Composed of 29 college students ranging from seventeen to twenty-two
years old, we are a soccer club that wants to win and have had success doing
so. Finishing with a record of 16-5-3 in this past Fall campaign, the Western
New England University's Men's Soccer team is driven to find success. However,
how is this achieved? Hard work and dedication are both contributions. In my
personal opinion our Buddhist view of the game has brought us a range of short
and long terms successes. Throughout our team from coach to players, we believe
that 'Doing the right things now will benefit us in the future'. This does not
refer to scoring goals but applies throughout our personal lives. Being a good
citizen, a proper student, and attentive family member. A phrase that is said
almost every practice is, 'Do the little things!' referring to doing the small
things in your life that others are leaving out. We feel that our success not
only comes from our performance on the field but our actions off it.
Reading 'The Buddha and his Teachings', Kamma is widely spoken of throughout chapters 17 through 20. It is
spoken about in a degree that it is what determines your lifestyle and how you
are blessed with looks, intelligence, and physical features. Reading in chapter 19 it is stated, "the
significance of the Buddha’s enigmatic statement: 'We are the heirs of our own
actions.'(Hanh, Ch19)". Although a short statement, this represents everything that Buddhism
explains about Kamma in the chapters involving Kamma. In a Buddhist's view
Kamma determines the majority of your life. When reading the statement I
immediately made a connection to the soccer club I play for. Although we do not
participate in a complete Buddhist view, there are strong traces that our team
believes in the role of Kamma. We may be winning directly from scoring on the
field, but we believe that our actions off the field throughout our individual
lives pave the future for the success of the team. A Buddhist may not feel that
'winning' comes from Kamma but this is our form of happiness in a team setting.
I personally have come to believe this Kamma-like idea based on my experiences with
other teams. I have been a part of teams with equal talent but lacked the right
actions off the field. We would play great soccer but would not have any 'luck'
on the field. WNE Men's soccer may be known
for our success on the pitch but it is the kamma-like believe that influences our
actions off the field that I feel directly correlate to this success.
Citation:
Nhá̂t, Hạnh. The Heart of the Buddha's
Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy & Liberation. New York: Broadway, 1999. Online.
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