Gosho passage - February 28, 2014

"There is nothing to lament when we consider that we will surely become Buddhas. Even if one were to become an emperor's consort, of what use would it be? Even if one were to be reborn in heaven, what end would it serve? Instead, you will follow the way of the dragon king's daughter and rank with the nun Mahaprajapati. How wonderful! How wonderful! Please chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo." 

From Gosho "The Bow and Arrow" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 657)

Gosho passage - February 27, 2014

"It is written that those who embrace the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra will be protected by the Mother of Demon Children and by the ten demon daughters. Such persons will enjoy the happiness of the wisdom king Craving-Filled and the good fortune of the heavenly king Vaishravana. Wherever your daughter may frolic or play, no harm will come to her; she will move about without fear like the lion king. "

From Gosho "Reply to Kyo'o" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 412)

Gosho passage - February 26, 2014

"The heart of each sutra is contained in its title. For example, the land of India has seventy states, and its borders measure ninety thousand ri, yet the people, animals, plants, mountains, rivers, and earth within them are all included in the single word, India. [...] Our contemporaries think of the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo only as a name, but this is not correct. It is the essence, that is, the heart of the Lotus Sutra."

From Gosho "“This Is What I Heard”" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, pages 859-861)

Gosho passage - February 25, 2014

"[...] though one may be ignorant and make meager offerings, if one presents those offerings to a person who upholds the truth, one’s merit will be great. How much more so in the case of people who in all sincerity make offerings to the correct teaching! In addition, we live today in a time of trouble, when there is little that ordinary people can do. And yet, busy as you are, in your sincerity you have sent me thick-stemmed bamboo shoots of the moso variety as offerings to the Lotus Sutra here in the mountains. Surely you are sowing good seeds in a field of fortune. My tears never cease to flow when I think of it."

From Gosho "The Bodies and Minds of Ordinary Beings" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 1134)

Gosho passage - February 24, 2014

"You must never think that any of the eighty thousand sacred teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha’s lifetime or any of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and three existences are outside yourself. Your practice of the Buddhist teachings will not relieve you of the sufferings of birth and death in the least unless you perceive the true nature of your life. If you seek enlightenment outside yourself, then your performing even ten thousand practices and ten thousand good deeds will be in vain. It is like the case of a poor man who spends night and day counting his neighbor’s wealth but gains not even half a coin."

From Gosho "On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 3)

Gosho passage - February 23, 2014

"The daimoku of the Lotus Sutra is the treasure tower, and the treasure tower is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. At present the entire body of the Honorable Abutsu is composed of the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space. These five elements are also the five characters of the daimoku. Abutsu-bo is therefore the treasure tower itself, and the treasure tower is Abutsu-bo himself. No other knowledge is purposeful."

From Gosho "On the Treasure Tower" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 299)

Gosho passage - February 22, 2014

"If one befriends another person but lacks the mercy to correct him, one is in fact his enemy"

From Gosho "The Opening of the Eyes" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 287)

Gosho passage - February 21, 2014

"Therefore, when once we chant Myoho-renge-kyo, with just that single sound we summon forth and manifest the Buddha nature of all Buddhas; all existences; all bodhisattvas; all voice-hearers; all the deities such as Brahma-, Shakra, and King Yama; the sun and moon, and the myriad stars; the heavenly gods and earthly deities, on down to hell-dwellers, hungry spirits, animals, asuras, human and heavenly beings, and all other living beings. This blessing is immeasurable and boundless."

From Gosho "Those Initially Aspiring to the Way" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 887)

Gosho passage - February 20, 2014

"Myo means perfect endowment. [...] In the phrase “perfect endowment,” endowment refers to the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, while perfect means that, since there is mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, then any one world contains all the other worlds, indicating that this is “perfect.” "

From Gosho "The Opening of the Eyes" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 250)

Gosho passage - February 19, 2014

"Buddhahood is the most difficult to demonstrate. But since you possess the other nine worlds, you should believe that you have Buddhahood as well. Do not permit yourself to have doubts. Expounding on the human world, the Lotus Sutra says, “The Buddhas wish to open the door of Buddha wisdom to all living beings.” The Nirvana Sutra states, “Those who study the teachings of the great vehicle, though they have the eyes of ordinary beings, are said to have the eyes of the Buddha.” That ordinary people born in the latter age can believe in the Lotus Sutra is due to the fact that the world of Buddhahood is present in the human world."

From Gosho "The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 358)

Gosho passage - February 18, 2014

"The Lotus Sutra offers a secret means for leading all living beings to Buddhahood. It leads one person in the realm of hell, one person in the realm of hungry spirits, and thus one person in each of the nine realms of existence to Buddhahood, and thereby the way is opened for all living beings to attain Buddhahood."

From Gosho "Letter to Horen" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 512)

Gosho passage - February 17, 2014

"Therefore, the best way to attain Buddhahood is to encounter a good friend. How far can our own wisdom take us? If we have even enough wisdom to distinguish hot from cold, we should seek out a good friend. But encountering a good friend is the hardest possible thing to do. For this reason, the Buddha likened it to the rarity of a one-eyed turtle finding a floating log with a hollow in it the right size to hold him, or to the difficulty of trying to lower a thread from the Brahma- heaven and pass it through the eye of a needle on the earth. Moreover, in this evil latter age, evil companions are more numerous than the dust particles that comprise the land, while good friends are fewer than the specks of dirt one can pile on a fingernail."

From Gosho "Three Tripitaka Masters Pray for Rain" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 598)

Gosho passage - February 16, 2014

"Just as flowers open up and bear fruit, just as the moon appears and invariably grows full, just as a lamp becomes brighter when oil is added, and just as plants and trees flourish with rain, so will human beings never fail to prosper when they make good causes."

