When we chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo let us do so with great joy welling up from within our lives, with the mind of praise for the Lotus Sutra and with the desire to enable not only our own self to become enlightened but for everyone to attain enlightenment.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Quotes
Ingredients of the Physician’s Cure
The ingredients of the Physician’s Cure are the five practices of the Lotus Sutra – to keep, read, recite, copy, and teach this Sutra. All of these are simple enough except they are indeed very difficult.
Physician's Good MedicineThe Particular and the Universal
Nichiren’s thinking always aimed, as we have seen, to unite two opposites, and to explain either by reference to the other. This method was applied to the relation between the particular and the universal, between the world and the individual, between human nature and Buddhahood. So also with the Kingdom of Buddha. It is individual and universal at the same time; either aspect is incomplete apart from the other; individual perfection is inconceivable without the basis of the universal truth, while the universal community cannot exist apart from the spiritual enlightenment of every individual. The Kingdom means the complete working out of the harmonious relation of these two aspects of perfection — Buddhahood.
Nichiren, The Buddhist ProphetMaking Time
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.
Spring WritingsDividing the Lotus Sutra
The most important and frequently sited way of dividing up the Lotus Sutra is into two sections, one being the Provisional section, Shakumon, and the other the Essential, or Hammon. Chapters 1 through 14 are considered to be the Provisional teachings in the Lotus Sutra. Chapters 15 through 28 are the Essential portions of the Lotus Sutra.
One way of understanding this division is to think of the Provisional section as containing the causes for attaining the supreme enlightenment of Buddhas, whereas the Essential section contains the benefit or the result of the practices of the Provisional section.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraDependent Origination
Dependent Origination means that every thing is dependent on other things, or causes, for its existence. That is, all phenomena arise as the result of causes and conditions. Therefore, no phenomena have any existence intrinsic to themselves-they depend on other phenomena. In order to have one thing, you need to have other things working together to bring about and to support its existence. Everything depends upon everything else in this way.
Lotus SeedsMutually Inherent Cause and Effect
In Buddhism, the lotus flower and its simultaneous seed pods, symbolically demonstrate the cause of the plant (the seed) and the end result (its flower). In Buddhist terminology, this relationship is called Inga Guji – both cause and effect are mutually possessed. This principle of mutually inherent cause and effect is one of the most important concepts and principles of Buddhist philosophy, especially in regards to our inherent Buddha potential and manifesting enlightenment within our own life.
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge KyoThe Gem Resident Inside Us
Enlightenment is the only indestructible condition of life, the gem resident inside us that allows us to exist in a constant state of happiness free from the illusions of suffering, and the illusions of birth and death.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Faith
Enlightenment comes from faith and faith is a function deeper than intellect. Faith is a feeling not an idea.
Physician's Good MedicineThe Kaidan
The man has appeared, and the stage is determined. A definite organization must now be provided for actually effecting the transformation according to the instructions given by the Prophet. This idea gradually crystallized in Nichiren’s mind into a definite plan for establishing the centre of the universal church, the Holy See, the Kaidan.
Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet