[SGI-ToMyFriends-Wagatomo] 31st Dec. Daily Gosho + 1st January Daily Encouragement

* Seikyo Newspaper is on holiday for the next few days so we will be running just a "Daily Gosho" & "Daily Encouragement" service. And a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to...YOU! From the TMF Staff. Here's today's edition...

Friday, December 31st, 2010
--- DAILY GOSHO ---
"This means that the protection of the gods depends on the strength of one's faith."
(General Stone Tiger- The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol.1, page 953)
Selection source: The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and Youth, Seikyo Shimbun, December 29th, 2010

Saturday, January 1st, 2011
---- DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT ----
"The Lotus Sutra has long been praised as the 'king of sutras.' Recently, an SGI-sponsored Lotus Sutra exhibition was held in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India (in August 2010). Among the items on display was a first edition copy of the first published Sanskrit version of the Lotus Sutra (by Kern and Nanjio). Dr. Lokesh Chandra, director of the International Academy of Indian Culture, had presented this copy to us as a gift. It is the very same edition that was once read by Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948).

"Dr. Chandra has said:

"Nichiren stated that the true Buddha land is not some distant, unknown pure land but the saha world, the actual world in which we live. He also taught that in order to transform society, which is filled with problems and suffering, into the ideal realm of the Buddha, we need to spread the spirit of the Lotus Sutra and bring it to life in the world.

"Dr. Chandra has also remarked that his esteem for the Soka Gakkai is based on its positive engagement with society, its commitment to translating Buddhism into action in the real world, rather than indulging in abstract theories.

"We must never veer from this fundamental course of putting the Daishonin's Buddhism into practice in the real world. We must continue boldly advancing on the path advocated by founding Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, who declared:.'Buddhism is a teaching for daily life.' As I once confirmed with a group of SGI-USA leaders some years ago, the initials 'SGI' could also be thought of as standing for 'social good institution'--in other words, an organisation that exists for the betterment of society.

"Recently, I received a letter from a Japanese women's division member--she is a vice group leader and also a Soka Schools alumni. She shared an experience she had while living in Taiwan with her husband who had been transferred there for work. On a visit to the city of Taichung, she wrote, she happened to meet and talk with a young Taiwanese woman who was not a Soka Gakkai member. When she told the young woman that she was a Soka Gakkai member, the young woman smiled broadly and reached out to shake her hand, saying: 'I'm very grateful to you.' Surprised, the member asked her why, and the young woman replied that she was deeply appreciative of positive contributions the local Soka Gakkai members were making to the city. Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior has recognized the Taiwan Soka Association (SGI-Taiwan) as an excellent community organisation for 16 years in a row.

"The Daishonin encourages his followers to live in such a way that they will earn the praise and admiration of others, and our SGI members around the world are doing just that."
SGI Newsletter No. 8137, OUR BRILLIANT PATH TO VICTORY, Forging Ahead Based on the Two Ways of Practice and Study--Part 2 [of 2], from the Nov. 14th, 2010, issue of the Seikyo Shimbun, translated Dec. 28th, 2010

* The Japanese kanji for To My Friends is available by clicking on Seikyo Shimbun's web-site address at
http://www.sokanet.jp/sg/sn/member_support_top.html

-- KYO NO GOSHO --
"KAMI NO MAMORU TO MOSUMO HITO NO KOKORO TSUYOKI NI YORU TO MIETE SORO"
(Gosho Zenshu, page 1186)

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