Sensei's Daily Encouragement -October 12 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

   

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
October 12, 2026
 
The Gohonzon encompasses the entire universe. Therefore, we who believe in and chant daimoku to the Gohonzon can live out our lives with the greatest serenity and composure. Please be confident that through faith in the Mystic Law we can definitely lead a wonderful and unsurpassed existence.
Events
1279 Nichiren Daishonin inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon for all humanity.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
October 12, 2026
 
This Gohonzon is also found only in the two characters for faith. This is what the sutra means when it states that one can "gain entrance through faith alone." Since Nichiren's disciples and lay supporters believe solely in the Lotus Sutra, honestly discarding the expedient means and never accepting even a single verse of the other sutras, they can enter the treasure tower of the Gohonzon. How reassuring!"
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 832
The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon
Written to Nichinyo on August 23, 1277
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
October 12, 2026
 
Today there are people who have faith in the Lotus Sutra. The belief of some is like fire while that of others is like water. When the former listen to the teachings, their passion flares up like fire, but as time goes on, they tend to discard their faith. To have faith like water means to believe continuously without ever regressing - Nichiren
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (22 October 1955) p. 260
 
It’s Saturday; the weekend is already here. People in the Meiji period called Saturday handon, a combination of Japanese and Portuguese meaning to “rest half-a-day.” None can resist the tide of the times, no matter how they may try. A life based on the Mystic Law will be in rhythm with the great power of the natural law. In Europe and America, people have both Saturdays and Sundays off. Will Japan someday follow suit?
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -October 11 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

 

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
October 11, 2026
 
It is important to have a sufficiently elevated life-condition so that you will be able to calmly accept whatever happens in life, striving to put problems into proper perspective and solving them with a positive attitude. Happiness blossoms forth from such a strong and all-encompassing life-condition.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
October 11, 2026
 
Take these teachings to heart, and always remember that believers in the Lotus Sutra should absolutely be the last to abuse one another. All those who keep faith in the Lotus Sutra are most certainly Buddhas, and one who slanders a Buddha commits a grave offence.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 756
The Fourteen Slanders
Written to the lay priest Matsuno Rokuro Saemon on December 9, 1276
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
October 11, 2026
 
It's valuable to look for the strengths in others - you gain nothing by criticizing people's imperfections. In fact, it is helpful to take a step back, for even a moment each day, and try to consider the feelings and positive qualities of others of whom you are critical.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (21 October 1955) p. 259/260
 
Quite fatigued. Understand the severe difficulty of changing my destiny and transforming my fate and the strictness of my past slander’s effects. Truly sense life’s eternal nature with my entire being. Without this, it would be a contradiction to say I understand this life. Remained in the office all day, resting my body and thinking about many things.
Life is like a dream. Since this is the case, I shall be satisfied if I can spend each day, my entire life, fully exerting myself.
Wouldn’t mind being a businessman or a politician or even an average person who lives life deeply.
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -October 10 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
October 10, 2026
 
It doesn't matter in what area, just keep working on your personal revolution to transform and improve yourself in the way most natural for you. The important thing is that you change in some positive way. There is surely no more exhilarating a life than one in which we write our own unique history of human revolution each day. And the growth and transformation we achieve in this way can convince people of the greatness of the Daishonin's Buddhism more eloquently than anything else.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
October 10, 2026
 
The moon appears in the west and sheds its light eastward, but the sun rises in the east and casts its rays to the west. The same is true of Buddhism. It spread from west to east in the Former and Middle Days of the Law, but will travel from east to west in the Latter Day.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 401
Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man
Recipient unknown; written in 1265
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
October 10, 2026
 
Shakyamuni taught that the shallow is easy to embrace, but the profound is difficult. To discard the shallow and seek the profound is the way of a person of courage - Nichiren.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (20 October 1955) p. 259
 
 (Next day) Body and mind are out of rhythm. Could not see Sensei during the day again. Felt empty and lonesome. Isn’t life force the key to happiness? Clearly this is the most important requirement. Over the next several years, I will put this to the test and prove it decisively. Healthy ones, don’t forget to appreciate!
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -October 8 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

    

    

(Apologies sent October 9 by mistake yesterday hence 8 Oct today)
 
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
October 8, 2026

When you encounter a wall, you should tell yourself, "Since there is a wall here, a wide, open expanse must lie on the other side." Rather than becoming discouraged, know that encountering a wall is proof of the progress that you have made so far. I hope that you will continually advance in your Buddhist practice with this conviction blazing ever more strongly in your heart.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
October 8, 2026

Where there is water, fish dwell. Where there are woods, birds gather. On the mountain island of Peng-lai there are many jewels, and onMount Malaya sandalwood trees grow. There is gold in the mountains from which the river Li-shui flows. Now this place, too, is like that. It is the place of the cluster of blessings where the Buddhas and bodhisattvas dwell.

