Winter always turns to Spring!
Today I want to revisit the nature of study and our attitude in study. In this month's Living Buddhism there is a quote from Josei Toda. As many of you know he was the Soka Gakkai's second president, a lion for world peace, and Daisaku Ikeda's mentor. He was imprisoned in WWII for not supporting the Japanese war effort and refusing to enshrine a Shinto talisman on his altar. His mentor Tunesaburu Makiguchi, founder of the Soka Gakkai in 1930 was also imprisoned and died in prison. Josei Toda lived to rebuild the Soka Gakkai with Daisaku Ikeda by his side. Daisaku Ikeda (Sensei, or teacher, as he is known to many) tells us that every day he continues to have a dialogue with Josei Toda in his heart.
In March's Living Buddhism, Toda is quoted as saying:
"Every time I read the Daishonin's writings, rather than simply trying to understand his words, I seek to come into contact with his immense compassion, his towering conviction, his ardent spirit to aid and protect others, and his solemn and unswerving commitment to kosen-rufu.
Whenever I read his writings, his radiant spirit, like the midsummer sun at noon, floods my heart. My chest feels as if it is filled with a giant ball of molten steel. Sometimes I feel like a scalding hot spring is gushing forth inside me, or as if a great, earthshaking waterfall is crashing over me."
From the March 2013 Living Buddhism, page 26.
Wow, talk about reading the Gosho with your life. I remember that adage from my early days of my practice. Read the Gosho with your life. Not with just your brain...but with your entire life. I am going to strive to feel this more and more.
I know that the passage I shared with you last month brings out that towering feeling of strength in me. It is one of my favorites and I'll repeat it here for you. In this Gosho (honorific writing, letter to his follower) Nichiren Daishonin is being taken off to be beheaded for having the audacity to offer his prayers in service to the government, and claim that the prayers they were offering at the time weren't correct. He is being led on his horse to the place of his execution. He sees a statue of the god Hachiman and asks to have a moment with this statue. He gets down from his horse and screams at this God. Remember, in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism all "Gods" are functions within our lives, and a part of us, not outside of us. He is addressing the Hachiman within him when he yells:
"Bodhisattva Hachiman are you truly a god? When Wake No Kiyomora was about to be beheaded, you appeared as a moon ten feet wide. When the great teacher Dengyo lectured on the Lotus Sutra you bestowed on him a purple surplice. I, Nichiren, am the greatest Votary of the Lotus Sutra in Japan, and entirely without guilt. I have expounded the law to save all people from falling into the hell of incessant suffering for opposing the Lotus Sutra...
If I am executed tonight and go to the pure land of Eagle Peak, I shall report at once to Shakyamuni Buddha that Tensho Daijin and Hachiman have broken their oath to him. If you feel this would go hard on you, you had better do something about it right away!"
From the Gosho called "The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra. Previously called "On the Buddha's Behavior"
And, as you know, a brilliant, bright orb came out of the sky and scared his executioners away. Many of the people who were in the execution party later became Nichiren's disciples because of the compassion he showed for them, and the strength of his determination. The full story is in the same Gosho.
Can you feel his tremendous conviction and spirit in this passage?
You too can summon this power.
You are the latter day Nichiren.
You are the Votary of the Lotus Sutra.
You live a proud life to save others from suffering.
You can sit in front of your Gohonzon and command the forces within your life to protect you, to have you rise above your problems, to have you achieve victory in all areas of your life.
You can say "enough"!
No more of this karma of feeling insecure and doubting myself.
No more of this karma of being abused by anyone or any thing!
No more doubting my own Buddha Nature!
No more living in fear!
No more feeling unloved or hopeless.
No more struggling in a job you hate, or is any other terrible situation.
No more ________________ you fill in the blank.
You are a Buddha.
Whatever it is, whatever suffering you have, you can change it.
Rise up like a strong lion. Roar in front of the Gohonzon. Tell your life what it MUST accomplish for you. Write your determination. Chant every morning and evening, chant as much Daimoku as you possibly can, and study as much as you can. Encourage other people to the best of your ability. (Sending people links to this blog or other SGI websites counts. Ikedaquotes.org is one of my favorites.)
And whatever you do, don't give up. We are changing the karma for our entire lineage. We can change our karma this lifetime. We must persist.
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