Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 30 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

 

Nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) of Chile, was well respected as a humanistic educator. Indicative of the great spirit of compassion and caring with which she interacted with her students is her "Teacher's Prayer": "Let me be more mother than the mother herself in my love and defense of the child who is not flesh of my flesh. Help me to make one of my children my most perfect poem and leave within him or her my most melodious melody from that day when my own lips no longer sing." With this same spirit, let us care for and nurture young people.

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

 

You are indeed an unusual woman since you asked me to explain the effects of various degrees of slander. You are every bit as praiseworthy as the dragon king's daughter when she said, "I unfold the doctrines of the great vehicle to rescue living beings from suffering." The Lotus Sutra reads, "If one can ask about its meaning, that will be difficult indeed." There are very few people who inquire about the meaning of the Lotus Sutra.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 626

The Embankments of Faith

Written to the lay nun Sennichi on September 3, 1275

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

 

Nichiren wrote that wrath can be either good or bad. Self-centered anger generates evil, but wrath at social injustice becomes the driving force for reform. Strong language that censures and combats a great evil often awakens adverse reactions from society, but this must not intimidate those who believe they are right. A lion is a lion because he roars.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (6 May 1960) p.503

 

Will treat each and every person in a friendly manner.  Will talk with every person, hold dialogues and ask that we share one another's happiness and sufferings for the rest of our lives.  This is my credo.

I shall advance, fight and suffer as an emissary of the Buddha, an uncrowned hero and an honourable ally of the ordinary people.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 29 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Monday, April 29, 2013

 

What is success in life? Who are the truly successful? There are famous and powerful people who become pitiful figures in their old age. There are people who die alone, feeling empty and desolate inside. Just what is success? The English thinker Walter Pater (1839-94) wrote: "To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life." The person who lives life fully, glowing with life's energy, is the person who lives a successful life.

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Monday, April 29, 2013

 

Little streams come together to form the great ocean, and tiny particles of dust accumulate to form Mount Sumeru . When I, Nichiren, first took faith in the Lotus Sutra, I was like a single drop of water or a single particle of dust in all the country of Japan . But later, when two people, three people, ten people, and eventually a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, and a million people come to recite the Lotus Sutra and transmit it to others, then they will form a MountSumeru of perfect enlightenment, an ocean of great nirvana.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 579

The Selection of the Time

Written to Yui in 1275

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Monday, April 29, 2013

 

Our efforts for the sake of dialogue, in order to be worthy of the term dialogue, must be carried through to the end. To refuse peaceful exchange and choose force is to compromise and give in to human weakness; it is to admit the defeat of the human spirit. Socrates encourages his youthful disciples to train and strengthen themselves spiritually, to maintain hope and self-control, to advance courageously, choosing virtue over material wealth, truth over fame.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (6 May 1960) p.503

 

Tomorrow, I will go on my first guidance trip outside Tokyo as president.

Decided to go to Kansai, where I have shared both joy and suffering with the members.

Can picture their happy faces.

Read the Gosho for a while to prepare myself to give encouragement.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 28 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Sunday, April 28, 2013

 

How incredible it is to chant this wonderful daimoku each day! Nichiren Daishonin writes, "There is no greater happiness for human beings than chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The sutra [Lotus Sutra] says, The people there [in my land] are happy and at ease.

 

Events

1253 Nichiren Daishonin chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for the first time.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Sunday, April 28, 2013

 

The greater the hardships befalling him, the greater the delight he feels, because of his strong faith. Doesn't a fire burn more briskly when logs are added? All rivers flow into the sea, but does the sea turn back their waters? The currents of hardship pour into the sea of the Lotus Sutra and rush against its votary. The river is not rejected by the ocean; nor does the votary reject suffering. Were it not for the flowing rivers, there would be no sea. Likewise, without tribulation there would be no votary of the Lotus Sutra.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 33

A Ship to Cross the Sea of Suffering

Written to Shiji Shiro on April 28, 1261

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Sunday, April 28, 2013

 

When deluded, one is called an ordinary being, but when enlightened, one is called a Buddha. This is similar to a tarnished mirror that will shine like a jewel when polished. A mind now clouded by the illusions of the innate darkness of life is like a tarnished mirror, but when polished, it is sure to become like a clear mirror, reflecting the essential nature of phenomena and the true aspect of reality. Arouse deep faith, and diligently polish your mirror day and night. How should you polish it? Only by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo -Nichiren

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (05 May 1960) p.503

 

Want to develop the strength and good health to maintain my love for all Gakkai members and all people.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 27 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Saturday, April 27, 2013

 

Age is not an excuse for giving up. If you allow yourself to grow passive and draw back, it's a sign of personal defeat. There may be a retirement age at work, but there is no retirement age in life. How then could there be any "going into retirement" in the world of faith? The Buddhist Law is eternal, extending across the three existences of past, present and future, and one of the benefits of faith is perennial youth and eternal life.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Saturday, April 27, 2013

 

The five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, the heart of the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, contain the benefit amassed through the countless practices and meritorious deeds of all Buddhas throughout the three existences. Then, how can these five characters not include the benefits obtained by observing all of the Buddhas' precepts?

