Inspiring Quotes for Overcoming Illness
(The person who originally compiled these quotes was able to use the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo - meaning: I fuse my life with the mystic law of cause and effect through sound vibration and modern medicine to overcome breast cancer completely. She now lives in total health!)
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From Jamie Lee Silver from ChantforHappiness.com
Quotes from President Ikeda's Lecture series "The Hope-filled Teachings of Nichiren Daishonin: On Prolonging One's Life Span - Faith for Leading a Long and healthy Life" in the July-August 08 Living Buddhism.
“Suffering from illness is a means by which you can eradicate your negative karma.”
President Toda, as quoted by President Ikeda. - pg 70
“To see illness as an opportunity to transform our karma – this strong spirit and resolve can break through all obstacles and devilish functions and open wide the path to happiness. Like a rocket blasting out of the earth’s atmosphere, the passionate conviction of faith that comes from viewing illness as an opportunity to transform our karma can become a powerful engine propelling us forward not only in this existence but throughout eternity, enabling us to freely savor everlasting happiness.” Pg 74
“Becoming ill in itself is certainly not a sign of defeat. Even the Buddha, who is said to have ‘few ills and few worries’ (LS, 214), struggles with sickness from time to time. Accordingly, there will be times when we are confronted with illness. The important point above all is not to be defeated mentally or emotionally by the prospect of being ill. Faith is the source of the fighting spirit to stand up to illness. Therefore, as we noted earlier, Nichiren Daishonin first of all talks about the ‘treasure of faith’. Pg 77
“As Nichiren says, ‘Illness gives rise to the resolve to attain the way’ (The Good Medicine for All Ills, WND-1, 937). If a practitioner who upholds faith in the Mystic Law becomes ill, it definitely has some profound meaning. It could be said that confronting illness is one route to awakening to the eternity of life. President Toda often said, ‘A person who has overcome a major illness knows how to deeply savor life.’” Pg78
From Matilda Buck’s guidance, World Tribune 4/27/01 pg 10 “When We Face Disappointment” – regarding SGI leaders who overcame cancer and chanted this way:
Through this experience,
I will become someone
who does not doubt the Gohonzon (my life),
no matter what happens.
As a Bodhisattva of the Earth,
I have the mission to experience this,
and as a Bodhisattva of the Earth,
I have the mission to create a victory.
I will share the power of Buddhism with others,
even as I grapple with this experience.
I won’t let my spirits stay down.
I won’t make a place in my life for negativity to settle!
From The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra Volume 6: “Praying with doubt is like trying to keep water in a bathtub with the plug pulled. Our good fortune and benefit will drain away. A passage from the ‘Perceiver of the World’s Sounds’ chapter reads, ‘from thought to thought never entertaining doubt!’ A confident prayer will reverberate powerfully throughout the entire universe.” Pg 88
From Buddhism Day by Day:
“Buddhism views illness as an opportunity to attain a higher, nobler state of life. It teaches that, instead of agonizing over a serious disease, or despairing of ever overcoming it, we should use illness as a means to build a strong, compassionate self, which in turn will make it possible for us to be truly victorious.” pg 300
“No matter what the circumstances,
you should never concede defeat.
Never conclude that you’ve reached a dead end,
that everything is finished.
You possess a glorious future.
And precisely because of that,
you must persevere and study.
Life is eternal.
We need to focus on the two existences
of the present and the future
and not get caught up in the past.
We must always have the spirit to begin anew
‘from this moment,’
to initiate a new struggle each day.” Pg. 315
“The air around us
is filled with radio waves of various frequencies.
While these are invisible,
a television set can collect them
and turn them into visible images.
The practice of chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
aligns the rhythm of our own lives with the world of Buddhahood in the universe.
it ‘tunes’ our lives, so to speak,
so that we can manifest
the power of Buddhahood in our very beings.” Pg 314
From For Today and Tomorrow Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda:
Sept 20 pg. 288:
When your determination changes,
everything else will begin to move
in the direction you desire.
The moment you resolve to be victorious,
every nerve and fiber in your being
will immediately orient itself toward your success.
On the other hand,
if you think
“This is never going to work out,”
then at that instant
every cell in your being will be deflated
and give up the fight,
and then everything really will
move in the direction of failure.
Aug 15 pg. 249:
The first thing is to pray.
From the moment we begin to pray,
things start moving.
The darker the night,
the closer the dawn.
From the moment we chant daimoku
with a deep and powerful resolve,
the sun begins to rise in our hearts.
Hope – prayer is the sun of hope.
To chant daimoku each time we face a problem, overcoming it
and elevating our life-condition as a result –
this is the path of
“changing earthly desires into enlightenment,”
taught in Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism.
Thank you so much my friends. Thank you for your emails and your Daimoku! I am here having a quiet week as I heal from my hernia surgery. I am determined that from this moment forth I am more healthy, more vibrant, more energetic and focused than ever before. But for today...I am slow...I am quiet...I am in the process of healing.
I plan on writing a series of posts to commemorate this blog's 5th anniversary. (This week) Would you like to contribute? I'd like to have a section from readers about how something you read at chanforhappiness.com led you to take action in your practice or your life...email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com as always.
