Nichiren Buddhism: A Faith That Encourages Inner Change for Happiness

Nichiren Buddhism is all about taking personal responsibility for one’s life and happiness. It is based on the law of cause and effect. In other words, according to Nichiren Buddhism, one present circumstances are an effect or result of one’s thoughts, words and actions in the past, and that these three would have a bearing on one’s present and future.
Therefore, everything that one experiences is a result of cause and effect. According to Nichiren Buddhists, anyone can be happy as long as they take accountability for their life and determine to bring about a positive change in themselves.

Josei Toda

osei Toda (1900-58) a été éducateur, éditeur et entrepreneur. Second président de la Soka Gakkai, il a fait revivre cette organisation bouddhique et laïque après la Seconde Guerre mondiale et en a fait un mouvement populaire et dynamique.
Rencontre avec son mentor
Arrivé à Tokyo depuis l’île du Hokkaido, au Nord, au début de la vingtaine, M.Toda obtient un poste d’enseignant à l’école dont Tsunesaburo Makiguchi est le principal. Impressionné par les idéaux éducatifs de M. Makiguchi, il devient vite le protégé de ce dernier. En 1928, il suit Makiguchi dans sa décision de pratiquer le bouddhisme de Nichiren. Ensemble, ils fondent plus tard la Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, qui est à l’origine de la Soka Gakkai.
La prison
À l’époque où les autorités militaires japonaises resserrent leur contrôle sur la société et éliminent la dissidence, Toda et Makiguchi sont arrêtés et emprisonnés en 1943 pour opposition aux politiques gouvernementales.
En prison, Toda se consacre à la pratique et à l’étude du bouddhisme de Nichiren et en appréhende profondément les principes. Ses efforts lui permettent de comprendre clairement que la boddhéité est un potentiel inhérent à toute vie et de renforcer sa confiance que tous peuvent manifester cette condition de vie illuminée en mettant les enseignements de Nichiren en pratique.
L’établissement de la Soka Gakkai
À sa sortie de prison à la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale,Toda commence à reconstruire la Soka Kyoiku Gakkai effondrée, qu’il renomme « Soka Gakkai »  (Société pour la création de valeurs).
Toda enseignait que la pratique bouddhique et un changement motivé de l’intérieur, ou « révolution humaine », permettaient à chaque personne d’améliorer sa destinée. Ce message résonnait fortement parmi les nombreuses personnes qui souffraient de pauvreté, de maladie et d’autres difficultés dans le chaos qui caractérisait l’après-guerre au Japon. De plus, la confiance inébranlable de Toda dans le pouvoir de la philosophie de Nichiren, et son habileté à traduire les profonds concepts du bouddhisme en directives pratiques applicables au quotidien ravivaient l’espoir et le courage des gens.
À la mort de Toda, en 1958, l’organisation comptait près d’un million de membres. Il avait établi la fondation de la remarquable propagation du bouddhisme de Nichiren au Japon et à l’étranger.
La paix en héritage
L’on se souvient aussi de Josei Toda pour sa position intransigeante contre les armes nucléaires, qu’il décrivait comme un mal absolu qui menaçait le droit inaliénable des gens à la vie. Il a lancé un appel à la jeunesse de la Soka Gakkai pour qu’elle se mobilise en faveur de l’abolition des armes nucléaires. Cette position, qu’il a exprimé sous forme de déclaration en 1957, est considérée comme l’inspiration des activités pour la paix de la SGI.

En hommage aux idéaux de M. Toda, son successeur, l’actuel président de la SGI, Daisaku Ikeda, a fondé l’Institut Toda pour la paix mondiale et pour une politique prospective. Cet institut rassemble des chercheurs dans le domaine de la paix, des personnes responsables de l’élaboration des politiques et des activistes communautaires dans des projets ayant trait à la consolidation de la paix et au dialogue entre les civilisations.

Impermanence

Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. Heraclitus said we can never bathe twice in the same river. Confucius, while looking at a stream, said, "It is always flowing, day and night." The Buddha implored us not just to talk about impermanence, but to use it as an instrument to help us penetrate deeply into reality and obtain liberating insight. We may be tempted to say that because things are impermanent, there is suffering. But the Buddha encouraged us to look again. Without impermanence, life is not possible. How can we transform our suffering if things are not impermanent? How can our daughter grow up into a beautiful young lady? How can the situation in the world improve? We need impermanence for social justice and for hope.
If you suffer, it is not because things are impermanent. It is because you believe things are permanent. When a flower dies, you don't suffer much, because you understand that flowers are impermanent. But you cannot accept the impermanence of your beloved one, and you suffer deeply when she passes away.
If you look deeply into impermanence, you will do your best to make her happy right now. Aware of impermanence, you become positive, loving and wise. Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change. Impermanence is an instrument for our liberation.

