Sensei's Daily Encouragement - July 8 2023 - Year of Youth and Triumph

    

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
July 8, 2023
 
We must make steady and persistent efforts firmly grounded in daily life. If we travel in the orbit of "faith equals daily life," all our prayers will definitely be answered. We can then lead lives in which all our desires will be fulfilled. Should all our prayers be answered without our having to make any effort, we would grow lazy. Should all our desires be achieved without our ever having to experience suffering or hardship, we could not understand the pain and struggles of others, and our compassion would gradually wane.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
July 8, 2023
 
Just as I was thinking that, even if I remained free from illness, I would surely die of starvation, the wheat that you sent arrived. It is more wonderful than gold and more precious than jewels. Rida's millet changed into a golden man. How, then, could Tokimitsu's wheat fail to turn into the characters of the Lotus Sutra? These characters of the Lotus Sutra will become Shakyamuni Buddha and then a pair of wings for your deceased father, flying and soaring to the pure land of Eagle Peak. On returning, they will cover your body and protect you.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 926
Reply to Tokimitsu
Written to Nanjo Tokimitsu on July 8, 1278
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
July 8, 2023
 
Buddhism concerns itself with winning. When we battle a powerful enemy, either we will triumph or we will be defeated - there is no middle ground. Battling against life's negative functions is an indivisible part of Buddhism. It is by being victorious in this struggle that we become Buddhas. We have to win. Moreover, Buddhism ensures that we can definitely do so.
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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (16 June 1954) p.178
 
Nothing is more beautiful or worthy of respect than the human mind. But, on the other hand, nothing can be so ugly. However much our technological society has progressed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this truth about the human mind never changes. This is because the principle 'three thousand realms in a single moment of life' illustrates the essence of life.
First, I must firmly establish this as my perspective on life. Then, I must perform a dance on the grand stage of kosen-rufu. Will overcome the storms of my youth.
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