The reason we have been given life on Earth is that our planet is just the right distance from the Sun to support life. Because Venus is closer to the Sun than Earth is, it is an infernally hot planet, and because Mars is farther from the Sun than Earth is, it can be a bitterly cold planet. Consequently, it seems that living things cannot exist on either of those two planets. Life came into being on Earth between such extremes.
Thanks to just the right amount of light and heat from the sun, we are able to be alive as we are now. This fact can only be called wondrous or mysterious, the result of divine providence.
We all happen to have been born on this miraculous planet, which is the only one like it in the universe, and we have been given lives for which we should be grateful beyond words. When we think in such a manner, there is no room for being discouraged by or complaining about small, immediate hardships. I believe that the Buddha wanted to tell us to use the vitality we have been given to the fullest and make it a point to live our lives for others and for the world.
Kokorono manako o hiraku [Opening the Mind’s Eye] (Kosei Publishing, 2013), pp. 157–58
Nichiko Niwano is president of Rissho Kosei-kai and an honorary president of Religions for Peace. He also serves as an advisor to Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan).
