PRACTICE and study are like the two wheels of a cart and faith is like its axle. No matter how great your knowledge of Buddhist doctrines, without practice, it will be incomplete.
REALIZING eternal freedom and happiness is the goal of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. It constitutes the purpose of our faith and of our life as a whole. You can never relive this particular existence. If you are to crown your life with the laurels of victory, you must never be cowardly. In every instance, I hope you will summon forth the courage to advance along the great path of attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.
WHAT seems like a misfortune can be an opportunity. Wherever we find ourselves, we are in the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light. Complaining does not help. Whining does not produce anything of benefit. When faced with trouble, the way to rouse one’s courage is to think positively. If one sets a positive goal - to learn something new, to regain one's health, to live a richer life - courage, hope and wisdom will well forth to meet the challenge.
ONLY when you experience the crushing, painful depths of sufferings can you begin to understand the true meaning of life. Precisely because you have experienced great sufferings, it is imperative that you go on living. The important thing is to keep moving forward. If you use your sadness as a source of growth, you will become a person of greater depth and breadth - an even more wonderful you. This is the harvest of your pain and sufferings.
SOCIAL progress, economic progress, and in fact all progress depends upon the progress of human beings themselves, who are the protagonists in these endeavours. At the same time, if the faith or ideology that human beings take as their foundation does not advance, there will be no real human progress.
REALIZING eternal freedom and happiness is the goal of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. It constitutes the purpose of our faith and of our life as a whole. You can never relive this particular existence. If you are to crown your life with the laurels of victory, you must never be cowardly. In every instance, I hope you will summon forth the courage to advance along the great path of attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.
WHAT seems like a misfortune can be an opportunity. Wherever we find ourselves, we are in the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light. Complaining does not help. Whining does not produce anything of benefit. When faced with trouble, the way to rouse one’s courage is to think positively. If one sets a positive goal - to learn something new, to regain one's health, to live a richer life - courage, hope and wisdom will well forth to meet the challenge.
ONLY when you experience the crushing, painful depths of sufferings can you begin to understand the true meaning of life. Precisely because you have experienced great sufferings, it is imperative that you go on living. The important thing is to keep moving forward. If you use your sadness as a source of growth, you will become a person of greater depth and breadth - an even more wonderful you. This is the harvest of your pain and sufferings.
SOCIAL progress, economic progress, and in fact all progress depends upon the progress of human beings themselves, who are the protagonists in these endeavours. At the same time, if the faith or ideology that human beings take as their foundation does not advance, there will be no real human progress.
FIRST of all, it is vital that we practise faith as part of the SGI organization, for only the SGI are people working together towards kosen-rufu in the unity of "many in body, one in mind". Some people may think that practicing faith alone, unconnected to the organization, is easier. But when people practice alone, their faith tends to become selfish and their actions, egocentric. This is a frightening thing.
YOU have to pray to the Gohonzon to become more broad-minded and tolerant. You have to chant and look unflinchingly at the people and the things in your life that are making you unhappy.
Running away from things you find unpleasant is what causes suffering.
But, if you face and challenge such situations, they will enrich your life.
NICHIREN DAISHONIN told us that "One who perseveres through great persecutions and embraces the sutra from beginning to end is the Buddha's emissary". (MW 3, p290) As long as we are striving to realise kosen-rufu, we are sure to encounter persecution.
And it is the very presence
of great obstacles
that serves to strengthen our faith
and forge
the state of Buddhahood within us.
FAITH in the Mystic Law is the fundamental power to overcome the four sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death and to develop an eternally free and joyous state of existence.
YOUR Buddhist study will greatly support your efforts to develop a faith that never wavers, no matter what obstacles may arise. I hope you will have this spirit to read the Gosho, as it is a wonderful expression of your faith.
Source: Volume 1 to 5, Daily Guidance, Singapore Soka Association
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