Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 31 March 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Sunday, March 31, 2013

 

Position and appearances are irrelevant. The important thing is to carry out our personal duty, our commitment, no matter what anyone else may say. This is a life of true victory, a life of unsurpassed nobility and fulfillment.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Sunday, March 31, 2013

 

I have written out the prose section of the "Expedient Means" chapter for you. You should recite it together with the verse portion of the "Life Span" chapter, which I sent you earlier. The characters of this sutra are all without exception living Buddhas of perfect enlightenment. But because we have the eyes of ordinary people, we see them as characters.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 486

Reply to the Lay Priest Soya

Written to the lay priest Soya in March 1275

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Sunday, March 31, 2013

 

Reading is dialogue with oneself; it is self-reflection, which cultivates profound humanity. Reading is therefore essential to our development. It expands and enriches the personality like a seed that germinates after a long time and sends forth many blossom-laden branches. People who can say of a book "this changed my life" truly understand the meaning of happiness. Reading that sparks inner revolution is desperately needed to escape drowning in the rapidly advancing information society. Reading is more than intellectual ornamentation, it is a battle for the establishment of the self, a ceaseless challenge that keeps us young and vigorous.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (28 Mar. 1960) p.493

 

Who will be the driving force behind the Gakkai's next stage of development?  Only the youth division?  If so, fine.  The time has come; the tide is shifting.

H. is seriously exerting himself.  If one person stands up, then ten thousand more will follow.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 30 March 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Saturday, March 30, 2013

 

There are many elements involved in a prayer being answered, but the important thing is to keep praying until it is. By continuing to pray, you can reflect on yourself with unflinching honesty and begin to move your life in a positive direction on the path of earnest, steady effort. Even if your prayer doesn't produce concrete results immediately, your continual prayer will at some time manifest itself in a form greater than you had ever hoped.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Saturday, March 30, 2013

 

To mix other practices with this Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is a grave error. A lantern is useless when the sun rises. How can dewdrops be beneficial when the rain falls? Should one feed a newborn baby anything other than its mother's milk? No addition of other medicines is needed with a good medicine.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 903

The Teaching for the Latter Day

Written to Nanjo Tokimitsu on April 1, 1278

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Saturday, March 30, 2013

 

It is important to develop your character to be as powerful as a mighty river. Continue to advance bravely in the face of every challenge, paying no heed to the obstacles in your way. Become a great river of bottomless compassion and wisdom, overflowing with boundless invincibility and passion.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (22 Mar. 1960) p.491

 

The cemetery problem (in which cemeteries run by other sects refuse to inter Gakkai members' ashes) is getting out of hand.  How can any religion be so cruel as to refuse the ashes of the deceased?  A sign of the times - of the Latter Day of the Law.  Such an act is tantamount to a religion denying its fundamental mission and thus its failure as a religion.  Told those who have cemetery plots at Taiseki-ji, no matter what religion they belong to, can freely bury ashes there.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 29 March 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Friday, March 29, 2013

 

 Molly Brown was on board the Titanic when it tragically sunk in 1912. Although she knew the ship was taking on water, she shouted to a panic-stricken fellow passenger: "There's no danger. It simply can't go down, because I'm on it and I'm unsinkable." Her bantering words, which rang out with the determination never to be defeated and never to give in to despair are said to have given courage to her fellow passengers. Those who stand up at a crucial moment demonstrate genuine greatness.

 

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Friday, March 29, 2013

 

Now, if you wish to attain Buddhahood, you have only to lower the banner of your arrogance, cast aside the staff of your anger, and devote yourself exclusively to the one vehicle of the Lotus Sutra. Worldly fame and profit are mere baubles of your present existence, and arrogance and prejudice are ties that will fetter you in a next one. Ah, you should be ashamed of them! And you should fear them too!"

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 58

Questions and Answers about Embracing the Lotus Sutra

Recipient unknown, written in March 1263

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Friday, March 29, 2013

 

Nichiren spoke of earthly desires being used as fuel for the flame of wisdom. Buddhism teaches the converting of personal ambitions and desires, even base ones, into good traits like wisdom through altruistic living. A Buddhist doctrine that earthly desires are enlightenment indicates that greed, anger (violence) and egocentricism can be transformed into altruistic traits like compassion, trust and non-violence. The underlying delusions that drive our desires - including the desire for the development of science and civilizations can be essentially transformed in a way that changes selfishness into altruism, violence into non-violence and suspicion into trust. 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (21 Mar. 1960) p.491

 

This April 2 will mark the beginning of the third year since my mentor's passing.  What have I accomplished over the past two years?  What can I, as my mentor's direct disciple, report to him?  Lacking in courage, I deserve only his reprimand on many accounts.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 28 March 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Thursday, March 28, 2013

 

Youth must have the spirit to attack injustice, the spirit to refute that which is wrong, the spirit to spread the Daishonin's teaching. Just giving an appearance of promoting kosen-rufu and going with the flow, afraid of making waves, are the actions of self-serving youth, who are spiritually old and decrepit.

 

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Thursday, March 28, 2013

 

The heart of the Lotus Sutra is its title, or the daimoku, of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Truly, if you chant this in the morning and evening, you are correctly reading the entire Lotus Sutra. Chanting daimoku twice is the same as reading the entire sutra twice, one hundred daimoku equal one hundred readings of the sutra, and a thousand daimoku, a thousand readings of the sutra. Thus, if you ceaselessly chant daimoku, you will be continually reading the Lotus Sutra.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 923

The One Essential Phrase

Written to the lay nun Myoho on July 3, 1278

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Thursday, March 28, 2013

 

A Buddha is definitely not an absolute being living a static existence. A Buddha shares the sufferings of others and, sensing the condition of the time, earnestly ponders how to transform that condition. A Buddha vows to struggle in order to lead the people and the age to enlightenment. The strength of this vow causes the Buddha's enlightenment to mature into rich wisdom.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (20 Mar. 1960) p.490

 

Realizing that to help one person achieve great success requires the support of many people, much time and great patience.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 27 March 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

 

While controlling your mind, which is at once both extremely subtle and solemnly profound, you should strive to elevate your faith with freshness and vigour. When you do so, both your life and your surroundings will open wide before you and every action you take will become a source of benefit. Understanding the subtle workings of one's mind is the key to faith and attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.

 

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

 

You also are a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra, and your faith is like the waxing moon or the rising tide. Be deeply convinced, then, that your illness cannot possibly persist, and that your life cannot fail to be extended! Take care of yourself, and do not burden your mind with grief.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 656

The Bow and Arrow

Written to the lay nun Toki on March 27, 1276

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

 

By changing our inner state of mind, we can change any suffering or hardship into a source of joy, regarding it as a means for forging and developing our lives. To turn even sorrow into a source of creativity - this is the way of life of a Buddhist.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (19 Mar. 1960) p.490

 

Enjoyed watching the beautiful spring flowers through the train window.  Peach blossoms bloomed in white and pink, magnolias in white. Cucumber trees in bloom as well.  How beautiful, the yellow fields of March mustard blossoms.

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