fundamental goal in life toward the realization of happiness for ourselves and others

Daily Guidance Sat 12/24

For Today and Tomorrow Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda Saturday, December 24, 2011 Many religions have demanded blind faith, taking away people's independence. President Makiguchi opposed such enslavement. What he called for instead was solidarity of awakened common people. To achieve this, he proposed a self-reliant way of life in which we advance on the path of our choice with a firm, independent character. He also stressed a contributive way of life in which we set our fundamental goal in life toward the realization of happiness for ourselves and others, casting aside arrogance and self-satisfaction to respect and benefit others.     Buddhism Day by Day Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda Saturday, December 24, 2011 Where is happiness to be found? The famous Roman philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius said, "A man's true delight is to do the things he was made for." Human happiness, he maintained, lies in doing those things only humans can: seeking the truth and acting to help those who are suffering. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, too, asserted that those who work cheerfully and take joy in the fruits of their labor are truly happy. These are the words of great thinkers, and as you can see they are in complete accord with the teachings of Buddhism.       Daily Wisdom From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Saturday, December 24, 2011 Becoming a Buddha is nothing extraordinary.  If you chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with your whole heart, you will naturally become endowed with the Buddha's thirty-two features and eighty characteristics. As the sutra says, "hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us," you can readily become as noble a Buddha as Shakyamuni. Letter to Niike Written to Nikke Saemon-no-jo in February 1280