Saturday, March 08, 2025

Gosho Passage - March 8, 2025

"A woman who makes offerings to such a Gohonzon invites happiness in this life, and in the next, the Gohonzon will be with her and protect her always. Like a lantern in the dark, like a strong guide and porter on a treacherous mountain path, the Gohonzon will guard and protect you, Nichinyo, wherever you go."

From Gosho "The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 832)

Friday, March 07, 2025

Gosho Passage - March 7, 2025

"When one gives things to others, one livens people’s complexions, gives them strength, and enables them to prolong life. When one lights a torch for someone at night, one brings light not only to another person but to oneself as well. Likewise, when one livens other people’s complexions, one livens one’s own too, when one gives them strength, one gives oneself strength too, when one prolongs their lives, one prolongs one’s own life as well. "

From Gosho "On Clothing and Food" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume II, page 1066)

Thursday, March 06, 2025

Gosho Passage - March 6, 2025

"When the people all chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the wind will no longer buffet the branches, and the rain will no longer break the clods of soil. The world will become as it was in the ages of Fu Hsi and Shen Nung. In their present existence the people will be freed from misfortune and disasters and learn the art of living long. Realize that the time will come when the truth will be revealed that both the person and the Law are unaging and eternal. There cannot be the slightest doubt about the sutra’s promise of “peace and security in their present existence.”"

From Gosho "On Practicing the Buddha’s Teachings" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 392)

Wednesday, March 05, 2025

Gosho Passage - March 5, 2025

"The sage said: “The human heart is like water that assumes the shape of whatever vessel it occupies, and the nature of beings is like the reflection of the moon undulating on the waves. Now you insist that you will be firm in this faith, but another day you are bound to waver. Though devils and demons may come to tempt you, you must not allow yourself to be distracted. The heavenly devil hates the Buddha’s Law, and the non-Buddhist believers resent the path of the Buddhist teachings. But you must be like the golden mountain that glitters more brightly when scraped by the wild boar, like the sea that encompasses all the various streams, like the fire that burns higher when logs are added, or like the ka-lakula insect that grows bigger when the wind blows. If you follow such examples, then how can the outcome fail to be good?”"

From Gosho "A Sage and an Unenlightened Man" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 134)

Tuesday, March 04, 2025

Gosho Passage - March 4, 2025

"This life is like a dream. One cannot be sure that one will live until tomorrow. However wretched a beggar you might become, never disgrace the Lotus Sutra."

From Gosho "A Warning against Begrudging One’s Fief" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 824)

Monday, March 03, 2025

Gosho Passage - March 3, 2025

""This Gohonzon is the essence of the Lotus Sutra and the eye of all the scriptures. It is like the sun and the moon in the heavens, a great ruler on earth, the heart in a human being, the wish-granting jewel among treasures, and the pillar of a house."

From Gosho "On Upholding Faith in the Gohonzon" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 624)

Sunday, March 02, 2025

Gosho Passage - March 2, 2025

"Worthy persons deserve to be called so because they are not carried away by the eight winds: prosperity, decline, disgrace, honor, praise, censure, suffering, and pleasure. They are neither elated by prosperity nor grieved by decline. The heavenly gods will surely protect one who is unbending before the eight winds. But if you nurse an unreasonable grudge against your lord, they will not protect you, not for all your prayers."

From Gosho "The Eight Winds" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 794)