PLEASE be confident that your ichinen, or determination, to live in accord with the principles of “faith equals daily life” and “faith equals society”, as you aim towards kosen-rufu both night and day, will give rise to happiness in life which will shine as brilliantly as a diamond, throughout eternity.
I am not saying that the only way to be happy is to lead a perfect life, lacking in nothing. Nor is there any person who is perfect in every respect and completely free from anxiety and delusion. The Buddhist teaching of the Daishonin, and our attitude of faith as well, is that it is precisely suffering in and of itself, which builds the state of the happiness of complete freedom.
TO live only to flatter one’s superiors and seek their praise is a life of failure and defeat. Where is the true value of life to be found? The true glory and triumph of life are found in the continual effort to live among the people and suffer with them, to protect them, to serve them, and encourage them with every ounce of one’s strength. This is the noble tradition of the SGI.
SELF-CONFIDENCE comes from hard work and effort. You are deluding yourself if you think you can have self-confidence without it. Only those who strive to challenge some goals and work towards them at their own pace and in their own way, only those who keep trying, no matter how many times they may fail, can develop unshakeable confidence in them. Self-confidence is synonymous with an invincible will.
SOME people struggle in earnest. Some are defeated by struggle. And some give up without even trying. Only those who struggle until the very end can attain Buddhahood. Such people are life’s true winners.
NOTE: Visit http://nichirendaishoningosho.blogspot.com/ for Nichiren Daishonin's gosho, A Gift of Rice.
I am not saying that the only way to be happy is to lead a perfect life, lacking in nothing. Nor is there any person who is perfect in every respect and completely free from anxiety and delusion. The Buddhist teaching of the Daishonin, and our attitude of faith as well, is that it is precisely suffering in and of itself, which builds the state of the happiness of complete freedom.
TO live only to flatter one’s superiors and seek their praise is a life of failure and defeat. Where is the true value of life to be found? The true glory and triumph of life are found in the continual effort to live among the people and suffer with them, to protect them, to serve them, and encourage them with every ounce of one’s strength. This is the noble tradition of the SGI.
SELF-CONFIDENCE comes from hard work and effort. You are deluding yourself if you think you can have self-confidence without it. Only those who strive to challenge some goals and work towards them at their own pace and in their own way, only those who keep trying, no matter how many times they may fail, can develop unshakeable confidence in them. Self-confidence is synonymous with an invincible will.
SOME people struggle in earnest. Some are defeated by struggle. And some give up without even trying. Only those who struggle until the very end can attain Buddhahood. Such people are life’s true winners.
NOTE: Visit http://nichirendaishoningosho.blogspot.com/ for Nichiren Daishonin's gosho, A Gift of Rice.