Sensei's Daily Encouragement - January 06 2023 - Year of Youth and Triumph.



    

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
January 6, 2023
 
We practice this Buddhism to make our prayers and dreams come true and to achieve the greatest possible happiness. The purpose of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism is to enable us to realize victory. The fact that our prayers are answered proves the correctness of this teaching.
________________________________
 
From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
January 6, 2023
 
The Lotus Sutra of the Correct Law says that, if one hears this sutra and proclaims and embraces its title, one will enjoy merit beyond measure. And the Supplemented Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law says that one who accepts and upholds the name of the Lotus Sutra will enjoy immeasurable good fortune. These statements indicate that the good fortune one receives from simply chanting the daimoku is beyond measure.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 143
The daimoku of the Lotus Sutra
Recipient unknown, written on January 6, 1266
________________________________
 
Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
January 6, 2023
 
You must never think that any of the eighty thousand sacred teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha's lifetime or any of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and three existences are outside yourself. Your practice of the Buddhist teachings will not relieve you of the sufferings of birth and death in the least unless you perceive the true nature of your life. If you seek enlightenment outside yourself, then your performing even ten thousand practices and ten thousand good deeds will be in vain. It is like the case of a poor man who spends night and day counting his neighbor's wealth but gains not even half a coin. -Nichiren
________________________________
 
Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (25 October 1957) p.347
 
Was severely admonished by Sensei in the morning. Confucius said, "nine thoughts to one word," but I haven't been putting this into practice. Had better watch myself.
 
At 12:10, the ceremony to bring out the casket was held in the Reception Hall. Then, the main funeral ceremony was held before the Sutra Repository. Was moved by the service, which lasted more than two hours and was held in accord with ancient tradition.
 
Heartbroken to see Sensei and his wife in tears, purely bidding their final farewell to Nissho….
Oh, how things change. Common mortal reflect the general principle that all is transient, nothing is permanent. In light of the Mystic Law, this principle becomes the four virtues – eternity, happiness, true self and purity. I, my wife, my mentor and my friends – several decades from now, we will all have passed from this world. Impermanence.
         ________________________________