Ikeda quote

A society that has sacrificed so much to material wealth that it has forgotton the human heart and the better human aspirations degenerates into something compassionless , doctrinaire , ignorant and ultra conservative. When this happens fundammental solutions to calamiities become impossible. If we protect the truth and are resolute , we are capable of creating peace and prosperity. And, the truth we must pprotect ought to be high and great.

Our great truth --the thing that we must protect to the utmost---involves ethics and the best of human nature. But more basic than anything else is our duty to guard the truth that we and the universe are one , and that a single  ordinary human thought contains the entirety of universal life.

Nichiren Buddhism

Nichiren Buddhism is a form of Japanese Buddhism that emphasizes repeated recitation of the mantra namu myoho renge kyo ("salutation to the Lotus Sutra") for health, happiness and enlightenment. Nichiren Buddhists believe it is possible to attain enlightenment in a single lifetime through practice of "True Buddhism" (i.e., Nichiren). Nichiren Buddhism has divided into several branches, the largest of which are Nichiren Shu, Nichiren Shoshu, and Soka Gokkai International.
Soka Gakkai was founded as the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai on November 18, 1930 by Japanese educators Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda. After World War II, the Soka Gakkai experienced a period of rapid growth in Japan. The organization was formally organized in the United States on October 13, 1960. SGI was created in 1975 to act as the international leadership of national Soka Gakkai organizations.

Shakyamuni , the historical Buddha

Shakyamuni means the "Sage of the Shakya Clan." Buddha is a title which means "Awakened One." Out of all the millions and millions of people who have lived upon this earth, we believe that he, at least, awoke from the dream of life's all too frequent sufferings and all too fragile joys and saw the Truth for himself. This Truth that he awakened to was the Truth which resolved all his previous concerns about the meaning of life and death. This Truth was the solution to the problem of suffering that he had been seeking. All of his subsequent teachings and all the efforts of the 2,500 year old community that has passed on those teachings to the present day are all for the purpose of helping us to see the Truth for ourselves as well, the very same Truth that the Buddha realized.

Centre de la SGI à Québec
360, Chemin de la Canardière
Québec (Québec)
G1L 2V2
   (Tél.) (418) 523-2219
La SGI du Canada est l’organisation canadienne de la Soka Gakkai internationale (SGI). En se fondant sur la philosophie bouddhique humaniste de Nichiren, La SGI favorise la paix, la culture et l’éducation. Elle compte plus de 12 millions de membres dans plus de 190 pays et territoires. Regroupant des personnes de tous âges et d’origines ethniques et sociales très diverses, le membership de la SGI est représentatif de la société dans son ensemble. 

Serenity

At this time of year , in the western world , everybody seems to be rushing around to prepare for christmas and various other holidays , used to be holy days. It's nice to go to a quiet place and chant nam myoho renge kyo to get in touch with what the christmas celebration ( and other celebrations ) is all about.In the northern hemisphere the days will soon start getting longer and new life will arrive with spring. The wonder of the world we live in and of the universe in it's entirety are apparent to all who want to take the time to perceive it.

Quote

« [la boddhéité] est la joie des joies. La naissance, la vieillesse, la maladie et la mort ne sont plus des souffrances, mais font partie de la joie de vivre. La lumière de la sagesse illumine l’univers tout entier, rejetant l’obscurité innée de la vie. L’espace-vie du bouddha devient uni et fusionne avec l’univers. Le moi devient le cosmos et, en un instant, le flot de la vie s’élargit pour englober tout ce qui est passé et tout ce qui est futur. À chaque instant, la force vitale éternelle du cosmos se répand telle une gigantesque fontaine d’énergie » Daisaku Ikeda

Gratefulness

This time of the year gives us an opportunity to be grateful .Whether you celebrate christmas ,or not , it is a time to remember that we are all part of the same whole.The nights are getting shorter until finally at the winter solstice they start to get longer again( i.e the amount of light). Chanting nam myo ho renge kyo puts me in touch the general mood of everybody I come into contact with and I feel grateful to be a part of humanity .

Gongyo ,Nestor Torres

Buddhism

Buddhism does not aim to explain God, creation or eternal concepts. Such truths can only be found within the heart of a person.

Whatever one holds within the heart is what is.

What Buddhism does aim to do is help us overcome the chaos of this world and point us to a path that leads us to our own spirituality.

We are all searching for the same things - freedom from our pain and realizing who we truly are, deep within.

The Buddha, Siddharth Gautama, in his contemplation, realized the truth about suffering and the path to liberation from it.

Encouragements de Daisaku IKEDA

Le cœur humain est facilement influencé. Même une joie qui fut autrefois fraîche et vibrante
tiédit avec le temps. Lorsque les persécutions surviennent, en particulier, certains peuvent en
arriver, c’est une triste réalité, à douter de la pratique… Pourtant dans le Gosho, Nichiren
Daishonin déclare clairement que les obstacles surgiront les uns après les autres…L’étude
illumine et clarifie le chemin de la croyance que nous devons suivre en tant que disciples
bouddhistes. — Daisaku IKEDA

Courage -The Key to Victory.

Last night we had a very lively discussion on President Ikeda's editorial "Courage-The Key to Victory " in our Limolou District meeting. ( Quebec City ) . Courage can overcome all obstacle was the message. Daily life is always filled with various obstacles , large and small , and with our daily practice to back us up we can overcome them all and work towards Kosen Rufu.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Nam est un mot qui vient du sanscrit et que nous pourrions traduire par « se consacrer à ». Nichiren a établi la récitation de Nam Myoho Renge Kyo comme moyen pour permettre à chaque personne de mettre sa vie en harmonie ou en rythme avec la Loi de la vie, ou Dharma. En sanscrit, nam exprime à la fois l’action et l’attitude. Il désigne donc l’action adéquate et la juste attitude à développer pour atteindre la boddhéité dans cette vie-ci.

---

Daily Practice

There's nothing  like agood Gongyo to get your day going in the right direction. It really doesn't matter how long you do it for , just that you do it . And, since you started the day off right why not finish it with a nice Gongyo.

Encouragements de Daisaku IKEDA

Pour revenir à la présente crise financière, nous devons nous demander si, en tant que société,
nous ne nous sommes pas laissé gagner par cet esprit d’abstraction. N’avons nous pas succombé
au charme envoûtant et tentaculaire du monde abstrait et anonyme de l’argent, perdant ainsi notre
faculté humaine essentielle de percevoir que si nécessaire soit il au fonctionnement de la société,
l’argent n’est rien d’autre qu’une convention, une sorte de réalité virtuelle ? — Daisaku IKEDA

The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin

I F 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 mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings. This truth is Myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth innate in all life. FROM ON ATTAINING BUDDAHOOD IN THIS LIFETIME , For full text click here

 

Daisaku Ikeda's "Living Buddha":

Ikeda , leader of the lay organization Soka Gakkai that stresses outreach, emphasizes how flexible Buddhism can be for our age.His "interpretative biography" cites Karl Jaspers on how in its origins, it emerged during what scholars call the Axial Age, when Socrates, Confucius, and later Jesus preached. Like them, the Buddha's messages weren't written down until later; like them, his teachings emerged from the "middle of the world" to spread to millions.Well worth reading.

Quote from Shakyamuni

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."

