Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 31 July 2013 - Year of Victory for a Youthful SGI

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

 

What is the secret to victory? Mr. Toda once described that in a certain sense life is a gamble. "If you are lucky, you will win," he said. "But if you are unlucky, then sometimes no matter how hard you try you lose. This is a hard fact." That is why, in addition to ability, good fortune is essential. The key to creating good fortune is found in faith and daimoku. I hope that you will all act in accord with the fundamental Law of Buddhism and lead victorious lives filled with unsurpassed good fortune.

 

 

From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

 

Even a wise man cannot become a Buddha through the other sutras, but with the Lotus Sutra, even fools can plant the seeds that lead to Buddhahood. As the sutra passage I have quoted earlier puts it, "Although they do not seek emancipation, emancipation will come of itself."

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 283

The Opening of the Eyes

Written to Shijo Kingo in February 1272

 

 

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

 

What is the purpose of life? It is happiness. But there are two kinds of happiness: relative and absolute. Relative happiness comes in a wide variety of forms. The purpose of Buddhism is to attain Buddhahood. In modern terms, this could be explained as realizing absolute happiness - a state of happiness that can never be destroyed or defeated.

 

 

Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary  (03 August 1950) p.41

 

Society is harsh.  Keenly aware of the importance of trust....Fought well today.

A stern battle amid anguish, effort and the rain.

I have a mission to protect Mr. Toda throughout life.

 

 

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

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

 

Faith enables us to secure ultimate victory. It enables us to live with vigour and joy and to strive to improve ourselves - to become the very best people we can be. Moreover, faith enables us to walk through life with complete assurance and confidence, unafraid of anything.

 

 

From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

 

Our worldly misdeeds and evil karma may have piled up as high as Mount Sumeru, but when we take faith in this sutra, they will vanish like frost or dew under the sun of the Lotus Sutra.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1026

Letter to Niike

Written to Niike Saemon-no-jo in February 1280

 

 

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

 

Religion must teach an "attitude to life." To live a life of true human dignity is certainly difficult. Life is change; it is continuous change. Nothing is constant. The four sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death are an eternal theme that no one can escape.

Amid harsh reality, people yearn from the depths of their beings to live with dignity and for their lives to have meaning, and they make efforts toward that end. The product of these human yearnings, these prayers, is religion. Religion was born from prayer. What is Nichiren's response to these prayers of human beings? What attitude toward life does he teach? The answer, in short, is the principle of attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.

 

 

Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary  (02 August 1950) p.41

 

Talked with Mr. Toda for about an hour.  He seems to be facing extreme difficulty.  It's prolonged torture for me, too.  He places great hope in his future plans.  It's too bad that things haven't gone as he wished.

I will keep fighting, displaying all the ability and character I possess.

 

 

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

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Monday, July 29, 2013

 

The ultimate essence of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism lies in living on through to the very end, pressing ever forward, courageously taking on each new challenge we encounter and never giving up. Constructing eternal glory - the state of Buddhahood within our own lives is the purpose of our Buddhist practice in this lifetime. Hence the Daishonin's constant urging that we make tenacious efforts in the present.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Monday, July 29, 2013

 

Believe in the Gohonzon with all your heart, for it is the robe to protect you in the world after death. No wife would ever leave her husband unclothed, nor could any parents fail to feel compassion for their child shivering in the cold. Shakyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sutra are like one's wife and parents. You have helped me and thereby saved me from disgrace in this life; in return, I will protect you from disgrace in the next. What one has done for another yesterday, will be done for oneself today.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 994

Letter to Jakunichi-bo

Written to Jakunichi-bo Niike on September 16, 1279

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Monday, July 29, 2013

 

Compassion is the very soul of Buddhism. To pray for others, making their problems and anguish our own; to embrace those who are suffering, becoming their greatest ally; to continue giving them our support and encouragement until they become truly happy - it is in such humanistic actions that Nichiren Buddhism lives and breathes.

 

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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary  (31 July 1950) p.40

 

High and fierce are the waves of life, the waves of society.  Steep are the mountains that rise before us.  But one way or another, people advance.

Youth who embrace the True Law must advance no matter what.

I will go on, bravely.  I will pioneer the world to come.

 

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

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

Sunday, July 28, 2013

 

Life is a process of ongoing challenge. Those who lead lives of boundless challenge realize boundless growth. In a time of tumultuous change, what people need most is the vitality to challenge their circumstances and the wisdom to open the treasure-house of knowledge and to ceaselessly strive to create new value.

 

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From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

Sunday, July 28, 2013

 

Since I have realized that only the Lotus Sutra teaches the attainment of Buddhahood by women, and that only the Lotus is the sutra of true requital for repaying the kindness of our mother, in order to repay my debt to my mother, I have vowed to enable all women to chant the daimoku of this sutra.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 931

The Sutra of True Requital

Written to the lay nun Sennichi on July 28, 1278

 

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Sunday, July 28, 2013

 

The Buddha's compassion is perfectly equal and impartial. The Buddha views all beings as his own children and strives to elevate them to attain his same enlightened state of life. It's not that there are no differences among people. Rather, it's that the Buddha, while fully recognizing people's differences, does not discriminate among them.

 

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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary  (31 July 1950) p.40

 

I'm returning home after midnight each night.  The effect is beginning to tell on me a little.

Next month we'll hold the summer course at the head temple.  I've been looking forward to it all year.  I'll definitely go, no matter what.

A sweltering July.  Somehow I've manage to struggle through this month, too...

August is our month.  I'll strive again, with all my youthful passion. As befits a youth who lives in pursuit of an ideal, a youth burning with great joy.

 

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