Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda Friday, June 22, 2012 It's foolish to be obsessed with past failures. And it's just as foolish to be self-satisfied with one's small achievements. Buddhism teaches that the present and the future are what are important, not the past. It teaches us a spirit of unceasing challenge to win over the present and advance ever toward the future. Those who neglect this spirit of continual striving steer their lives in a ruinous direction. Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda Friday, June 22, 2012 The Buddha keenly understands various sufferings as though his own children were experiencing them. Sorrow and empathy well from his life. A Buddha is a person of compassion. Josei Toda said: "Compassion is not a Buddhist austerity. It is something that should be expressed unconsciously and naturally in one's actions, and in the workings of one's heart. The Buddha knows no path of living apart from that of living with compassion." From the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Friday, June 22, 2012 In judging the relative merit of Buddhist doctrines, I, Nichiren, believe that the best standards are those of reason and documentary proof. And even more valuable than reason and documentary proof is the proof of actual fact. |