[SGI-ToMyFriends-Wagatomo] 23rd March To My Friends & Daily Gosho + 24th March Daily Enc.

* Here in Tokyo the panic buying is finally easing up but not fast enough as traces of radioactivity is discovered in the drinking water in Tokyo and, as a precautionary measure, bottles of water are being issued by the government to parents with children less than one year old as stocks have run out in the shops. Soka University has joined the list of universities that will now open one month later in May...but we at Soka High will carry on and start in April! Up north in Tohoku businesses that are still functioning are beginning to fold as vital elements of their industries cannot get through and others refuse to leave the area as they want to be a part of the rebuilding of their towns and villages. The volunteer service has now finally been set up...look out for www.tasukeiajapan.jp for further information, but at the moment it is for people living in Japan who have an ample level of Japanese language ability if nothing else because the web-site is only in Japanese. That may change but if you
are in an area anywhere in Japan where there are foreigners please ask if they are OK! Here is today's To My Friends...

A translation of President Ikeda's "To My Friends" published in the Seikyo Shimbun and more.

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
-- TO MY FRIENDS --
Now is exactly the time when we really must touch a friend's heart,
speaking in reassuring words, that puts them at ease,
and equips them with great courage!
As we embrace and support each other now in times of such suffering,
let us speak in the type of way that uplifts each others' spirits.
As the Gosho says - "The voice carries out the work of the Buddha."*

*Gosho - Ongi kuden - Gosho Zenshu, page 708, The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, page 4)

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
--- DAILY GOSHO ---
"And yet, though one might point at the earth and miss it, though one might bind up the sky, though the tides might cease to ebb and flow and the sun rise in the west, it could never come about that the prayers of the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra would go unanswered."
(On Prayer - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol.1, page 345)
Selection source: "Kyo no Hosshin", Seikyo Shimbun, March 23rd, 2011

Thursday, March 24th, 2011
---- DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT ----
"Misfortune will change into fortune. Muster your faith, and pray to this Gohonzon. Then what is there that cannot be achieved? (WND-1, 412) From "Reply to Kyo'o."

"The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin allows us to change poison into medicine and to transform our negative karma. There is no hardship or suffering that we cannot overcome, no darkness that we cannot break through. Now is the time to bring forth the vast and immeasurable power of the Buddha and the Law.

"The more challenging the times, the more important it is that we take a step forwards based on powerful prayer. Courageous faith is the very heart of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism.
SGI Newsletter No. 8186, LIVING THE GOSHO: WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM SGI PRESIDENT IKEDA, (2) Changing Poison into Medicine through Powerful Prayer, from the March 22nd, 2011, issue of the Seikyo Shimbun, translated March 22nd, 2011

* The Japanese kanji for To My Friends, Daily Gosho and Daily Encouragement is available by clicking on Seikyo Shimbun's
web-site address at
http://www.seikyoonline.jp/news/index.html

--- WAGATOMO NI OKURU ---
IMA KOSO TOMO NO MUNE NI
ANSHIN TO YUKI NO KOE O!
KURUSHIMI NI YORISO
HAGEMASHI NO KOE O!
[KOE BUTSUJI O NASU]

-- KYO NO GOSHO --
"DAICHI WA SASABA HAZURURU TOMO OZORA O TSUNAGU MONO WA ARITOMO SHIO NO MICHIINU KOTO WA ARITOMO HI WA NISHI YORI IZURU TOMO HOKEKYO NO GYOJA NO INORI NO KANAWANU KOTO WA ARU BEKARAZU"
(Gosho Zenshu, page 1351)

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