what are we? I would say lucky at first and then I would say we are travelers, thus seeking the answer to the second question.
The Daishonin Buddha Nichiren said in his letter to his disciples: “It is rare to be born a human being. The number of those endowed with human life is as small as the amount of earth we can put on a fingernail. Living as a human being is difficult—as difficult as the dew on the grass. However, it is better to live a single day with honor than to live 120 years and die in disgrace.”
Buddhism, unlike other teachings, emphasizes the importance and mission with which we were born, and only we have the ability to discover them and fulfill them with dignity. Furthermore, in Buddhism it is taught that we are energies in continuous transformation, meeting the first law of thermodynamics in which energy is constant and can be transformed. And as we are agents in constant transformation and we have a body that contains energy, then we are “constant transformations”.
Life, as well as natural phenomena, is constantly changing. At a given moment of the day, it is scorching hot, followed by torrential rain that forces us to walk around with an umbrella in our bag or backpack, and after a while, it gets hot or even cold again. We then added an extra blouse to our items when we left the house.
Like these phenomena, Buddhism understands that all forms of life are cyclical and constant, and the human mind is a living example of this. Scientists claim that our mind has 12 to 80 thousand thoughts a day. We are based on the fact that our life also undergoes constant changes, good and bad, followed by actions that will permeate our existence.
In the Buddhist view, all things and phenomena are impermanent. In the same way, everything has continuity and never an end. From this view and reasoning, we can only think that we are continuity of something or someone, because there are no consequences without realized causes.
In addition, there is a term called “inseparability of life and its environment” (Esho Funi, in Japanese), which elucidates this theme by saying that “As life extends its influence to the surroundings, the environment automatically changes from one place to another. according to the condition of life. So, the environment – ​​which is a reflection of the lives of its inhabitants – always acquires the characteristics of those who exist in it.” (Life – An Enigma, a Precious Gem, p. 173).
Seeing this innate truth in our lives is a right of each and every person. And the best thing about it is knowing that, even fulfilling our mission, we will have countless possibilities in an infinite journey, without beginning or end.
In a nutshell, and faced with the immensity of life and the universe, answering the question “What are we?” I would say: “We are moments” And “where are we going?”: “To an infinity of possibilities”.
Text written by Bruno da Silva Melo from the Eu Sem Fronteiras Team.
