Lifefulness: how to achieve the fullness of life through Buddhism

The book I’m about to tell you about arrived on a sunny June morning. I get many books to consult for work, usually they put them aside waiting to understand if and how to talk about them. But not this one, I started leafing through it immediately and the more I read it, the more curious I was. And the more I read it, the more it read into me.

“Lifefulness” is the new book written for Joints gives Giuseppe Cloza, practicing Buddhist for more than 40 years, who after the success of the previous job “Happiness in this world”, try to accompany us – with simple words, as in a dialogue – on a fascinating journey to discover the Buddhism.

«It is limiting to define Buddhism as a religion: it is more a practice, one lifestyle, which helps to face things with a positive energy that flows from within you, fills you and expands around you, creating a dynamic and contagious harmony », explains the author, reached by phone.

“By focusing in particular on the Buddismo di Nichiren e Nam myoho renge kyo, I try to illustrate a concrete approach to live it better in everyday life, discovering the beneficial effects of Buddhist practice on our body, but also the repercussions on the deepest parts of the soul and on the things and people around us. It took me many years to write this book, because I wanted to design a path that also reveals the points of contact between Buddhism and science, psychology, other philosophies and religions ».

L’target of the book? “Make it clear that whatever the situation is, however it feels … everything can be solved. And it’s never too late. All wounds are healed, all mistakes are repaired. A poison can turn into medicine. Everything can always be reborn, astonishing us, like a flower that blooms from a seed hidden in an arid land. Buddhism gives you the energy of life, which is like rain for the seed. “

Perhaps it is no coincidence that I have started reading it: I am in a phase of recovery, of rebirth of my life, and many of the things written in the book, I am already living on my skin, unconsciously. Could he be a Buddhist without knowing it? “This is not a book for those who are already Buddhists, nor is it an encouragement to become one. It is a book for everyone, which makes us understand how to discover that state of bliss that everyone has within himself and that is defined Buddhahood, is not at all contrary to any other condition on this earth: one can be a practicing Catholic and also practice Buddhism, can work in finance like me, a world that appears to be very materialistic, and live according to precepts of Buddhism “.

And what would they be? “First of all, Buddhism teaches that one should not turn to a higher entity, to a God other than us, because the divine is already within us. We must learn to look inside ourselves, to rediscover that child soul, free from dogmas and superstructures. Because there is this strange belief that happiness is a goal to be achieved, but in this way we will never be happy, because at each goal we will want another one, and if we do not reach it we will feel like a failure. Instead, happiness must be accepted, now we are happy, here and now.

And then, we have to learn to unlearn: life is that thing that happens when we are distracted, when we let our unconscious guide us. It is enough to control everything with the mind, we disconnect the thoughts and find the spontaneity of the heart ».

So, is it that easy? Is it enough to force yourself not to think? “No, that’s not enough, also because the more we force ourselves not to think about something, the more we think about it. We need to go deeper. We already have within us everything we need to be happy, to feel good.

We are like a latest generation smartphone: these tools are complex and feature rich, which we can only operate by touching them, as long as there is a connection. Here, we are just like that: only by touching our soul, we can do everything we want, but provided we have the connection available, otherwise we will not work. Buddhism and in particular, Nam myoho renge kyo, serve to reactivate this connection».

What would Name myoho renge kyo? “It is not a spell, nor a magic formula. If we want to define it, it is a mantra, a sentence in ancient Chinese, Daimoku del Sutra del Loto, or the main teachings of Siddhartha. Nichiren Daishonin in the Middle Ages he came to the conclusion that the recitation of this sentence could encompass all the principles of Buddhism.

Its sound produces sounds vibrations, which bring us back into connection with the ancient energy from which the universe originated and to which we have always been connected, and which have the power to reactivate all the cells of our body, shaking us from numbness and “awakening” in the depths ” .

So is it enough to recite this mantra to see things change? «No, there must be consistency between what we want and how we live. We can also desire love, but if we then believe within ourselves that we do not deserve it, it will not come. And there will be no mantra that can do magic. The universe listens to hearts that ask with ardor and conviction and Nam myoho renge kyo can only facilitate this process.

But first we have to remove, make room, sweep via what pollutes us e to accept that we are perfect as we are, with our weaknesses and frailties. Do the best we can with what we have. And realize that now we already have everything we need to be happy. This is how a life in fullness is realized ».

The final part of the book is entirely dedicated to practice, or how to concretely translate the principles of Buddhism. Below and in our gallery we report the most difficult principles to apply, namely the things not to do. Happy reading and good practice!

Don’t use words to hurt

Words have immense power, they can create or destroy. You know what the famous magic formula means “Abracadabra”, always used as a game or in cartoons? It comes from the Aramaic words Avrah KaDabra, which mean “I create what I say”. Here, use words to sow love and not poisons. It will come back to you.

Don’t do things because you expect a reward in return

Do not do anything to get something in return, because certainly that something will not come. Donate, love for free: only in this way will you get what you want in your heart.

Don’t judge and don’t criticize

The tendency to judge is human, but it is good not to. This does not mean that you must always be silent, but only that it must be done at the right time, if requested and above all in front and not behind.

Do not make comparisons and comparisons

Making comparisons is the most direct and fastest way to unhappiness. We will never be anyone else, and here lies our strength and uniqueness. We are Buddha precisely because we are perfect in our imperfections. Without unnecessary sterile comparisons.

Don’t complain

Those who complain are losing negative energy: they are not trying to change things, on the contrary, they are attracting them just as they are to continue complaining about them, in a vicious circle of negativity.

Don’t try to be right at all costs

If you always try to be right, life becomes a constant conflict. Pointing out everything, you don’t even get great satisfaction, but only a useless waste of energy. Let it go, choose happiness.

Don’t try to change others

Why do we want to change the other? To make it perhaps closer to our idea. But compassion comes from acceptance. Love each other as they are, reciprocally. This is what matters.

Don’t assume

We think we know what is right for us, what awaits us, what will make us happy, but in reality we do not know, or rather only our unconscious knows it, but we keep it suffocated, repressed. Then? We let go of our expectations, our demands… and the right things will come at the right time.

Don’t fill your head with lists of goals and objectives

If our goals are not consistent with what we “feel” deep down, those things will not happen, we will never cross them from our to do list. Then? We think about freeing ourselves from unconscious blocks. Then the heart will accord us to life and life will happen, just as we have always dreamed of it.