" ; Des milliers de bougies peuvent être allumés d'une seule bougie, et la vie de la bougie ne se raccourcira pas. Le bonheur ne diminue jamais en étant shared." ;

Ray Kurweil

The universe has been set up in an exquisitely specific way so that evolution could produce the people that are sitting here today [at Edge's REBOOTING CIVILIZATION II meeting on July 21, 2002] and we could use our intelligence to talk about the universe. We see a formidable power in the ability to use our minds and the tools we've created to gather evidence, to use our inferential abilities to develop theories, to test the theories, and to understand the universe at increasingly precise levels. That's one role of intelligence. The theories that we heard on cosmology look at the evidence that exists in the world today to make inferences about what existed in the past so that we can develop models of how we got here.
RAY KURZWEIL was the principal developer of the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large vocabulary speech recognition. He has successfully founded, developed, and sold four AI businesses in OCR, music synthesis, speech recognition, and reading technology. All of these technologies continue today as market leaders.

•Encouragements de Daisaku IKEDA

Je vous demande de toujours mener une vie intègre et de vous efforcer d’être de véritables
champions de kosen-rufu, dans cette nouvelle phase du développement de notre mouvement. — Daisaku IKEDA

We are responsible for our own actions

The question is basically the question of free will. Are our choices in response to craving and hatred really choices or are they a matter of karma playing itself out?

There are many ways to approach this. So let's start with cause and effect. Craving is an effect of previous choices. Choices cause craving (or not). The fact that we do crave influences our choices - but it does not determine them. When craving is present we are strongly drawn to the object we desire, but we are not inexorably or invariably drawn to it. Experientially you will know this to be true - sometimes you can say no to desire. This choice, according to Buddhism, is always present, and it is what distinguishes the human state from other possible states of being.

Buddhist magazine

Living Buddhism, a journal for peace, culture and education, was first published in the United States in 1981 as Seikyo Times. The name was changed to Living Buddhism in 1997. Providing a variety of Buddhist study material as well as special features on topics such as education, the arts, and human relations in America, Living Buddhism preserves the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin through its bi-monthly publication. "Without Practice and Study, There Can Be No Buddhism"-Nichiren

Ikeda qote

" The economy is after all , driven by people . No matter how dire the situation may be , as long as ppeople are firm , a turnaround , revival and progress can be possible "
Daisaku Ikeda , President of the SGI .

To be or not to be

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. Willaim Shakespeare

On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime

I F 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 mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings. This truth is Myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth innate in all life.

Emptiness

The concept of shunyata (Sanskrit), or ku (Japanese), has been variously translated as latency, non-substantiality, emptiness and void. One of the first detailed articulations of this idea comes from the Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna, living in India between 150 and 250 C.E. Nagarjuna believed that the state of "neither existence nor nonexistence" described in this concept expressed the true nature of all things. The paradoxical nature of this idea, however, makes it somewhat foreign to Western dualist logic, and has helped contribute to a stereotype of Buddhism as a detached, mystical philosophy which sees the world as a grand illusion. The implications of ku, however, are much more down-to-earth, and are in fact consistent with the findings of contemporary science.

Modern physics, in attempting to discover the essence of matter, has arrived at a description of the world that is very close to that of Nagarjuna. What scientists have discovered is that there is no actual, easily identifiable "thing" at the basis of matter. Subatomic particles, the building blocks of the physical world that we inhabit, appear to oscillate between states of being and nonbeing. Instead of a fixed "thing" in a particular place, we find only shifting waves of probability. At this level, the world is actually a highly fluid and unpredictable place, essentially without substance. It is this non-substantial nature of reality that the concept of ku describes.

Ku also elucidates the latent potential inherent in life. Consider how, when we are in the grip of a powerful emotion, such as anger, this expresses itself in our entire being--our glaring expression, raised voice, tensed body and so on. When our temper cools, the anger disappears. What has happened to it? We know anger still exists somewhere within us, but until something causes us to feel angry again, we can find no evidence of its existence. To all intents and purposes, it has ceased to exist. Memories are another example; we are unaware of their existence until they suddenly rise into our consciousness. The rest of the time, as with our anger, they are in a state of latency, or ku: they exist and yet they do not.

An understanding of ku, therefore, helps us to see that, despite how we may see them, things--people, situations, relationships, our own lives--are not fixed, but dynamic, constantly changing and evolving. They are filled with latent potential which can become manifest at any time. Even the most seemingly hopeless situation has within it astoundingly positive possibilities.

It is very natural for us to apply various types of definitions to people, situations and ourselves, in order to make sense of the world. Unless we are careful about the nature of our thoughts and opinions, however, we can easily become trapped in narrow and often negative views: "He's not a very nice person," "I'm no good at relationships," "There will never be peace in the Middle East." As soon as we make up our minds about something in this way, we impose a limitation on it, shutting out the possibilities of positive growth and development.

When we choose to view things in term of their infinite positive potential, however, our thoughts and actions become a constructive influence, helping create the conditions for that potential to become a reality.

Because of the intimate interconnectedness of all things, each of us, at each moment, has a profound impact on the shared reality of life. The way we see things has a definite, defining effect on reality. Realizing this enables us to act with the confidence that we can shape reality toward positive outcomes.

The most positive and constructive view is to believe in the unbounded positive potential inherent in all life. Buddhism terms this potential--the real nature of life--"Buddhahood," which Nichiren defined as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Nichiren encouraged his followers to chant this phrase with the firm conviction that by doing so they are tapping the latent potentiality of Buddhahood in themselves and in the situations they are part of.

[Courtesy, April 2001 SGI Quarterly]
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Le Mandala : le Gohonzon

Le Gohonzon est l’objet de vénération du bouddhisme de Nichiren. En japonais, go signifie « digne d’honneur », et honzon « objet de culte fondamental ». Nichiren a précisé que la Loi universelle qui imprègne la vie et l’univers est Nam Myoho Renge Kyo et il l’a concrétisée sous la forme d’un mandala. Le Gohonzon est un parchemin sur lequel sont inscrits des caractères chinois et sanskrits. Nichiren y décrit symboliquement l’état de bouddha que possède tout être humain.

Les membres de la SGI récitent Nam Myoho Renge Kyo en se tenant face au Gohonzon enchâssé à leur domicile. Ce Gohonzon agit comme un stimulus qui active l’état de bouddha latent chez celui ou celle qui récite Nam Myoho Renge Kyo avec foi.

Tout ce qui constitue notre environnement (ceux qui nous entourent, le temps qu'il fait, un morceau de musique, la couleur des murs, etc.) exerce une influence sur nous. Au contact de divers stimuli externes, notre état de vie intérieur change ; ainsi, la contemplation d’un tableau peut déclencher une sensation de ravissement, de calme ou de dégoût. Une simple lettre peut provoquer de la joie, un choc ou le désarroi. De la même manière, un stimulus externe est nécessaire pour faire surgir notre potentiel le plus élevé, notre état de bouddha. Parce qu’il s’est totalement éveillé à la Loi de la vie, Nichiren a pu créer ce stimulus, le Gohonzon, qui permet d’activer l’état de bouddha qui est en nous.
Dans la pratique du bouddhisme de Nichiren, l’élément clé pour faire surgir la boddhéité est la force de la foi.

On Death

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.


