Gosho Passage - September 30, 2022

"In China there lived a woman named Hsi-shih who went to the mountains to pick young herbs and in this way provided for her aged mother. The gods, taking pity on her, moved the king, the ruler of the state of Yüeh, to go out hunting, and when he saw her, he made her his consort. And because your daughter exercises filial devotion, the gods will surely protect her, and the Buddhas will look on her with favor. For among all the good roots or meritorious acts, the foremost is filial service to one’s father and mother. And your daughter does all this out of faith in the Lotus Sutra. Such faith is like pure water poured into a golden vessel not a drop of it will be wasted. How wonderful, how wonderful!"

From Gosho "On the Meritorious Act of Filial Devotion" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume II, page 816)

Gosho Passage - September 29, 2022

"Though I may be a person of little ability, I have reverently given myself to the study of the Mahayana. A blue fly, if it clings to the tail of a thoroughbred horse, can travel ten thousand miles, and the green ivy that twines around the tall pine can grow to a thousand feet. I was born as the son of the one Buddha, Shakyamuni, and I serve the king of scriptures, the Lotus Sutra. How could I observe the decline of the Buddhist Law and not be filled with emotions of pity and distress?"

From Gosho "On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 17)

Gosho Passage - September 28, 2022

"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 - September 27, 2022

"In China there lived a woman named Hsi-shih who went to the mountains to pick young herbs and in this way provided for her aged mother. The gods, taking pity on her, moved the king, the ruler of the state of Yüeh, to go out hunting, and when he saw her, he made her his consort. And because your daughter exercises filial devotion, the gods will surely protect her, and the Buddhas will look on her with favor. For among all the good roots or meritorious acts, the foremost is filial service to one’s father and mother. And your daughter does all this out of faith in the Lotus Sutra. Such faith is like pure water poured into a golden vessel not a drop of it will be wasted. How wonderful, how wonderful!"

From Gosho "On the Meritorious Act of Filial Devotion" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume II, page 816)

Gosho Passage - September 26, 2022

"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 - September 25, 2022

The blessings that you, the Honorable Jōren, acquire through your faith in the Lotus Sutra will lend strength to your kind father. Though Devadatta fell into the Avīchi hell, the Buddha predicted that he would in the future become a Buddha named Heavenly King Thus Come One. This was because he belonged to the same extended family as the Buddha. In your case, the relationship is one of father and son. How could the fact that you embrace the Lotus Sutra fail to bring blessing to the departed spirit of your late father?

From Gosho "Letter to Joren-bo" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume II, page 572)

Gosho Passage - September 24, 2022

"The Lotus Sutra is made up of 69,384 characters. Though in our eyes each individual character may appear to be no more than a character in black ink, in the Buddha’s eyes, each one is a Buddha. For example, a ruler called King Golden Grains turned sand into gold. A man named Mahanama turned rocks into gems. Wood immersed in the Spring of Jewels changes into lapis lazuli. Waters that enter the sea all become salty. Birds that approach Mount Sumeru turn golden-hued. Agada medicine changes poison into medicine. And the wonder of the Lotus Sutra is also like that; it changes ordinary people into Buddhas."

From Gosho "Offerings for the Object of Devotion" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume II, page 671)