Sōka Gakkai was founded as the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai (創価教育学会, lit. "Value-Creation Education Society") on November 18, 1930 by Japanese educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and his colleague Josei Toda. Makiguchi sought to reform Japan's militaristic education system into a more humanistic one that would support the full development and potential of Japan's youth. His ideas on education, and his theory of value-creation (創価, sōka), are explored in his 1930 work Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei (創価教育学体系, The Theory of Value-Creating Pedagogy). In Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, he found a religious philosophy that reflected his educational theories, which led to the establishment of the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai. Eventually, the focus of the organization began to shift, as Makiguchi came to the conclusion that the practice of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism itself could allow each individual to develop their potential within and attain Buddhahood. However, Makiguchi and Toda's thinking was in direct conflict with the goals of the state. When the Japanese government more rigorously enforced Shinto's position as the state religion (State Shinto) with the enactment of the Religious Organizations Law of 1939, a move designed to impose stricter governmental controls over religions,^[5] and began to demand that all citizens enshrine Shinto talismans in their homes^[6] Makiguchi, Toda, and 18 other Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai members resisted, refusing the talismans. For refusing to cooperate with the government by compromising their religious beliefs, the two educators were sent to prison. Makiguchi died there at age 73; Toda was later released and, after World War II, rebuilt the organization, renaming it Sōka Gakkai to reflect the extension of its membership beyond educators only. Over the years, the Sōka Gakkai experienced a period of rapid growth in Japan. An organization, Nichiren Shoshu of America (NSA, later also called Nichiren Shoshu Academy, Nichirenshoshu Sōkagakkai of America, and finally Sōka Gakkai International – USA), was formally organized in the United States on October 13, 1960. Today, Sōka Gakkai International and Nichiren Shoshu have parted ways. SGI now has a membership of somewhere between 100,000 to 300,000 practitioners in the United States.^[7] Sōka Gakkai International (SGI) was founded in 1975 as the International Buddhist League to act as the international leadership of national Sōka Gakkai organizations.

New Years Gosho

I HAVE received a hundred slabs of steamed rice cake and a basket of fruit. New Year’s Day marks the first day, the first month, the beginning of the year, and the start of spring.¹ A person who celebrates this day will accumulate virtue and be loved by all, just as the moon becomes full gradually, moving from west to east,² and as the sun shines more brightly, traveling from east to west.

First of all, as to the question of where exactly hell and the Buddha exist, one sutra states that hell exists underground, and another sutra says that the Buddha is in the west. Closer examination, however, reveals that both exist in our five-foot body. This must be true because hell is in the heart of a person who inwardly despises his father and disregards his mother. It is like the lotus seed, which contains both blossom and fruit. In the same way, the Buddha dwells within our hearts. For example, flint has the potential to produce fire, and gems have intrinsic value. We ordinary people can see neither our own eyelashes, which are so close, nor the heavens in the distance. Likewise, we do not see that the Buddha exists in our own hearts. You may question how it is that the Buddha can reside within us when our bodies, originating from our parents’ sperm and blood, are the source of the three poisons and the seat of carnal desires. But repeated consideration

assures us of the truth of this matter. The pure lotus flower blooms out of the muddy pond, the fragrant sandalwood grows from the soil, the graceful cherry blossoms come forth from trees, the beautiful Yang Kuei-fei was born of a woman of low station, and the moon rises from behind the mountains to shed light on them. Misfortune comes from one’s mouth and ruins one, but fortune comes from one’s heart and makes one worthy of respect.

The sincerity of making offerings to the Lotus Sutra at the beginning of the New Year is like cherry blossoms blooming from trees, a lotus unfolding in a pond, sandalwood leaves unfurling on the Snow Mountains, or the moon beginning to rise. Now Japan, in becoming an enemy of the Lotus Sutra, has invited misfortune from a thousand miles away. In light of this, it is clear that those who now believe in the Lotus Sutra will gather fortune from ten thousand miles away. The shadow is cast by the form, and just as the shadow follows the form, misfortune will befall the country whose people are hostile to the Lotus Sutra. The believers in the Lotus Sutra, on the other hand, are like the sandalwood with its fragrance. I will write you again.

Nichiren

The fifth day of the first month

Reply to the wife of Omosu

Attachment

You're trying to make a point with a coworker or your partner. At one moment her face is open and she's listening, and at the next, her eyes cloud over or her jaw tenses. What is it that you're seeing?
 
Someone criticizes you. They criticize your work or your appearance or your child. At moments like that, what is it you feel? It has a familiar taste in your mouth, it has a familiar smell. Once you begin to notice it, you feel like this experience has been happening forever.

The Future is here.

Massive Change
Our world is undergoing change constanly .

