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

    

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
 November 8, 2023

In the "Ongi Kuden" (Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings), Nichiren Daishonin says with reference to attaining Buddhahood, "To attain' means to open'" (Gosho Zenshu, p. 753). Attaining Buddhahood means opening our lives to their fullest potential and revealing our innate Buddhahood. This is the purpose of Buddhism.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
 November 8, 2023

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 neighbour's wealth but gains not even half a coin. That is why the T'ien-t'ai school's commentary states, "Unless one perceives the nature of one's life, one cannot eradicate one's grave offenses." This passage implies that, unless one perceives the nature of one's life, one's practice will become an endless, painful austerity.

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 3
On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime
Written to Toki Jonin in 1255
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
 November 8, 2023

The noted pacifist scholar Johan Galtung tells young people, "We must be realists in our brains while keeping the flame of idealism burning in our hearts." Both of these --to see the world as it is and how it could be -- are essential to reform. A firm hold on reality should not entail being swamped by or resting easy in the status quo. To pioneer uncharted ways requires that people today keep the lamp of optimism lit.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (22 April 1956) p.298

Today I thought I would like to spend my entire life as a youth in my twenties. Reflected on the principle that 'Buddhahood is inherent in the nine worlds.'

Many obstacles and fierce storms lie ahead. But the genuine glory is the glory we gain in winning over these, is it not?
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