Burn With Ever Brighter Spirit!

I have huge challenges now! Huge. Bigger than ever. I am burning bright as the sun because I am embracing these challenges and I am determined to WIN. Not just for myself...but for YOU...and my district, for kosen-rufu and for the world. The problems I face are the problems people are facing all over. I MUST defeat them. I must use them to fuel my growth and to help people. I am a warrior for happiness...a warrior for kosen-rufu. I burn with the spirit of my mentor Daisaku Ikeda, and I AM Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and so are YOU!

The second Gosho I ever studied and studied and studied is "A Ship to Cross the Sea of Suffering" by Nichiren Daishonin. In it, he makes it clear that our problems are actually our benefits because the more problems we have the more we will strengthen our lives. And the stronger our lives become the happier we are. The happier we are, the more we can help others. And happiness is contagious. Our happiness leads to kosen-rufu...our happiness SPREADS. Our happiness is IMPORTANT. 

In America we have a couple of phrases that represent this. One is: "Happy Wife, Happy Life." Smart husbands say this, because they know it is true. Another is "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" and that's true too, isn't it!

A happy wife makes a happy husband. A happy wife and mother creates a happy home. A happy home creates a happy neighborhood. A happy neighborhood leads to a happy world. Your happiness is important. In Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism we create our own happiness. We are responsible for turning poison into benefit. And we have the ultimate tool to do it! We chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in front of the mirror of our lives, the Gohonzon. We are fortunate indeed. 

This is one of my favorite quotes from the Gosho "A Ship to Cross the Sea of Suffering:" "In the Latter Day of the Law (now), the Votary of the Lotus Sutra (us), will appear without fail. The greater the hardships befalling him, the greater the delight he feels, because of his strong faith. Doesn't a fire burn more briskly when logs are added? " and...by extension, our problems cause us to chant and make new determinations. These new determinations strengthen our lives. We forge our own humanity and strength through having problems and defeating them one by one by one. 

President Ikeda says: 
"Instead of becoming discouraged by setbacks or changes of our circumstances, we need to lift ourselves up and take on new challenges with even greater energy. The important thing is that we remain true to the goal we have pledged to achieve that we burn with ever brighter fighting spirit to win in the end."
 (April 5 World Tribune, p.3,)