Sunday, July 02, 2017

Gosho Passage - July 2, 2017

"if we inquire into the root of the suffering that is inflicted upon our persons, we find that it derives from the three poisons of greed, anger, and foolishness. Through the two paths of earthly desires and suffering, karma is created. And this path of karma is none other than what binds us to the realm of birth and death. We are like birds shut up in a cage. How can these three paths of earthly desires, karma, and suffering be called three causes leading to Buddhahood? [...] I would like simply to quote the words of Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, the thirteenth of the Buddha’s successors and founder of the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai’s line, who in explaining the word myo, or “wonderful,” in the term myoho says it is “like a great physician who can change poison into medicine.”"

From Gosho "What It Means to Hear the Buddha Vehicle" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume II, page 743)