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PassTheDoobie

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“When we live with and practice a spirit of gratitude, we experience tremendous, ever-growing benefit and good fortune."

The Buddhism of the Sun - Illuminating the World, [36] To My Dear Friends of the Youth Division - Part 4 [of 5], Humanism - Action Based on Gratitude is the Essence of Nichiren Buddhism, A Source of Immeasurable benefit and Good Fortune, April 2018 Daibyaku-renge, translation released January 2019
 
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PassTheDoobie

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“I am praying that, no matter how troubled the times may become, the Lotus Sutra and the ten demon daughters will protect all of you, praying as earnestly as though to produce fire from damp wood, or to obtain water from parched ground."

(On Rebuking Slander of the Law and Eradicating Sins - WND, Vol. 1, page 444)
 
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PassTheDoobie

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“One should by all means persist in preaching the Lotus Sutra and causing them to hear it."

(“How Those Initially Aspiring to the Way Can Attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra", WND-l page 882)
 
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Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings (Ongi kuden) says: Namu or nam is a Sanskrit word. Here it means to dedicate one’s life, that is, to the Person and to the Law. In terms of the Person, one dedicates one’s life to Shakyamuni Buddha; in terms of the Law, one dedicates one’s life to the Lotus Sutra. “Dedication” means dedication to the principle of eternal and unchanging truth of the theoretical teaching, and “life” means that one’s life dedicated to that principle bases itself on the wisdom of the truth of the essential teaching that functions in accordance with changing circumstances. In essence, one dedicates one’s life to Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

A commentary [by Dengyō] says, “That which accords with changing circumstances, that which is unchanging, these are tranquil and shining in a single moment of life.”
Again, “dedication” refers to the element of physical form as it pertains to us, while “life” refers to the element of mind as it pertains to us. But the ultimate teaching tells us that form and mind are not two things. As a commentary [The Annotations on “The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra,” volume one] says, “Because [the Lotus Sutra] leads us to the ultimate truth, it is called the Buddha vehicle.”
We may also note that the nam of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is a Sanskrit word, while myōhō, renge, and kyō are Chinese words.1 p.4Sanskrit and Chinese join in a single moment to form Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. If we express the title in Sanskrit, it will be Saddharma-pundarīka-sūtram. This is Myoho-renge-kyo in Sanskrit. Sad (the phonetic change of sat) means myō, or wonderful. Dharma means hō, Law or phenomena. Pundarīka means renge, or lotus blossom. Sūtram means kyō, or sutra. The nine characters [that represent the Sanskrit title] are the Buddha bodies of the nine honored ones. This expresses the idea that the nine worlds are inseparable from the Buddha world.
Myō stands for the Dharma nature or enlightenment, while hō represents darkness or ignorance. Together myōhō expresses the idea that ignorance and the Dharma nature are a single entity. Renge stands for the two elements of cause and effect. Cause and effect are also a single entity.
Kyō represents the words and voices of all living beings. A commentary [On “The Profound Meaning,” volume one] says, “The voice carries out the work of the Buddha, and this is called kyō, or sutra.” Kyō may also be defined as that which is constant and unchanging in the three existences of past, present, and future. The Dharma-realm is myōhō, the Wonderful Law; the Dharma-realm is renge, the lotus blossom; the Dharma-realm is kyō, the sutra.
Renge, the lotus blossom, is the Buddha bodies of the nine honored ones seated on the eight-petaled lotus. Think all this over very carefully.
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---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ott/TEXTS/1
 
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PassTheDoobie

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"We can repay the debt of gratitude we owe our mentor by working for the happiness of others. A commentary on the Daishonin’s writing ‘On Repaying Debts of Gratitude’ states that disciples repay their debts of gratitude ‘by transmitting the law and benefiting others.’* Dedicating our lives to kosen-rufu through the compassionate propagation of the Mystic Law is the ultimate form of repaying our debts of gratitude.”

The Buddhism of the Sun - Illuminating the World, [36] To My Dear Friends of the Youth Division - Part 4 [of 5], Humanism - Action Based on Gratitude is the Essence of Nichiren Buddhism, Expressing Gratitude by Treasuring All Living Beings, April 2018 Daibyaku-renge, translation released January 2019
 
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PassTheDoobie

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PassTheDoobie said:
pgs. 155-157

(SGI President Ikeda and Soka Gakkai study department leaders Katsuji Saito, Takanori Endo, and Haruo Suda explore the profound meaning of the Lotus Sutra based on Nichiren Daishonin's lecture on the Lotus Sutra, "The Record of the Orally Transmited Teachings.")

VICTORY OF MENTOR AND DISCIPLE!
VICTORY OF FAITH!

Endo: It’s true that people sometimes limit the beneficial power of daimoku without realizing it. We need to be confident that, just as Nichikan says, “no prayer will go unanswered.”

