis can be our turning point to success? There’s no better time than this moment to shake up and turn our bad job karma into good. If we are out of work, our job is to get ourselves into high gear for a victorious strike back. We have all the time we need at our disposal. If we are constantly in fear of losing our jobs or feeling unhappy and depressed by our unfit jobs, we can spur ourselves into working for future promotion. Coping with it indomitably, we can use the frustration to strengthen our determination.
Buddhism teaches the law of simultaneity of cause and effect. But it is cause that triggers the birth of effect. Effect can’t come about without cause being made first. In other words, cause must precede effect. The beauty of it is that we can maneuver and reap the benefits we want by sowing the right seeds. In this case, we can and must make good causes that generate the kind of good effect or good karma that we desire.
On May 21st, 2001, President Ikeda spoke about “The Force of People Awakened”. He shared Mr. Toda’s fervent wish for the student division members:
“At the student division’s inaugural meeting, Mr. Toda said to the 500 bright young people assembled, ‘It is my wish that half of you will become company directors and the other half will earn doctorates.’ These are well-known words.”
In President Ikeda’s novel “The New Human Revolution” v. 1 p. 60, he thus encouraged Riki, the newly appointed first Young Men’s Division District Chief in Hawaii:
“Riki, to gain trust in society, it is first important to succeed on your job. That is the foundation for everything. To do so, you will naturally have to work twice as hard as those around you. You will also need to activate your wisdom by consistently chanting daimoku…
When you make kosen-rufu your life’s objective and pray to excel at your work in order to show proof of that goal’s validity, you will be opening the way for your own victory and good fortune.”
In both Presidents Toda’s and Ikeda’s minds, in order to spread Nichiren Buddhism far and wide, it is important that we succeed in our jobs to strengthen our abilities for our goal. In this guidance, President Ikeda points out how we can open the way for our victory and good fortune:
1. Make kosen-rufu our life’s objective.
2. Pray to excel at work to show the validity of kosen-rufu.
3. Activate our wisdom by consistently chanting daimoku.
4. Work twice as hard as those around us.
Based on this guidance, here are some possible causes that we may consider to embark upon. Our goal is to become people who are free of job crises and who enjoy going to work every day to contribute as well as to receive.
Cause No. 1: Set a master goal that contributes to achieving kosen rufu.
During our everyday chanting is the perfect time to seek wisdom and ponder the specific details of our career goals. We become what we think about.
What do we desire to achieve in life? What do we expect from our jobs? How much money will we be happy making? What effort do we have to put forth to earn it? We incorporate our desires and dreams and the corresponding responsibilities into our goals. The ultimate purpose for those goals is to pave the way for our mission of spreading Nichiren Buddhism: to accumulate fortune, to create actual proof, to strengthen our abilities and to gain trust in the society.
Our goals also include developing ourselves in order to advance no matter what our duty is at work. Everyone starts at the bottom on the way up. No job is too small, no position is too low and no field is too insignificant. One may distinguish oneself in any trade. Opportunities exist everywhere. The plan is a lifelong one, not just for now. We have to think like entrepreneurs, not employees; like value-creators, not labor-providers. Because of the simultaneity of cause and effect, our quality thinking is the perfect cause with which to nourish our lives.
Do we already know all there is to know about our jobs? Can we fill the demands of our jobs? Are there better ways to do what we are currently doing? We want to train and educate ourselves so that we are highly skilled and badly needed and appreciated. We want to become people who can’t be replaced or who the employers will let go only when they have to shut down the entire operation.
All companies are constantly on the lookout for capable leaders on every level. We would like to polish and develop ourselves to the extent that we are obviously over-qualified for our position. If it is so obvious, they will see it and make the appropriate position adjustments to let the companies benefit from our ability. We want to become people who are constantly approached by recruiters with better and better job offers, even if we already have good jobs.
We desire our abilities to allow us to be recession-proof, withstand the stormy economy and never have to drift along in the currents among the multitudes. Knowing that we excel in our field, we enjoy going to work, setting a great example and inspiring others.
Are such goals too optimistic and ambitious to reach? Not at all. Our chanting of daimoku is like the roar of the lion and our practice like the mighty sword. With them, we will succeed dauntlessly in every endeavor for the execution and completion of our plan.
Cause No. 2: Chant abundant daimoku, praying to excel at work.
The best cause we can make to crack down on our bad job karma is to chant hours and hours, as much as possible, everyday. As practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism, we all know that with chanting, we can activate wisdom, accumulate fortune, elevate our life condition, expand our capacity and obtain protection and opportunities from the Buddhist Gods. The Buddhist gods (shoten zenjin) manifest themselves as ordinary people who come to our aid at the right time in the right place. Through chanting, we are also able to communicate compassionately with other people’s Buddhahood, including those we associate with at work. The benefits of our massive and steadfast chanting, accompanied with our penetrating prayer, move us toward our goals.
“Gohonzon, I have realized that only under such a dire job market situation can I show true and convincing actual proof by, against all odds, finding a job that fits me well. I am determined to land one no matter what. This is the perfect opportunity to forge myself into someone capable of fulfilling my mission. I am very excited about it!
“Gohonzon, I am chanting to activate my wisdom to enable myself to see a clear picture of how to change my job karma. I am chanting so that my life force is so strong that I can staunchly complete a grand task of human revolution. Gohonzon, I am taking every action that I can possibly take to prove how deathly serious I am about creating good karma in my career. I know my destiny is in my own hands.
“Gohonzon, every day, just as I am using my whole being to send daimoku out to the whole universe, I am sending my resume out to the world. Through every channel of cyberspace and to every corner of the universe, they will definitely reach my friends and previous co-workers who know my abilities. Those acquaintances will watch for job openings for me and recommend me to their companies. My prayer will also make my resume stand out in the eyes and minds of companies that need my service and can benefit from my work.
“Gohonzon, I know the job market has shrunk considerably. However, as long as it has not been totally extinguished, I am determined to work twice as hard and make myself qualify for a share of it. I am so confident because I uphold this faith and practice it earnestly, because I am nourished by the encouragement and support of my fellow SGI members and my family and friends, and because my mission requires my victory to be a vanguard on the long path that lies in front of me. Gohonzon, Watch me! Though it is very difficult, I am making it happen!”
Cause No. 3: Activate and exercise our wisdom through chanting.
It is recommended that we keep a note pad and a pen besides us to write down the wisdom emerging from our chanting. Hours of focused chanting every day will produce wisdom that rewrites our destiny hereafter, when put into action.
We need to show interest in, enjoy and appreciate our job no matter how lousy we think the job is. Since we engage at least one third of each day in the job, we must find a way to make the job our servant instead of our tyrant. Without changing the reality of our unfulfilling job, we can turn around and let the same job work for us. We don’t allow the job to drain our energy. We command it to nourish our strength in preparation for our further advancement.
To do so, we first have to put aside all our feelings of dislike or hate of our job. Then, by compassionately not taking for granted what we are already getting from it, it won’t be difficult to feel the appreciError running style: Style code didn't finish running in a timely fashion. Possible causes:

• Infinite loop in style or layer


• Database busy