While the specific details of rebirth, in what form and when, are ultimately unknowable, the Buddhism described in this book stresses the importance of seeing the big picture—discovering the eternity of life within oneself. In this Buddhism, the challenge presented by the issue of death is to find the most valuable way to live.

In so doing, they discover a way of living that redirects all things toward hope, value and harmony.

To see a World in a grain of sand, And a Heaven in a wild flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour.

We can overcome the suffering of sickness and in so doing even the experience of sickness enriches our lives and makes them more worthwhile, providing the material for a great drama of fulfillment that unfolds day after day.

In Buddhism, one could never be separate from the wisdom of God, because the ultimate wisdom already exists in the heart of every person.

The universe and everything in it are in flux, arising and ceasing, appearing and disappearing, in an unending cycle of change conditioned by the law of causation. All things are subject to the law of cause and effect, and consequently nothing can exist independently of other things. This Buddhistic concept of causation is also known as “dependent

Taken all together then, the phrase Nam-myohorenge-kyo could be translated as “I devote myself to the mystic law of cause and effect through sound.”

Buddha is you. That is, each and every human being contains the inherent capacity to be a Buddha, an ancient Indian word meaning “enlightened one,’’ or one who is awakened to the eternal and unchanging truth of life.

Buddhism teaches us to recognize these cycles of impermanence and have the courage to accept them.