Gosho Passage - May 31, 2023

"Even those who are free from illness cannot escape the transience of life, but you are not yet old, and because you are a votary of the Lotus Sutra, you will not meet an untimely death. Your illness is surely not due to karma, but even if it were, you could rely on the power of the Lotus Sutra to cure it. King Ajātashatru extended his life by forty years by embracing the Lotus Sutra. Ch’en Chen added fifteen years to his life. You also are a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra, and your faith is like the waxing moon or the rising tide. Be deeply convinced, then, that your illness cannot possibly persist, and that your life cannot fail to be extended! Take care of yourself, and do not burden your mind with grief."

From Gosho "The Bow and Arrow" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 565)

Gosho Passage - May 30, 2023

"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 Volume I, page 300)

Gosho Passage - May 29, 2023

"I alone first chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in Japan. In the more than twenty years since the summer of the fifth year of the Kencho era (1253), I alone have been chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo day and night, morning and evening. Those who chant the Nembutsu number ten million. I have no support from anyone in authority, while the allies of the Nembutsu have power and are of noble birth. However, when a lion roars all the other beasts are silenced, and a dog is terrified by a tiger’s shadow. When the sun rises in the eastern sky, the light of all the stars fades completely."

From Gosho "The One-eyed Turtle and the Floating Log" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 959)

Gosho Passage - May 28, 2023

"Thus, encountering this sutra is as rare as the blossoming of the udumbara flower, which occurs but once in three thousand years, or the one-eyed turtle finding a floating piece of sandalwood, which happens only once in innumerable, boundless kalpas. [...] Therefore, when you chant the daimoku of this sutra, you should be aware that it is a more joyful thing than for one who was born blind to gain sight and see one’s father and mother, and a rarer thing than for a man who has been seized by a powerful enemy to be released and reunited with his wife and children."

From Gosho "The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 143)

Gosho Passage - May 27, 2023

"Now surely the peace of the world and the stability of the nation are sought by both ruler and subject and desired by all the inhabitants of the country. The nation achieves prosperity through the Buddhist Law, and the Law is proven worthy of reverence by the people who embrace it."

From Gosho "On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 18)

Gosho Passage - May 26, 2023

"In the Vimalakirti Sutra we read: “Vimalakirti once more questioned Manjushri, saying, ‘What are the seeds of Buddhahood?’ Manjushri replied, ‘All the delusions and defilements are the seeds of Buddhahood. Even though a person commits the five cardinal sins and is condemned to the hell of incessant suffering, he is still capable of conceiving the great desire for the way.’” The same sutra also says: “Good man, let me give you a metaphor. The plains and highlands will never bring forth the stems and blossoms of the blue lotus or the water lily. But the muddy fields that are low-lying and damp—that is where you will find these flowers growing.”"

From Gosho "The Opening of the Eyes" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume I, page 228)

Gosho Passage - May 25, 2023

"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. That is why the T’ien-t’ai school’s commentary states, “Unless one perceives the nature of one’s life, one cannot eradicate one’s grave offenses.” This passage implies that, unless one perceives the nature of one’s life, one’s practice will become an endless, painful austerity."

Dal Gosho "On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime" (Raccolta degli scritti di Nichiren Daishonin, volume I, pag. 3-4)