Quotes

Spring Writings

Faith and Understanding

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[T]he Nirvana Sutra says it is not enough to just have faith in Buddhism by believing the teachings on an emotional level, because emotional belief will bring confusion and doubt in the future. Right faith requires understanding as well as a willingness to believe. It is not enough to just have faith in Buddhism by understanding the teachings without a willingness to believe, because without it, your understanding will emphasize a self-seeking view. Therefore, both a willingness to believe and a willingness to understand combine and dissolve into one, which will be an essential foundation for the faith of Buddhism.

In order to understand Buddhism more deeply, please open your mind. If you wish to have faith, please try to both understand and believe the teachings willingly. These are good practices to help you understand Buddhism, and to promote your understanding of the Lotus Sutra, which is the highest teaching of Buddhism.

Spring Writings

Spring Writings

How to Have Faith

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The teachings of Buddhism seem difficult, but really it is easy. The faith of Buddhism seems complicated, but truly it’s simple. When you think that Buddhism is difficult or complicated, your mind is not yet open to Buddhism, and so it is difficult to receive the teaching properly. The reason for this is because you still remain cautious in your mind. Please do not feel uneasy or worried. Since Buddhism began, over 2500 years ago, it has a history of distributing peace and hope without conflict to others. Please open your mind if you want to study Buddhism. A mind willing to believe, and willing to understand, is very important in establishing faith in Buddhism. The Lotus Sutra, Chapter IV, “Understanding by Faith”, indicates how to have faith.

Spring Writings

Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Religious Belief in Daily Life

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There are some who may come to activities, perhaps frequently, but then the rest of their life is preoccupied with other things and so do not practice or follow Buddhism. There may be religious experience, but there is not fundamental embracing and manifesting in life of religious action. We could say they only have a nominal belief in Buddhism. It is worth our while to frequently reflect on our day-to-day actions and see how deeply our religious belief extends into our lives. Perhaps it is deep or perhaps it is shallow; honesty is the place where it can begin to change.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Lotus Seeds

We’re All in the Same Boat

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The bodhisattvas are as concerned about relieving the suffering of others as they are about relieving their own. One might even say they know we are all in the same boat, the Great Vehicle of the Mahayana, which takes all people to the other shore of perfect and complete awakening. Thus, the advancement of the individual is impossible without the advancement of all.

Lotus Seeds

Nichiren-Leader

The Treasured Gem

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From the moment of [Nichiren’s] recovery [after 21 days of prayer and fasting before the image of Kokuzo Bosatsu], a new clarity began to enter his life. Through his diligent studies, he began to recognize differences among the various sutras. This recognition was based upon what he called “The Treasured Gem” – a gift of knowledge divided into two parts. The first part was drawn from the Nirvana Sutra that said: “Rely on the Dharma, and not on any person.” Thus, a man could never be misled by clever people. The second part was to rely on reason, on written proof, and finally, on that proof drawn from one’s own experience.

Nichiren, Leader of Buddhist Reformation in Japan

Odaimoku

Speaking in the Buddha’s Language

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When we sit in front of the Mandala Gohonzon, we are meeting with the Buddha Shakyamuni, Nichiren Shonin, the many Bodhisattvas and all the other figures pictured on the Mandala. We are there to meet with them, and converse with them, heart to heart, as they open the door of their enlightened world for us. And we do this by speaking in the Buddha’s language: by chanting the Lotus Sutra and Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.

Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

Lotus Path

Maintaining Our Enthusiasm

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Sometimes it is difficult to maintain our enthusiasm for practicing and studying the Lotus Sutra. There are some days when it may be all we can do to just chant Odaimoku three times. There will naturally be days like that, so do not be discouraged. But in our hearts if we can maintain and nourish the kind of eagerness to stay connected with the teachings of the Buddha, then even gradually our lives will undergo a significant change.

Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

Physicians Good Medicine

An Invitation to Make the Sutra Your Own

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I believe that entering the Lotus Sutra through the stories is what the original authors intended. The Lotus Sutra is not a collection of theories laid out in some formulaic order, yet the theories reveal themselves within the context of the myriad stories. Perhaps our challenge today is to hear the stories again from a more modern perspective. This is an invitation to make the sutra your own, to possess it in your life and use it to tell your own story.

Physician's Good Medicine

The Buddhist Prophet

Realizing

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Noble and sublime may be the conception of the Supreme Being, but it is but an idol or image, a dead abstraction, if we ourselves do not participate in its supreme existence and realize in ourselves its excellent qualities.

Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet

Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Our Inherent Capability

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What the Buddha is trying to teach us in the Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son is that we all are inherently capable and endowed with the capacity to become enlightened and inherit the great fortune of all Buddhas. It isn’t about standing along side and comparing our life to the life of some other, but about being awakened to our own potential and recognizing the potential in others as being unique and yet the same.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra