July 2, 2019
The writer Goethe was an unflagging optimist. How was he able to maintain such optimism? Because he was always active. He did not allow his life to stagnate. He writes: "It is better to do the smallest thing in the world than to hold half an hour to be too small a thing." Spending thirty minutes a day assiduously challenging some undertaking can completely change our lives.
From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
July 2, 2019
The sutra teaches that women, evil men, and those in the realms of animality and Hell in fact, all the beings of the Ten Worlds can attain Buddhahood in their present form. [This is an incomparably greater wonder than] fire being produced by a stone taken from the bottom of a river, or a lantern lighting up a place that has been dark for a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years. If even the most ordinary things of this world are such wonders, then how much more wondrous is the power of the Buddhist Law!"
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 923
The One Essential Phrase
Written to the lay nun Myoho on July 3, 1278
Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
July 2, 2019
If we attain the state of Buddhahood in this lifetime, that state will forever pervade our lives. Throughout the cycle of birth and death, in each new lifetime, we are endowed with good health, wealth and intelligence, along with a supportive, comfortable environment, and lead lives that overflow with good fortune. Each of us will also possess a unique mission and be born in an appropriate form to fulfill it.
Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (07 June 1954) p.174
Read Wind and Waves, a book that describes the life of Teisuke Akiyama. Though it seems his life was truly interesting, I cannot sympathize with his way of thinking. Each has his or her own way of living, so as not to have any regrets. Akiyama took his course and I shall take mine.
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