Sensei's Daily Encouragement - October 17 2023 - Year of Youth and Triumph

    

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
October 17, 2023

I hope that each of you will study broadly and develop your understanding of life, society and the universe, based on your faith in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. This type of learning enables you to cultivate a rich state of life, or inner world, drawing forth profound wisdom and limitless leadership ability from the depths of your life.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
October 17, 2023

In the eighth volume of Great Concentration and Insight and in the eighth volume of The Annotations on "Great Concentration and Insight" it says, "The stronger one's faith, the greater the protection of the gods." This means that the protection of the gods depends on the strength of one's faith. The Lotus Sutra is a fine sword, but its might depends upon the one who wields it.

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 953
General Stone Tiger
Written to Shijo Kingo on October 22, 1278
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
October 17, 2023

One's actions in previous existences are all engraved in and contained in this lifetime. The causes for our present suffering or joy, happiness or misery, all lie in our own past actions. But Nichiren Buddhism enables us to fundamentally reform our destiny. When we truly base ourselves on Buddhism's view of life's eternity, we realize the first thing to change is how we live in the present. In Nichiren Buddhism, change arises from the depths of our being. Strong, pure vitality abundantly wells forth. The iron chains of destiny are cut and our original identity, the fresh and robust world of Buddhahood, appears.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (31 October 1955) p. 265

Isn't conservatism a tendency to place great importance upon, or become caught up in, formality? Isn't it also the inclination to cherish only the past while disregarding reform for the future? Reform – not in the commonly understood sense of the word but true reform – is to enable genuine vitality to surge forth from the midst of a society enslaved by formalism. In other words, by invoking the Mystic Law, we bring forth pure, fresh life force, revolutionizing our own lives and thereby transforming our environment.
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