Good evening brothers and sisters, once again it is an honor to host this series. I had to really think about what I wanted to write about but I think I have arrived on something
See with Buddhism really is about teaching others from experience and I think I have found something important enough to me that I can attempt to convey it.
But first before I do that, I have something of a story (though I promise it's relevant) and that story begins with a small confession of sorts. See I have always enjoyed quotes even when I was young. There's almost something magical about them. The library of my quotes has grown quite extensive.
Looking back on things though I think part of the attraction of quotes for me is how eloquent they are. See I am many things but one thing I do not really consider myself is eloquent and I even struggle with writing stories, diaries and so on. I can say without any emotion that while I can score in the top percentile in math or science I have never done while with the written word. This diary alone took (and will take) about 5 hours to construct.
So to me the ability of a quote to so eloquently put forth an idea or a concept is just incredible.
Now how is that relevant? It's relevant because today I want to talk about courage and persistence.
As the Buddha himself said
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way and not finishing
And if the last prayer I talked about was what got me into Buddhism, then the above is my mantra.
See at least to me life has not been easy. I make no excuses and in truth I really do not want to discuss my past difficulties. I say this in part because the past is the past, in part because I have not shared all of it with any one and finally because I do not want want to sound like I am whining.
But the result has been a bit of a hard life one in which the ability to never give up has come to be probably my defining trait. Of course I have not always succeeded, sometimes I have made mistakes. And I really regret those times.
And that is what I want people tonight to think about, have we always given our all? Have we followed our dreams? Have kept on the path to truth?