Welcome To Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism

"You must not only persevere yourself; you must also teach others." The True Aspect of All Phenomena (WND, pg 386 [MIV-1-95])

The above passage was taken from the Gosho, The True Aspect of All Phenomena, which was written by Nichiren Daishonin in 1273 when he was in exile on Sado Island. The recipient, Sairen-bo Nichijo was a former Tendai priest. This Gosho passage teaches us an important aspect of our Buddhist practice, that is we must make every effort to share the Daishonin's teaching with others. To do so, we have to persevere through all kinds of difficulties in the course of our practice. The Daishonin instructs his disciples to fulfil their mission to spread his teaching of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo of the Three Great Secret Laws in the Latter Day of the Law.

Whether in daily life or in one's faith, perseverance is the key to victory.

The practice of Buddhism is to achieve the state of life whereby we can manifest our inherent potential of enlightenment and creative value. Therefore, it is imperative that we maintain our faith throughout our life and practise the Buddhist fundamentals of faith, practice and study. We must strive for the attainment of kosen-rufu and build a life of total victory and eternal happiness.

It is only natural that we encounter difficulties along the way of spreading the Mystic Law. In order to achieve anything important in life, we are bound to face some obstacles. At times, we tend to blame the causes of these obstacles on other or the unfavourable circumstances. But from the standpoint of faith, the causes of these obstacles are due to our karma and we ourselves must change, both internally and spiritually. We must manifest the profound Buddha wisdom overcome those obstacles. We must make even greater effort so as to accumulate good fortune to change the circumstances for the better. We need to persevere in our practice till we see positive changes in our life. As the Gosho says, "winter never fails to turn into spring," so we must sometimes endure the 'cold winter' of our life. Having perseverance in our practice will definitely enable us to see the wonderful springtime of our life.

As the Daishonin's disciples, we must also teach Buddhism to others. Doing this is our greatest responsibility as propagation is the lifeblood of faith. Since the ultimate purpose of the Daishonin's Buddhism is to enable all humankind to attain eternal happiness, it is only natural that as disciples we should not forget this very important responsibility.

This spirit of compassion to 'teach others' has been the core of all Buddhist teachings. Propagation or shakubuku is no easy task. There is no aspect of Buddhist practice that is easy. But our sincerity in propagating Buddhism will allows us to change our karma and elevate our life-state.

It is important to constantly remind ourselves of our mission and responsibility in the arena of our kosen-rufu activities. We have to be careful not to fall into an inward directed type of practice, that is practicing only for oneself. This is not the true intent of the practice of Buddhism.

Our propagation of Buddhism enables us to fully develop our humanism and compassionate spirit. We cannot practice faith alone lest we become entrapped in our own egoistic 'lesser self and ultimately leads us to misery. By expanding our practice to others, we are expanding the boundary of our lives and happiness. We begin to develop our greater self — one that has the capacity to include and embrace others.

Therefore, let us start to hold dialogue at grass-roots level, and in the process open the golden door of kosen-rufu. Together let us lead lives of unsurpassed happiness.