Tuesday 8 November 2011

Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 08 November 2011

 
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
 
 
In the "Ongi Kuden" (Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings), Nichiren Daishonin says with reference to attaining Buddhahood, "To attain' means to open'" (Gosho Zenshu, p. 753). Attaining Buddhahood means opening our lives to their fullest potential and revealing our innate Buddhahood. This is the purpose of Buddhism.
 
 

  
 
From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Tuesday, November 8, 2011

 
If you seek enlightenment outside yourself, then your performing even ten thousand practices and ten thousand good deeds will be in vain. It is like the case of a poor man who spends night and day counting his neighbour's wealth but gains not even half a coin. That is why the T'ien-t'ai school's commentary states, "Unless one perceives the nature of one's life, one cannot eradicate one's grave offenses." This passage implies that, unless one perceives the nature of one's life, one's practice will become an endless, painful austerity.
 
 

On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime 
Written to Toki Jonin in 1255
 
 

 
 
Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Tuesday, November 8, 2011

 
The noted pacifist scholar Johan Galtung tells young people, "We must be realists in our brains while keeping the flame of idealism burning in our hearts." Both of these --to see the world as it is and how it could be -- are essential to reform. A firm hold on reality should not entail being swamped by or resting easy in the status quo. To pioneer uncharted ways requires that people today keep the lamp of optimism lit.
 
 

 
Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1951) p.86
 
 
Ate two portions of breakfast this morning at a restaurant that honors food coupons.  Continuing to live immoderately.  It seems I'm always doing something to make my health worse.
Bad causes bring bad effects, while good causes bring good effects.  No one knows the reasons for my situation better than I do.  In the end on one else is to blame.  It is no one's responsibility but my own.
 
  


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