People say that the greatest happiness in life is having a person you can truly admire, whom you can point and say, “this person most of all.” I quite agree.
“That’s right!” we respond to every word that person utters, which make us nod our heads in agreement. Just seeing their face and hearing their voice delights us, and suddenly we have a zest for life.
“I want to be just like that person,” we feel, and before we know it, our ways of speaking and thinking come to resemble that person.
Our religious faith is the same. While the doctrines of Buddhism of course appealed to us, many of us were attracted by the appearance and demeanor of our “parents in the faith,” or perhaps a chapter leader or Dharma center director, and that led us to the Dharma, did it not? We were able to listen with open hearts precisely because it was what that person explained to us, and little by little we were drawn to the profound teachings of Buddhism,
At companies too, they say that the first prerequisite for being a supervisor is to be loved by our workers. When we are truly taken with our supervisor, that person can make us happy by just saying a few words to us. When we make a mistake and they point it out to us, it inspires us to say to ourselves, “I can’t let them down!” We can’t help but work willingly without having to wait for instructions on everything.
When you become someone who is able to endear yourself to others, you can even help people while remaining silent.
Nikkyo Niwano
From Kaisozuikan 9 (Kosei Publishing Co.), pp.166-67
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