Daily Guidance

---- DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT ----

"The sun of the New Year
rises undauntedlyin your hearts,
a symbol of your certain victory
in the coming year."
Admiring the sun rising on the first day of the New Year, a prayer blooms spontaneously in the heart -- this is surely an experience that has naturally emerged from the inner most depths of people's lives since time immemorial. Prayer is a sublime act unique to human beings. The great Russian author LeoTolstoy {1828-1910} said: 'Prayer is the act of instilling ourselves with goodness.'"
"Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism gives prayer a concrete form in the way of gongyo, a practice that is accessible to all people. Based on the ultimate and most profound law of life, it is a dynamic practice that is in no way separate from our daily reality."

--- DAILY GOSHO ---

"The place where the person upholds and honours the Lotus Sutra is the 'place of practice' to which the person proceeds. It is not that he leaves his present place and goes to some other place."
* The sole purpose of Buddhism, the sole purpose of the SGI, is to save people from suffering. The SGI is doing its utmost to bring happiness to humanity. It has no other reason for existing.
How praise worthy are the lives of those who strive toward that goal with the SGI! How noble
From the perspective of the true entity of all phenomena, the here and now is our true and eternal sphere of activity. It is the actual stage on which we perform our missions. "There is no need," the Daishonin writes, "to leave this place and go elsewhere" (Gosho Zenshu, 781).
Even difficult situations, the kind we can only ascribe to our negative karma, are precious, never-to-be-repeated opportunities to fulfil our original mission.
In that respect, those who understand the wisdom of the true entity of all phenomena can transform any kind of karma into a radiantly brilliant mission. When you are absolutely confident of this, you will be filled with hope. Every person and every experience you encounter will become a precious and unique treasure.
(The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, Volume 1, page 190)
(Ongi kuden - Gosho Zenshu, page 781, The Record of the Orally TransmittedTeachings, page 192)