Theme is "Persecutions/hardships are the opportunity for self-development --
here we find true peace and security!"

1. Understand the principle; make clear the *process* of arousing
(pre-existing) latent negative effects so that they can be dispelled through
struggle based on Gohonzon. This is also the essential process for
strengthening (our faith) Buddhahood.

2. How to take concrete action to strengthen our life-force; make clear the
required efforts in faith, practice and study, principles of
kosen-rufu/itai-doshin and human revolution

Here is the theme, a bit more expanded, by President Ikeda in "For Today and
Tomorrow/28-June"

In the "Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings" ["Ongi Kuden"], the
Daishonin says, "One should regard meeting obstacles as true peace and
comfort" (Gosho Zenshu, p.750). You many wonder how encountering obstacles
could be a source of peace and comfort. But the truth of the matter is that
through struggling against and overcoming difficulties, we can transform
our destiny and attain Buddhahood. Confronting adversity, therefore,
represents peace and comfort. ["FT&T/28-Jun", Daisaku Ikeda]

Overiew on Karmic retribution
=============================

In a nutshell, we are accountable for all our karmic debts. Buddhism offers an
explanation for the sufferings that people encounter as well as the means to
overcome them. But it all begins with the understanding that we are personally
responsible for every, single thing we do; every thought, every word, every
deed creates an effect and it is we and we alone that make the causes that
create the effects that we experience. We cannot make a cause and give the
effect to someone else.

This is an important point because if this is not true then consider the
alternative; things either "just happen" or our lives are under the control of
someone or something else.

In reality, most people's opinions on this tend toward absolving them from
responsibility and in turn absolve them from having to take action. President
Ikeda has said that the function of the life-state of "Hell" in our lives shows
itself in this tendency to give up.

In any case, the only person that can change our own karma is ourselves.
Furthermore, whatever we do not overcome now, will continue, i.e. "I have to do
*this* again?!" And that perhaps, is a compelling reason for us to struggle
while we have the opportunity.

From the viewpoint of Buddhism, we are destined to live and die, there is
nothing unnatural in this. President Ikeda has suggested that the more
pertinent question for us is whether we undergo this cycle of birth and death
based on the security and happiness of our inherent Buddha nature or based on
anxiety, suffering and dispair.

The reality is that at this moment, we have the Gohonzon. That means that we
have the unique opportunity to finally and completely overturn the karmic
sufferings that have plagued us, perhaps and probably, over many life-times.

In the "Letter from Sado" Gosho, Nichiren Daishonin explains the workings of
karmic retribution and the means by which we clear the negative karma from our
lives.

He quotes from the Sutra:

The Parinirvana Sutra states: "Good man, because people committed countless
offenses and accumulated much evil karma in the past, they must expect to
suffer retribution for everything they have done. They may be dispised,
cursed with an ugly appearance, be poorly clad and poorly fed, seek wealth
in vain, be born to an impovershed and lowly famly or one with erroneous
views, or be persecuted by their soveriegn." It continues: "They may be
subjected to various other sufferings and retributions. It is due to the
blessings obtained by protecting the Law that they can diminish in this
life-time their sufferings and retributions."
.
Usually these sufferings appear one at a time, on into the boundless
future, but Nichrien has denounced the enemies of the Lotus Sutra so
severely that all eight [sufferings] have descended at once.
.
This is what the sutra means when it states, "It is due to the blessings
obtained by protecting the Law"
.
Were it not for the rulers and ministers who now persecute me,I would be
unable to expiate my past sins of slandering the correct teaching. ["Letter
from Sado", WND, p.302,303]

Rather than offering a mystical or fantasy happiness, Nichiren Buddhism puts
the responsibility for our lives and their outcomes in our own hands. Both the
causes for our current condition and its solution come from us.

In the World of Nichiren Daishonin's Writings [9], President Ikeda refers
several times to how Nichiren Daishonin's efforts to spread the Lotus Sutra,
the teaching of the universal enlightenment of all living beings, "called
forth" opposition and persecution in the form of "The Three Powerful Enemies".
He says that the Daishonin's efforts "smoked out" or caused the "The Three
Powerful Enemies" to "reveal" themselves.

He then defeated them.

In a similar fashion, it is through our own faith and practice that we may
summon forth the hidden/latent, negative potentials that exist within our own
life, diminish their negative effect ["tenju kyoju"] and use them as the means
to forge our Buddha potential even further.

From the viewpoint of Nichiren Daishonin's teachings, when we base our efforts
on this "strategy of the Lotus Sutra", all obstacles and sufferings are
ultimately compelled to work for our happiness. Outside of this, where can one
find lasting "peace and comfort"?

index

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