That said, even in a world that appears shrouded in darkness and has a seemingly unforeseeable future, there is a powerful message that asserts every one of us can do something. This concept, articulated by the renowned Eastern philosopher Masahiro Yasuoka (1898–1983), is called “the practice of illuminating one corner [of the world] with one lamp—the practice of illuminating the world with ten thousand lamps.” “Rather than complaining about the darkness, light a lamp. / We s

In this day and age, how can we foster societies that are easy to live in, where everyone is kind to one another, and where the spirit of living together and the spirit of reciprocity—the great foundation of human life—develop effortlessly in every quarter? The Buddhist teaching of “the mutual inclusion of the ten realms” means that every mind mutually possesses every other mind in the ten realms of living beings, and therefore, we all inherently possess the mind of a buddha

“When a glass is half full of water, how do you view it? The author Seikan Kobayashi says there are three ways to view it. First, with displeasure and dissatisfaction that it is only half full. Second, with joy, feeling glad that it is half full. And third, with gratitude, being thankful for the kindness of whoever left half for you. However you view or interpret a situation like this, you are the one assigning it some sort of meaning.