From Gosho "The Third Day of the New Year" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1013)

Gosho passage - February 15, 2013

"Living beings and their environments always manifest Myoho-renge-kyo.” [...] These explanations are precise and clear. Who could have doubts? Thus, the entire realm of phenomena is no different than the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo."

From Gosho "The True Aspect of All Phenomena" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 383)

Gosho passage - February 14, 2014

"The Lotus Sutra is the king of sutras, true and correct in both word and principle. Its words are the ultimate reality, and this reality is the Mystic Law (myoho). It is called the Mystic Law because it reveals the principle of the mutually inclusive relationship of a single moment of life and all phenomena. That is why this sutra is the wisdom of all Buddhas."

From Gosho "On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 3)

Gosho passage - February 13, 2014

"The deeper the roots, the more luxuriant the branches. The farther the source, the longer the stream. All sutras other than the Lotus Sutra have shallow roots and short streams, while the Lotus Sutra has deep roots and a distant source. That is why the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai stated that the Lotus Sutra would survive and spread even in the evil latter age."

From Gosho "The Farther the Source, the Longer the Stream" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 941)

Gosho passage - February 12, 2014

"In this age, it is as natural for a woman to change her fixed karma by practicing the Lotus Sutra as it is for rice to ripen in fall or chrysanthemums to bloom in winter. When I prayed for my mother, not only was her illness cured, but her life was prolonged by four years. Now you too have fallen ill, and as a woman, it is all the more timely for you to establish steadfast faith in the Lotus Sutra and to see what it will do for you."

From Gosho "On Prolonging One’s Life Span" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 955)

Gosho passage - February 11, 2014

"A bird’s egg contains nothing but liquid, yet by itself this develops into a beak, two eyes, and all the other parts, and the bird soars into the sky. We, too, are the eggs of ignorance, which are pitiful things, but when nurtured by the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which is like the warmth of the mother bird, we develop the beak of the thirty-two features and the feathers of the eighty characteristics and are free to soar into the sky of the true aspect of all phenomena and the reality of all things. This is what is meant by the sutra passage that says in essence: “All people dwell in the shell of ignorance, lack ing the beak of wisdom. The Buddha comes back to this world - the land where sages and common mortals live together, the latter undergoing transmigration with differences and limitations - just as a mother bird returns to her nest, and cracks the shell of ignorance so that all people, like fledglings, may leave the nest and soar into the sky of the essential nature of phenomena and the reality of all things.”"

From Gosho "Letter to Niike" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 1030)

Gosho passage - February 10, 2014

"And yet, 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."

From Gosho "On Prayer" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 345)

Gosho passage - February 8, 2013

"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? No matter what, stay close to the priest who knows the heart of the Lotus Sutra, keep learning from him the principles of Buddhism, and continue your journey of faith."

From Gosho "Letter to Niike" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1027)

Gosho passage - February 7, 2014

"Strengthen your resolve more than ever. Ice is made of water, but it is colder than water. Blue dye comes from indigo, but when something is repeatedly dyed in it, the color is better than that of the indigo plant. The Lotus Sutra remains the same, but if you repeatedly strengthen your resolve, your color will be better than that of others, and you will receive more blessings than they do."

From Gosho "The Supremacy of the Law" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 615)

Gosho passage - February 6, 2014

"A person can know another’s mind by listening to the voice. This is because the physical aspect reveals the spiritual aspect. The physical and spiritual, which are one in essence, manifest themselves as two distinct aspects; thus the Buddha’s mind found expression as the written words of the Lotus Sutra. These written words are the Buddha’s mind in a different form. Therefore, those who read the Lotus Sutra must not regard it as consisting of mere written words, for those words are in themselves the Buddha’s mind."

From Gosho "Opening the Eyes of Images" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 86)

Gosho passage - February 5, 2014

"Believe in the Gohonzon, the supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvi-pa. Be sure to strengthen your faith, and receive the protection of Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions. Exert yourself in the two ways of practice and study. Without practice and study, there can be no Buddhism. You must not only persevere yourself; you must also teach others. Both practice and study arise from faith."

From Gosho "The True Aspect of All Phenomena" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 386)

Gosho passage - February 4, 2014

"Though the teaching I am now propagating seems limited, it is extremely profound. That is because it goes deeper than the teaching expounded by T’ien-t’ai, Dengyo-, and others. It is the three important matters in the “Life Span” chapter of the essential teaching. Practicing only the seven characters of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo seems limited, but since they are the master of all the Buddhas of the three existences, the teacher of all the bodhisattvas in the ten directions, and the guide that enables all living beings to attain the Buddha way, it is profound."

From Gosho "Earthly Desires Are Enlightenment" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 317)

Gosho passage - February 3, 2014

"And yet, 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."

From Gosho "On Preyer" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 345)

Gosho passage - February 2, 2013

"If one is prepared to offer one’s life, why should one begrudge any other treasure for the sake of Buddhism? On the other hand, if one is loath to part with one’s wealth, how can one possibly offer one’s life, which is far more valuable? The way of the world dictates that one should repay a great obligation to another, even at the cost of one’s life. Many warriors die for their lords, perhaps many more than one would imagine. A man will die to defend his honor; a woman will die for a man. Fish want to survive; they deplore their pond’s shallowness and dig holes in the bottom to hide in, yet tricked by bait, they take the hook. Birds in a tree fear that they are too low and perch in the top branches, yet bewitched by bait, they too are caught in snares. Human beings are equally vulnerable. They give their lives for shallow, worldly matters but rarely for the Buddha’s precious teachings. Small wonder they do not attain Buddhahood."

From Gosho "Letter from Sado" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 301)