What if just a single choice in your past had been different? Up until this very day, we have accumulated countless large and small decisions in our lives. We decide to leave a bit early because we have extra time, we choose which restaurant to have lunch at, and we are constantly selecting something. To put sugar in our coffee today or not? Even in such a simple detail, a choice is being made.

Before us, countless possible paths open up. out of this infinity of directions, we have always chosen just one to walk until we arrived here. However, are we truly choosing with absolute freedom? When we look back from the present moment, everything seems to take on a character of inevitabilidade. If we had taken a different path back then, perhaps we would not be here today. If we had chosen a different school, or made that trip to another destination. What we call mere coincidence for being here right now might, deep down, have already been determined from the beginning. Is this an inexplicable miracle or simply reality as it is?

And from now on, where are we walking? The future is an absolute mystery to all of us. Yet, we can wish for tomorrow to be better and act in the present to make it happen. This is what we call life. It is precisely because we do not know what lies ahead that we are allowed to carry hope.

There is a dimension that already contemplates and welcomes our entire horizon, from the beginning to the end. This is what we call the Buddha. The future that the Buddha sees for us is our ultimate birth in the Pure Land, the full awakening. No matter what your trajectory has been, or which paths you ended up choosing, the Buddha maintains the absolute conviction to lead us to this refuge. Supported by this same compassion, our loved ones who departed before us have become Buddhas and, today, sustain our walk.

Whatever the unfolding of facts in your existence, you will never be abandoned. For us, who walk in the uncertainty of tomorrow, this presence restores the certainty of a firm ground to which we can return. Today, we celebrate the birth of Master Shinran Shonin, the one who dedicated his life to passing down this essential truth to us.