Because we seek the power to control things in our lives we fail to seek that which can ultimately give us the ability to end suffering. We seek mistakenly to eliminate suffering by clinging to mistaken views. We may think that if we only had just a little more money or a better house or a better job or a different spouse that all things would be well. We merely look at the surface and think that the conditions that surround us are the things we need to change, never looking at our lives and seeing what we need to change within ourselves. Seeing that we are fundamentally enlightened beings who are living lives of common people can allow us to see the heart of the cause for suffering and free our minds from the attachments that actually are the root of sufferings.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Quotes
Moment to Moment
The Ten Worlds all exist at the same time in each moment. And they are also changing in nature according to our age and circumstances. They are not fixed in any moment and no moment is permanent.
Physician's Good MedicineThe Supreme Being in Ourselves
[T]he object of worship, the Supreme Being, is to be sought nowhere but in the innermost recess of every man’s nature, because the final aim of worship is the complete realization of the Supreme Being in ourselves.
Nichiren, The Buddhist ProphetEncouraging the Poor Son
Even if we meet the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, which makes us awaken our Buddha-nature, most of us do not study or understand it because it is a difficult teaching and is too noble, and we run away just like the son when he saw the rich man. After all, we alone are responsible for making our lives empty or fruitless, because we are unaware of our ability or potential. Even though we tend to be like this, the Eternal Buddha always wishes to lead and support all of us, as his children, with great compassion. In order to make us awaken the Buddha-nature, He leads us according to our natures, capacities and circumstances, and dispatches someone to us to give us various advice, even if it takes a long time. It is just like the rich man who approached his son wearing dirty clothing, to encourage him.
Spring WritingsThis Personal Odyssey
Buddhism is in many ways constantly repeating this personal Odyssey, our Buddhist Odyssey, over and over again but with an ever-upward spiral. Sometimes we may be tempted to stop or slack off, or to run and hide, or to only sample briefly the joy of enlightenment. But the Buddha is always there, as we learn later on in Chapter XVI. The Buddha, through the teachings of the Lotus Sutra is ever present guiding and encouraging us until we are able to fully inherit the great metaphorical wealth of enlightenment. Because of the ever existing eternal and universal nature of Buddha and the fact of our inherent Buddha nature, our journey is not from one point in time such as past to present on to future, but a journey out of time or one that really transcends time and space.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraThe Mahayana Nirvana
In Mahayana teachings, Nirvana is characterized as “pure” because it is free of the defilements of greed, hatred, delusion, pride, and self-doubt; as “blissful” because it is free of suffering; as “eternal” because it is free of impermanence; and as the “true self” because it is free of the false idea of a self. Essentially, the seal of Nirvana is the seal of nonclinging and freedom from all attachments, limitations, and false, self-serving views. It is not a thing that we can create through our own efforts, receive from others, or have in the way we might possess an object or have an experience. It is the true nature of reality which we awaken to through taking faith in the Buddha’s teachings and upholding them in our lives.
Lotus SeedsThe Body, Voice and Heart of the Eternal Buddha
[T]ue Lotus Sutra, the Odaimoku and the Mandala Gohonzon represent the very body, voice and heart of the Eternal Buddha. We should therefore strive to clearly pronounce the Odaimoku as we chant it. Concentrate on each syllable and observe the Odaimoku written on the Mandala Gohonzon. While chanting serenely and solemnly from deep within our diaphragm, our voice should be neither too loud nor too soft. Maintain a melodic rhythm, neither too fast nor too slow.
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge KyoActive Meditation
Repeating the words of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo to the Mandala Gohonzon depicting the realm of the Buddha becomes a highly focused practice devoted to the Odaimoku, the entire Lotus Sutra and the Buddha’s eternal enlightenment. In this way, Odaimoku recitation can be considered a form of meditation, a meditation devoted and focused solely on the eternal enlightenment of the Buddha. While traditional meditation is considered to be silent meditation, the chanting of Odaimoku to the Mandala Gohonzon becomes active meditation.
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo3,000 Conditions in Each Moment
In other words, the Ten Worlds are all present and within each world is the potential of all Ten Worlds. Those 100 worlds all contain the Ten Suchnesses. And those 1000 worlds and suchnesses are all Void, Temporary and the Middle Way, creating 3,000 conditions in each moment, all present, all connected and all related always.
Physician's Good MedicineOur Common Karma
Moreover, an existence of any kind is never an individual matter, but always the result of a common karma, shared by all born in the same realm of existence. Hence the expiation made by any one individual is, in fact, made for the sake of all his fellow-beings. Both the persecutors and the persecuted share the common karma accumulated in the past, and therefore share also in the future destiny, the attainment of Buddhahood. Nichiren’s repression of others’ malice and vice is at the same time his own expiation and self-subjugation. How, then, should his followers not share his merit in extinguishing the accumulated sins, and preparing for the realization of the primeval Buddha-nature? “Therefore,” Nichiren exhorts his disciples, “believe in me, and emulate my spirit and work, in the firm faith that the Master is the savior and leader! Work together, united in the same faith! Then, the expiation of sins will be achieved for ourselves and for all our fellow-beings, because we all share in the common karma.”
Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet