Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 31 May 2012 - The Year of Developing a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Thursday, May 31, 2012  

 

Buddhism is about bringing happiness, joy and fulfillment to all. It enables us not only to become happy ourselves but to make causes for the enlightenment of our ancestors seven-plus generations back and for the happiness and prosperity of our children, grandchildren and descendants throughout future generations. This is the great benefit of Buddhism.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Thursday, May 31, 2012

 

Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra are as if in winter, but winter always turns to spring. Never, from ancient times on, has anyone heard or seen of winter turning back to autumn. Nor have we ever heard of a believer in the Lotus Sutra who turned into an ordinary person. The sutra reads, "If there are those who hear the Law, then not a one will fail to attain Buddhahood."

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 536

Winter Always Turns to Spring 

Written to the lay nun Myoichi in May 1275  

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Thursday, May 31, 2012

 

The poetic spirit encourages people in all ranks and places to return to their naked humanity. Neither sentimental nor fantastic, it embraces and affirms the whole world and all its inhabitants; it imparts the will to remain optimistic and unbending in the face of all hardships. As a believer in innate human goodness, I am certain that the concentrated power of good can overcome the greatest forces of evil. The poetic spirit helps us control the greed-dominated self. It helps us handle the actual while keeping our eyes turned toward the ideal.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1955) p. 260

 

It's Saturday; the weekend is already here.  People in the Meiji period called Saturday handon, a combination of Japanese and Portuguese meaning to "rest half-a-day."  None can resist the tide of the times, no matter how they may try.  A life based on the Mystic Law will be in rhythm with the great power of the natural law.  In Europe and America , people have both Saturdays and Sundays off.  Will Japan someday follow suit?

 

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 30 May 2012 - The Year of Developing a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, May 30, 2012 

 

Those who make many friends have greater opportunities for growth and self-development; as such they make society a better place and lead happy, satisfying lives. In every situation, human relations, communication and personal interaction are vital. We need to initiate and nurture friendships and contacts with many people, both within the organization and in society at large. Our lives will open and be enriched to the extent that we do so.  

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

 

But your faith alone will determine all these things. A sword will be useless in the hands of a coward. The mighty sword of the Lotus Sutra must be wielded by one courageous in faith. Then one will be as strong as a demon armed with an iron staff.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 412

Reply to Kyo'o 

Written to Kyo'o and her parents, Shijo Kingo and Nichigen-nyo, on August 15, 1273  

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

 

All children are gems, full of precious potential. There is hope in every child since life itself is full of hope. Should the hopes of children be stifled or broken, that would be our responsibility as adults. It pains my heart to see what goes on in today's society. I do not want to see the eyes of children darkened with fear and clouded with tears of sorrow. Society must be absolutely transformed. Children are mirrors that reflect adult society. When adults are ailing and their vision clouded, children will also suffer. Let us wipe away the tears of sorrow from the face of each child! We must protect children and give them courage, strength and vitality. It is parents who nurture children, the hope of humanity. How noble parents are! What a great mission and responsibility they fulfill. 

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1955) p. 259/260

 

Quite fatigued.  Understand the severe difficulty of changing my destiny and transforming my fate and the strictness of my past slander's effects.  Truly sense life's eternal nature with my entire being.  Without this, it would be a contradiction to say I understand this life.  Remained in the office all day, resting my body and thinking about many things.

Life is like a dream.  Since this is the case, I shall be satisfied if I can spend each day, my entire life, fully exerting myself.

Wouldn't mind being a businessman or a politician or even an average person who lives life deeply.

 

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 29 May 2012 - The Year of Developing a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Tuesday, May 29, 2012 

 

We who embrace the Mystic Law will not suffer on account of old age or death. As long as we keep the flame of faith alive, the fire of life force will forever burn brightly within us; we can live with great confidence transcending birth and death. Faith is the engine that enables us to live with hope throughout our lives.  

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

 

When one carries out the single practice of exercising faith in Myoho-renge-kyo, there are no blessings that fail to come to one, and no good karma that does not begin to work on one's behalf. It is like the case of a fishing net: though the net is composed of innumerable small meshes, when one pulls on the main cord of the net, there are no meshes that do not move. Or it is like a garment: though the garment is composed of countless tiny threads, when one pulls on a corner of the garment, there are no threads that are not drawn along.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 133

Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man 

Recipient unknown; written in 1265  

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

 

Shakyamuni proclaims, "People who are vigilant do not die; people who are negligent are as if dead." This is definitely true. Unremitting diligence in our Buddhist practice - brave and vigorous exertion - infuses our lives with the great life force of the eternal Buddha. In contrast, people who try to get by in life through cunning and deception enact a living death.  

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1955) p. 259

 

A seeker of the Way must always be youthful and brave.  People who become wrapped up in intellectual pursuits alone, impressed with their own achievements, soon end up living in the past.  Wisdom based on the Mystic Law, intellect for the purpose of creating value, is this not the perfect model for youth for the future?

 

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 28 May 2012 - The Year of Developing a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Monday, May 28, 2012 

 

What is true joy in life? This is a difficult question and one which has occupied a great many thinkers and philosophers. Joy can quickly give way to suffering. Joy is short and suffering long. Also what passes for joy in society is superficial. It cannot compare with the joy deriving from the Mystic Law. The key then lies in cultivating a state of mind where we can declare without reservation that life itself is a joy. This is the purpose of our Buddhist practice.  

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Monday, May 28, 2012

 

"Single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha" may be read as follows: single-mindedly observing the Buddha, concentrating one's mind on seeing the Buddha, and when looking at one's own mind, perceiving that it is the Buddha.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 389

Letter to Gijo-bo 

Written to Gijo-bo on May 28, 1273  

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Monday, May 28, 2012

 

The belief taught in the Lotus Sutra provides no easy answers, no escape route from the difficulties of human life. In fact, it rejects such easy answers; instead it implores us to take up the two tools for exploring life, belief and understanding, and use them to continually challenge and work to perfect ourselves. And it also provides us the energy to do just that.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1955) p. 259

 

Suffered all day, immersed in pain.  My temperature was 101.3° F.  My head hurts, my back hurts.  What kind of illness is this?  Going to chant a thousand or two thousand daimoku.  Must create a wellspring of life force.  Must defeat this devilish illness.  Must not die.

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(next day) Body and mind are out of rhythm.  Could not see Sensei during the day again.  Felt empty and lonesome.  Isn't life force the key to happiness?  Clearly this is the most important requirement.  Over the next several years, I will put this to the test and prove it decisively.  Healthy ones, don't forget to appreciate!

 

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 27 May 2012 - The Year of Developing a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Sunday, May 27, 2012

 

Forward! Always forward! This is a basic spirit of Buddhism. Nichiren Daishonin's teaching is the Buddhism of true cause. We live with our gaze fixed on the future, not hung up on the past. To advance eternally - this is the essence of life and the essence of what it means to be a practitioner of the Daishonin's Buddhism.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Sunday, May 27, 2012

 

To accept, uphold, read, recite, take delight in, and protect all the eight volumes and twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra is called the comprehensive practice. To accept, uphold, and protect the "Expedient Means" chapter and the "Life Span" chapter is called the abbreviated practice. And simply to chant one four-phrase verse or the daimoku, and to protect those who do so, is called the essential practice. Hence, among these three kinds of practice, comprehensive, abbreviated, and essential, the daimoku is defined as the essential practice.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 143

The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra

Recipient unknown; written on January 6, 1266

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Sunday, May 27, 2012

 

Similar to the unifying and integrating self that Carl Jung perceived in the depths of the ego, the term greater self in Buddhism expresses the openness and expansiveness of character by which we can embrace all people's sufferings as our own. The greater self always seeks to alleviate pain and to augment the happiness of others here amid the realities of everyday life. Furthermore, the dynamic, vital awakening of the greater self enables each individual to experience both life and death with equal delight.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1955) p. 258

 

A clear autumn day.  Not a cloud in the sky.

I adore my sons, Hiromasa and Shirohisa.  Don't feel at all like their father.  Is it because I'm still so young myself or is it due to my spoiled nature?  In any case, all I can do is pray from the depths of my heart that these two will become men of justice who can open their golden wings and take flight as capable people for kosen-rufu.

 

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 26 May 2012 - The Year of Developing a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Saturday, May 26, 2012

 

In Buddhism, we either win or lose - there is no middle ground. Now and in the future, let us advance, determined to win in every sphere of our lives. By winning in our lives, we are advancing kosen-rufu; and by advancing kosen-rufu, we win in our lives. 

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Because Buddhism has gradually been turned upside down, the secular world also has been plunged into corruption and chaos. Buddhism is like the body, and society like the shadow. When the body bends, so does the shadow. How fortunate that all of my disciples who follow the Buddha's true intention will naturally flow into the ocean of comprehensive wisdom!

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1039

A Comparison of the Lotus and Other Sutras

Written to Toki Jonin on May 26, 1280

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Saturday, May 26, 2012

 

There is a saying that "Speech is silver, silence is golden." But when you are engaged in a struggle, the opposite is true. Then, speaking out is golden and silence is defeat.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1955) p. 257

 

Talked with G. at my house.  Very low spirits.  For both G. and myself, next spring's House of Councillors election will be a decisive first battle.  If we fail, the pace of kosen-rufu will be impaired.

Want to score a solid victory in my maiden battle, not for myself, not for honor, but to realize the principles of Buddhism within society.  My own mission has become all the more important.  When viewed from the standpoint of 'consistency from beginning to end,' this battle will be the beginning, and all future elections, the end.  If beginning and end are consistent, then this is the key battle, the one we must win.

