Sensei's Daily Encouragement - 23 January 2021 - Year of Hope and Victory



Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

January 23, 2021

 

As practitioners of the Daishonin's Buddhism we get up in the morning and do gongyo. Some perhaps may do so rather reluctantly! Nevertheless, doing gongyo is itself a truly great and noble thing. Gongyo is a solemn ceremony in which we are looking out and over the universe. It is a dialogue with the universe.

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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

January 23, 2021

 

A wisteria vine, by twining around a pine, may climb a thousand fathoms into the air; and a crane, because it has wings to rely upon, can travel ten thousand ri. It is not their own strength that allows them to do these things. This applies likewise in the case of the priest Jibu-bo. Though he himself is like the wisteria vine, because he clings to the pine that is the Lotus Sutra, he is able to ascend the mountain of perfect enlightenment.

 

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 820

On Offerings for Deceased Ancestors

Written to Jibu-bo Nichii's grandmother on July 13, 1279

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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

January 23, 2021

 

Mahatma gandhi said, "Good travels at a snail's pace." The peace movement cannot accomplish things radically and all at once. Often, it can only advance by gradual and protracted means. Gradualism does not, however, imply negative compromise or merely passing time. It means truly reforming our times by sowing seeds of peace in individual minds through sincere dialogue and, in this way, cultivating consensus.

 

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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (25 November 1957) p.358

 

Morning gongyo is difficult, both spiritually and physically. Received a message from Sensei saying, "Look after things well while I'm away."

 

Sensei! Please don't die until kosen-rufu is achieved! I, too, must survive.

 

Deeply, powerfully determined. Quietly, naturally reflected on Sensei's guidance: how to view the times; how to raise able individuals; how to judge a person's character; the merits and weaknesses of Nobunaga's leadership; of Hideyoshi's and Ieyasu's.

 

(Oda Nobunaga was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. His work was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.)