Trust is an infinite and limitless treasure. If one has merely trust and nothing else, one can still accomplish anything and receive permission to do anything. If one does not command trust, on the other hand, no matter how great one’s skill and knowledge are they will be of no avail. In order to win the trust of others one must possess adequate enthusiasm and sincerity. Enthusiasm and sincerity are what touch the hearts of others. By no means can this be accomplished through mere skill and learning.
A great number of today’s youth, forgetting this ironclad rule of trust, blindly believe the cultivation of the intellect to be the ideal goal in life—this is truly a great shame.
Actions performed with the aim of engendering the trust of others are already impure in of themselves. Only by forgetting ourselves and rendering service purely for the sake of others will our actions be truly appreciated for the first time. However, this can hardly be accomplished within the limitations of our usual intentions. Unless our intentions are unusually pure, we will never come to realize everlasting spiritual wealth. Moreover, without such spiritual wealth, we cannot hope to accomplish our true [eternal] work.
Because a sliding door is constantly being restrained from above and below, thus is it able to stand upright and move properly. If there were no sill and lintel to hold it in, the door could not stand or slide.
Because as human beings we have been bestowed with an appropriate measure of discomfort, unhappiness, and restriction in life, these hardships have become part of the nature of our functioning, and if we were to become completely free of them not a single bit of work would get done. First of all, our will to work would never materialize, just as water upon a flat surface remains absolutely motionless. Water on a slope, however, unavoidably begins to move with a speed corresponding to the steepness of the incline. Depending upon its degree of movement it has the power to do a tremendous amount of work. Likewise, in response to the unceasing dissatisfaction that is the lot of man, we labor to satisfy and remedy our discontent, and thus do we advance and make progress.
However, if the sill and lintel are warped or too tight, the sliding door will become stuck, or even break. Likewise, if we suffer too much uncomfortable restriction and unhappiness we will find ourselves in an untenable situation.
There is a saying that “great talents are slow to mature.” Even among animals, the longer the period of their maturation the more advanced and long-lived they will be. For a thing to be quickly established in form is hardly desirable. In recent times, as the world becomes ever more narrow and hectic, people are proportionately growing up in a shorter time, and children tend to quickly become adults. People really should work at self-cultivation at least until the age of thirty before venturing out to make their way in the world. One must be in the prime of one’s life around the age of fifty or sixty.
Child prodigies are aberrations—no matter how gifted a child may be, without knowledge and experience of the world, he can hardly be expected to accomplish any true work. If one has not yet at least experienced married life, one is not yet qualified as a true human.
Man is the noblest creature on this earth. Those who do not possess the qualifications of humankind, be they even divine beings, will be imperfect on the surface of this world.
In the changing of one’s way of thinking or the embarking upon a new course in life, rather than being accomplished through human thought and endeavor, such changes are often brought about by some hidden power. With inventions or discoveries, or even major wars, often some little-known force entered into the matter and deeply influenced its outcome.
Man’s fate does not follow his expectations, but is susceptible to the influences of a variety of things. Our environment, particularly, has a strong effect upon us. We must always take seriously such hidden influences and forces in our lives.
The most important things in our lives come from our environment and from heaven. Likewise, the power that saves us from spiritual impasse and which guides us in life flows down to us from above, or comes to us from our surroundings. Thus, just as the universe moves according to a divinely ordered will, and as the earth moves in harmony with it also, so too must humanity act in accordance with this divine order.
Even though science is progressing at a considerable rate these days, and people are rapidly becoming learned, when a number of these people get together and attempt various things, they make no progress and events rarely proceed as they plan. This is because they make no attempt to act in harmony with the divinely ordered will of the universe, and all of their theorizing is nothing but gibberish to the ears of God.
Though one may think to oneself, “I’ll become this…”, or “I’ll become that…”, there is not a single person who has ever been able to construct their own life in such a way. This is because outside of our own conscious will there is a deeper source which manipulates the threads of our destiny. This source controls the vicissitudes of fate on an individual, a family, and a national level, as well as the workings of all of humanity and the universe. This is a matter of fact, not of theory. Such is the nature of this world.
Contemplating this, we must at least give some thought to our relation to the greater power and Divine will—the force which pulls the strings that move us. When we begin to come in contact with this force in even the slightest amount, our way of seeing the world around us will change. Rather than continuing to follow our limited and transitory way of thinking—based upon good and evil, suffering and pleasure in the present moment—our thoughts will become grounded in the eternal and the universal.
In this way, though we suffer hardship and loss in the present, because we come to realize that such suffering is merely a temporary state enabling us to construct a better future, our hardship cannot cause us the slightest bit of grief.
To imitate others is useless. To act heedlessly in spite of one’s inabilities is unwise.
It is no good to go over one’s work pondering over whether one is exceptional or not. Regardless of whether one is better or worse than others, it is best to simply act for oneself.
Our enslavement to status and rank in our absurd society, our devotion of all our efforts to maintaining this status, and our ridiculous disposition towards always trying to save face—none of these will do.
To abandon such concerns without regret, and, with our hearts renewed to a childlike state, act appropriately to the extent of our abilities—this is ideal.
The celestial being newly descended from heaven, unaccustomed to the circumstances of this world, will at first commit nothing but blunders. The evil being from hell will be avaricious, and in spite of his cunning in the ways of evil, people will come to abhor him.
In this world where good and evil are inseparable, unless we become well versed in the ways of both, we will—as though using the sword of Masamune to cut tofu or a sewing needle to split a boulder—be apt to repeat our folly again and again.
Treating the man of evil as befits a man of evil, and dealing with the man of good as is suitable to such a type, in this manner we must negotiate our relations with our fellow men.
By no means can hope to grasp the true inner workings of things merely through the use of theory. There is no other way but to face reality oneself, and so arrive at understanding. Therefore, the scholars, ideologists, and men of literature have no real power, no courage, and are irresolute.
Even the man who knows nothing of systematic theory, if he has encountered many varied situations, times, and people, he will in some way both possess a great weight of character and wield a profound influence on others.
Without experiencing the privations of human life, one cannot become a heavenly being. Without savoring the full flavor of this world it is impossible to truly know it.
Without knowing anything of humanity, or of the nature of the earth, we cannot hope to enter into the workings of this world in even the slightest way.
It’s useless to ask a frog to cluck like a chicken, or to expect a cuckoo to sing like a lark. Because all things have their own true nature, if we always dispute this nature then the world cannot know complete harmony.
The willow allows even a ill wind to caress its branches—nor does the wind blow merely to please the willow tree. Even rats help eradicate the mites which cause so many human diseases. We cannot always expect to know what kind of service something is truly performing.
Let things be as they really are!
Let things become as they will!