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 481

The Teaching, Practice, and Proof

Written to Sammi-bo on March 21, 1275

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 Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Saturday, April 27, 2013

 

We all long for things of beauty - beauty of nature, of appearance, of life, a beautiful family and so on. But these cannot be gained if we are withdrawn and isolated, just looking at ourselves. We must create better relationships with other people and interact with our community and society with an open heart. We must be kind to nature. It is only through this process that we really grow and cultivate our own beauty.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (04 May 1960) p.502

 

Tired.

Thought about my objectives for the first phase of my battle.

Honing my vision for the next four years, until the beginning of the seventh year of my mentor's passing.

Will move straight ahead toward 1964.

...

Finished reading most of The Collected Writings of Nichiren Buddhism.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 26 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Friday, April 26, 2013

 

What matters is winning in the end, the wins and losses along the way are of secondary significance. It's final victory in life that counts and that is the reason for our Buddhist practice. No matter how powerful or famous or privileged a person might be, Nichiren Daishonin says, from a Buddhist point of view it is all nothing more than a dream, an illusory pleasure; true happiness can only be attained by revealing the state of Buddhahood within our own life.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Friday, April 26, 2013

 

There are two types of illness: minor and serious. Early treatment by a skilled physician can cure even serious illnesses, not to mention minor ones. Karma also may be divided into two categories: fixed and unfixed. Sincere repentance will eradicate even fixed karma, to say nothing of karma that is unfixed.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 954

On Prolonging One's Life Span

Written to the lay nun Myojo in 1279

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Friday, April 26, 2013

 

As globalization proceeds, we enter an age in which everybody's actions strongly influence everybody else. When we realize this, we can then alter our mindset and strive to build a global society of mutual coexistence and mutual prosperity. This will be done by going beyond devotion to the interests of the nation-state and devoting ourselves to the interests of all humanity. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The key to the solution is the imagination to care for others. It is the empathizing heart or what Buddhists refer to when they talk about mercy.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (03 May 1960) p.502

 

Inaugurated third president of the Soka Gakkai.

...

Pictured my mentor rejoicing.

Solemn, serious.

Shall begin my lifetime battle to spread the Law, transcending life and death.

...

Must take leadership for kosen-rufu in a way that befits a general, a human being and a youth.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 25 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Thursday, April 25, 2013

 

 Adversity gives birth to greatness. The greater the challenges and difficulties we face, the greater opportunity we have to grow and develop as people. A life without adversity, a life of ease and comfort, produces nothing and leaves us with nothing. This is one of the indisputable facts of life.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Thursday, April 25, 2013

 

 Buddhahood is the most difficult to demonstrate. But since you possess the other nine worlds, you should believe that you have Buddhahood as well. Do not permit yourself to have doubts. Expounding on the human world, the Lotus Sutra says, "The Buddhas wish to open the door of Buddha wisdom to all living beings." . . . That ordinary people born in the latter age can believe in the Lotus Sutra is due to the fact that the world of Buddhahood is present in the human world.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 358

The Object of Devotion for Observing the mind Established in the Fifth Five-Hundred-Year Period after the Thus Come One's Passing

Written to Toki Jonin on April 25, 1273

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 Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Thursday, April 25, 2013

 

 If you think about it, although we may not be destined to die five minutes from now, we are all, without exception, going to die at some point. We can count on it 100 percent. There is nothing surer than this. Victor Hugo says, "We are all under sentence of death, but with a sort of indefinite reprieve." Ideally, we should live every minute of our lives valuably, as if it were the last moment of our lives. Those who live aimlessly are left with a sense of emptiness at the end of their lives, but those who live all-out, striving right to the end, will die peacefully. Leonardo da Vinci says, "As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death." One aware that death could come at any time will live each day to the fullest.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (26 Apr. 1960) p.501/502

 

Offered formal greetings as the new president.

My fellow members, my brothers and sisters, were delighted for me.  Told them, without any affectation, that I would take leadership as a human being, as a youth, precisely in the same way I have been doing so until now.

...

Keenly felt the importance of training both my mind and body.

From May I shall begin the essential stage of my life.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 24 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

 

When youth are awakened to a sense of mission, their power is limitless. Ultimately, we have to entrust our hopes and visions for the future to the youth. This is a golden rule. Youth is pure. Youth will rise up to fulfill their ideals without calculation or self-interest. The fundamental spirit of a leader must be to reach out to such young people, work with them and bring out their capabilities and direct their youthful energies in a positive direction.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

 

What matters most is that we honour the Buddha's words. As a rule, people in the world value what is distant and despise what is near, but this is the conduct of the ignorant. Even the distant should be repudiated if it is wrong, while what is near should not be discarded if it accords with the truth. Even though people may revere [their predecessors' doctrines], if those doctrines are in error, how can we employ them today?"

