History is a peek into the future..

I have been reading this book entitled "The Britannica Guide to the 100 Most Influential Scientists". It gives a brieft account of the people that had made a difference in the field of Science from BC to current. Science more than 2000 years ago comprised of philosophy, astronomy, logics etc. What we have today is built up and developed from these people/ philosophers of the past. One built upon another to make the possibility of reachig Mar no longer a vision but something that will be possible in the near future. I guess from history, we should learn from the mistakes so as not to commit the same errors in our time. However, human beings are forgetful and arrogant creatures as we trust and strongly believed we are more intellient than our ancestors. We think this way because of what we have and what we are now - better and more prosperous, better understanding and treatment of diseases resulting in lower mortality and longer life, advance in technology and the advent of nanotechnology allows us to search even deeper into the micromolecular and nanomolecular level. At this point, we should stop and think that all these are possible not because we are smarter, is because we have inherited and built upon what our ancestors had started. History than is our cornerstone to the future, we should not dealt too long in it but advance with it.

Just finshed FD's meeting this afternoon ad we talked about the eight winds which in buddhism refer to the 4 postive and 4 negatives conditions that can influence our life. The eight winds are prosperity, decline, disgrace, honor, praise, censure, suffering, and pleasure. As human we are constantly swayed by this eight winds. We should not avoid this eight winds but we should face this eight winds and counter them in our strides. In buddhism, a life without troubles and fill only with pleasantness is not happines which is also not really possible in real life. When we face with problems, we should have the wisdom to overcome them through chanting daimoku. The joy of overcoming our adversities will bring more joy to ourselves than merely without or avoidance. This will become our experiences and make us stronger and better human beings!

The second Soka Gakkai president, Josei Toda, once wrote: “Absolute happiness is a state such that, whatever your situation, you feel an immense sense of worth and satisfaction; and wherever you are, to be alive is itself a joy…. Even when we encounter situations that make us angry, we become angry joyfully. When we establish such a state of life, our life is one of boundless joy” (The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, vol. IV, p. 80).

Today is another lazy saturday!