Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 31 July 2019 - Year of Soka Victory - Toward Our 90th Anniversary

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

July 31, 2019

 

What is the secret to victory? Mr. Toda once described that in a certain sense life is a gamble. "If you are lucky, you will win," he said. "But if you are unlucky, then sometimes no matter how hard you try you lose. This is a hard fact." That is why, in addition to ability, good fortune is essential. The key to creating good fortune is found in faith and daimoku. I hope that you will all act in accord with the fundamental Law of Buddhism and lead victorious lives filled with unsurpassed good fortune.

 

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

July 31, 2019

 

Even a wise man cannot become a Buddha through the other sutras, but with the Lotus Sutra, even fools can plant the seeds that lead to Buddhahood. As the sutra passage I have quoted earlier puts it, "Although they do not seek emancipation, emancipation will come of itself." 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 283

The Opening of the Eyes

Written to Shijo Kingo in February 1272

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

July 31, 2019

 

What is the purpose of life? It is happiness. But there are two kinds of happiness: relative and absolute. Relative happiness comes in a wide variety of forms. The purpose of Buddhism is to attain Buddhahood. In modern terms, this could be explained as realizing absolute happiness - a state of happiness that can never be destroyed or defeated.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (19 July 1954) p.192

 

Monday – a day on which I tend to lose my rhythm and feel off-balance. Since it's the first step of the week, must make a healthy start on this day. In the afternoon, a special staff conference to determine summer propagation activities. The meeting was somewhat restrained; dull. How self-serving I am. Strictly reflected that this is my greatest weak point. Then again, I am obstinate.

Highly value my great teacher, excellent seniors, fine friends and good neighbours! Must care for and respect them.

Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 30 July 2019 - Year of Soka Victory - Toward Our 90th Anniversary

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

July 30, 2019 

Faith enables us to secure ultimate victory. It enables us to live with vigour and joy and to strive to improve ourselves - to become the very best people we can be. Moreover, faith enables us to walk through life with complete assurance and confidence, unafraid of anything.

 

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

July 30, 2019 

Our worldly misdeeds and evil karma may have piled up as high as Mount Sumeru, but when we take faith in this sutra, they will vanish like frost or dew under the sun of the Lotus Sutra.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1026

Letter to Niike

Written to Niike Saemon-no-jo in February 1280

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

July 30, 2019

Religion must teach an "attitude to life." To live a life of true human dignity is certainly difficult. Life is change; it is continuous change. Nothing is constant. The four sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death are an eternal theme that no one can escape.

Amid harsh reality, people yearn from the depths of their beings to live with dignity and for their lives to have meaning, and they make efforts toward that end. The product of these human yearnings, these prayers, is religion. Religion was born from prayer. What is Nichiren's response to these prayers of human beings? What attitude toward life does he teach? The answer, in short, is the principle of attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (17 July 1954) p.191

Visited Sensei's home in the evening. Received guidance on various matters. Was also severely reprimanded. This could not be helped; it was totally my fault. Disciples will forge on and grow, no matter how many times they are scolded. Must never become arrogant. For me to think that I, who lacks ability and a solid foundation, am something great – this is arrogance.

Lifelong advancement; lifelong study; lifelong effort; lifelong construction.

Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 29 July 2019 - Year of Soka Victory - Toward Our 90th Anniversary

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

July 29, 2019

 The ultimate essence of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism lies in living on through to the very end, pressing ever forward, courageously taking on each new challenge we encounter and never giving up. Constructing eternal glory - the state of Buddhahood within our own lives is the purpose of our Buddhist practice in this lifetime. Hence the Daishonin's constant urging that we make tenacious efforts in the present.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

July 29, 2019 

Believe in the Gohonzon with all your heart, for it is the robe to protect you in the world after death. No wife would ever leave her husband unclothed, nor could any parents fail to feel compassion for their child shivering in the cold. Shakyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sutra are like one's wife and parents. You have helped me and thereby saved me from disgrace in this life; in return, I will protect you from disgrace in the next. What one has done for another yesterday, will be done for oneself today.

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 994

Letter to Jakunichi-bo

Written to Jakunichi-bo Niike on September 16, 1279

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

July 29, 2019

 Compassion is the very soul of Buddhism. To pray for others, making their problems and anguish our own; to embrace those who are suffering, becoming their greatest ally; to continue giving them our support and encouragement until they become truly happy - it is in such humanistic actions that Nichiren Buddhism lives and breathes.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (16 July 1954) p.191

 

My oldest son, Hiromasa, is becoming quite a raucous child. What destiny awaits him? Can only pray he becomes a healthy, upstanding individual, a man of pure faith, a believer in the Daishonin's Buddhism.

Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 28 July 2019 - Year of Soka Victory - Toward Our 90th Anniversary

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

July 28, 2019

 Life is a process of ongoing challenge. Those who lead lives of boundless challenge realize boundless growth. In a time of tumultuous change, what people need most is the vitality to challenge their circumstances and the wisdom to open the treasure-house of knowledge and to ceaselessly strive to create new value.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

July 28, 2019

 Since I have realized that only the Lotus Sutra teaches the attainment of Buddhahood by women, and that only the Lotus is the sutra of true requital for repaying the kindness of our mother, in order to repay my debt to my mother, I have vowed to enable all women to chant the daimoku of this sutra.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 931

The Sutra of True Requital

Written to the lay nun Sennichi on July 28, 1278

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

July 28, 2019

 The Buddha's compassion is perfectly equal and impartial. The Buddha views all beings as his own children and strives to elevate them to attain his same enlightened state of life. It's not that there are no differences among people. Rather, it's that the Buddha, while fully recognizing people's differences, does not discriminate among them.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (14 July 1954) p.190

 Sensei seemed busy with the transcript of his ten major lectures. Disappointed that I could not speak with him for quite some time. Can distinctly sense the power of his wondrous ability.