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 155

Reply to Hoshina Goro Taro

Written to Hoshina Boro Taro on December 5, 1267

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

 

The Buddhas, the World-Honoured Ones, wish to open the door of Buddha wisdom to all living beings, to allow them to attain purity. That is why they appear in the world. They wish to show the Buddha wisdom to living beings, and therefore they appear in the world. They wish to cause living beings to awaken to the Buddha wisdom, and therefore they appear in the world. They wish to induce living beings to enter the path of Buddha wisdom, and therefore they appear in the world. -The Lotus Sutra.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (26 Apr. 1960) p.501

 

My physical exhaustion is growing.

The headquarters is calm but not lax.  Each day, leaders are becoming more serious.

Must give my all to ensure our victory over the next four years.  Will take the lead resolutely.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 23 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

 

Our fellow members are all family with whom we are linked by deep bonds. If we support and protect this family, they will act as protective forces in our environment, supporting and keeping us from harm in lifetime after lifetime. This is a profound principle of Buddhism.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

 

As I have often mentioned before, it is said that, where there is unseen virtue, there will be visible reward. Your fellow samurai all slandered you to your lord, and he also has wondered if it was true, but because you have for some years now honestly maintained a strong desire for your lord's welfare in his next life, you received a blessing like this. This is just the beginning, be confident that the great reward also is sure to come.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 907

Unseen Virtue and Visible Reward

Written to Shijo Kingo on April 23, 1278

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

 

When we are aware that each moment of each day, each gesture and step we take, is truly mystical and full of wonder, we will live our lives with greater thought and care. We will also have greater respect and appreciation for the lives of others.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (25 Apr. 1960) p.501

 

Read halfway through The collected Writings of Nichiren Buddhism. 

Must earnestly exert myself in Buddhist study.  How can a leader be called a leader without upholding a great philosophy?  How can a practitioner of philosophy be called such without studying?

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 22 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Monday, April 22, 2013

 

I hope you will always have the spirit to learn with a lively curiosity and interest. When leaders are enthusiastic to keep on learning and growing, they inspire others. New ideas emerge and spread. Fresh energy to advance surges forth. Instead of pretending to know all the answers, assuming an air of wisdom, let us always strive for greater understanding and insight into all manner of things, so that we can continue learning together and spur one another to grow. This is the kind of spirit I want to cherish.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Monday, April 22, 2013

 

In the Latter Day of the Law, no treasure tower exists other than the figures of the men and women who embrace the Lotus Sutra. It follows, therefore, that whether eminent or humble, high or low, those who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo are themselves the treasure tower, and likewise, are themselves the Thus Come One Many Treasures.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 299

On the Treasure Tower

Written to Abutsu-bo Nittoku on March 13, 1272

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Monday, April 22, 2013

 

Do not compare yourselves to others. Be true to who you are and continue to learn with all your might. Even if you are ridiculed, even if you suffer disappointments and setbacks, continue to advance and do not be defeated.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (15 Apr. 1960) p.501

 

Never before have I deeply contemplated the work of a Buddha.  My practice in this lifetime has become so gravely important that the depths of my life are filled with awe.

Must uphold the great Gohonzon no matter what may happen.  Must always exert myself in faith and practice.  Strong faith is everything.  The power of this Buddhism will determine everything.

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Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 20 April 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Saturday, April 20, 2013

 

To possess both wisdom and compassion is the heart of our human revolution. If you have wisdom alone and lack compassion, it will be a cold, perverse wisdom. If you have compassion alone and lack wisdom, you cannot give happiness to others. You are even likely to lead them in the wrong direction. Also you cannot achieve your own happiness.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Saturday, April 20, 2013

 

From the time that I was born until today, I, Nichiren, have never known a moment's ease, I have thought only of propagating the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra. I do not know how long I or anyone else may live, but without fail, I will be with you at the time of your death and guide you from this life to the next.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 965

Persecution by Sword and Staff

Written to Nanjo Tokimitsu on April 20, 1279

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Saturday, April 20, 2013

 

Just as flowers open up and bear fruit, just as the moon appears and invariably grows full, just as a lamp becomes brighter when oil is added, and just as plants and trees flourish with rain, so will human beings never fail to prosper when they make good causes – Nichiren.

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Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (15 Apr. 1960) p.500

 

Contemplated aligning ourselves for our next decisive battle. 

This will be my true departure, aiming for the year of my mentor's seventh memorial service.  The next four years will be a succession of victories.

It will be 1964.  Want to aim for victorious April 2 and May 3 general meetings that year. 

I was raised by President Toda as his direct disciple.  He trained me continually and repeatedly.  How could I fear any battle?  The time for me to repay my debt of gratitude to him has come.

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