Compass of the Times 269

To Start Over

Keiko Takahashi

A Life of Giving Up

With the extreme heat of these days, some of you may feel as if your spirit is about to break.

Just as the harsh weather imposes limitations on human activity, our lives, in a sense, can be described as a journey in which we learn to “give up.”

From the moment we are born, we seek comforting, easy, and pleasant things, guided by our own sense of pleasure and pain.

However, as many people realize, life does not always go as planned. No matter how much we seek them, there are things we simply cannot obtain.

While experiencing the “suffering of not obtaining what one seeks,” which Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, called gufutok-ku (ku:sufferings), people gradually learn to “give up” or “let go.”

Even if one hopes to attend a prestigious university or secure a job at a top-tier company, not everyone can achieve that good fortune. Even if one wants to become an athlete or an astronaut, not everyone is blessed with the talent or opportunity. It is through “letting go” of many of these dreams and desires that people learn to “give up.”

The course of our development is inevitably marked by repeated experiences of “letting go” and “giving up.” In other words, growing into an adult also means learning to “give up.”

Seeing Life Clearly

The etymology of the Japanese word akirameru (to give up), however means actually “to see clearly” in Buddhist term. This means that akirameru does not simply mean to abandon.

It means to view reality in the light of reason. It is to perceive situations as they are, in accordance with the truth. In this context, akirameru means to see clearly.

As the Buddhist term Shitai-hassho-do¹(Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path) suggests, the character “tei” (諦) signifies truth itself.

It is also a journey to free oneself from attachment and delusion by understanding why things do not go as planned and by “seeing clearly,” when faced with the reality that one’s own desires go unfulfilled.

You can probably relate to how selfish human wishes and desires can sometimes become. Faced with that reality, we must recognize the truth, observe ourselves as we are driven by unreasonable desires and attachments, and distance ourselves from them. That is the deeper meaning of akirameru (to give up).

A Life of Not Giving Up

In other words, akirameru means carefully assessing a situation in light of reason and realizing what we should give up.

Conversely, there may be times when, after clearly examining the situation, we should not give up.

So, what should we do when there is something we simply cannot “give up” no matter how hard we think about it?

If that wish or hope comes from your True Heart, from the dimension of the Soul in the depths of your Mind, then it is not something you can simply give up. This is because you were born into this world and are living your life to fulfill that very wish. That is why it is important to get back up and try again, no matter how many times you fail.

No matter how daunting the obstacles that stand in the way of your wish may seem, if you “see them clearly,” perhaps you should not give up, because there might still be a path somewhere.

And our lives are designed to allow for such “do-overs” from the very beginning. Even if you have stopped once walking along the way, you can start again. Even if a small stumble causes you to fall, you can get back up.

Even if you think, “It’s over,” you can do it again. No matter how dire the situation becomes, there is always room to “start over.” That is what our lives are.

Try confronting it once more. Try engaging with it once more. Try believing in it once more. From there, the true radiance of life will emerge.

Editor’s Note:

1. Shitai-hassho-do(Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path)

The Four Noble Truths (the Truth of Suffering, the Truth of the Origin of Suffering, the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering, and the Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering) are a set of “four truths” taught by Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, that describe the nature of suffering, its cause, the state in which it is eliminated, and the path leading to that state. The Path is further elaborated as the Eightfold Path, the “eight correct practices.” Suffering refers to the reality of the various afflictions humans face in life; Origin refers to the deluded mind and Bonno, which are the causes of that suffering; Cessation refers to the state in which suffering and its causes are removed (the extinction of suffering); and Path refers to the path leading to that Cessation, that is, spiritual practice. The Eightfold Path comprises the steps of seeing correctly, thinking correctly, speaking correctly, acting correctly, living correctly, striving correctly on the Path, cultivating the right mind, and stabilizing the mind.

(Excerpted and summarized from pages 6–7 of the February 2018 issue of the G. Monthly, the Compass of the Times; partial quotation from page 27 of Shingyo by Shinji Takahashi. All available in Japanese only.)

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