So I'm thinkin that 'faith like water' is really a general rule of thumb, rather than just a Nichiren Buddhism thing. It's all about fighting obstacles in daily life with persistence. Persistent practice, persistent faith, persistent study. Maybe even outside the realm of what we think is Buddhism too.
My daily life is rather sheltered from most of the big injustices that exist in this saha world, so the example below is going to seem trivial, but what the heck, trivial is easier to follow. I looked at the small obstacles that I have lying around in my life, and decided that, despite getting annoyed or even frustrated every time I tackle them, I'm going to "unleash the hounds" and "give 'em both barrels" and see what falls out.
With that in mind, one never-ending-saga has been a pitched battle with a home builder for three weeks now over my desire to have a private inspector inspect a property I'm gonna buy before I buy it. They have literally fought me tooth and nail at every juncture, which has only strengthened my resolve (not to mention my annoyance at the whole affair).
So what is the first thing you do when you approach an obtacle? Now be honest... When driving, my approach is to SWERVE, and SWERVE HARD. I flinch first. When I was a kid, we used to see who would flinch first, and damned if I would always lose. Why? Not cuz I'm a coward, but because I figured out early that being seen as cool by a few people did not outweigh the downside of a lost eye. Yes, we were some wild kids...
Anyway, the builder fought the good fight and then fought dirty and finally succumbed to my persistence. At first they tried simply ignoring me. That worked for a while, but is not much of a long term strategy, because they just can't stop answering the phone forever if they want to stay in business. Next, they decided that what I wanted was against "company policy." What they failed to realize was that I was not their employee, and therefore counldn't 'give a rats behind' about their policies. Then they tried the "Doubt" approach, which is far subtler. In effect, they tried to convince me that it was in my best interest to save the money I would spend on a private inspector, since, according to them, all home inspectors are charletans anyway. This tactic is so subtle most people fall for it. While I agree that there probably are some home inspectors that are charletans, surely they realize that I would not be fighting so hard if I thought MY inspector was a phoney. But lets talk about overcoming the obstacle now...
Faith - I knew I could get them to let me have an inspector before the close of escrow. No doubt in my heart at all that this would be resolved favourably. This meant that I had the conviction in my heart that, if the deal fell through because of this one thing, it would work out for me in the end, no matter wht happened as a result.
Practice - Action, action, and more action. I was polite, never threw a tantrum or anything, returned phone calls, and pursued the matter up the chain of supervisors. I followed up on all things I discovered in the next step which was...
Study - I did research. When people started ignoring me, I did the footwork on the Internet and local business bureau to find out what other developments by this builder were going up, contacted their sales office for the number for the managing supervisor, and then called them for info. I researched the builder's "customer service" history of dealing with buyers, and gathered certification and liability insurance details about my inspector to thwart liability arguments.
It was way more work than this summary, but hey, 'both barrels', remember? In the end, all this effort was what was necessary to get it resolved in a way that placated my concerns about the builder. When dealing with bureaucracy, perhaps the three pronged attack with persistence is our only weapon.
So I'll sign off with a final thought;
Did you ever stop to notice... ...that persistence is hard, and that sometimes the hard way is necessary?