The Lotus Sutra is called, “A wonderful medicine for enlightenment.” Everything necessary is included in it: believing in the Lotus Sutra is learning; chanting the Lotus Sutra is practicing; keeping the Lotus Sutra is having faith. We can absorb all the nutrition that we need naturally from the Lotus Sutra. When you make these practices part of your daily life, true spiritual peace in the mind and heart will sprout. Having faith in this teaching is an ideal practice both mentally and physically.

Firm faith comes from a firm belief in the Lotus Sutra. The following are Nichiren Shonin’s words:

“Have faith in the Great Mandala Gohonzon, the most superlative in the world. Endeavor! Endeavor to strengthen your faith, so that you may be blessed with the protective powers of all Buddhas. Learn and practice to strengthen your faith. Without learning and practicing there is no Buddhism. Follow these teachings yourself and influence others to do the same. To learn and to practice are a part of faith. Even if only a word or a phrase, spread it to others.” -Shoho Jisso-sho

We are only able to learn and practice faithfully with the support of true faith.

[P]racticing a teaching is not easy. It is hard work to struggle against your own ego and laziness. The human being’s mind can be tempted with laziness, and we lose faith easily when it should be firm. Laziness and ego are strong rivals against faith. In fact, it is harder to defeat our own mind than to defeat others. An example is a person who is determined to chant every morning. Somehow they manage to keep their determination for a couple of weeks. Then, one morning, they have a headache and think, “Today is special, I will rest.” Before long, the special days turn into regular days. Usually the battle between laziness and faith results in the laziness achieving “victory.” At that time we need to have firm faith to brush off the whisper of laziness, and should think: “This is a trial to test my weakness and my faith.”

Practicing is regarded as the principal conduct in the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Although we might meet a wonderful teaching, we do not always practice the teaching in our lives. The teaching then becomes meaningless. For example, if you wish to become a good tennis player and you memorize all the rules and theories perfectly, this does not mean you will be able to play tennis. Why? Because you have not practiced on the court. Therefore, learning diligently first, and then practicing the teaching after having learnt the theory, are the conditions which give rise to enlightenment. This is called “learning and practicing of the dual path.”

The Buddha had a cousin named Devadatta. He was jealous of the Buddha’s fame, and he desired to take over the Buddha’s community. He tried to assassinate the Buddha many times, but always failed. In the end, he died by falling into a valley. Afterwards, the Buddha thought back on his cousin’s behavior and said, “He always caused me trouble, but if he had not, I would not have attained enlightenment by now. He was my teacher. He will be reborn as a Buddha in the future.” Learning is enlightening. Please keep a modest attitude in order to learn, and to become an Enlightened One.

As our desires develop into deep grasping, our troubles also develop into spiritual suffering. We need a spiritual teaching to bring spiritual peace, hope and guidance to our life. This teaching is called “religion.” For a spiritual world and a peaceful mind, Buddhism is the specialty, and the Lotus Sutra the specialist. This teaching makes an analysis of the poison of suffering, explains the cause of suffering, and prescribes a good medicine for us to make harmony in body, mind and nature. That is the teaching of “Enlightenment.”

It may be very difficult for people who are extremely busy to perform Otsutome every day. They tend to have no spare time, especially in the mornings. But busy people really need to make and take time to relax and meditate, because in our busy lives and living in such a complex society, it is easy to lose sight of our own pace. We need time to recover our pace and rhythm of life.

Daily chanting is a basic and important prayer as a Nichiren Buddhist. It is called Gongyo, Shingyo or Otsutome. It means to chant every morning to the Buddha and Nichiren Shonin for your family’s security, peace for your ancestors and for the happiness of other people, and to chant every evening to express thanks to the Buddha and Nichiren Shonin for your family’s safety and peace that day. The feeling after Otsutome is so peaceful, and brings to our mind hopes for tomorrow. It is also a valuable time to meditate on one’s own daily life, and to reflect on our past life. Otsutome is an important daily event, as well as a practice for approaching enlightenment.

Giving peace and appeasing people’s anger is one purpose of religion. Anger cannot calm anger by itself. Retaliation cannot stop retaliation by itself. Anger can be calmed by a peaceful mind, and retaliation can be calmed only by compassion. Unfortunately, though we know this well, our actions are often less ideal than we intend them to be. This is one of the silliest characteristics of human beings. Animals know better than we do. We must change our ways now, otherwise the tragedies of human life will continue forever.

Buddhism is a teaching that can provide peace, ease, and compassion. There are many teachings that can help to prepare us to accept these virtues.