In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?


For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?


Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
Kahlil Gibran

Richard Dawkins interviews Derren Brown

Change your Thoughts - Change your Outlook; Change your Outlook - Change your World.

An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life...
He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.
One wolf is evil -- he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego.
The other is good---he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.
This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too."
They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied: "The one you feed".

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become."

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Le Sûtra du Lotus est comparable au soleil, à la lune et à la fleur du lotus. C’est pourquoi on l’appelle Myôhô Rengue Kyô (Le Sûtra de la Loi Merveilleuse du Lotus) . Nichiren également peut être comparé au soleil, à la lune et à la fleur de lotus. Si l’eau de la foi d’une personne est claire, immanquablement la lune des bienfaits s’y reflète et les divinités la protègent.”

Nichiren Daishonin
(L&T, vol 4, pp.99-100 éd. ACEP)

Buddhism places great stress on the human bonds that form the context in which the teachings (the Law or Dharma ) are practised and transmitted. This web of connection can be compared to the threads of a woven fabric , with the vertical warp corresponding to the bonds between mentor and disciple , and the horizontal woof to themutually supportive relations among believers .
from the SGI Quarterly.

Les premiers pas dans la pratique Bouddhique

C’est, en général, par l’intermédiaire de pratiquants que les personnes entendent parler de cette école bouddhique pour la première fois.

Si elles décident alors de pratiquer au sein de l’organisation bouddhique, l'Association Cultuelle Soka du Bouddhisme de Nichiren (ACSBN), elles peuvent recevoir et transmettre soutien, encouragements et matériaux d’étude.

Lors de la réception du Gohonzon, objet de culte, elles deviennent pratiquantes du culte du bouddhisme de Nichiren.

Il n’est demandé aucune cotisation pour participer aux activités du culte et ceux qui désirent quitter l’association ou arrêter la pratique le font en toute liberté.

Sur le plan individuel, le but est de renforcer l’état de bouddha dans notre vie par la pratique bouddhique, en développant les qualités de sagesse, de compassion et de courage qu’elle fait apparaître, et d’accomplir ainsi une révolution complète en nous-mêmes, ce que nous appelons communément la « révolution humaine ». Le bouddhisme n’est pas une morale ; il engendre plutôt un processus d’évolution, de changements progressifs, durant lesquels nous découvrons et nous nous efforçons de modifier les différents aspects de notre vie qui sont facteurs de souffrances pour nous et/ou pour les autres.

Ikeda Quote

Viewing events and situations in a positive light is important. The strength, wisdom and cheerfulness that accompany such an attitude lead to happiness. To regard everything in a positive light or with a spirit of goodwill ,however , does not mean being foolishly gullible and allowing people to take advantage of your good nature.It means having the wisdom and perception to actually move things in a positive direction by seeing things in their best light , while all the time keeping your eyes firmly focused on reality.

Carl Sagan Quote

" For we are the local embodiment of a Cosmos grown to self awareness. We have begun to contemplate our origins : starstuff pondering the stars ; organized assemblages of ten billion billion billion atoms ; tracing the long journey by which ,here at least consciouness arose ....Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos , ancient and vast , from which we spring ." Carl Sagan.

A university student while visiting Gasan ( a renowned master ) asked him: "Have you ever read the Christian Bible?"

"No, read it to me," said Gasan.

The student opened the Bible and read from St. Matthew: "And why take ye thought for rainment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these... Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."

Gasan said: "Whoever uttered those words I consider an enlightened man."

The student continued reading: "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."

Gasan remarked: "That is excellent. Whoever said that is not far from Buddhahood."

The Self

Extract from Jayarava's Rave
Why do we experience a self? This is a very vexed and difficult question, and one that has been addressed in many different ways with many different results depending on starting assumptions and method of argument. I like the idea put forward by Antonio Damasio in his book The Feeling of What Happens. Damasio proposes that the mental map of the body and it's processes underlies the sense of self. The process of maintaining the body in an optimum state requires us to be aware of how the body is now, and how it is changing. The basic question the system must answer "is the current state better or worse for survival?" When we add to this awareness of mental states, and awareness of being aware, then something like a sense of being a self contained, self aware 'being' emerges. Continuity is important in keeping the body in it's optimum state. Note that sentience or even consciousness is not required for this because even a single celled organism is capable of maintaining it's internal state as close to optimum as the environment will allow. And this is part of the reason I like Damasio. No extra entity - no homunculus or 'little person in the head' as he calls it - is necessary for this maintenance, but a sense of continuity emerges from the complexity of the task in the case of higher animals. An awareness over time, and under different conditions, gives us survival fitness. The fact that we are aware of being in relation to the past, and with reference to possible futures is what gives us a sense of personal continuity. Damasio points out that the state of awareness that underlies this is not in fact continuous itself, but is constantly being constructed and reconstructed. The upshot is that we are capable of very complex and long term behaviour in order to maximise our wellbeing. We need not go to the extreme of logical positivist inspired behaviouralism and claim that there is no such thing as mind and that there is only behaviour. We may not fully understand consciousness as we experience it, but we need not dismiss it, or dismiss those aspects which we don't understand as non-existent! My point is that self-awareness helps us survive, and gives us choices. Damasio's theory doesn't take into account our social nature for instance, and the extent to which identity and behaviour are influenced by social factors.

The Lotus Sutra Online

Read the Lotus Sutra online

Ikeda Quote

When we create or appreciate art , we set free the spirit trapped within . That is why art arouse such joy. Art ,--whether skillfully executed or not- is the emotion , the pleasure oof expressing life as it is. Those who see art are moved by its passion and strength ,its intensity and beauty . That is why it is impossible to separate life from art. Political and economic developments may seem to dominate the news ,but culture and education are the forces that actually shape an age, since they transform the human heart.

le bouddhisme, une force de paix

“Le bouddhisme est une force de construction et de paix. Grâce à cette philosophie qui met en avant la dignité de la vie contribuons au bien être de l’humanité et créons un grand courant de dialogue pour la paix”.
Daisaku IKEDA

There is a quietness--Jiddhu Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986)

I hope that you will listen, but not with the memory of what you already know; and this is very difficult to do. You listen to something, and your mind immediately reacts with its knowledge, its conclusions, its opinions, its past memories. It listens, inquiring for a future understanding.

Just observe yourself, how you are listening, and you will see that this is what is taking place. Either you are listening with a conclusion, with knowledge, with certain memories, experiences, or you want an answer, and you are impatient. You want to know what it is all about, what life is all about, the extraordinary complexity of life. You are not actually listening at all.

You can only listen when the mind is quiet, when the mind doesn't react immediately, when there is an interval between your reaction and what is being said. Then, in that interval there is a quietness, there is a silence in which alone there is a comprehension which is not intellectual understanding.

If there is a gap between what is said and your own reaction to what is said, in that interval, whether you prolong it indefinitely, for a long period or for a few seconds - in that interval, if you observe, there comes clarity. It is the interval that is the new brain. The immediate reaction is the old brain, and the old brain functions in its own traditional, accepted, reactionary, animalistic sense.

