SGI President Ikeda's Daily Encouragement September 1, 2011

We must establish the correct standard of value upon the foundation of the dignity of life. Leaders of society, including politicians and schoolteachers, should teach children the distinction between good and evil and lead society in the direction of goodness. Today, however, the higher the status that people achieve, the more wrongdoings they tend to commit. Those in high status think only of their selfish interests while exploiting ordinary people. The "me first" attitude prevails. Looking at those adults, children cannot possibly grow upright. Such social trends, in a sense, are destroying our children. Adults must first reflect on their own way of life. Without self-reflection, adults are not qualified to scold children.

Only those who are determined to give their all, to try their very best and make effort upon effort, sparkle with true individuality. Such people can also respect and appreciate others' individuality. They never try to sabotage others' success or pick on people because they're different.

GOSHO PASSAGE

 In kindling a fire, three things are needed: a good piece of steel, a good flint, and good tinder. The same is true of prayer. Three things are required—a good teacher, a good believer, and a good teaching—before prayers can be effective and disasters banished from the land.

(WND 880) How Those Initially Aspiring to the Way Can Attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra
Written to the lay nun Myoho in 1277

BUDDHISM DAY BY DAY - WISDOM FOR MODERN LIFE

Ultimately, happiness rests on how you establish a solid sense of self or being. Happiness does not lie in outward appearances nor in vanity. It is a matter of what you feel inside; it is a deep resonance in your life. To be filled each day with a rewarding sense of exhilaration and purpose, a sense of tasks accomplished and deep fulfillment—people who feel this way are happy. Those who have this sense of satisfaction even if they are extremely busy are much happier than those who have time on their hands but feel empty inside.

A YOUTHFUL DIARY - Tuesday, September 8 (1959) Cloudy, then clear

   Sometimes, we criticize or disparage others; at other times, we are criticized or disparaged.
   We must hold one another's character in utmost respect. We must always polish ourselves. Criticizing or disparaging one another without polishing ourselves is foolish.
   Life is long. Must strive in faith and in building my own humanity.
   Must fear not the words uttered by deluded common mortals but the Daishonin's golden words.

 

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