published in the Seikyo Shimbun and more.
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
-- TO MY FRIENDS --
No matter what the situation or the circumstances,
let's be determined to be absolutely victorious!
This is the very spirit of the SGI.
Let's muster up our courage, with strong conviction, and aim straight
towards
achieving all our goals!
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
--- DAILY GOSHO ---
"If the minds of living beings are impure, their land is also impure, but if
their minds are pure, so is their land. There are not two lands, pure or
impure in themselves. The difference lies solely in the good or evil of our
minds."
(On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime - The Writings
of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol.1, page 4) Selection source:
"Kyo no Hosshin", Seikyo Shimbun, April 4th, 2009
Sunday, April 5th, 2009
---- DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT ----
"'Though it is thought that Shakyamuni Buddha possesses the three virtues of
sovereign, teacher, and parent for the sake of all of us living beings, that
is not so. On the contrary, it is common mortals who endow him with the
three virtues'. (WND-1, 384)
"The Buddha's great virtues are manifested because of ordinary people, the
Daishonin asserts. This is a truly remarkable statement, a bold and historic
declaration of humanism that marks a radical departure from religion as an
authoritarian entity to one that puts people first.
"'Common mortals' in this passage refers in a specific sense to Nichiren
Daishonin. As an ordinary person undergoing harsh persecution, the Daishonin
read the Lotus Sutra with his very life and demonstrated the truth of the
Buddha's words. His life itself was a grand drama of religious reform
embodying the principle that ordinary people possess the highest state of
being. And, in the light of the Daishonin's teachings, it is clear that his
disciples who stand up with the same spirit he has and devote themselves to
chanting and spreading Nam-myoho-renge-kyo are also living proof of that
principle.
"Buddhism originated with the historical Shakyamuni. Over the centuries,
however, he came to be viewed as a supernatural being adorned with special,
superhuman characteristics. Priests and professional clerics exploited this
development to bolster their own power and authority, and elevated the
Buddha to a separate, lofty position. The Daishonin's teaching that the
ultimate state of Buddhahood exists in the lives of all people is what
changed all of this.
"The lives of ordinary people don't shine because they are illuminated by
the Buddha, rather, ordinary people are what make the Buddha a Buddha. In
this way, the Daishonin turned the prevailing popular view of the
relationship between the Buddha and living beings on its head. The principle
of the true aspect of all phenomena is the profound doctrine that supports
this idea.
"The Daishonin's writing 'The True Aspect of All Phenomena' begins with the
assertion that all things and phenomena are, just as they are, the true
reality, and as such 'are without exception manifestations of
Myoho-renge-kyo' (WND-1, 383). Everything in the universe is a manifestation
of the Mystic Law. It thus follows that when ordinary people chant and
spread the Mystic Law, which is the true reality of all things, they
themselves are venerable Buddhas living in accord with that supreme Law.
"In this writing, the Daishonin strongly asserts that as entities of the
Mystic Law, ordinary people are the real Buddhas. The Buddhas that appear in
the various pre-Lotus sutras, in contrast, are but provisional Buddhas
manifesting different functions of the Mystic Law."
SGI Newsletter No. 7743, THE WRITINGS OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN AND THE
MENTOR-DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP [5] The Humanistic Teaching That Ordinary
People Are Buddhas, from the Jan. 22nd, 2009, issue of the Seikyo Shimbun,
translated April 2nd, 2009
* The Japanese kanji for To My Friends and Daily Gosho is available by
clicking on Seikyo Shimbun's web-site address at
http://www.sokanet.jp/sg/sn/member_support_top.html
--- WAGATOMO NI OKURU ---
DONNA JOKEN
DONNA JOKYO DEMO
DANJITE KATSU!
KORE GA SOKA NO TAMASHII DA.
TSUYOKI DE SUSUME!
-- KYO NO GOSHO --
"SHUJO NO KOKORO KEGARUREBA DO MO KEGARE KOKORO KIYOKEREBA
DO MO KIYOSHI TOTE JODO TO II EDO TO IUMO DO NI FUTATSU NO
HEDATE NASHI TADA WARERA GA KOKORO NO ZENAKU NI YORU TO
MIETARI"
(Gosho Zenshu, page 384)
------------------------------------
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