When there is an abeyance of that, when the reaction is suspended, when there is an interval, then you will find that the new brain acts, and it is only the new brain that can understand, not the old brain.
..

the current moment

Watch this video

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

The invocation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo was established by Nichiren Daishonin on April 28, 1253. Having studied widely among all the Buddhist sutras, he had concluded that the Lotus Sutra contains the ultimate truth of Buddhism: that everyone without exception has the potential to attain Buddhahood. The title of the Lotus Sutra in its Japanese translation is Myoho-renge-kyo. But to Nichiren, Myoho-renge-kyo was far more than the title of a Buddhist text, it was the expression, in words, of the Law of life which all Buddhist teachings in one way or another seek to clarify. What follows is a brief and unavoidably limited explanation of some of the key concepts expressed by this phrase.

Nam

The word nam derives from Sanskrit. A close translation of its meaning is "to devote oneself." Nichiren established the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as a means to enable all people to put their lives in harmony or rhythm with the law of life, or Dharma. In the original Sanskrit, nam indicates the elements of action and attitude, and refers therefore to the correct action one needs to take and the attitude one needs to develop in order to attain Buddhahood in this lifetime.

Myoho

Myoho literally means the Mystic Law, and expresses the relationship between the life inherent in the universe and the many different ways this life expresses itself. Myo refers to the very essence of life, which is "invisible" and beyond intellectual understanding. This essence always expresses itself in a tangible form (ho) that can be apprehended by the senses. Phenomena (ho) are changeable, but pervading all such phenomena is a constant reality known as myo.

Renge

Renge means lotus flower. The lotus blooms and produces seeds at the same time, and thus represents the simultaneity of cause and effect. The circumstances and quality of our individual lives are determined by the causes and effects, both good and bad, that we accumulate (through our thoughts, words and actions) at each moment. This is called our "karma." The law of cause and effect explains that we each have personal responsibility for our own destiny. We create our destiny and we can change it. The most powerful cause we can make is to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo; the effect of Buddhahood is simultaneously created in the depths of our life and will definitely manifest in time.

The lotus flower grows and blooms in a muddy pond, and yet remains pristine and free from any defilement, symbolizing the emergence of Buddhahood from within the life of an ordinary person.

Kyo

Kyo literally means sutra, the voice or teaching of a Buddha. In this sense, it also means sound, rhythm or vibration. Also, the Chinese character for kyo originally meant the warp in a piece of woven cloth, symbolizing the continuity of life throughout past, present and future. In a broad sense, kyo conveys the concept that all things in the universe are a manifestation of the Mystic Law.

Live in the present moment.

Live in the present moment.
Live in the present moment ,and don't worry excessively about the things that have come before, or might be waiting in the future.Many sages ( I won't name them all here but I'm sure you can think of examples ) believe that it is the human ego which acts as a distraction and causes people to fret about things that have already occurred or that we cannot control in the future. Enlightenment is achieved by those who experience the present to the fullest and connect with the oneness of the entire universe and everything in it.

Ikeda quote

One who has mastered himself is truly free.Freedom lies in the heart of the sage,servitude in the heart of the fool.

Life has infinite potential, so there is reason for optimism. (Ichinen Sanzen)

Life is dynamic, constantly changing, and infinitely malleable. So we have infinite potential. For this reason, we should always be hopeful and determined, no matter what our momentary feelings or circumstances.



Life has 3000 conditions in a single moment. The point of this analysis is to show that we are never stuck in a particular life state, but that life is constantly changing and infinitely malleable through self improvement. Thus the conclusion of the theory of 3000 Conditions in a Single Life Moment is that we should be hopeful and determined at all times, because we always possess infinite potential to improve ourselves and our surroundings.



As for the details of this theory, we will first briefly summarize the theory. It might seem a little abstract. But then we will go over it a second time in more detail with analogies to make it clear. We are trying to prove that “Life is dynamic, constantly changing, and infinitely malleable. So we have infinite potential. For this reason, we should always be hopeful and determined, no matter what our momentary feelings or circumstances.”





There are: 10 life states, times their mutual possession, making 100 states, times the 10 factors, making 1000 states, times the 3 realms, making 3000 conditions in a single moment of life.



The 10 life states are: Hell (helpless suffering), Hunger (extreme want, or greed), Animality (fawn on the powerful, bully the weak), Anger (arrogance, retribution), Humanity (transient calmness, dependent on good circumstances), Rapture (transient joy, dependent on good circumstances), Learning (from books, teachers, experience, independent of circumstances), Realization (from experience, intuition, nature, meditation, independent of circumstances), Altruism (caring for others), and Enlightenment (some degree of oneness with one’s innermost nature and the macrocosm).



These 10 states are mutually inclusive, making 100 states; thus someone who is enlightened may feel anger for social justice.



The 10 Factors explain how we change from one life state to another. They are: Appearance (how you look), Nature (what you’re like inside), Entity (the essential identity that gives rise to both Appearance and Nature), Force (your life force), Influence (how your life force affects your surroundings), Latent Cause (John was compassionate), Manifest Cause (John fed a stray cat), Latent Effect (John carried the destiny for two years that someone someday would do him a kindness), Manifest Effect (two years later someone returned John’s lost wallet with all the money), and Consistency from Beginning to End (John is unlikely to kick a dog).



The factoring of these 10 Factors now makes 1000 states. Then there are the Three Realms: The first one is The Realm of the Individual Consciousness - your awareness on all levels, including subconscious and psychosomatic; it includes the elements of form, perception, conception, volition, and consciousness. The second realm is The Realm of Living Beings - plants, animals, all sentient beings. The third realm is The Realm of the Environment - your neighborhood, your region, the earth, the solar system, our galaxy, the universe.



Thus the grand total is 3000 conditions in a single life moment.

la réception du gohonzon

Dans la Soka Gakkai la réception du gohonzon en elle même est gratuite, si le nouveau membre souhaite faire un don à cette occasion, il est libre de le faire. Se sont les dons qui font fonctionner l’organisation et permettent de bénéficier des lieux de séminaires, de retransmissions et de cérémonies bouddhiques (Mariage bouddhique, cérémonie pour les défunts, remise de gohonzon...). Il n’existe aucune contrainte financière dans la Soka Gakkai, c’est important de le dire et de le faire savoir en terme de gratuité du culte et de non-sectarisme Aucune cérémonie n’est payante. Des dons peuvent se faire en différentes occasions où ils sont recueillis et restent entièrement libre.

Traditionellement nous pouvons “faire zaïmu” (le don) vers le printemps. L’esprit du don est une chose importante du point de vue de la loi de causalité, il ne faut donc pas donner à contre coeur ou avec un sentiment de culpabilité, mais librement , en conscience de l’importance et de la fonction de celui-ci et aussi du respect de ses propres moyens financiers. C’est la sagesse qui doit nous déterminer, sachant que notre don sert un mouvement international pour la construction de la paix mondiale. C’est un acte adulte de bon sens. De plus la Soka Gakkai contribue à de nombreuses actions humanitaires et ceux qui peuvent donner des sommes plus ou moins importantes le font aussi pour ceux qui peuvent le moins. Toutefois l’importance du don dans l’esprit bouddhique relève du coeur qui le fait et non de la capacité à “signer un chèque” plus ou moins important. Rapellons nous la parabole du roi Asoka qui, dans une vie entérieure, était un petit garçon pauvre qui offrit un simple paté de sable au bouddha Shakiamuni, grâce à quoi la rétribution karmique lui permit de devenir ce grand roi qui se converti au bouddhisme, dans sa vie future !

