Some years ago a certain minister remarked, "As Buddhists, our goal in life should not stop at receiving a college degree or in the type of work we gain. These goals are like a person driving to a gas pump to fill up his car. After filling up, he continues to drive to his destination. In this sense, the college degree we receive or the work we gain are like filling up at the gas pump. The end and destination are more than just filling up at these pumps. As Buddhists, we should also continue to move forward towards the end-goal of enlightenment, no matter how satisfying these temporary stops are."

Many of our conventional goals in life are like filling up temporarily filling up at different gas pumps: school, education, job, marriage, family, and so forth. They are important and valuable in our life and entail a lot of time, effort, and commitment. They are also signs by which we often compare and judge our accomplishments and responsibilities, our self worth and value, in relation to others. They enhance our lives greatly, but they are temporary stops in our life journey. They are not ends in themselves.

In our spiritual journey, no matter which pump fills our life, they are temporary and do not truly define or fulfill our deepest self. Our deepest self, often below our conscious awareness, seeks fulfillment and meaning because of innumerable karmic conditions stirring our hopes and yearnings, imperfections and sufferings. These karmic influences compel us to move forward inwardly and not remain self-satisfied at these pumps as ends in themselves. They drive us towards our spiritual destination, not simply to death as an end in itself. We may be unclear and doubtful about the direction we take at times, but we cannot remain stationary and stagnate spiritually. Our inner life quietly seeks constantly an authentic response to our heart, mind, and spirit.

The authentic response becomes self-evident in our awakening to the truth of our spirituality. It emerges from the inner recesses of our undiscovered self and is the connective tissue to truth itself. In the language and path of the way of Shinran in the Nembutsu, this authentic response occurs at the very moment we awaken to the timeless call of Amida's wisdom and compassion illuminating our way to enlightenment and fulfillment. This timeless call reaches into our heart as in the words of Amida Buddha in the parable of the White Path, "Come forth. I will save you unconditionally. Cast aside your fears and doubts. Come forth as you are."

In this moment of deep hearing and entrusting in Amida's unconditional vow for the liberation and salvation of all beings from their spiritual suffering we are shaken from our ego-centered preoccupations of blind acquisitiveness, clinging, and craving. We experience and realize the reality of letting go. We begin to "see" that the many pumps of our conventional life are temporary respites in our spiritual journey to enlightenment. While we may enjoy and care for each pump, i.e., family, education, work, play, etc., letting go allows us to move forward in open response to the light of wisdom and compassion beyond our self-centered ego. Each pump is now experienced as blessings and gratefully received and shared for the moment without blind clinging and attachments. We are guided and illuminated in the way of true living, the way of letting go and emptying; not controlling and clinging. Wisdom and compassion thus becomes the heart of our daily life. Namu-amida-butsu.

Trust has nothing to do with moral courage. It occurs when we have nowhere else to turn, when we reach the end of our need to control.
- Rodney Smith

Walking the spiritual path is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted ego-centered version of spirituality. We can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spirituality when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques.
- Chogyam Trunpa