Know How Your Thoughts Influence Your Results?

“In case you haven’t noticed, you have a mental dialogue going on inside your head that never stops. It just keeps going and going. Have you ever wondered why it talks in there?
How does it decide what to say and when to say it? How much of what it says turns out to be true? How much of what it says is important? Right now if you are hearing, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have a voice inside my head!” —that’s the voice we’re talking about.
If you’re smart, you’ll take a step back examine this voice, and get to know it better. The problem is, you’re too close to be objective.” The Untethered Soul, Michael A. Singer

Why is it important to get to know this voice? I became involved with this topic when I started getting emails on my website for new people that were written by practitioners, some of them long term practitioners, who were struggling with serious problems and unable to produce the results
they needed to resolve their issue. When you put a problem like this in front of a former therapist, I couldn’t resist. I became fascinated by the question why do some people get good results from the practice and others don’t? I wanted to be able to help the members who were
struggling. So began what has become a five-year study of our Buddhist literature. When we are newcomers, we are told that our thoughts don’t matter. Just let what happens happen. But as you practice over the years you begin to notice how your thinking and your results are connected. You learn about 3000 realms in a moment of life, that whatever we are thinking will produce like results. For example In Faith into Action Daisaku Ikeda says,

“In accordance with the principle of 3000 realms in a single moment of life, pessimistic feelings
or thoughts take form, just as they are in reality, producing negative results. People who have
negative thoughts create effects for themselves that perfectly match their thinking. So it’s important to be positive.” FIA 10

In the Clear Mirror Guidance, Ikeda says, “There may be times, for instance, when you feel reluctant to do Gongyo or take part in activities. That state of mind is precisely reflected on the entire universe, as if on the surface of a clear mirror. The heavenly deities will then also feel reluctant to play their part, and they will naturally fail to exert their full power of protection”

“On the other hand, when you joyfully do Gongyo and carry out activities with the determination to accumulate more good fortune in your life the heavenly deities will be delighted and will valiantly perform their duty.” My Dear Friends p. 99.

Then we learn about oneness of self and the environment and learn that the causes we are making today will show up in our future. We learn that our karma is created by our thoughts, and action, that a cause made today will produce a future like effect. Ikeda shows how thoughts create our
future.

He says that “Everything depends on what is in our hearts. Heartfelt prayers will definitely be answered. If we decide something is impossible, then, consistent with our minds thinking so, even possible things will become impossible” FIA 10

Then continuing in the Clear Mirror Guidance he says,”If you practice reluctantly with a sense it is a waste of time, disbelief and complaints will erode your good fortune. If you continue to practice in this way you will not experience remarkable benefits and this will only serve to further convince you that your practice is in vain. This is a vicious circle.”

“If you practice faith, while doubting its effects, you will get results that are at best unsatisfactory. This is the reflection of your own weak faith on the mirror of the cosmos. On the other hand when you stand up with strong confidence, you will accrue limitless blessings.”

In the Clear Mirror Guidance, Daisaku Ikeda discusses the importance of owing this voice and being aware of it. He says that “understanding the subtle workings of one’s mind is the key to faith and to attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.” My Dear Friends in America, p. 99

However, if we are too close to be objective, how can we become more ware and what do we do about it? When you ask this question, you have embarked on the journey to master your mind.

When you are sitting in front of the Gohonzon you might drift and not really notice what you are thinking, but at some point you will notice what is going on. So just notice what you are noticing. You are the observer. You are not your thoughts.The thoughts are just the contents of your mind. Casual thoughts that drift in and out and have no energy behind them are not the kinds of thoughts that can produce results. But if you hold on to a thought or belief, dwell on it, and give it lots of energy, then you e creating a cause for the future.
the worry, doubt and disbelief and turn your attention ck to what you want. You may have to do this over and over. Ask yourself.”What do I want to produce, what I want or what I don’t want?”

A person, who is very attached to their beliefs might say, “How can I do this when this is what I believe?” Our beliefs seem so right. They often prove out in our experience. Of course they do. It is the law of cause and effect in action. The question becomes, Are they working for you? We control our beliefs and decide what we are or are not going to believe. They don’t control us. You can claim them and hold onto them and give them energy, or you can treat those thoughts as any her casual thoughts and just let them go by. Hold onto them and give them energy and they become your prayer. Do you really want to project worry, doubt and disbelief to the universe?

Then Ikeda says,”
While controlling your mind, which is at once both extremely subtle and solomnly profound, you should strive to elevate your faith with freshness and vigor. When you do so, both your life and your surroundings will open wide before you and every action you take will become a source of benefit.”
Once you start observing what thoughts you are giving energy to, then you start asking, “What if I could deliberately project a vision of what I want and clean the thoughts that are taking it in the wrong direction?” You have begun taking control of your life.

Fortunately, with what we are taught in Buddhism, we are learning the visible laws that influence our results with 3000 realms, oneness of self and environment and the law of cause and effect. They operate just as infallibly as the law of gravity and once we understand what they are, we can turn
them to your advantage on purpose by choosing to think differently. But awareness is the first step and noticing what you are noticing brings what you are doing to your attention.