English Group

We will be holding the first meeting of the english group on Jan.17th .This is a first for the SGI in Quebec City . We have about 10 mmembers who are anglophone in the area also various other people who are occasional participants who would benefit from meetings in english. These meetings are in addiition to the regular district meetings and will be held 3 or 4 times a year.

New Year’s Gosho

I HAVE received a hundred slabs of steamed rice cake and a basket of fruit. New Year’s Day marks the first day, the first month, the beginning of the year, and the start of spring.¹ A person who celebrates this day will accumulate virtue and be loved by all, just as the moon becomes full gradually, moving from west to east,² and as the sun shines more brightly, traveling from east to west.

First of all, as to the question of where exactly hell and the Buddha exist, one sutra states that hell exists underground, and another sutra says that the Buddha is in the west. Closer examination, however, reveals that both exist in our five-foot body. This must be true because hell is in the heart of a person who inwardly despises his father and disregards his mother. It is like the lotus seed, which contains both blossom and fruit. In the same way, the Buddha dwells within our hearts. For example, flint has the potential to produce fire, and gems have intrinsic value. We ordinary people can see neither our own eyelashes, which are so close, nor the heavens in the distance. Likewise, we do not see that the Buddha exists in our own hearts. You may question how it is that the Buddha can reside within us when our bodies, originating from our parents’ sperm and blood, are the source of the three poisons and the seat of carnal desires. But repeated consideration

assures us of the truth of this matter. The pure lotus flower blooms out of the muddy pond, the fragrant sandalwood grows from the soil, the graceful cherry blossoms come forth from trees, the beautiful Yang Kuei-fei was born of a woman of low station, and the moon rises from behind the mountains to shed light on them. Misfortune comes from one’s mouth and ruins one, but fortune comes from one’s heart and makes one worthy of respect.

The sincerity of making offerings to the Lotus Sutra at the beginning of the New Year is like cherry blossoms blooming from trees, a lotus unfolding in a pond, sandalwood leaves unfurling on the Snow Mountains, or the moon beginning to rise. Now Japan, in becoming an enemy of the Lotus Sutra, has invited misfortune from a thousand miles away. In light of this, it is clear that those who now believe in the Lotus Sutra will gather fortune from ten thousand miles away. The shadow is cast by the form, and just as the shadow follows the form, misfortune will befall the country whose people are hostile to the Lotus Sutra. The believers in the Lotus Sutra, on the other hand, are like the sandalwood with its fragrance. I will write you again.

Nichiren

The fifth day of the first month

Reply to the wife of Omosu

Buddhism Day by Day

Hand in hand with ( and inseparable from ) our personal awakening , the aim of Buddhist practice  is to establish a truly peaceful society based on the empowerment of all individuals , a true state of equality and justice grounded in respect for the Buddha nature inherent in everyone.

Siddharta Gautama

Shakyamuni (ou Siddharta Gautama) a vécu dans le nord de l’Inde il y a environ 2500 ans. C’était un prince du clan des Shakya, petite tribu dont le royaume se trouvait sur les contreforts de l’Himalaya. Très jeune, il est profondément troublé par ce qu’il découvre : les quatre souffrances inéluctables de la vie humaine, soit la naissance dans un monde troublé, la maladie, la vieillesse et la mort.

Renonçant à une vie de luxe, il s’engage dans une recherche spirituelle pour découvrir la cause fondamentale de la souffrance humaine et son remède. Durant de nombreuses années, Shakyamuni pratique des austérités d’une extrême rigueur et les enseignements des différentes écoles religieuses de son époque. Mais il les rejette finalement, les jugeant inaptes à apporter la réponse qu’il cherche.

Ayant pris conscience qu’il doit trouver par lui-même cette réponse, Shakyamuni entre dans une profonde méditation alors qu’il se trouve assis sous un arbre de la Bodhi, près de la ville de Gayâ, dans l’actuel état de Bihâr. Là, il s’éveille à la véritable nature de la vie. Par la suite, il enseigne aux autres la vérité à laquelle il s’est éveillé, en utilisant différents moyens.

Selon la tradition, il a voyagé partout en Inde pendant près de 40 ans, partageant son éveil, défendant la paix et apprenant à ceux qu'il rencontrait comment libérer le potentiel formidable qui est en eux. Il se fait bientôt appeler le Bouddha ou l’Éveillé. Ses enseignements ont été consignés sous la forme de sûtras et diffusés dans toute l’Asie, donnant naissance aux différentes écoles du bouddhisme, généralement caractérisées par l’importance accordée à la paix et à la compassion.

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One Buddhist sutra states: "If you want to understand the causes that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the present. And if you want to understand what results will be manifested in the future, look at the causes that exist in the present."

Quote from Daisaku Ikeda

The essential teaching of Buddhism is that the life of the Buddha residesin every plant and tree , even in the smallest dust mote. It's  a philosophy founded on a profound reverence for life.