Do it or quit complaining

Recently while re-reading The Buddha’s Wish for the World, by Rev. Koshin Otani, head of the Nishi Honganji sect of Jodo Shinshu, he quoted from a famous and respected daimyo in the Edo Period, named Uesugi Harunori (a.k.a. Uesugi Yozan):

If you put your mind to it, you can do it;
If you do not, you cannot — that is true for all things.
When something cannot be done, you are the one to blame
For not putting your heart into it.

I like this quote a lot, despite the macho, tough-guy sound toward the end because in a Buddhist context this makes sense.

If you don’t try, you cannot accomplish something. Whether this be meditation, studying Japanese, whatever, you simply have to put your mind to it, and have confidence that in the long-run your efforts will not be in vain. The Buddha states in the texts that even an ocean can be emptied with a bucket given enough time. The key lies in sense of confidence that regardless of time, one’s actions will still have an effect, even if it’s not obvious at first.

But another key to this is the need to be singularly focused on something. If you care about something enough, you can get it done, but if you treat something as a side-project you may only have middling success. So, either you have to de-prioritize other things in life, or just know your limits. Speaking from experience, this is something I still need to learn, as I tend to scatter myself across many things, and sometimes it’s good to step back and evaluate and prioritize what matters in life and go straight for it.

Namu Amida Butsu