Sensei's Daily Encouragement - November 21 2023 - Year of Youth and Triumph

    

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
November 21, 2023

If you practice faith while doubting its effects, you will get results that are at best unsatisfactory. This is the reflection of your own weak faith on the mirror of the cosmos. On the other hand, when you stand up with strong confidence, you will accrue limitless blessings.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
November 21, 2023

There is definitely something extraordinary in the ebb and flow of the tide, the rising and setting of the moon, and the way in which summer, autumn, winter and spring give way to each other. Something uncommon also occurs when an ordinary person attains Buddhahood. At such a time, the three obstacles and four devils will invariably appear, and the wise will rejoice while the foolish will retreat.

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 637
The Three Obstacles and Four Devils
Written to Ikegami Hyoe no Sakan Munenga on November 20, 1277
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
November 21, 2023

Everyone born in this world has a unique role that only he or she can fulfill. Were this not the case, we would not be here. The universe never acts without cause; everything invariably has a reason for being. Even the weeds people love to loathe serve a purpose.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (10 December 1956) p.309

On December 10, at 8:30 in the evening, my father died. He lived to sixty-eight. The cause of death – heart failure. Heard he died while everyone was watching television. My stern, kind father – the one who raised me – has died. Ah, I regret never being a truly filial son. I am twenty-eight.

My venerable, honest father. My old-fashioned, sincere and magnanimous father. Recall how he always watched quietly, never scolding me, not even once. Ah, as his body lay quietly and peacefully before me, I set out my small, portable Gohonzon, reciting the sutra and chanting daimoku, offering him my prayers for one hour.
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