Jimmy Carter Quits the Baptists | Stands Up for Women

Read the full article

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944) was a forward-thinking geographer, educational theorist and religious reformer who lived and worked during the tumultuous early decades of Japan's modern era. His opposition to Japan's militarism and nationalism led to his imprisonment and death during World War II.

Makiguchi is best known for two major works,
The Geography of Human Life and The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy, and as the founder, in 1930, of the Soka Gakkai, which is today the largest lay Buddhist organization in Japan and has 12 million members worldwide.

Consistent throughout his writing and in his work as a classroom teacher and school principal is his belief in the centrality of the happiness of the individual. This same commitment can be seen in his role as a religious reformer: he rejected the attempts of the authorities to subvert the essence of the Buddhist teachings, insisting that religion always exists to serve human needs.

Who is Nichiren Daishonin?

SGI members follow the teachings of Nichiren, a Buddhist monk who lived in thirteenth-century Japan. Nichiren's teachings provide a way for anybody to readily draw out the enlightened wisdom and energy of Buddhahood from within their lives, regardless of their individual circumstances. Each person has the power to overcome all of life's challenges, to live a life of value and become a positive influence in their community, society and the world.
Nichiren was born in 1222 in Japan, a time rife with social unrest and natural disasters. The common people, especially, suffered enormously. Nichiren wondered why the Buddhist teachings had lost their power to enable people to lead happy, empowered lives. While a young priest, he set out to find an answer to the suffering and chaos that surrounded him. His intensive study of the Buddhist sutras convinced him that the Lotus Sutra contained the essence of the Buddha's enlightenment and that it held the key to transforming people's suffering and enabling society to flourish.
The Essence of Buddhism

The Lotus Sutra affirms that all people, regardless of gender, capacity or social standing, inherently possess the qualities of a Buddha, and are therefore equally worthy of the utmost respect.

Based on his study of the sutra Nichiren established the invocation (chant) of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as a universal practice to enable people to manifest the Buddhahood inherent in their lives and gain the strength and wisdom to challenge and overcome any adverse circumstances. Nichiren saw the Lotus Sutra as a vehicle for people's empowerment--stressing that everyone can attain enlightenment and enjoy happiness while they are alive.
Persecution

Nichiren was critical of the established schools of Buddhism that relied on state patronage and merely served the interests of the powerful while encouraging passivity in the suffering masses. He called the feudal authorities to task, insisting that the leaders bear responsibility for the suffering of the population and act to remedy it. His stance, that the state exists for the sake of the people, was revolutionary for its time.

Nichiren's claims invited an onslaught of often-violent persecutions from the military government and the established Buddhist schools. Throughout, he refused to compromise his principles to appease those in authority.

Nichiren's legacy lies in his unrelenting struggle for people's happiness and the desire to transform society into one which respects the dignity and potential of each individual life.

This is your brain on religion

Want to build a better brain? Ramp up your spiritual practice, says Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Meditation and prayer can improve your physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being and may even slow the brain's aging process.

Read more:

The world is it's own magic.

La vie à la lumière du Bouddhisme

La lumière de la sagesse illumine l’univers tout entier, détruisant la nature aveugle innée de l’homme. L’espace vital du Bouddha s’unit et se fond à l’univers.
Le moi devient le cosmos, et en un bref instant le flux vital s’étend jusqu’à englober tout ce qui est passé et tout ce qui est avenir. La force vital du cosmos jaillit, dans chaque instant du présent, telle une gigantesque fontaine d’énergie. Dans la Bouddhéité, chaque moment présent renferme l’éternité, car l’ensemble de la force vitale du cosmos est comprimée en un simple moment d’existence. Une personne dans l’état de Bouddhéité est à peine consciente du passage du temps physique, parce que sa vie est épanouie et heureuse à chaque instant, comme si elle connaissait la joie de vivre pour l’éternité.
Cette impulsion ne trouvera sa pleine expression que si l’on suit la pratique exposée par Nichiren Daishonin, qui se fonde sur la compréhension de la nature du Bouddha dans tout être, et qui vise à accéder à l’unité avec la force vitale universelle. Dans la religion de Nichiren Daishonin, chaque personne peut devenir une réalisation complète de la Bouddhéité dans son propre être.
Daisaku Ikeda

enlightenment

An interesting idea from Philosopher AC Grayling

" I'm passionately in favour of legalising heroin and cocaine. But I despise people who depend on these things. If you really want a mind-altering experience, look at a tree. "

Your brain on religion

This is your brain on religion

Augustine on time (pardon the pun )

For what is time? Who can easily and briefly explain it? Who even in thought can comprehend it, even to the pronouncing of a word concerning it? But what in speaking do we refer to more familiarly and knowingly than time? And certainly we understand when we speak of it; we understand also when we hear it spoken of by another. What, then, is time? If no one ask of me, I know; if I wish to explain to him who asks, I know not. Yet I say with confidence, that I know that if nothing passed away, there would not be past time; and if nothing were coming, there would not be future time; and if nothing were, there would not be present time. Those two times, therefore, past and future, how are they, when even the past now is not; and the future is not as yet? But should the present be always present, and should it not pass into time past, time truly it could not be, but eternity. If, then, time present — if it be time — only comes into existence because it passes into time past, how do we say that even this is, whose cause of being is that it shall not be — namely, so that we cannot truly say that time is, unless because it tends not to be?

–Augustine of Hippo, Confessiones lib xi, cap xiv, sec 17 (ca. 400 CE)

Mentor -Disciple relationship.

Have you ever tried to learn how to play a musical instrument? You need a teacher, or, it makes the process quicker and easier to learn. Once you've got the basics down you want to improve. There comes a point where you can actually play ,then you want to get better. You need to be around someone who has mastered their instrument so that you can emulate them . Then when you've mastered your instrument you want to improve . Then you need to be shown how to achieve what is beyond mastery and only someone who is there can show you by example ; and there are so few oof those people living that it's almost impossible to find one . When you do hang on and enjoy the ride and maybe , just maybe you'll achieve mastery too.

Le but du bouddhisme

Le but du bouddhisme est la réalisation de la paix mondiale et le bonheur de l’humanité, “Kosen Rufu”. L’éveil bouddhique de chaque être humain est le moyen pour atteindre cet objectif.

Nichiren DAISHONIN à révélé la pratique du mantra NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO comme étant le moyen d’atteindre la boddhéité, pour toute l’humanité. La révolution humaine du pratiquant est le processus naturel d’humanisation et de pacification intérieure individuel que permet cet éveil.

