Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Monday, September 22, 2014
The principle that "Buddhism equals life" means that everything in one's life is itself Buddhism. The principle that "Buddhism becomes manifest in society" means that society, too, is at one with Buddhism. The struggle for kosen-rufu can be waged only within the realities of life and society. Those who earnestly grapple with these realities develop strength and inner substance. They develop and grow.
From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
Monday, September 22, 2014
I cannot see the sun in the daytime or the moon at night. In winter there is deep snow, and in summer the grass grows thick. Because so few people come to see me, the trail is very hard to travel. This year, especially, the snow is so deep that I have no visitors at all. Knowing that my life may end at any time, I put all my trust in the Lotus Sutra.
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 779
The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra
Written to the lay nun Konichi in 1276
Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
Monday, September 22, 2014
Buddhism views illness as an opportunity to attain a higher, nobler state of life. It teaches that, instead of agonizing over a serious disease, or despairing of ever overcoming it, we should use illness as a means to build a strong, compassionate self, which in turn will make it possible for us to be truly victorious.
Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (27 December 1956) p.316/317
Sensei talked about deductive and inductive reasoning. Consciousness as viewed by the Western philosopher Heinrich Rickert of the new Kantian school and the theory of consciousness espoused in Eastern philosophy are diametrically opposed. Western philosophy posits that consciousness begins with the six senses and then arrives at what Buddhism refers to as the seventh, eighth and ninth levels of consciousness. Buddhism, on the other hand, teaches that consciousness arises out of the "Palace of the Ninth Consciousness of Essential Truth" and permeates the eighth, seventh, and first six levels of consciousness. There are deductive civilizations and inductive civilizations. Which surpasses the other? It is important to strike a balance between these two. What will the future hold?
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