What is a passage from Nichiren Daishonin or the three Presidents that encourages you through difficulty?
Hisako: It is so difficult to pinpoint one piece of guidance, but one that I read recently and was encouraged by is:
To accept is easy; to continue is difficult. But Buddhahood lies in continuing faith. (The Difficulty of Sustaining Faith, WND 1, p. 471).
By reading the New Human Revolution, you are provided with so much. President Ikeda himself is a great encouragement, as his compassion and consideration of others is very profound. Also, his respect for all people is a great reminder for all of us.
Tage: Nichiren’s Gosho: “On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime” explains in so much detail what the practice is and how we should go about our practice. When I started practicing 43 years ago, not all of the Gosho had been translated, so you would have to wait to read the most recently translated sections in the Seikyo Times. This would always be very exciting because you didn’t know which part would be coming out next and then when it did, you would read it so quickly because you had to know what it said and you had to wait so long for it!
What is your prime point of faith, and how have you maintained your seeking spirit to continue to encourage members?
Tage: To continue your seeking spirit, it is important to read President Ikeda’s writings. Reading it means your spirit never dies. The key point is to chant more and more as it makes a tremendous difference. While I say that reading and studying is important, the study is only knowledge until you chant and turn it into wisdom.
Hisako: When I first encountered the SGI, I was worried because religion can be a dangerous thing. As I read The Human Revolution (not the New Human Revolution), I saw that they were eye opening writings because it shows Buddhist philosophy and history. It told everything in so much detail and it was very clarifying. If you chant, everything can be made better. Even now all these years later, these writings are so prevalent - they help you through even the darkest times. If you challenge your chanting, it changes your karma dramatically.
What would you like to share with the youth who are going to shoulder the future of kosen-rufu?
Tage & Hisako: The best encouragement we can give is to tell the youth to continue their chanting and to chant more because chanting will never fail you. When we begin to chant, our heads may be full of doubt and worries. As we chant though, it can all disappear as our chanting goes straight to the heart and from there, we gain the courage and conviction to challenge everything that can stand in our way.
All the guidance that we give is always towards the Gohonzon. We all have a different mission and can make a difference in society.
All of the (three) Presidents had a mentor and we should look to and decide that President Ikeda is our mentor and seek his guidance. This isn’t to say that his guidance will always be relevant to you at all times, but later on down the track as you grow older and develop in your practice, it most definitely will.
The words of the Buddha can only fully be comprehended by another Buddha (as described in the Liturgy of the Lotus Sutra, Chapter 2: yui butsu yo butsu). So if we develop our own Buddha nature, then we can really develop our life in ways that we didn’t think were possible.
We need to realise that we are so fortunate because we will forever be able to say that we were alive and studying while President Ikeda was alive. As he is now almost 93, it is no longer possible for us to meet him face to face and that is why it’s even more important that we read his encouragement and guidance so that we can still engage with him.