We who embrace the Mystic Law will not suffer on account of old age or death.

We who embrace the Mystic Law will not suffer on account of old age or death. As long as we keep the flame of faith alive, the fire of life force will forever burn brightly within us; we can live with great confidence transcending birth and death. Faith is the engine that enables us to live with hope throughout our lives.

For Today and Tomorrow
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda 29/5

How then do we manifest the brain's full creative powers?

Buddhism teaches that "all phenomena in the universe are manifestations of the Law" (Gosho Zenshu, p. 564). I hope you will, with this understanding, engage yourselves in broad-ranging studies with vigor and determination. Your brains have a potential as vast and boundless as the universe. How then do we manifest the brain's full creative powers? There is only one way to bring out our full intellectual capacity: by constantly putting our minds to work.

For Today and Tomorrow
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda 30/1

Where to find happiness?

Happiness is a matter of the heart. This is not mere spiritualism. Our hearts are precious vessels endowed with the treasure of Buddhahood. When we strive earnestly in faith and practice and reveal our Buddhahood, we can walk along the sure and steady path to happiness and attain a state of complete fulfillment and satisfaction. Nichiren writes: "Fortune comes from one's heart and makes one worthy of respect."

Buddhism Day by Day
Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 12/12

Cause and effect.

Inconspicuous virtue brings conspicuous reward. From the perspective of Buddhism, we never fail to receive the effect of our actions, whether good or bad; therefore, it's meaningless to be two-faced or to pretend to be something we're not.

Buddhism Day by Day
Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 5/12

Why the final years of our lives are the most crucial?

Do not become subservient. Do not dwell on every tiny setback in the course of pursuing your chosen path. To do so would be foolish. Victory or defeat is determined by our entire lives. Moreover, our final years are the most crucial. What is enviable about the pretentious rich? What is great about conceited celebrities? What is admirable about political leaders who gained their positions of power by treating others with contempt? Dig right where you stand, for there lies a rich wellspring!

Buddhism Day by Day
Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 29/11

Why must we guard the earth's ecological system?

A sense of being part of the great all-inclusive life prompts us to reflect on our own place and on how we ought to live. Guarding others' lives, the ecology and the earth is the same as protecting one's own life. By like token, wounding them is the same thing as wounding oneself. Consequently, it is the duty of each of us to participate as members of the life community in the evolution of the universe. We can do this by guarding earth's ecological system.

Buddhism Day by Day
Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 11/11

What is our mission as Buddhist?

Buddhism teaches that self-awareness arises through our encounters with the eternal. Buddhism urges us to be receptive to the most profound meaning of living, in the eternal process of cosmic evolution, and further urges that we accept, as our mission, compassionate behavior toward all beings.

Buddhism Day by Day

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 3/10

How to open the hearts that are closed?

This spirit of engaging others in dialogue on equal terms is the essence of Buddhism. Ordering people about in a high-handed, arrogant manner, shouting at them to do one's bidding is truly deplorable behavior. Such a world has no relation to Buddhism. Through dialogue Shakyamuni opened hearts that were closed, softened hearts that had grown hard and melted hearts that were frozen.

For Today and Tomorrow
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda 26/6

How to overcome suffering on account of old age or death?

We who embrace the Mystic Law will not suffer on account of old age or death. As long as we keep the flame of faith alive, the fire of life force will forever burn brightly within us; we can live with great confidence transcending birth and death. Faith is the engine that enables us to live with hope throughout our lives.

For Today and Tomorrow
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda 29/5

Let the past be a lesson and look forward to the future

Forward! Always forward! This is a basic spirit of Buddhism. Nichiren Daishonin's teaching is the Buddhism of true cause. We live with our gaze fixed on the future, not hung up on the past. To advance eternally—this is the essence of life and the essence of what it means to be a practitioner of the Daishonin's Buddhism.

For Today and Tomorrow
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda 27/5

The strength and courage of ordinary people

At a crucial moment it is the strength and courage of ordinary people who have no name or position in society that save the day. The famous, the well-connected, almost always have too much to lose, and they abandon the cause in order to protect themselves.

For Today and Tomorrow
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda 19/4

How to be a good leader?

As SGI leaders, how we interpret the words of members and what we say in response is important. A genuine leader is someone who gives measured thought to such matters. When talking with individuals, ask yourselves: "What are they worried about?" "What are they trying to say?" "What are they thinking? "What is it they seek?" Try to discern these things in others. Try to know. Try to understand. This is the challenge of leadership. From such compassion arises wisdom.

For Today and Tomorrow
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda 14/3

What is tha capacity of life?

Life contains the capacity, like flames that reach toward heaven, to transform suffering and pain into the energy needed for value-creation, into light that illuminates darkness. Like the wind traversing vast spaces unhindered, life has the power to uproot and overturn all obstacles and difficulties. Like clear flowing water, it can wash away all stains and impurities. And finally life, like the great earth that sustains plants and vegetation, impartially protects all people with its compassionate, nurturing force.

For Today and Tomorrow
Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda 16/2

The beauty of the melody of live

Live with a dancing spirit. The stars in the heavens are dancing through space, the Earth never ceases to spin. All life is dancing: the trees with the wind, the waves on the sea, the birds, the fish, all are performing their own dance of life. Every living thing is dancing, and you must keep dancing too, for the rest of your life!

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 18/12

What can we achieve through dailogue?

Dialogue is a positive endeavor. It builds solidarity and creates unity. To reject others only has negative repercussions. It invites division and leads to destruction. The point is to meet and to talk. It is only natural that our perspective may at times differ from that of others. But dialogue gives rise to trust, even among those who don't see eye to eye.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 3/12

How to confront the fundamental darkness in one's own life.

The Lotus Sutra, which explains that all people can attain Buddhahood and that all people are Buddhas, embodies a spirit of supreme respect for human beings. By contrast, those teachings and ideas that seek to turn people into objects to be exploited embody ultimate disrespect for human beings. Such disrespect is an expression of fundamental darkness. On the level of the individual, practicing the Lotus Sutra means confronting the fundamental darkness in one's own life.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 17/11

Hardship and difficulties make strong individual

True ease and comfort are not found in a quiet, uneventful life. This may sound paradoxical, but hardships bring about ease and comfort. For only by establishing strong individual lives capable of boldly challenging difficult obstacles can we find true "peace and security in this lifetime," as the Lotus Sutra says.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 7/11

Engage others in dailogue is a bold and daring challenge to create a new era of human civilization

Efforts to reach out and engage others in dialogue with the aim of fostering mutual understanding and bringing people closer together may seem ordinary and unexciting, but they in fact constitute a bold and daring challenge to create a new era of human civilization.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 21/9

We can learn to know ourselves and others by immersion in the ocean of language and dialogue fed by the springs of cultural tradition

Only within the open space created by dialogue, whether conducted with our neighbors, with history, with nature or the cosmos, can human wholeness be sustained. We are not born human in any but a biological sense; we can only learn to know ourselves and others and thus be trained in the ways of being human. We do this by immersion in the ocean of language and dialogue fed by the springs of cultural tradition.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 22/5

It is only when we have experienced the worst, most crushing of times - that we can experience the joys of genuine friendship—

You cannot judge the quality of another's friendship by superficial appearances, especially when things are going smoothly. It is only when we have experienced the worst, most crushing of times—when we have plumbed the depths of life—that we can experience the joys of genuine friendship. Only a man of principle, a woman of resolve—a person who stays true to their chosen path—can be a trusted and true friend, and have real friends in turn.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 25/1