Kosen Rufu : “Propager largement”, par extension “Paix mondiale”



" J’ai dans la main le joyau mystique

Qui donne des pouvoirs infinis

Je crie : « Le bonheur pour tous les hommes »

Et mon maître approuve et sourit. "

Un des poèmes écrit par Joseï Toda alors qu’il était en prison
In « La Révolution Humaine » tome 1 p.109 © Editions du Rocher 1987

Study material for the Limolou District ,June 2009

Les liens éternels du maître et du disciple :
lutter ensemble et partager le même esprit pour kosen-rufu


EXTRAITS pour la réunion du District Limoilou, lundi 22 juin, 19 h 30, au Centre

Tout en surmontant les épreuves avec Nichiren, ses disciples de Sado ressentirent intensément qu’aucun mode de vie n’est plus profond que celui qui consiste à lutter avec le même esprit que son mentor bouddhiste. Directement en contact avec l’esprit de Nichiren, avec son vaste état de vie, la profondeur de son caractère et son intégrité, ils ont sans doute éprouvé un bonheur sincère à soutenir et à aider celui qui était le véritable maître de la Loi.
C’est en pratiquant le bouddhisme tel qu’il est enseigné par un mentor qui incarne la Loi et qui a surmonté d’énormes persécutions que nous pouvons expérimenter le vrai pouvoir du Bouddha et le vrai pouvoir de la Loi dans notre propre vie. (p.25)


Sairen-bo considérait le fait d’être disciple de Nichiren comme une source de joie sans égal et il s’engagea profondément à rester fidèle à la voie qu’avec son maître il avait choisi de suivre.
La voie du disciple est une noble voie marquée par un esprit de recherche inébranlable et une gratitude infinie. Suivre cette voie tout au long de notre vie est, au regard du bouddhisme, ce qu’il y a de plus fondamental. Toute déviation ne peut que nous entraîner sur la voie erronée de l’arrogance et de l’ingratitude. (p. 26)


Rien n’est plus merveilleux que des vies consacrées au vœu humain le plus profond - le bonheur pour soi et pour les autres - en luttant dans l’esprit d’unité de mentor et disciple, depuis le passé infini jusque dans l’avenir éternel. (p. 27)


Qui sont alors les « maîtres bons et justes » ? Quelles sont leurs qualités essentielles ? Les critères énoncés par Nichiren sont d’une parfaite clarté : ce sont les maîtres qui triomphent des Trois grands ennemis et qui pratiquent et propagent la Loi merveilleuse sans donner leur vie à contrecœur. Les maîtres des enseignements corrects sont ceux qui sont capables de se dresser face au mal et à l’injustice pour protéger les personnes ordinaires.
J’aimerais ici rappeler les trois qualités principales d’un « maître bon et juste » telles qu’on les trouve énoncées dans les écrits de Nichiren. Un tel maître doit être :
1. une personne de sagesse qui perçoit la nature démoniaque, mal fondamental inhérent à la vie humaine, et révèle la Loi merveilleuse, le bien fondamental ;
2. une personne de courage qui consacre sa vie à l’enseignement bouddhique correct et ne cesse de lutter contre le mal sans se laisser égarée par la nature démoniaque ;
3. une personne pleine de compassion, qui a toujours le souci de soulager la souffrance et d’insuffler la joie, et qui lutte pour parvenir au bonheur pour elle-même et pour les autres.
Ce n’est que lorsque le disciple se dresse pour kosen-rufu en accord avec l’appel du maître et qu’il remporte la victoire dans sa propre vie, que maître et disciple sont véritablement unis au point de ne faire qu’un. Les vies du mentor et du disciple résonnent en harmonie et le pouvoir du Bouddha et le pouvoir de la Loi vibrent également dans la vie du disciple.
Il n’existe pas de voie pour atteindre la boddhéité en dehors de celle consistant à lutter pour kosen-rufu avec notre mentor. (p. 29)


La grande joie intérieure des maîtres qui font un avec la Loi inspire et anime leurs disciples. Pour un disciple, il n’y a pas de plus grande joie que de suivre « un maître juste et bon » et de s’engager avec lui dans la lutte pour propager la Loi merveilleuse.
Cette joie, c’est celle de la boddhéité qui triomphe même de l’obscurité fondamentale. C’est la plus grande de toutes les joies, celle qui permet de repousser l’adversité.
L’état de vie où l’on savoure la joie illimitée de la Loi est d’une durée éternelle. Et l’éternité est condensée dans la profonde et puissante détermination du disciple qui, agissant en unité avec le mentor, surmonte les difficultés et triomphe des fonctions démoniaques. C’est dans cet état de vie vécu à chaque instant que nous pouvons savourer l’immense joie de la boddhéité. (p. 30)


Quand nous pratiquons l’enseignement suprême de la Loi merveilleuse, nos vies et le lieu où nous habitons se mettent à briller d’un immense éclat. Quand nous nous lançons le défi de propager la Loi merveilleuse, en décidant fermement que le lieu où nous nous trouvons maintenant est le lieu de notre pratique bouddhique et la scène où nous réaliserons notre révolution humaine, alors ce lieu devient la capitale de la lumière éternellement paisible – le lieu où réside le Bouddha. (p. 31)

Consciousness turns energy into matter

A very interesting phenomenon has been observed in quantum experiments. An electron can manifest as either a particle or a wave, but only when it is being observed it will behave as a particle. Experimental findings have shown that when an electron is not being observed, it is always a wave. In other words, without consciousness, and the act of observation, things only exist in an undefined state of probability, as a field of unified energy. We are in the realm of potentiality, while physical reality is defined by the observation. Another fascinating finding of quantum theories is the non-locality of particles at the quantum level. Every point in space is equal to all other points in space. Everything is infinitely interconnected to everything else. Separateness and solidity are not our ultimate reality, but an illusion that we experience at the physical level of existence. How is our reality created, and why do we perceive it as solid and separate?

Solitude and the divine

" Not all men are called to be hermits, but all men need enough silence and solitude in their lives to enable the deep inner voice of their own true self to be heard at least occasionally. ... For he cannot go on happily for long, unless he is in contact with the springs of spiritual ilife which are hidden in the depths of this own true soul." Thomas Meron."

The Lotus Sutra

Le Sûtra du Lotus est comparable au soleil, à la lune et à la fleur du lotus. C’est pourquoi on l’appelle Myôhô Rengue Kyô (Le Sûtra de la Loi Merveilleuse du Lotus) . Nichiren également peut être comparé au soleil, à la lune et à la fleur de lotus. Si l’eau de la foi d’une personne est claire, immanquablement la lune des bienfaits s’y reflète et les divinités la protègent.”

Nichiren Daishonin

The Importance of Daily Practice

Buddhist practice is a process through which we achieve spiritual fitness--President Ikeda.
To perform gongyo daily is both an honor and a pleasure . The benefits that we derive from this practice are far too numerous and far reaching to list here.Starting the day off with gongyo and ending the day with gongyo puts us in touch with our buddha nature which is the essence of the universe we live and breath in , and allows us to move out of our own little world governed by the ever needy ego.

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.
—Daniel J. Boorstin

why is happiness such a struggle ?

“All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone”

- Blaise Pascal

There is a force that keeps us unhappy. And it’s somewhere between our ears.

It’s the way we’re built. It’s in the blueprints. It’s in our blood. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you that. But don’t worry, I promise I have good news too.
Nam myo ho renge kyo

Religion Exists to Realize Peace [From The World Is Yours to Change by Daisaku Ikeda, Asahi Press, Tokyo, 2002]­

The utter inability to ignore a person in pain--this fiery compassion encapsulates the spirit of Shakyamuni. I also believe that it was the spirit of Jesus Christ, and of the Prophet Muhammad. For they themselves hurried to the side of peo­ple in pain, extending to them the hand of hope; they shared in others' suffering, in their sorrows and tears.

