On the surface, courage and wisdom seems to be rather different virtues that have no relations with each other. But courage is the will to take action. And this is important for the development of wisdom. Why is that so?
Humans in their natural state are generally rational beings. But in the face of adversities, it is not common for us to make silly decisions. For example, we will be hard-pressed to find criminals who are not aware that their crimes are wrong. However, crimes are committed because these criminals are in a dire situation which they cannot handle. And when they do not have the courage to stop themselves, they ended up making irrational decisions.
Courage provided the calm needed to analysis our situations. And the practice of this calmness causes the development of wisdom.
So how do we develop courage?
From wisdom.
What?!
Wisdom is the capacity to discern right from wrong. When wisdom develops, we gain the confidence that our decisions are the right ones. And the more confidence we derive, the greater our courage in executing the decisions.
Wouldn't we obtain a cyclic logic then? How do we even begin to enter this cycle of courage and wisdom?
We know about satellites. We send them into orbit. How? We first generate a huge amount of energy to send the rocket carrying the satellite into the sky. This energy will help pierce through our atmosphere and bring the satellite into orbit. Once in orbit, it is a matter of tapping into the power of gravity.
In the same way, we first make a determined vow. This vow is the vow to have compassion for others. It is through this vow that our desire to improve our community, and the lives of the people around us meaningful.
Only this vow can help us to overcome our fundamental darkness and send us into the "orbit" of courage and wisdom. And tapping into the power of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is as though tapping into the power of gravity to keep us in the rhythm of constantly developing courage and wisdom.
"To be fearless no matter what happens--that is the root of true happiness. To move forward resolutely regardless of what lies in store--that is the spirit, the resolve, that leads to human victory." ~ Daisaku Ikeda
