Daily Encouragement - 25 July 2011

 

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Monday, July 25, 2011
 

Buddhism is, in a sense, an eternal struggle between the Buddha and demons; in other words, a contest between positive and negative forces. If we fail to be assailed by negative influences, we cannot be said to be truly practicing Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. Buddhist practice lies in bravely facing and overcoming adversity.  

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Monday, July 25, 2011

 

A bird's egg contains nothing but liquid, yet by itself this develops into a beak, two eyes, and all the other parts, and the bird soars into the sky. We, too, are the eggs of ignorance, which are pitiful things, but when nurtured by the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which is like the warmth of the mother bird, we develop the beak of the thirty-two features and the feathers of the eighty characteristics and are free to soar into the skies of the true aspect of all phenomena and the reality of all things.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1030
Letter to Niike
Written to Niike Saemon-no-jo in February 1280

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Monday, July 25, 2011
 

Many people talk about peace, but few really do anything about it. Very few are willing to fight the battle to the end. Josei Toda instilled in me the hard and fast rule that, even if we stand alone, we must never give up but must see the struggle through to its conclusion.

The year before he died, he said something I have never forgotten for a minute: "If we don't fight, justice will be defeated. Because justice is on our side, we must not lose, we absolutely must win. That's why we fight. The lion is most lionlike when he roars."

 

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Sensei on Courage - Words of Wisdom

 

To be fearless no matter what happens -- that is the root of true happiness. To move forward resolutely regardless of what lies in store--that is the spirit, the resolve, that leads to human victory.

 

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