In a mysterious place somewhere on Earth, there’s a secret garden filled with apple trees, orange trees, pear trees, and roses.

All of them lived happily together, almost all of them. Somewhere at the corner, there stood a sorrowful, but young oak tree. Poor little tree. He was confused of his identity.

The apple trees think the kid isn’t paying much attention “If you’ve put in your effort, you’ll grow delicious apples.” On the other hand, the roses said “No, no, no! It’s easier to bloom roses. Look how beautiful we are!” The sorrowful oak listened as they commented. But he felt despair as he wishes to be like the rest.

One day, an intelligent hawk arrived to the secret garden. After hearing the little oak’s story, it said “Not to worry, it isn’t a big problem. There could be thousands of living creatures in the world who’d wonder the same question. Let me tell you what to do. Don’t waste the time of your life trying to be somebody else. You are just you. Try to understand more of yourself, listen to your heart.” The intelligent hawk flapped its wings and flew away as it finished.

The little oak began mumbling “Be myself? Understand myself? How do I listen to my heart?” Suddenly, with a blink of an eye, the little oak seemed to have understood something. For the very first time, he felt so calm and quiet that he could hear his own heartbeat. His heart was speaking “You’ll never grow delicious apples, because you’re not an apple tree. You’ll never bloom flowers, because you’re not a rose either. You’re an oak. Your mission is to grow strong and bold, beautifying the surrounding and providing shelter. This is the mission you must accomplish!”

In just a few moments, the little oak could feel energy and confident in himself. Since then, he began to work hard towards his aim. In a short period, he grew up to become a big tree. Achieving his great mission, all the other trees respected him. Till then, everyone was truly living happily together.


Postscript:

We’re all born different, at different places, different time. Hence, making everyone special.

This also proves that, everyone, has a different mission.

It’s quite often that we’d look at somebody else’s shadow as we walk. Sometimes we may even follow what people do. Even if we have a different opinion, we don’t seem to be brave enough to put them into action. Perhaps we were thinking “If I follow majority and get things wrong, at least I’m not the only person being wrong.”

We must never think that way. People could live happily because they’ve gone through numerous failures and challenges. They could only feel the true happiness after all the challenges were overcame.

Mission is a task of a lifetime, it’s the thing we spend our life trying to accomplish. Roses, apple, and orange trees are all giving their lifetime effort sprouting fruits and flowers.
We must have had our own mission either. Some may have to exert themselves fullest at work, and some would only take care of the people around them. These are missions as well.

From the story, we learned that on our way of discovering our mission, people around us may voice their opinions which may confuse us at times. This happens because we did not have a clear aim. Those who could truly encourage us, are not the ones who tell us who to be or what to do. They are the people who unlock us from our heart, enlightening us to think about what we should do.

Ikeda Sensei met his lifetime mentor – Toda Sensei. The noble mentor enlightened Ikeda Sensei at the age of 19, about his very mission. As he set a clear aim, Ikeda Sensei exerted himself to the fullest to accomplish his mentor’s wish for the sake of kosen-rufu and people’s happiness.

Since then, Ikeda Sensei had always been encouraging us with his guidance. The guidance for everyone may not be the same, but there must be one that suits yourself and your situation the most. In his book ‘Spectrum of Youth’ (青春谱), Ikeda Sensei written:

I have
my very own mission that I must accomplish
You have
a mission that must be completed by you as well

Ikeda Sensei said “When we live for a mission, our state of being will continuously ascend!”

Our mentor has said that we have a mission that must be completed by us. That’s right! Sensei has his mission, and we have our own as well. Sensei is always having high expectation on us to accomplish our mission for kosen-rufu!

It is time we repay our mentor! Let’s stand up strong and fight along our mentor. We must be in strong faith, believing in our very noble mission!
As we’ve seen from the story “You’ll never grow delicious apple because you’re not an apple tree. You’ll never bloom flowers because you’re not a rose either. You’re an oak and your mission is to grow strong and bold, beautifying the surrounding and providing shelter.”

We are the Bodhisattva of the Earth who spread the seeds of happiness.

Pray in front of Gohonzon and search for your mission. Strive to the utmost with our mentor!

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