“Work hard and you’ll succeed. If you fail, it’s because you didn’t try enough.”
How many have been quietly crushed under these words?
Since the early 2000s, society has been deeply influenced by the ideology of personal responsibility.
Poverty, illness, and failure are often viewed as entirely the individual’s fault.
“You caused it.”
“You chose this.”
“Try harder.”
However, Buddhism offers a completely different perspective.
It looks beyond blame and self-hatred to reveal a deeper truth — the truth of dependent origination.
❖ Buddhism’s Core: Nothing Exists Alone
At the heart of Buddhist thought is dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda):
“This exists because that exists.
This ceases because that ceases.”
Our suffering is not born by ourselves alone.
It arises from countless interconnected conditions:
— upbringing
— social structures
— economic pressures
— relationships
— chance encounters and even changing weather.
To reduce this complex web to “your fault” is not only simplistic but a dangerous distortion.
It is a lie disguised as moral truth.
❖ The Arrogance of Self-Reliance
Shinran, the founder of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism, called the belief that “I can fix everything by myself” manshin — arrogance.
The modern myth of personal responsibility is just a new form of this arrogance.
It begins with hopeful words:
“You hold your future in your hands.”
But when life becomes hard, it turns into a whip:
“If you are still suffering, it’s because you aren’t enough.”
Encouragement slowly turns into self-reproach.
❖ Seeing the Net of Dependent Origination
When you perceive the web of dependent origination clearly, your heart begins to change:
- You stop blaming yourself — you realize you are not alone in this.
- You stop blaming others — they too are bound by conditions beyond themselves.
- Compassion arises — we exist only through our connections with one another.
Suffering exists.
But it is not proof of your failure.
It is proof of your humanity — proof that you are part of this interdependent world.
❖ Compassion That Accepts Without Conditions
Jōdo Shinshū teaches even more deeply:
Even when caught in this web of conditions and personal responsibility,
“You are not abandoned.”
Amida Buddha’s vow is:
“I embrace you just as you are — entangled in countless causes and conditions.”
Not because you fixed yourself.
Not because you overcame suffering.
But just as you are.
This is how Amida Buddha’s embrace is felt.
When you awaken to this truth, the suffocating voice whispering “It’s all your fault” begins to loosen.
❖ Words That Gently Reach the Heart
Your suffering is not yours alone.
It is not a moral failing.
And you are never alone.
Amida Buddha is there.
Already watching over you, saying:
“Leave it to me. I will never abandon you.”
Please, don’t forget this.
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