Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Many religions have demanded blind faith, taking away people's independence. President Makiguchi opposed such enslavement. What he called for instead was solidarity of awakened common people. To achieve this, he proposed a self-reliant way of life in which we advance on the path of our choice with a firm, independent character. He also stressed a contributive way of life in which we set our fundamental goal in life toward the realization of happiness for ourselves and others, casting aside arrogance and self-satisfaction to respect and benefit others.
From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Becoming a Buddha is nothing extraordinary. If you chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with your whole heart, you will naturally become endowed with the Buddha's thirty-two features and eighty characteristics. As the sutra says, "hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us," you can readily become as noble a Buddha as Shakyamuni.
Letter to Niike
Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter in 1280 to Niike Saemon-no-jo, an official in the Kamakura shogunate
Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Where is happiness to be found? The famous Roman philosopher - emperor Marcus Aurelius said, "A man's true delight is to do the things he was made for." Human happiness, he maintained, lies in doing those things only humans can: seeking the truth and acting to help those who are suffering. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, too, asserted that those who work cheerfully and take joy in the fruits of their labour are truly happy. These are the words of great thinkers, and as you can see they are in complete accord with the teachings of Buddhism.
Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1953) p.138
I pray that, from among the members of my corps, men of power and ability for kosen-rufu will appear in rapid succession.
Members of my corps! I pray you will each develop into men who surpass me in capability.
Members of my corps! I pray that not one of you will discard your faith.
These days I deeply sense the tremendous mercy of the Gohonzon.
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