Via The Tricycle Community \\ Three Teachings on Finding Hope

 

Browse our online courses » June 19, 2025 Don’t Despair   If you were to tell anyone you were feeling hopeless these days, you’d probably be met with nods of empathy, regardless of the source of your despair. With so much division, uncertainty, and suffering in the social, economic, and political climate—to say nothing of the environmental climate—hopelessness feels like a valid response. The scale and pace of it all is overwhelming. You could forgive anyone for feeling paralyzed.   But hopelessness doesn’t help. Fortunately, the Buddhist principles of interdependence and impermanence can restore hope and inspire action, reminding us that change on an individual level isn’t just powerful but essential. And an embrace of the unknown opens us to possibility instead of fear, tempering despair and strengthening the will. This week’s Three Teachings offers three different routes to restoring hope rooted in Buddhist wisdom. Forward today's teachings to a friend » On Hardship and Hope By Daisaku Ikeda The founding president of Soka Gakkai International (SGI)—a Japanese Buddhist philosopher, author, and leader known for his activism around nuclear disarmament—promoted internal transformation as the first step toward global peace and obstacles as potential for growth. To young people specifically, he wrote, “Regardless of what storms may blow, what angry waves may threaten, you must keep shining at all times with a pure, steady light. . . [T]he trials of today could turn out to be your most precious possessions.” Read more » Taking Refuge in the Unknown By Rebecca Solnit Writer and activist Rebecca Solnit distinguishes between hope, which opens us to possibility, and optimism, which assumes either naivety or knowledge we might not possess. She also explains how hope is a form of love and care. “You don’t hope if you don’t care,” she says. Read more » Helpless, Not Hopeless By Kurt Spellmeyer Zen priest, English professor, and author Kurt Spellmeyer encourages us to embrace our interdependence to find hope, and asserts that helplessness doesn’t preclude hope, but might actually activate it. “Not until events escaping their control bring people face-to-face with their helplessness will they discover that they belong to something larger than themselves,” he writes. Read more »