 

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 25 May 2012 - The Year of Developing a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Friday, May 25, 2012

 

The heart is most important of all. In his classic The Little Prince, the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery writes: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." It is just as he says. We cannot always tell whether something is genuine just with our eyes. Only by looking with the heart can we discern the true essence.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Friday, May 25, 2012

 

If a spark as small as a bean is set to a single blade of grass in a spring field of a thousand square ri thick with grass, it becomes in an instant an immeasurable, boundless blaze. Such is also the case with this robe [you have offered]. Though only one robe, it has been offered to the Buddhas of all the characters of the Lotus Sutra. Be firmly convinced that the benefits from this will extend to your parents, your grandparents, nay, even to countless living beings, not to mention your own husband, whom you hold most dear.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 533

The Offering of an Unlined Robe

Written to the lady of Sajiki on May 25, 1275

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Friday, May 25, 2012

 

The Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore compares the function of evil to the banks of a river. The riverbanks are obstructions, but they are necessary for keeping the river on track and flowing steadily forward. Without banks, the river would overflow, causing destruction instead of creating value. 

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1955) p.254

 

Made many minor mistakes lately. Whatever my past faults or errors, if I can change poison into medicine, I have nothing to be ashamed of.

 

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 24 May 2012 - The Year of Developing a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Thursday, May 24, 2012

 

President Toda said: "Those who do not value the organization are practicing self-centered faith. With such faith you cannot expect to receive the truly profound benefits of this practice." Working hard within the organization for people's happiness and welfare is itself truly noble Buddhist practice.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Thursday, May 24, 2012

 

Though I have long since ceased to think about my home, seeing this laver brings back many familiar memories, and I am saddened and find it hard to bear. It is the same kind of laver I saw long ago on the shore at Kataumi, Ichikawa , and Kominato. I feel an unwarranted resentment that, while the color, shape, and taste of this laver have remained unchanged, my parents have passed away, and I cannot restrain my tears.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 466

Reply to Niiama

Written to the younger non Niiama on February 16, 1275

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Thursday, May 24, 2012

 

The ultimate and most glorious of human relationships is the relationship of spiritual successors. Even animals have relationships of parent and child. There are animals that share partnerships similar to marriage, and even those that enjoy friendships. However, the relationship of mentor and disciple, of spiritual successors, exists only among human beings.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1955) p. 253

 

Visited a curio shopping centre in Ogikubo to encourage the Nakano Chapter Propagation Handbook research group members.  Feel I can give spirited guidance once again…

 

In the evening, led our campaign to challenge the Minobu sect, the final battle to this 703^rd anniversary of true Buddhism's establishment.  Chanted to the Gohonzon that our campaign would end in great success, and for protection…

 

1. Must take pains to treat people with compassion.

2. Advance with warmth and tolerance.

 

Why?  Think it is because I am intense and passionately emotional by nature. Want to be first in Japan and then in the whole world.  Is having such a desire a cause for happiness or unhappiness?  This I must ask myself.

Do not wish to have regrets in this lifetime.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 23 May 2012 - The Year of Developing a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

 

We need to cultivate the spirit to live with self-assurance, to make our way joyously through life. We practice this faith precisely to forge such a strong and vibrant inner resolve.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

 

Ch'ung-hua and Y were the children of commoners, but both were extremely filial. Hearing of this, King Yao and King Shun summoned Ch'ung-hua and Y, and abdicated their thrones to them. Commoners became royalty in a day. Just as a commoner can become a king in this present life, so can an ordinary person become a Buddha instantly. This is the heart of the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life.

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin,page 323

Letter to the Sage Nichimyo

Written to Nichimyo on May 25, 1272

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

 

I believe that whether we can live a truly satisfying life to the end depends to a considerable extent on how we view death. Sadly, many older people are anxious and fearful about death. But, as a Buddhist, I find it helpful to compare the cycles of life and death to the daily rhythms of waking and sleeping. Just as we look forward to the rest sleep brings after the efforts and exertions of the day, death can be seen as a welcome period of rest and re-energizing in preparation for a new round of active life. And just as we enjoy the best sleep after a day in which we have done our very best, a calm and easy death can only follow a life lived to the fullest without any regrets.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (1955) p. 253

 

At 8:30, in reception room # 1, the Seikyo Shimbun sponsored a discussion meeting on the condition of the erroneous sects.  The writers have grown considerably.  Trust their conviction as bold, youthful pioneers.  Awakened with indignation to the poisonous nature and the devilish reality of other sects.  Strengthened and solidified my resolve to stand alone and fight.  Though others do not see, Dosho and Domyo*, the guardian deities, know all.  When I realize that all is apparent to the Mystic Law, my heart fills with joy.

 

*Dosho and Domyo: Two gods said to dwell on a person's shoulders from the time of birth and record all of his or her actions, to report to King Emma, who judges the dead.  They represent the law of cause and effect operating within one's life.

 

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