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Chanting Growers Group (2013-∞)

SoCal Hippy

SoCal Hippy

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“The Mystic Law guarantees the benefits of ‘peace and security in the present existence and good circumstances in future existences.' Enjoying peace and security does not mean that our lives will be completely free of problems and suffering. Rather, it means continuing to fight and win with the unflagging courage of a lion king by maintaining steadfast faith.

“As the Daishonin states: 'Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens' (WND –1, 681)."

Daisaku Ikeda
 
SoCal Hippy

SoCal Hippy

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“Although I and my disciples may encounter various difficulties, if we do not harbour doubts in our hearts, we will as a matter of course attain Buddhahood. Do not have doubts simply because heaven does not lend you protection. Do not be discouraged because you do not enjoy an easy and secure existence in this life.”

(The Opening of the Eyes
- WND, Vol. 1, page 283)
 
SoCal Hippy

SoCal Hippy

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“No matter what our current circumstances, all of us have chosen to be born into this world with different kinds of karma in order to carry out the noble task of kosen-rufu and lead all people of the Latter Day of the Law to happiness.

“When we are firmly convinced of this in the depths of our being, gratitude and joy are certain to well forth from our lives."

Daisaku Ikeda
 
SoCal Hippy

SoCal Hippy

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Veteran
"I will be the pillar of Japan. I will be the eyes of Japan. I will be the great ship of Japan. This is my vow, and I will never forsake it!"

(The Opening of the Eyes
- WND, Vol. 1, page 280)
 
SoCal Hippy

SoCal Hippy

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“The Daishonin advises Shijo Kingo: ’Though worldly troubles may arise, never let them disturb you. No one can avoid problems, not even sages or worthies "(WND –1, 681)..

"The key is not to be swayed by our troubles. We must cast away the common notion that difficulties equal misfortune. The Daishonin teaches us to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and remain calm, no matter what challenges arise."

Daisaku Ikeda
 
Weird

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
What is most important is that, by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo alone, you can attain Buddhahood. It will no doubt depend on the strength of your faith. To have faith is the basis of Buddhism. Thus the fourth volume of Great Concentration and Insight states, “Buddhism is like an ocean that one can only enter with faith.” The fourth volume of The Annotations on “Great Concentration and Insight” explains this: “With regard to the phrase ‘Buddhism is like an ocean that one can p.833only enter with faith,’ even Confucius taught that faith is first and foremost. How much more so is this true of the profound doctrines of Buddhism! Without faith, how could one possibly enter? That is why the Flower Garland Sutra defines faith as the basis of the way and the mother of blessings.” The first volume of Great Concentration and Insight says, “How does one hear, believe in, and practice the perfect teaching to attain perfect enlightenment?” The first volume of On “Great Concentration and Insight” says, “To ‘believe in the perfect teaching’ means to awaken faith through doctrine and to make faith the basis of practice.”
Click to expand...


---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/101
 
Weird

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
In chapter sixteen Shakyamuni reveals the answer to this riddle. The Buddha, he says, is an eternal being, ever present in the world, ever concerned for the salvation of all beings. He attained buddhahood an incalculably distant time in the past, and has never ceased to abide in the world since then. He seems at times to pass away into nirvana, and at other times to make a new appearance in the world. But he does this only so that living beings will not take his presence for granted and be slack in their quest for enlightenment. His seeming disappearance is no more than an expedient means that he employs to encourage them in their efforts, one of many such expedients that he adopts in order to fit his teachings to the different natures and capacities of individual beings and insure that those teachings will have relevance for all. From this we see that in the Lotus Sutra the Buddha, who had earlier been viewed as a historical personality, is now conceived as a being who transcends all boundaries of time and space, an ever-abiding principle of truth and compassion that exists everywhere and within all beings.
Click to expand...


---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/.../3#The Principal Doctrines of the Lotus Sutra
 
Weird

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
The Flower Garland Sutra has its teaching that “the phenomenal world is created by the mind alone”; the Wisdom sutras have their eighteen kinds of non-substantiality; the Mahāvairochana Sutra has its fivefold meditation for attaining Buddhahood, and the Meditation Sutra has its doctrine of rebirth in the Pure Land. But the Lotus Sutra’s teaching of the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form surpasses all of these.
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---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/12
 
Weird

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
On Practicing the Buddha’s Teachings

