Nevertheless, while his confidence in his own mission was unshakable, his first concern was always to encourage his followers. Believers may well fear that more persecutions would follow in the awake of the Atsuhara arrests, perhaps even involving their teacher himself.

In the next part of the Gosho, the Daishonin seeks to reassure them and restore their confidence. First he boldly asserts that all who attack him and his disciples and slander the Lotus Sutra will be punished by the Buddist Gods. He mentions four kind of punishment: general, individual, conspicious and inconspicious. Actually, benefit also appears in these four ways. ‘Punishment by the Buddhist Gods’ here is a metaphor for the causal law, which is strict and utterly impartial. One who praises the fundamental Law of life and lives in harmony with it will enjoy benefit and protection; one who slanders it or remains in ignorance of it will suffer loss. This is the ultimate justice of the universe. There can not be a single exception.

As people who have been fortunate enough to embrace the mystic Law, let’s remember our appreciation for its protective workings and confidently share its benefits with others.

The Daishonin also urges his followers to be resolute in faith, in an oft-quoted passage which reads:
“Each of you should summon up the courage of a lion and never succomb to threats from anyone. The lion fears no other animal nor do his cubs. Slanderers are like howling jackals, but Nichiren Daishonin’s followers are like roaring lions.” (On persecutions befalling the Buddha)

“In order to attain enlightenment, we must conquer any tendency to be swayed by fear. When you act out of fear, you are being controlled by your environment, and you can neither be free nor happy in such state. Moreover, fear can influence a person to abandon his or her faith.” (Ikeda)

This is why the Daishonin says to summon up courage of a lion. ”The lion, king of the beasts, fears no other animal”. In the sutra’s, the lion symbolizes the Buddha. In the original manuscript of this Gosho, the Daishonin wrote the word ‘lion’ with the Chinese characters meaning ‘master and disciple’. The lion is Nichiren Daishonin, and ‘its cubs’ are us, his disciples. Nichiren Daishonin’s life as the true Buddha is embodied in the Gohonzon, and by embracmg the Gohonzon, we can tap our own innate Buddha nature. Thus, even though you may be a timid person to begin with, you will find that you naturally become courageous as you continue to chant daimoku.

Disciples in the Daishonin’s day faced terrible obstacles in upholding and propagating his teachings. They had to be resolved to maintain faith even at the risk of their lives. Today we are inexpressibly fortunate to live in the USA [read Holland], where our freedom of worship is guaranteed by law. We can be proud indeed of the noble concept of religious freedom, which is part of our country’s unique spiritual legacy. However, even if we never face outright persecution as the Daishonin’s contemporary followers did, we are bound to meet some hardships in our efforts to accomplish our human revolution and spread the teachings of the Buddha.

Perhaps the most famous passage from this Gosho is: “Strenthen your faith day by day and month after month. Should you slacken even a bit, demons will advantage.”

“If you‘re not advancing, you‘re behind. If you‘re not fighting, you‘re already defeated. In Buddhism there is no middle ground.” To confirm with an illustration, you can maintain your balance on a bicycle only as long as you keep moving forward. Whenever we slacken in our resolve, we are soon overwhelmed by our old habits, doubts and karmic tendencies. (Ikeda)

Strictly, Buddhist practice is a moment to moment battle. Which shall prevail; our Buddha nature, or the darkness within? It is essential that no matter how many years may pass, we never stop striving to deepen our faith.

“Over the cause of many years, there may be times when your practice stagnates. If your faith slackens, you will lose the joy of life. Not only that, you will lose sight of the noble goal of kosen-rufu, and then your benefits will become significantly fewer. Therefore, the longer you practice and the higher your position in our organisation, the more I hope you will refresh your determination daily and continue practicing this faith from the depths of your life.
Length of practice is not the only factor in accumulating good fortune and elevating one’s state of life. Without doubt, those who strive to ‘deepen their faith day by day and month after month’, as the Daishonin teaches, are certain to be victorious in life.” (Ikeda)

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This page was last modified on Sunday, August 20, 2006.