CategoryGosho Study

Across the SGI, members have started the year by studying Nichiren Daishonin’s writing “New Year’s Gosho,” a tradition strengthened by Ikeda Sensei’s consistent encouragement at New Year’s. Sensei often spoke of its timeless relevance and power to awaken fresh resolve. He refers to this work in The Human Revolution, writing the following about second Soka

In “The Dragon Gate,” Nichiren Daishonin teaches that a life based on a great vow is unshakable.

In the eighth volume of [the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai’s] Great Concentration and Insight and in the eighth volume of [the Great Teacher Miao-lo’s] The Annotations on “Great Concentration and Insight” it says, “The stronger one’s faith, the greater the protection of the gods.” This means that the protection of the gods depends on the strength

In the Latter Day of the Law, the votary of the Lotus Sutra will appear without fail. The greater the hardships befalling him, the greater the delight he feels, because of his strong faith. Doesn’t a fire burn more briskly when logs are added? All rivers flow into the sea, but does the sea turn

Thus we know that Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the countless Buddhas of the ten directions; Superior Practices and the other bodhisattvas who emerged from the earth; Universal Worthy, Manjushri, and the other bodhisattvas of the theoretical teaching; Shariputra and the other great voice-hearer disciples; the great heavenly king Brahma, the gods of the sun and

Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The body is the palace of the ninth consciousness, the unchanging reality that reigns over all of life’s functions. … Mandala is a Sanskrit word that is translated as

You may think you offered gifts to the treasure tower of the Thus Come One Many Treasures, but that is not so. You offered them to yourself. You, yourself, are a Thus Come One who is originally enlightened and endowed with the three bodies. You should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with this conviction. Then the place where

It is not certain that, because one is ill, one will die. And could not this illness of your husband’s be the Buddha’s design, because the Vimalakirti and Nirvana sutras both teach that sick people will surely attain Buddhahood? Illness gives rise to the resolve to attain the way.  —“The Good Medicine for All Ills,”

Passage 1: “Letter to Niike” Be diligent in developing your faith until the last moment of your life. Otherwise you will have regrets. For example, the journey from Kamakura to Kyoto takes twelve days. If you travel for eleven but stop with only one day remaining, how can you admire the moon over the capital?

How wondrous it is that, around two hundred years and more into the Latter Day of the Law, I was the first to reveal as the banner of propagation of the Lotus Sutra this great mandala [the Gohonzon] that even those such as [the learned Indian Buddhist monks] Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu [and the Great Teachers

Passage 1: “On Repaying Debts of Gratitude” The old fox never forgets the hillock where he was born; the white turtle repaid the kindness he had received from Mao Pao. If even lowly creatures know enough to do this, then how much more should human beings! … What can we say, then, of persons who

When we revere Myoho-renge-kyo inherent in our own life as the object of devotion, the Buddha nature within us is summoned forth and manifested by our chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. … When with our mouths we chant the Mystic Law, our Buddha nature, being summoned, will invariably emerge. The Buddha nature of Brahma and Shakra, being

Passage 1: “Hell Is the Land of Tranquil Light” When he was alive, he was a Buddha in life, and now he is a Buddha in death. He is a Buddha in both life and death. This is what is meant by that most important doctrine called attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form. —The Writings

According to the teachings of the true sutra, when the latter age has begun and Buddhism has fallen into complete disorder, a great sage will appear in the world. For example, the pine tree, which withstands the frost, is called the king of trees, and the chrysanthemum, which continues to bloom after other plants have

Passage 1: “Earthly Desires Are Enlightenment” Carry through with your faith in the Lotus Sutra. You cannot strike fire from flint if you stop halfway. Bring forth the great power of faith. —The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 319 Passage 2: “The Supremacy of the Law” So long as one maintains firm faith,

What is more, although your late father was a warrior, he had an abiding faith in the Lotus Sutra, and thus—you were only a child at the time—I know that he ended his life in the frame of mind of a true believer. And now you have succeeded him and likewise are firm in your

Great evil portends the arrival of great good. If all of Jambudvipa [the entire world] were to be thrown into chaos, there could be no doubt that [this sutra would] “be widely propagated throughout Jambudvipa.”—“The Kalpa of Decrease,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 1122 Ikeda Sensei’s Guidance The light of wisdom of

Passage 1: “On Prayer” Though one might point at the earth and miss it, though one might bind up the sky, though the tides might cease to ebb and flow and the sun rise in the west, it could never come about that the prayers of the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra would go unanswered.

Buddhism primarily concerns itself with victory or defeat, while secular authority is based on the principle of reward and punishment. (“The Hero of the World,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 835) Ikeda Sensei’s Guidance Buddhism does not deny things of worldly or secular value. As practitioners, however, we will not be able

Background In August 1275, about a year after the first Mongol invasion of Japan, Nichiren addressed this letter to the infant girl Oto. Though addressed to her, the content was clearly meant for Oto’s mother, Nichimyo. She was an earnest believer living in Kamakura who, even after her husband died, maintained pure faith while raising