We must return to this love of humanity exemplified by the founders of the great faiths. And we must cause great rivers of love to wash over this Earth devastated by the burning winds of hatred. These were the sentiments which Dr. Shin Anzai and I discussed on many, many occasions.

The late Dr. Anzai was a prominent religious scholar here in Japan. He was also renowned as a devout Catholic. Our religious beliefs may have been different, but our goal--peace--was the same.

A child lies stricken on the ground. Someone calls for a stretcher. The religion of the person who helps us carry that stretcher is of no consequence, as long as we can save the child. The kind of intolerance that would cause people to refuse to carry the stretcher with someone of a different faith is completely removed from the spirit of the founders of the great religions.

HUMANISME

Celle des femmes en particulier, parce que la place de la femme dans la société est un sujet fondamental quant à l’avenir de l’humanité, l’établissement de la paix et du bonheur pour tout les êtres humains, but du bouddhisme de Nichiren Daishonin.

La rubrique “culture” concerne la culture de paix, la non-violence, propose des liens sur des sites qui ouvrent les chemins de de la compréhension de nos comportements et pour promouvoir les attitudes et les expériences humaines tournée vers la paix, la solidarité, l dignité de la vie, le respect de soi, des autres et de l’environnement...

Seule une culture tournée avec détermination vers la création de valeur de paix et de bonheur des êtres humains, la valorisation de l’humanisme, du respect de soi et de l’environnement, peut nous détourner des shémas de la culture de guerre, de la compétition exacerbée, source de destructions et de souffrances incommensurables pour les êtres vivants.

Le bouddhisme de Nichiren Daishonin est une philosophie de vie profondément humaniste.

Nichiren indique que l’on atteint la boddhéité “sans changer d’apparence”. Le trésor du coeur comme est le plus important de tous les trésors !

L’HUMAIN est le coeur du bouddhisme, de la vie elle même.
La citoyenneté ensuite, pour que vivre sa foi dans la société actuelle puisse être inséparable de la prise en compte du respect des valeurs de la laïcité et de la démocratie.

Le véritable bonheur que permet l’atteinte de la boddhéité par la récitation de Nam Myoho Renge Kyo n’est pas ailleurs que dans notre capacité à devenir toujours plus humain, à traverser au quotidien les difficultés inhérentes à la vie humaine, en révélant notre Soi véritable, notre force vitale intérieure.

Pour mieux aborder ce qu’est “atteindre la boddhéité” nous proposons au téléchargement pdficon_small un texte sur l’atteinte de la boddhéité, traduit en français, fruit de dialogue entre Daisaku IKEDA et Barabara Cahill, responsable de la Soka Gakkai en Angleterre.

Tony Meers visits Quebec and we have a visit from Yayoi Sakura.

On sunday May 31 st we held our monthly Kosen Rufu meeting. Afterwards everyone was given the details of the re-organisation of the Quebec city /Chicoutimi /TroisRivieres and Riviere du Loup districts. Tony Meers , the head of SGI Canada , attended and gave us all some very motivating information as to the importance of the various districts and how they affect the overall organistaion of the SGI.
Funnily enough we also had a visit last week from the beautiful Yayoi Sakura , who is from Japan but is living in Kelowna, BC.she is a fortune baby and a real joy to be with. I showed her around Quebec a little .Here's a picture of Yayoi.

A Buddhist magazine

Shambala Sun
Should be of interest to Buddhists of all denominations.

Cause & effect

Ce que les gens appellent ordinairement "destinée" n'est rien d'autre que la manifestation de la Loi de causalité. Le bouddhisme élucide la loi de causalité de deux façons : superficielle et profonde, phénoménale et essentielle.

Le premier concept, appelé en japonais inga iji, implique qu'il s'écoule un certain laps de temps entre la cause et l'effet. Un exemple typique est celui de la plante semée au printemps qui porte ses fruits en automne.
Le second, appelé inga guji, implique la simultanéité de la cause et de l'effet.
La différence entre ces deux points de vue consiste à envisager le principe de cause et d'effet soit d'après les phénomènes, soit d'après leur essence.

Reprenons l'exemple de la graine : Il faut effectivement un certain laps de temps entre le moment où la graine est plantée et celui où elle porte ses fruits; elle ne peut porter ses fruits que si elle est mûre. Mais par ailleurs, dès que la graine est semée, l'effet, c'est-à-dire les fruits en automne, sont déjà une potentialité intrinsèque. Ainsi, en considérant la loi de cause et d'effet dans une perspective temporelle différente, nous pouvons dire qu'en toute chose, dans l'univers, existe une loi de simultanéité de la cause et de l'effet.

D'un point de vue bouddhique, le principe de inga guji implique que la boddhéité (effet) et les neufs états (cause) coexistent dans la vie humaine. Au contraire, selon le principe d'inga iji, chacun des dix états (de l'état d'enfer à l'état de bouddha) est séparé des autres, existe dans un lieu différent. Ceux qui édifient leur vie sur cette notion considèrent inévitablement l'état de vie le plus élevé comme quelque chose d'inaccessible dans cette vie, ce qui peut les conduire à la dépression ou au nihilisme. Le principe d'inga guji, au contraire, ou celui de la coexistence des dix états dans la vie humaine, permet de vivre de manière dynamique, avec une forte détermination sans cesse renouvelée.

Si l'on considère un seul instant d'existence, il est clair qu'il est l'effet présent d'une cause passée, en même temps que la cause présente d'un effet futur. La nature même de la vie dans sa durée n'est qu'une succession d'instants présents. La cause et l'effet sont contenus dans ce moment d'existence. Ainsi, toutes les causes passées portent leurs fruits dans le présent et les causes présentes porteront leurs fruits à l'avenir. Cette Loi merveilleuse de la simultanéité de la cause et de l'effet est appelée . C'est maintenant, en cet instant, que la vie existe réellement. A un moment donné, nous pouvons nous sentir heureux ou malheureux, ressentir espoir ou découragement. De même que toutes les causes passées sont contenues dans un instant, notre façon d'agir ou de réagir ouvre l'avenir simultanément.

Cette simultanéité de la cause et de l'effet est l'une des caractéristiques essentielles de la vie. Elle n'implique ni commencement ni fin, ni une conception linéaire du temps allant du passé vers l'avenir. C'est la loi de causalité inhérente à chaque instant de vie.

Nichiren Daishonin dit dans le "Sokanmon Sho" : "Le passé, le futur et le présent semblent trois réalités distinctes, mais on ne peut les dissocier car elles ne sont qu'un seul principe dans un moment de vie".

Dans cette perspective, le moment de la mort prend une signification capitale. Personne ne peut éviter la mort; la qualité d'un être humain réside dans la conscience qu'il a de la mort. Pour ne pas être vaincu par la vie, il ne faut pas ménager ses efforts, ni manquer de courage pour affronter les difficultés et les surmonter. Nichiren Daishonin dit lui-même : "Tout d'abord, il faut apprendre ce qu'est la fin de la vie, ensuite les autres choses."

La mort s'inscrit dans chaque instant de la vie. Autrement dit, la vie est le bilan des causes et des effets créés par chaque individu. Sous l'angle de la causalité et de l'éternité de la vie, la mort d'un homme est l'instant le plus solennel de toute son existence. Le bouddhisme enseigne que les conditions dans lesquelles la mort survient déterminent le moment et les circonstances de la prochaine vie.

