Saturday, September 06, 2025

Gosho Passage - September 6, 2025

"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)

Friday, September 05, 2025

Gosho Passage - September 5, 2025

"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. It is the treasure tower adorned with the seven kinds of treasures— hearing the correct teaching, believing it, keeping the precepts, engaging in meditation, practicing assiduously, renouncing one’s attachments, and reflecting on oneself. 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."

From Gosho "On the Treasure Tower" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, pages 299-300)

Thursday, September 04, 2025

Gosho Passage - September 4, 2025

"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)

Wednesday, September 03, 2025

Gosho Passage - September 3, 2025

"Thus faith is the basic requirement for entering the way of the Buddha. In the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice, the first ten stages, dealing with faith, are basic, and the first of these ten stages is that of arousing pure faith. Though lacking in knowledge of Buddhism, a person of faith, even if dull-witted, is to be reckoned as a person of correct views."

From Gosho "The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 141)

Tuesday, September 02, 2025

Gosho Passage - September 2, 2025

"During the Former Day of the Law, Bodhisattva Vasubandhu and Bodhisattva Nagarjuna chanted the daimoku, but they did this solely as a practice for themselves and went no further than that. In the Middle Day of the Law Nan-yüeh and T’ien-t’ai likewise chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo; they did so as a practice for their own benefit, but they did not expound it widely for others. [...] Now, however, we have entered the Latter Day of the Law, and the daimoku that I, Nichiren, chant is different from that of earlier ages. This Nam-myoho-renge-kyo encompasses both practice for oneself and the teaching of others."

From Gosho "Receiving of the Three Great Secret Laws" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume II, page 986)

Monday, September 01, 2025

Gosho Passage - September 1, 2025

"for the matter of becoming a Buddha, ordinary people keep in mind the words “earnest resolve” and thereby become Buddhas. When we carefully consider what exactly earnest resolve refers to, it is the doctrine of observing the mind. When we inquire into what exactly the doctrine of observing the mind refers to, it means that offering one’s only robe to the Lotus Sutra is equivalent to peeling off one’s skin; and that in a time of famine, offering the food that is the only means for sustaining one’s life that day to the Buddha is offering one’s life to the Buddha."

From Gosho "The Gift of Rice" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 1125)

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Gosho Passage - August 31, 2025

"Moreover, the Lotus Sutra states that it is “good medicine for the ills of the people of Jambudvipa.” The people of this world of Jambudvipa are suffering from illness, but they have the medicine of the Lotus Sutra. Now in your case, the three requirements are already present, so how could you fail to recover? But if you have doubts, I am powerless to help you."

From Gosho "Reply to the Lay Priest Takahashi" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 610)