Must accomplish the following:

 1. Support T. Chapter until the very end.

2. Help K. Chapter from the side.

3. Allow S. Chapter to grow and develop until it is the same as our chapter.

4. Make plans for the youth division to advance several more steps.

Must always arrange things in my mind, then put them into practice.

Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 27 July 2019 - Year of Soka Victory - Toward Our 90th Anniversary

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

July 27, 2019 

Buddhism is found in the reality of society and daily life. Because Buddhism is in no way separate from this reality, we must strive through our actions and behaviour to be exemplary models for others.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

July 27, 2019 

Since childhood, I, Nichiren, have never prayed for the secular things of this life but have single-mindedly sought to become a Buddha. Of late, however, I have been ceaselessly praying for your sake to the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha and the god of the sun, for I am convinced that you are a person who can inherit the soul of the Lotus Sutra. 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 839

The Hero of the World

Written to Shijo Kingo in 1277

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

July 27, 2019 

The brilliance of true humanity lies in surmounting feelings of envy with the resolute attitude "I'll create an even more wonderful life for myself." If you are jealous of others, you will not advance; you will only become miserable. Please do not be defeated or consumed by such emotions.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (13 July 1954) p.190

 

Good and evil, right and wrong, theory and practice, reason and emotion, material and spiritual, present and future; power, position, authority; the people. Many ideas come and go. From day to day, I sometimes feel I am being drawn into a muddy swamp. Other times, I feel I am soaring in the sky. The human mind is a mysterious thing, never stopping, even for a moment. I wonder what dire circumstances my life would be in by now if I did not have faith or a mentor in life. A frightening prospect.

Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 26 July 2019 - Year of Soka Victory - Toward Our 90th Anniversary

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

 July 26, 2019 

 Faith is perseverance. The key to victory in any struggle in life is persistence. That is why Nichiren Daishonin stresses the importance of having faith that flows ceaselessly like water rather than faith that flames up briefly like fire. To advance continuously, it is important never to become exhausted. Carrying out activities until late at night does not equate with strong faith.

 

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 From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

 July 26, 2019 

 Faith in this sutra means that you will surely attain Buddhahood if you are true to the entirety of the Lotus Sutra, adhering exactly to its teachings without adding any of your own ideas or following the arbitrary interpretations of others.

 The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1030

Letter to Niike

Written to Niike Saemon-no-jo in February 1280

 

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  Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

 July 26, 2019 

 What does attaining Buddhahood mean for us? It does not mean that one day we suddenly turn into a Buddha or become magically enlightened. In a sense, attaining Buddhahood means that we have securely entered the path or orbit of Buddhahood inherent in the cosmos. Rather than a final static destination at which we arrive and remain, achieving enlightenment means firmly establishing the faith needed to keep advancing along the path of absolute happiness limitless, without end.

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (10 July 1954) p.189 

Visited Sensei's home in the evening for summer season greetings. Imposed on them until late in the evening. They fed me well - feel ashamed. Mrs Toda taught me something about women's kimonos, cooking, important things women must be aware of and other subjects. Left for home a little before midnight.

 

Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 25 July 2019 - Year of Soka Victory - Toward Our 90th Anniversary

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

July 25, 2019

  Buddhism is, in a sense, an eternal struggle between the Buddha and demons; in other words, a contest between positive and negative forces. If we fail to be assailed by negative influences, we cannot be said to be truly practicing Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. Buddhist practice lies in bravely facing and overcoming adversity.

 

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 From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

July 25, 2019 

 A bird's egg contains nothing but liquid, yet by itself this develops into a beak, two eyes, and all the other parts, and the bird soars into the sky. We, too, are the eggs of ignorance, which are pitiful things, but when nurtured by the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which is like the warmth of the mother bird, we develop the beak of the thirty-two features and the feathers of the eighty characteristics and are free to soar into the skies of the true aspect of all phenomena and the reality of all things. 

 The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1030

Letter to Niike

Written to Niike Saemon-no-jo in February 1280

 

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 Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

July 25, 2019 

 Many people talk about peace, but few really do anything about it. Very few are willing to fight the battle to the end. Josei Toda instilled in me the hard and fast rule that, even if we stand alone, we must never give up but must see the struggle through to its conclusion.

The year before he died, he said something I have never forgotten for a minute: "If we don't fight, justice will be defeated. Because justice is on our side, we must not lose, we absolutely must win. That's why we fight. The lion is most lion like when he roars."

 

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (08 July 1954) p.188/9 

7:00 - to Tsurumi Chapter to lecture on "The Opening of the Eyes". Put my whole life into it. Returning home, thought of how sorry I will feel for the members who come to my lectures if I do not grow more. True ability. Must always nurture and strive to develop my true ability.