Daisaku Ikeda
January 7th 2024
Hand in hand with (and inseparable from) our personal awakening, the aim of Buddhist practice is to establish a truly peaceful society based on the empowerment of all individuals, a true state of equality and justice grounded in respect for the Buddha nature inherent in everyone.
Daisaku Ikeda
January 6th 2024
You must never think that any of the eighty thousand sacred teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha’s lifetime or any of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and three existences are outside yourself. Your practice of the Buddhist teachings will not relieve you of the sufferings of birth and death in the least unless you perceive the true nature of your life. If you seek enlightenment outside yourself, then your performing even ten thousand practices and ten thousand good deeds will be in vain. It is like the case of a poor man who spends night and day counting his neighbor’s wealth but gains not even half a coin. -Nichiren
Daisaku Ikeda
January 5th 2024
One of the epithets of a Buddha is, “Hero of the World.” A Buddha is a valiant and noble champion who has conquered the sufferings of life in the real world. Nichiren writes: “Buddhism is like the body, and society like the shadow. When the body bends, so does the shadow.” People cannot live apart from society. But to be constantly at the mercy of society’s ups and downs is a miserable existence. It is crucial for us to be strong and wise. The “body” Nichiren refers to is, on the personal level, our faith.