Le sens de la vie d'une personne et le degré de plénitude auquel elle parvient dépendent de la manière dont elle a su créer des valeurs et accomplir sa révolution humaine. C'est à cela que l'on mesure la différence entre une vie basée sur la Loi merveilleuse et une autre qui ne l'est pas.

Article paru dans "Troisième Civilisation" no. 336 d'octobre 1990. Troisième Civilisation est le journal de la Soka Gakkai France

Quote from Sensei

Passion inspires passion, and sincerity summons forth sincerity. Genuine dialogue is just this sort of profound life-to-life interaction.
Words of wisdom from President Ikeda

Le Bonheur en ce Monde

IL N'Y A PAS DE PLUS grand bonheur pour les êtres humains que de réciter Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Le Sûtra du Lotus déclare : « Là, [sur ma terre] les êtres vivent libres et heureux ». L'expression « libres et heureux » désigne la joie émanant de la Loi. Vous faites évidemment partie des « êtres » et « là » désigne le monde entier, donc aussi le Japon. « Libres et heureux » signifie réaliser que notre vie - notre corps et notre esprit, nous-même et notre environnement - est l'entité d'ichinen sanzen et le bouddha de la « liberté sans limites ».

Il n'existe pas de plus grand bonheur que d'avoir foi dans le Sûtra du Lotus. Il nous promet « paix et sécurité dans cette vie et des circonstances favorables dans la prochaine ». Ne vous laissez jamais troubler par les épreuves de la vie. En définitive, personne ne peut éviter les problèmes, pas même les saints ou les sages.

Récitez simplement Nam Myoho Renge Kyo et, quand vous buvez du saké, restez chez vous avec votre femme.

Souffrez s'il faut souffrir, et goûtez pleinement la joie lorsqu'elle se présente. Considérez la souffrance et la joie comme des réalités inséparables de la vie et continuez à réciter Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, quoi qu'il arrive. Vous connaîtrez alors la joie illimitée que procure la Loi. Fortifiez votre foi plus que jamais.

Avec mon profond respect

Nichiren

Le vingt-septième jour du sixième mois de la seconde année de Kenji (1276)

Nichiren Buddhism

Le président de la SGI

Daisaku Ikeda est un philosophe bouddhiste, un éducateur ainsi qu’un écrivain et un poète prolifique. À titre de président du mouvement bouddhique laïc de la Soka Gakkai internationale (SGI), il a déployé de grands efforts pour la paix et l’émancipation individuelle et a fondé des institutions culturelles, éducatives et de recherche sur la paix dans le monde entier.

Né à Tokyo en 1928, Daisaku Ikeda a connu la réalité tragique de la guerre et du militarisme. Dans le chaos de l’après-guerre au Japon, il adhère au bouddhisme grâce à sa rencontre avec l’éducateur et pacifiste Josei Toda, leader de l’organisation bouddhique laïque Soka Gakkai, qui avait été emprisonné pour ses convictions durant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale.

Ce sont ces expériences qui ont forgé l’engagement d’Ikeda en faveur de la paix. Au fil des ans, Daisaku Ikeda s’est engagé dans des dialogues avec nombre de penseurs et de dirigeants importants, cela afin de trouver des réponses viables aux problèmes planétaires. Il a inspiré le soutien de la SGI aux activités des Nations Unies et a beaucoup écrit sur un éventail de sujets liés à la paix et à la condition humaine.

La pensée de M. Ikeda s’articule autour de l’idée que la clé d’une paix durable et du bonheur humain réside dans une transformation auto-dirigée dans la vie de chaque personne et non dans les seules réformes sociétales ou structurelles. Il exprime succinctement cette idée dans ce passage de son ouvrage le plus connu, La Révolution humaine :
« Une profonde révolution intérieure dans la vie d’un seul individu contribuera à réaliser un changement dans la destinée d’un pays et entraînera même un changement dans la destinée de l’humanité toute entière. »

Les livres de Daisaku Ikeda offrent des perspectives fondées sur l’humanisme bouddhique en ce qui concerne les défis auxquels font face à la fois les individus dans leurs vies quotidiennes et l’humanité toute entière. Ils ont été publiés dans plus de 30 langues.

La volonté des membres de la SGI

À l’aube d’un nouveau millénaire, le monde vit une période de transformations profondes. Qu’il s’agisse de désarmement, de protection de l’environnement ou de développement humain, les défis sont plus grands que jamais. Néanmoins, les possibilités sont proportionnelles. Inspirés par leur foi bouddhique, les membres de la SGI s’efforcent de contribuer à la société et soutiennent les valeurs universelles d’égalité et de dignité humaines.

The Practice of Gongyo
The Japanese word "Gongyo" literally means "assiduous practice." Generally speaking it means to recite Buddhist sutras in front of an object of worship. In the practice of Nichiren Buddhism it means reciting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and part of the second chapter "Hoben" and the entire sixteenth "Juryo" chapter of the Lotus Sutra in front of the Gohonzon. This is the fundamental practice of Nichiren Buddhism, which is performed morning and evening.

The Liturgy of Nichiren Daishonin
The portions of the Hoben (2nd) and Juryo (16th) Chapters of the Lotus Sutra recited in the practice of Gongyo. PDF or Html Version.
See also the literal translations of these sections.

The Meaning of Gongyo
The eternal life of the Buddha, which is itself the Law, is embodied in the Gohonzon. When we recite the Hoben (2nd) and Juryo (16th) Chapters of the Lotus Sutra and chant daimoku, the Buddha's life-state is realized from within our own being, leading us also to eternal Buddhahood.

The Origins of Gongyo
While Nichiren Daishonin emphasized the importance of daily reciting the "Hoben" and "Juryo" chapters, he never mentioned a specific format. Over the centuries, the format of Gongyo has changed several times. This describes those changes from the Daishonin's day to the present, to the extent that they are known.

SGI Canada Publications

ère nouvelle
ère nouvelle est le mensuel francophone de la SGI du Canada. Il contient des actualités, des expériences de membres, des textes de Daisaku Ikeda et d’étude.

Abonnement annuel : 60 $
SOKA - Buddhist Humanism in Action et NEW CENTURY sont les publications mensuelles de la SGI du Canada en langue anglaise. Le SOKA propose des articles, une section jeunesse, des expériences personnelles de membres de la SGI et des articles sur la philosophie et la pratique bouddhique.

NEW CENTURY publie des discours du président de la SGI, Daisaku Ikeda, le texte de l’étude mensuelle et des articles sur la foi et la pratique bouddhiques. L’abonnement contient les deux magazines.

Abonnement annuel : 60 $

Our Shared Humanity: An Introduction to the SGI Buddhist Movement

Click here to watch the video http://www.sgi.org/sgi-dvd.html

« Déclaration de Vancouver »

1er octobre 1993
Lors de sa visite à Vancouver en 1993, le président Ikeda a donné aux membres canadiens cinq encouragements connus sous le nom de « Déclaration de Vancouver ».

* Soyez sincères et faites des efforts soutenus.
* Cultivez un esprit large et généreux.
* Vivez avec optimisme et bonne humeur.
* Entendez-vous les uns avec les autres.
* Soyez fiers de vous et respectueux envers vous-même.