Sensei's Daily Encouragement - January 15 2023 - Year of Youth and Triumph.



    

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
January 15, 2023
 
Doing gongyo every day is a challenge. Introducing others to the practice is a challenge. Getting people to subscribe to our publications is a challenge. Attending meetings is a challenge. Sometimes it can all become too much and leave one feeling negative and wanting to take a break! Since we are human beings, it's only natural that we might feel this way on occasion. The important thing, however, is not to spin out of the orbit of faith. I hope you will continue to pursue the path of Buddhahood steadily and patiently, encouraging one another on your journey.
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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
January 15, 2023
 
When a tree has been transplanted, though fierce winds may blow, it will not topple if it has a firm stake to hold it up. But even a tree that has grown up in place may fall over if its roots are weak. Even a feeble person will not stumble if those supporting him are strong, but a person of considerable strength, when alone, may fall down on an uneven path.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 598
Three Tripitaka Masters Pray for Rain
Written to the lay priest Nishiyama on June 22, 1275
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
January 15, 2023
 
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a tireless crusader for human rights, said: "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" Do not say you will do it "someday," now is the time. Do not say "someone" will do it; you are the one. Now is the time for youth to take full responsibility and courageously pave the way for the people's triumph.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (16 November 1957) p.354
 
Home close to 1:00 a.m. Hiromasa** and Shirohisa sleeping soundly. How will they grow up? What will they be like in ten or twenty years? Who can tell? Only the Gohonzon knows.
 
The "Life Span" chapter reads:
 
In order to save living beings,
as an expedient means I appear to enter nirvana
but in truth I do not pass into extinction.
I am always here, preaching the Law.*
- (LS16, 229)
 
*I do shujō ko. Hōben gen nehan. Ni jitsu fu metsu-do. Jō Jū shi seppō.
 
**(Book: 'My Path of Youth' by Hiromasa Ikeda, the eldest son of SGI President Daisaku Ikeda)
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