A translation of President Ikeda's "To My Friends"
published in the Seikyo Shimbun and more.
Friday, Dec. 19th, 2014
-- TO MY FRIENDS --
To all of our young friends
who are going to take school entrance exams soon,
never give up, never be defeated!
The great efforts that you are putting forth now,
without leaving any kind of regrets behind,
are certain to become the solid foundation for your victory.
At the same time,
to all who are around these challengers,
let's offer words of warm and thoughtful encouragement
and be considerate and understanding of their situation.
published in the Seikyo Shimbun and more.
Friday, Dec. 19th, 2014
-- TO MY FRIENDS --
To all of our young friends
who are going to take school entrance exams soon,
never give up, never be defeated!
The great efforts that you are putting forth now,
without leaving any kind of regrets behind,
are certain to become the solid foundation for your victory.
At the same time,
to all who are around these challengers,
let's offer words of warm and thoughtful encouragement
and be considerate and understanding of their situation.
Friday, Dec. 19th, 2014
--- DAILY GOSHO ---
"Though only one robe, it has been offered to the Buddhas of all the characters of the Lotus Sutra. Be firmly convinced that the benefits from this will extend to your parents, your grandparents, nay, even to countless living beings."
(The Offering of an Unlined Robe
--- DAILY GOSHO ---
"Though only one robe, it has been offered to the Buddhas of all the characters of the Lotus Sutra. Be firmly convinced that the benefits from this will extend to your parents, your grandparents, nay, even to countless living beings."
(The Offering of an Unlined Robe
- The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. I, page 533)
Selection Source: SGI President Ikeda's guidance,
Selection Source: SGI President Ikeda's guidance,
Seikyo Shimbun, December 19th, 2013
Saturday, Dec. 20th, 2014
Saturday, Dec. 20th, 2014
---- DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT ----
"How tenaciously a human being can fight for what is right! How supremely noble and strong a person can be! How invincible, inviolable, and magnificent is the human spirit!
"What is the message in the depths of the 'Life Span' (16th) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, in which Shakyamuni declares his attainment of enlightenment in the remote past, thereby 'casting off the transient and revealing the true?' [1] It is that all living beings possess the eternal life of the Buddha. It calls on all people to awaken to that great inner self, to open their eyes to their tremendous potential.
"It could be said that through his own enormous struggle to propagate the Law while enduring persecution, the Daishonin demonstrated for us the immense innate power of one person.
"Human beings can never become more than human beings. We don't need to become gods. We are all ordinary mortals. What matters is whether we can achieve true greatness as human beings. This is the essential viewpoint of the humanistic teachings of Nichiren Buddhism that we uphold.
"When prejudiced journalists asked Mr. Toda if he regarded himself as 'a living Buddha' or 'a god,' he laughed uproariously and said: 'I'm a proud common mortal!'
"What is the message in the depths of the 'Life Span' (16th) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, in which Shakyamuni declares his attainment of enlightenment in the remote past, thereby 'casting off the transient and revealing the true?' [1] It is that all living beings possess the eternal life of the Buddha. It calls on all people to awaken to that great inner self, to open their eyes to their tremendous potential.
"It could be said that through his own enormous struggle to propagate the Law while enduring persecution, the Daishonin demonstrated for us the immense innate power of one person.
"Human beings can never become more than human beings. We don't need to become gods. We are all ordinary mortals. What matters is whether we can achieve true greatness as human beings. This is the essential viewpoint of the humanistic teachings of Nichiren Buddhism that we uphold.
"When prejudiced journalists asked Mr. Toda if he regarded himself as 'a living Buddha' or 'a god,' he laughed uproariously and said: 'I'm a proud common mortal!'
"The American Renaissance philosopher Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) once declared: 'O for a man who is a man, and . . . has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your hand through!'[1]
"Buddhism enables one person and then another to confidently demonstrate their true, innate power as genuine human beings; it teaches the way to create a victorious network of such individuals who can live and succeed in life with dignity and conviction—with backbone, as Thoreau said—amid the real challenges of society."
SGI Newsletter No. 9143, Learning from the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin: The Teachings for Victory, Stand Up with Courage!—The Spirit of Soka Will Usher In a Triumphant Revival of Humanity, from the November 2014 issue of the Daibyakurenge, translation released 16th Dec., 2014
[1] Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Civil Disobedience (New York: Penguin Books, 1983),
p. 393.
[1] Casting off the transient and revealing the true: The revealing of a Buddha's true status as a Buddha, and the setting aside of that Buddha's provisional or transient identity. In the "Life Span" (16th) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni declares: "In all the worlds the heavenly and human beings and asuras all believe that the present Shakyamuni Buddha, after leaving the palace of the Shakyas, seated himself in the place of meditation not far from the city of Gaya and there attained supreme perfect enlightenment. But good men, it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood" (LSOC16, 265). Through this statement, he discards his provisional identity as the Buddha who first attained enlightenment under the bodhi tree in India and reveals his original enlightenment, or the enlightenment he attained in the remote past.
