What is it that we hold most important in our lives? Is it a nice house, a good car, a big paycheck, our televisions, our video games, or something else? Many people today think of prosperity as the sign of a good life, or even the benefit of their religious practice and belief.

In Buddhism we should not approach our practice as a means to increase our net worth or our social standing or material acquisitions. To be consumed by the increase of materialism is to be trapped in a never-ending quest, which only leads to suffering.

The great oceans are made up of many single drops of water, which come together to form one body of water. This is much like both our individual practice as well as the assembly of the Sangha and makeup of a temple.

We each have our part to play and the success of the whole depends upon each person.

In our individual lives, it is the accumulating of many small efforts on a day-to-day basis that results in the accumulation of an enlightened life manifesting Buddhahood. When we look at our small efforts we may not see the potential of the accumulation of those efforts, just as we don’t see the ocean in the single drop of water.

As we learn in the ‘Parable of the Rich Man and his Son’ told in Chapter IV the son did not know the rich man was his father he had left many years before. The son did not know he was heir to great wealth and fortune.

Over many years the father gradually raised up the condition of the son, teaching him and training him in the ways of the household. Eventually as the father nears his death and the son has been successfully managing the entire fortune for the old man, the old man reveals that he is none other than the father of the young man who will now inherit the entire estate.

In this parable the rich man represents the Buddha and the poor son represents us. We are naturally endowed, with Buddhahood; it is our natural condition, yet we do not realize it. The Buddha in his compassion to make us equal to him slowly guides and instructs us thereby elevating our life to the point where we can eventually realize our innate Buddha condition.

When we mistakenly place our happiness on the fulfillment of desires then we will always repeat the cycle of sufferings. If however we can begin to change ourselves in a fundamental way, if we change our outlook, if we change our very core of life, then slowly but surely the environment in which we live begins to change. It is not just our perception but our true self that changes which then influences the change in our surroundings.

In the “Weight of Glory”, C.S. Lewis tells the story of a woman who gave birth to a son while confined as a prisoner in a dungeon. Since the boy had never seen the outside world, his mother tried to describe it by making pencil drawings. Later when they were released from prison, the simple pencil sketches were replaced by the actual images of the beautiful world.

In some ways we may think of our selves, our sufferings as being in a dungeon. In fact in Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra it says: “The perverted people think this world is in a great fire. The end of the kalpa of destruction is coming.’”

In other words we all too easily see the suffering and refuse to see the Buddha land that surrounds us.

When we begin to practice and study Buddhism, we begin to open the door to our lives; we open our door, our inner door. But whom do we open the door to? It could be said that we open the door to no one but ourselves.

It is similar to the opening of the door to the great stupa of Many Treasures, the opening of the door to the practice of Buddhism. We practice the Lotus Sutra so that we can purify our lands, so that we can be of one mind and one body focused on living in the present both fully and mindfully. We open our door to reveal the Many Treasures Buddha that resides within ourselves and we also invite the Eternal Buddha to manifest in our lives.

Approaching Buddhism as a practice of ‘self-improvement’ only, that is as a way to do self-help, is like being satisfied by the small bronze coin. While it is true that we do gain self-improvement by our practice, it is the greater goal of complete liberation from suffering and the attainment of Enlightenment that is the spiritual goal of our Buddhist practice.

Buried in a farm field near Frome in Somerset, Britain, the largest collection of ancient Roman coins was discovered by an amateur treasure hunter, Dave Crisp. … When Mr. Crisp first uncovered his treasure he first dug up a small bronze coin. If Crisp had stopped with that first coin, thinking that there was nothing more, the remainder of the 350 pounds of coins would have gone uncovered. It is similar for us as we practice Buddhism. Being satisfied with small gains thinking that we have achieved what we have not can cause us to miss the greater treasure of Enlightenment.

Buried in a farm field near Frome in Somerset, Britain, the largest collection of ancient Roman coins was discovered by an amateur treasure hunter, Dave Crisp. … We may each wish that we could find such a buried treasure as Mr. Crisp found, however in Buddhism we are directed not to seek the treasures of the storehouse or material wealth, but to focus on treasures of the heart. Through the teachings of the Lotus Sutra we are able to uncover the hidden treasure of Buddhahood that is buried deep within our lives.