Sensei's Daily Encouragement - April 14 2022 - The year of Youth and Dynamic Progress



                    
  
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
April 14, 2022

Thoreau, a renowned American Renaissance thinker, wrote in his journal: "Nothing must be postponed. Take time by the forelock. Now or never! You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment." We shouldn't put anything off but seize the moment, living with all our being in the present. If we do that, he says, each moment will become eternity.
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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
April 14, 2022

The rice plant flowers and bears grain, but its spirit remains in the soil. This is the reason the stalk sprouts to flower and bear grain once again. The blessings that Nichiren obtains from propagating the Lotus Sutra will always return to Dozen-bo. How sublime! It is said that, if a teacher has a good disciple, both will gain the fruit of Buddhahood, but if a teacher fosters a bad disciple, both will fall into hell. If teacher and disciple are of different minds, they will never accomplish anything.

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 909
Flowering and Bearing Grain
Written to Joken-bo and Gijo-bo in April 1278
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
April 14, 2022

The tendency of human beings is to try and escape challenges and seek an easy and peaceful environment. But happiness cannot be found somewhere else - it is found within us. A genuine way of life consists of transforming where we are right now into a supreme paradise.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (02 February 1953) p.135

Rise and fall, prosperity and decline – human history filled with discord and misery. I believe the greatest person is one who strives to attain a bloodless revolution, based on a correct view of humanity, the world and the universe. This is a standard that transcends commonly held views of right and wrong.
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