Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Derwin Lycan Sherwood
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Wednesday,
August 11, 2010:
Let's read the Gosho regularly. Even just a little is fine. Even a single sentence. Just opening the Gosho is a start. At any rate, let's strive to read the Daishonin's writings. It's important to have the spirit to study the Gosho, to open up the Gosho. Even if you forget what you've read, something profound will have been engraved in the depths of your life.
Derwin Lycan Sherwood
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Thursday,
August 12, 2010:
Courage is free. Anyone can have it. Courage is another name for the SGI spirit. Mr. Toda said: "The Buddha is filled with compassion, but it is hard for us common mortals to show compassion. So we must have courage instead." In other words, when we work courageously for kosen-rufu, our actions by their very nature, become compassionate.
Derwin Lycan Sherwood
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Friday,
August 13, 2010:
An important thing is that you concentrate on developing yourself. Whatever others may say or do, those who have established their own solid sense of identity will triumph in the end. The great Japanese author Eiji Yoshikawa (1892-1962) wrote in his novel Miyamoto Musashi [an account of the seventeenth-century master swordsman of the same name]: "Rather than worrying about your future, thinking 'Perhaps I should become this or perhaps I should become that,' first be still and build a self that is as solid and unmoving as Mount Fuji."
Derwin Lycan Sherwood
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Saturday,
August 14, 2010:
The German author Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) writes that the more one matures, the younger one grows. And certainly there are many people who, as they age, become increasingly vigorous and energetic, more broad-minded and tolerant, living with a greater sense of freedom and assurance. It is important to remember that aging and growing old are not necessarily the same thing.
Derwin Lycan Sherwood
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Sunday,
August 15, 2010:
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.
Derwin Lycan Sherwood
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Monday,
August 16, 2010:
Certainly there will be times when you wish you had more spending money, more time to sleep and more time for fun and recreation. You may feel restricted now, but you should consider your current situation as the perfect set of circumstances for your growth. Within the restrictions that define your present existence, the only thing to do is to discipline yourself and head in the direction of growth and self-improvement. In the process of exerting yourself in such endeavors, you will without a doubt build and strengthen your character.
Derwin Lycan Sherwood
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
Friday,
August 20, 2010:
To be fearless no matter what happens—that is the root of true happiness. To move forward resolutely regardless of what lies in store—that is the spirit, the resolve, that leads to human victory. But if we allow ourselves to be disturbed by petty criticism and slander, if we fear pressure and persecution, we will never advance nor create anything of lasting value.