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1070
The Place of the Cluster of Blessings
Written to Shijo Kingo on October 8, 1280
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
October 8, 2026

Life is like a sea voyage. We each need to open up our own course in life with the strength of our convictions, unperturbed by the crashing breakers of life's stormy seas. The fiercer the tempest rages, the more we need to rouse our own fighting spirit and man the tiller with all our strength and skill crying, "Bring it on!" Through this type of arduous struggle we can forge the practical wisdom to triumph consistently and, as victorious champions, to create history.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (16 October 1955) p. 258

A clear autumn day. Not a cloud in the sky.
I adore my sons, Hiromasa and Shirohisa. Don’t feel at all like their father. Is it because I’m still so young myself or is it due to my spoiled nature? In any case, all I can do is pray from the depths of my heart that these two will become men of justice who can open their golden wings and take flight as capable people for kosen-rufu.
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -October 9 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

   
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
October 9, 2026
 
There may be times, certainly, when being a member of an organization seems bothersome and we just want to be alone. But how sad it is if we are left alone without any support and then lose our faith. True growth comes from striving together with our fellow members in the living realm of human beings, experiencing the rich gamut of human emotions.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
October 9, 2026
 
Admirable Nichiro, because you have read the entirety of the Lotus Sutra with both the physical and spiritual aspects of your life, you will also be able to save your father and mother, your six kinds of relatives, and all living beings. Others read the Lotus Sutra with their mouths alone, in word alone, but they do not read it with their hearts. And even if they read it with their hearts, they do not read it with their actions. It is reading the sutra with both one's body and mind that is truly praiseworthy!"
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 204Letter to Priest Nichiro in Prison
Written to Chikugo-bo Nichiro on October 9, 1271
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
October 9, 2026
 
Those who say "I'll do it," who are willing to take on a challenge even if they are alone, are true winners. The determination, the commitment to take action yourself, is the force that leads to victory. As Buddhism teaches in the principle of a life-moment possesses three thousand realms, our mind or attitude can change everything.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (19 October 1955) p. 259
 
Suffered all day, immersed in pain. My temperature was 101.3° F. My head hurts, my back hurts. What kind of illness is this? Going to chant a thousand or two thousand daimoku. Must create a wellspring of life force. Must defeat this devilish illness. Must not die.
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -October 7 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
October 7, 2026
 
What will the future be like? No one knows the answer to that question. All we know is that the effects that will appear in the future are all contained in the causes that are made in the present. The important thing, therefore, is that we stand up and take action to achieve great objectives without allowing ourselves to be distracted or discouraged by immediate difficulties.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
October 7, 2026
 
It seems to me that on the path to attain Buddhahood it may invariably be when one has done something like lay down one's life that one becomes a Buddha. I think that perhaps it is encountering such difficulties as have already been explained in the sutra being cursed, vilified, attacked with swords and staves, shards and rubble, and banished again and again that is reading the Lotus Sutra with one's life. My faith springs up all the more, and I am confident about my next existence.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 202
Banishment to Sado
Writen to Enjo-bo in October 1271
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
October 7, 2026
 
If you remain sincere in your interactions with others, you will one day find yourself surrounded by good friends. And among those people, your friendships will be as strong and unshakable as towering trees. Don't be impatient. Work first on developing yourself, and you can rest assured that an infinite number of wonderful encounters await you in the future.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (14 October 1955) p. 257
 
Talked with G. at my house. Very low spirits. For both G. and myself, next spring’s House of Councillors election will be a decisive first battle. If we fail, the pace of kosen-rufu will be impaired.
Want to score a solid victory in my maiden battle, not for myself, not for honor, but to realize the principles of Buddhism within society. My own mission has become all the more important. When viewed from the standpoint of ‘consistency from beginning to end,’ this battle will be the beginning, and all future elections, the end. If beginning and end are consistent, then this is the key battle, the one we must win.
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -October 6 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
October 6, 2026
 
Mr. Toda once told me: "You can make a defeat the cause for future victory. You can also make victory the cause for future defeat." The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin is the Buddhism of the True Cause, the Buddhism of the present and future. We don't dwell on the past. We are always challenging ourselves from the present toward the future. "The whole future lies ahead of us! We have only just begun!" -- because we advance with this spirit, we will never be deadlocked.
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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
October 6, 2026
 
The Nirvana Sutra teaches the principle of lessening one's karmic retribution. If one's heavy karma from the past is not expiated within this lifetime, one must undergo the sufferings of hell in the future, but if one experiences extreme hardship in this life [because of the Lotus Sutra], the sufferings of hell will vanish instantly. And when one dies, one will obtain the blessings of the human and heavenly worlds, as well as those of the three vehicles and the one vehicle.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 199
Lessening One's Karmic Retribution
Written to Ota Saemon-no-jo, the lay priest Soya and the Dharma Bridge Kimbara on October 5, 1271
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
October 6, 2026
 
If you summon your courage to challenge something, you'll never regret it. How sad it would be to spend your life wishing, "If only I had a little more courage." Whatever the outcome, the important thing is to take a step forward on the path that you believe is right. There's no need to worry about what others may think. It's your life, after all. Be true to yourself.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (07 October 1955) p.254
 
Made many minor mistakes lately. Whatever my past faults or errors, if I can change poison into medicine, I have nothing to be ashamed of.
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