Background
ON examination [of the Lotus Sutra], we find that those who are born in this land and believe in this sutra when it is propagated in the Latter Day of the Law will be subjected to hatred and jealousy even greater than that which arose in the lifetime of the Thus Come One. In that age, the master who taught and converted the people was the Buddha, and his disciples were great bodhisattvas and arhats. Moreover, the Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra only after he had developed and trained the living beings who were to hear it, including the human and heavenly beings, the four kinds of believers, and the nonhuman beings such as the eight kinds of beings. Still, many of them harbored hatred and jealousy.
Now, in the Latter Day of the Law, though the teaching, the people’s capacity, and the time for propagation are in accord, we must expect all the more hostility. For this is the age when quarrels and disputes prevail, and the pure Law is obscured and lost.1 Moreover, the teacher is but an ordinary practitioner, and his disciples come from among evil people defiled by the three poisons. For this reason, people shun the good teacher and associate with evil teachers.
What is more, once you become a disciple or lay supporter of the votary who practices the true Lotus Sutra in accord with the Buddha’s teachings, you are bound to face the three types of enemies. Therefore, from the very day you listen to [and take faith in] this sutra, you should be fully prepared to face the great persecutions of the three types of enemies that are certain to be more horrible now after the Buddha’s passing. Although my disciples had already heard this, when both great and small persecutions confronted us, some were so astounded and terrified that they even forsook their faith. Did I not warn you in advance? I have been teaching you day and night directly from the sutra, which says, “Since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Thus Come One is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing?”2 You have no reason at all to be frightened when you see or hear that I have been driven from my dwelling place, wounded, and, having incurred the wrath of the rulers, sent into exile in distant provinces twice.

Question: The votaries who practice according to the Buddha’s teachings should “enjoy peace and security in their present existence.”3 Why then are you beset by the three powerful enemies?
Answer: Shakyamuni Buddha faced the nine great persecutions for the sake p.392of the Lotus Sutra. In the distant past, Bodhisattva Never Disparaging was likewise attacked with staves, tiles, and stones. Chu Tao-sheng was banished to a mountain in Su-chou, the Tripitaka Master Fa-tao was branded on the face, and the Venerable Āryasimha was beheaded. The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai was opposed by the seven schools of the north and the three schools of the south, and the Great Teacher Dengyō was hated by the six schools [of Nara]. The Buddha and these bodhisattvas and great sages were all votaries of the Lotus Sutra, yet they suffered great persecutions. If you deny that they practiced according to the Buddha’s teachings, then where can you find those who did? This is the age of conflict in which the pure Law has been lost. Moreover, in this evil country, the ruler, his ministers, and even the common people are without exception tainted by evil. They have opposed the correct teaching and revered erroneous doctrines and teachers instead. Therefore, demons have burst into the country, causing the three calamities and seven disasters to strike again and again.
This is indeed an accursed time to live in this land! However, the Buddha has commanded me to be born in this age, and it is impossible for me to go against the decree of the Dharma King. And so, as the sutra dictates, I have launched the battle between the provisional and the true teachings. Donning the armor of endurance and girding myself with the sword of the wonderful teaching, I have raised the banner of the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, the heart of the entire eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra. Then, drawing the bow of the Buddha’s declaration, “I have not yet revealed the truth,”4 and notching the arrow of “honestly discarding the provisional teachings,”5 I have mounted the carriage drawn by the great white ox6 and battered down the gates of the provisional teachings. Attacking first one and then another, I have refuted opponents from the eight and ten schools, such as the Nembutsu, True Word, Zen, and Precepts. Some have fled headlong while others have retreated, and still others have been captured to become my disciples. I continue to repulse their attacks and to defeat them, but legions of enemies exist who oppose the single Dharma King and the handful who follow him. So the battle goes on even today.
“The Lotus Sutra is the teaching of shakubuku, the refutation of the provisional doctrines.”7 True to the letter of this golden saying, in the end, every last one of the believers of the provisional teachings and schools will be defeated and join the retinue of the Dharma King. The time will come when all people will abandon the various kinds of vehicles and take up the single vehicle of Buddhahood, and the Mystic Law alone will flourish throughout the land. When the people all chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the wind will no longer buffet the branches, and the rain will no longer break the clods of soil. The world will become as it was in the ages of Fu Hsi and Shen Nung.8 In their present existence the people will be freed from misfortune and disasters and learn the art of living long. Realize that the time will come when the truth will be revealed that both the person and the Law are unaging and eternal. There cannot be the slightest doubt about the sutra’s promise of “peace and security in their present existence.”
Click to expand...
---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/42
 
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