Question:
Mom always tell me to chant earnestly, but....



Answer:

In Nichiren Daishonin's buddhism, we learnt that Nichiren's belief is within the Nam-myo-ho-renge-kyo. In my opinion, the spirit that has always been implemented by Nichiren Daishonin was courage.

For example, when some fake charges was trumped onto Nichiren Daishonin by the Japanese Shogunate, and Nichiren Daishonin was sentenced to beheaded, he told the followers "This is a good thing, let's face it with a smile." Nichiren Daishonin had a great state of being by the time he said this.

When Nichiren Daishonin was banished to Sado Island, a place that could barely support any life, he'd still face is positively.

No matter how bad the environment could be, or how threatening the situation may be, Nichiren Daishonin was still facing it with courage. This is the spirit he had been implementing in his lifetime.

And the "Nam-myo-ho-renge-kyo" we chant, is the key that activates our courage!

With SGI President Ikeda's effort and challenges, the Soka Gakkai International is now advancing towards 192 countries and districts. In every single country, all the members are chanting Nam-myo-ho-renge-kyo, overcoming challenges with faith and courage, and obtaining victory at last.

Let me share a piece of experience from the book "Youth Dialogue" with you. There was a high school girl who used to be bullied by her schoolmates, in result, she became fearful and wasn't brave enough to even go to school. However, through her mother's encouragement, she came across to Ikeda Sensei's guidance. From this, she got enlightened that "through daimoku, we can change all the trouble into a moving force of happiness", "those who have problems chant, those who do not have problems will also train and challenge themselves through daimoku". In the end, she became a brave person to face her own problems, and with the power of daimoku, she even get to know new friends and from this, she gained friendship.

Just as Ikeda Sensei has said "Courage is needed while studying, courage is needed to go to school, and a noble person is a person with happiness". Everyone would have had a thought of "I can't make it!" at some moment, however, if we could stand strong and chant earnestly, we get the courage, and in the end, we'd success.

Do you feel annoyed whenever your parents ask you to chant? Do you feel like you don't have time for this since you've got homework and a lot more to do? But first we must know that to chant and to do gongyo is not a practice, but a right. Nichiren Daishonin never said that there's a certain amount of daimoku that we must achieve, however, what's important is the spirit that keeps us challenging in our daily lives. If we could do that, then even one daimoku brings uncountable benefit.

Daimoku sets a foundation for good fortune is our lives. Just like when we're studying, we will fill ourselves up with knowledge, to study earnestly, and as days go by, it'd became our energy and treasure. I hope that everyone could train up themselves through the society's activity, and to train up our life through daimoku, in the end, becoming a person with knowledge and good fortune.

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