Ikeda: That’s right. In particular, the prayers of those who are exerting themselves to accomplish the propagation of the Mystic Law cannot fail to be answered. The Daishonin says, “If you are of the same mind as Nichiren, you must be a Bodhisattva of the Earth” (WND, 385). To be “of the same mind as Nichiren” means to cherish the same determination for kosen-rufu. When we work for kosen-rufu and we stand up with the resolve to demonstrate the victory of faith, our lives overflow with benefit beyond belief.

We receive benefit because we work for kosen-rufu, which is the wish of the Buddha. This is analogous to how someone who works for a company receives a salary.

Second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda characterized those who chant with a laundry list of things they want, as though it were the duty of the Gohonzon to supply benefit, as having “beggar’s faith.” And he urged that instead they should stand up with the determination: “I will stake my life on the struggle for kosen-rufu!”

When we muster the faith to uphold the Gohonzon and the Mystic Law with our very lives, we are protected by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout time and space. In response to our earnest efforts in faith to score resounding victory for the SGI, an organization dedicated to the widespread propagation of the Mystic Law, all the protective functions of the universe come to our aid. What was Mr. Toda’s prayer when he was imprisoned alongside his mentor, Mr. Makaguchi? Each day, morning and evening, he prayed: “I am young and my mentor is old. If only my mentor could be released even one day sooner, it would not matter how long I remained. May my mentor be quickly released!”

How noble!

The wisdom of the Buddha is vast and boundless. Although President Makaguchi died in prison, Mr. Toda, his faithful disciple, survived the ordeal and went on to prove the greatness of his mentor. Now because of his selfless struggle against nationalism, the SGI has gained immense trust in Asia and throughout the world.

Saito: President Makaguchi is lauded across the globe. In Brazil, for example, schools in increasing numbers are implementing his value-creating pedagogy. And a number of municipalities have named parks and streets after him.

Ikeda: President Makaguchi triumphed. President Toda’s prayers were victorious. Their struggle transcended life and death.

Japan, with its parochial, island-nation mentality, confined the truly great Mr. Makaguchi to a tiny, one-person cell. However, due to the unyielding determination of his disciple, Mr. Toda, Mr. Makaguchi’s greatness has broken free of such shackles and reached the far corners of the earth. This is a genuine united struggle of mentor and disciple. In the “Supernatural Powers” chapter, too we have a ceremony of mentor and disciple.

Endo: Yes. The Bodhisattvas of the Earth are disciples whom Shakyamuni has instructed since the remote past. In this chapter Shakyamuni entrusts them with the propagation of the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Day of the Law.

Saito: This is the key point. If we only look at the literal meaning of the chapter’s text, we wind up with the simple interpretation that Nichiren Daishonin, as the reincarnation of Bodhisattva Superior Practices, spread the twenty-eight-chapter Lotus Sutra of Shakyamuni.

Suda: That is, in fact, the standard interpretation.

Saito: But Nichiren Daishon says: “Myoho-renge-kyo is not the Mystic Law of Shakyamuni, because when the events in this [‘Supernatural Powers’] chapter takes place, the essence of the sutra has already been transmitted to Bodhisattva Superior Practices” (OTT, 167) The Daishonin is clearly stating here that the teaching he is spreading is not that of Shakyamuni.


(TO BE CONTINUED)
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Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!!!
 
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PassTheDoobie

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“Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens. How could this be anything other than the boundless joy of the Law? Strengthen your power of faith more than ever.”

(Happiness in This World - WND., Vol. 1, page 681)
 
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After several astounding events that impress upon us the truly cosmic scale of the drama that is unfolding, the Buddha begins to preach. The first important point he wishes to convey is that there is only one vehicle or one path to salvation, that which leads to the goal of buddhahood. Earlier in his preaching career, he had described three paths for the believer, what he calls the three vehicles. One was that of the shravaka, or voice-hearer, which leads to the realm of the arhat. Second was that of the pratyekabuddha, the being who gains enlightenment for himself alone, and the third was that of the bodhisattva. But now, the Buddha tells us, these lesser paths or goals are to be set aside and all beings are to aim for the single goal of buddhahood, the one and only vehicle to true enlightenment, or what the Lotus Sutra calls supreme perfect enlightenment.
Click to expand...




---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/.../3#The Principal Doctrines of the Lotus Sutra
 
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PassTheDoobie

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The Lotus Sutra, on the other hand, is known as a sutra that was preached in accordance with the Buddha’s own mind. Because the Buddha’s mind is an excellent mind, persons who read this sutra, even though they may not understand its meaning, will gain inestimable benefit.

(The Bodies and Minds of Ordinary Beings - WND, Vol. 1, page 1128)
 
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