Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 29 December 2011

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Thursday, December 29, 2011 

 

Who is truly great? I hope you can develop the ability to discern true human greatness. A great person is someone who forges unity among human beings through sincere dialogue, armed with a solid philosophy, feet firmly planted on the ground. A great person is one who lives among the people and earns their unshakable trust. Fickle popularity and temporary fads are nothing but illusions.  

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Thursday, December 29, 2011 

 

To hope to attain Buddhahood without speaking out against slander is as futile as trying to find water in the midst of fire or fire in the midst of water. No matter how sincerely one believes in the Lotus Sutra, if one is guilty of failing to rebuke slander of the Law, one will surely fall into hell, just a single crab leg will ruin a thousand pots of lacquer. This is the meaning of the passage in the sutra, "Because the poison has penetrated deeply and their minds no longer function as before."

 

The Essentials for Attaining Buddhahood

This letter is addressed to Soya, a lay follower who lived in  Soya   Village  in  Shimosa   Province  in the year 1276.  

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Thursday, December 29, 2011 

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson writes: "And so of cheerfulness, or a good temper, the more it is spent, the more of it remains." Cheerfulness is not the same as frivolousness. Cheerfulness is born of a fighting spirit. Frivolousness is the reverse side of cowardly escape. Emerson also said that "power dwells with cheerfulness; hope puts us in a working mood." Without cheerfulness there is no strength. Strive to advance still more brightly and cheerfully.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1953) p.140

 

To listen to Mr. Toda's excellent lecture and hear his conviction makes me truly happy.

My health steadily gets worse.  It's really pitiful.  Met over dinner with K. and some associates at the  I.  restaurant at 9:00.  I have no vitality. It's agonizing.

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