* The Japanese kanji is available by clicking on Seikyo Shinbun's
web-site address at http://www.seikyoonline.jp/news/index.html
--WAGATOMO NI OKURU--
JUKENSEI YO MAKERUNA!
KUINAKI CHOSEN GA
SHORI ENO DODAI TO NARU.
SHUI WA ATATAKANA HAGEMASHI TO
KOMAYAKANA HAIRYO O!
-- KYO NO GOSHO --
"HITOTSU NO KATABIRA NAREDOMO HOKEKYO NO ISSAI NO MONJI NO HOTOKE NI TATEMATSURU BESHI KONO KUDOKU WA FUBO SOFUBO NAISHI MUHEN NO SHUJO NIMO OYOBOSHITEN"
(Gosho Zenshu, page 1231)
[1] Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Civil Disobedience (New York: Penguin Books, 1983),
p. 393.
[1] Casting off the transient and revealing the true: The revealing of a Buddha's true status as a Buddha, and the setting aside of that Buddha's provisional or transient identity. In the "Life Span" (16th) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni declares: "In all the worlds the heavenly and human beings and asuras all believe that the present Shakyamuni Buddha, after leaving the palace of the Shakyas, seated himself in the place of meditation not far from the city of Gaya and there attained supreme perfect enlightenment. But good men, it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood" (LSOC16, 265). Through this statement, he discards his provisional identity as the Buddha who first attained enlightenment under the bodhi tree in India and reveals his original enlightenment, or the enlightenment he attained in the remote past.
* The Japanese kanji is available by clicking on Seikyo Shinbun's
web-site address at http://www.seikyoonline.jp/news/index.html
--WAGATOMO NI OKURU--
JUKENSEI YO MAKERUNA!
KUINAKI CHOSEN GA
SHORI ENO DODAI TO NARU.
SHUI WA ATATAKANA HAGEMASHI TO
KOMAYAKANA HAIRYO O!
-- KYO NO GOSHO --
"HITOTSU NO KATABIRA NAREDOMO HOKEKYO NO ISSAI NO MONJI NO HOTOKE NI TATEMATSURU BESHI KONO KUDOKU WA FUBO SOFUBO NAISHI MUHEN NO SHUJO NIMO OYOBOSHITEN"
(Gosho Zenshu, page 1231)
__._,_.___
Posted by: Scobie-John Le May-Grellan <sjlmg@yahoo.co.uk>
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If you have a friend(s) who would like to get To My Friends directly get them to send an E-mail to the following address and just simply write - "subscribe"
: SGI-ToMyFriends-Wagatomo-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk
from there on it is all automatic!
ALSO if you want to introduce a friend to the SGI but just don't know where to start, share with them the following addresses and they can read and watch some very well put together explanations about the SGI. Check it out yourself!
http://www.sgi.org/
http://www.sgi-uk.org/buddhism/practise
Check out the following address if you are looking for an important gosho quote
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org
And for the children there's a wonderful new web-site
http://treasures-of-heart.com/
And if you are looking for back editions of To My Friends click on...
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SGI-ToMyFriends-Wagatomo/conversations/messages
To unsubscribe from this group send an email to:
SGI-ToMyFriends-Wagatomo-unsubscribe@egroups.com
But do drop us a line at sjlmg@wta.att.ne.jp when you leave and tell us why you are leaving as it often can help us to improve the service! Please!
To modify your subscription from receiving daily to picking up as you wish go to http://www.egroups.com/mygroups
: SGI-ToMyFriends-Wagatomo-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk
from there on it is all automatic!
ALSO if you want to introduce a friend to the SGI but just don't know where to start, share with them the following addresses and they can read and watch some very well put together explanations about the SGI. Check it out yourself!
http://www.sgi.org/
http://www.sgi-uk.org/buddhism/practise
Check out the following address if you are looking for an important gosho quote
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org
And for the children there's a wonderful new web-site
http://treasures-of-heart.com/
And if you are looking for back editions of To My Friends click on...
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SGI-ToMyFriends-Wagatomo/conversations/messages
To unsubscribe from this group send an email to:
SGI-ToMyFriends-Wagatomo-unsubscribe@egroups.com
But do drop us a line at sjlmg@wta.att.ne.jp when you leave and tell us why you are leaving as it often can help us to improve the service! Please!
To modify your subscription from receiving daily to picking up as you wish go to http://www.egroups.com/mygroups
.
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