The Pink Lotus Flower
The [Pink] Lotus Flower, Nelumbo nucifera, also known as the “sacred lotus” or the “Indian lotus,” is often confused with true water lilies of the genus Nymphaea, in particular N. caerulea, the “blue lotus.” However, the lotus flower has historical, cultural and spiritual…
World Peace
True joy is found in working for world peace, in taking action for our own and others’ happiness. The term kosen rufu, often used interchangeably with world peace has its origins in the Lotus Sutra. The concept comes from a passage…
Stones Into Jewels
Just as poison can be changed into medicine, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo can change evil into good. The Spring of Jewels is so called because, in this spring, stones are changed into jewels. The Daishonin likens the power of the…
On Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime
On Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured since time without beginning and to attain without fail unsurpassed enlightenment in this lifetime, you must perceive the…
The Kalpa of Decrease
Some are beyond redemption The present age [of the Latter Day of the Law] is such that neither the non-Buddhist scriptures, the Hinayana sutras, the Mahayana sutras, nor the one vehicle of the Lotus Sutra has any effect….The extremity of…
On Repaying Debts of Gratitude
It is not one’s allies but one’s powerful enemies who assist one’s progress…I am grateful when I think that without them I could not have proved myself to be the votary of the Lotus Sutra.” The Actions of the Votary…
Buddhism Is About Winning
Our Prayer for Peace “If you care anything about your personal security, you should first of all pray for order and tranquility throughout the four quarters of the land, should you not?“ ~ On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the…
Cultivating Flower Gardens of Happiness
The Strategy of the Lotus Sutra
Employ the strategy of the Lotus Sutra before any other. “All others who bear you enmity or malice will likewise be wiped out.”4 Looking at the world today, it is easy to feel despair. A kind of powerlessness seems to be the prevailing mood in the world…
Courage Is Different From Recklessness
Respectful Actions Convey the Heart of Buddhism “The aspiration of leading all people to enlightenment would just be a pipe dream unless the Buddha taught the importance of our behavior as human beings.” As Nichiren Daishonin states: “The purpose of…
