November 2011 Discussion Meeting Gosho Study!

1.    Theme for Discussion Meeting:

• Disciples Standing Up As Protagonist!
• Gosho:  Earthly Desires Are Enlightenment, WND-I-319.
• Reference:  Flow 513, pp. 4-6.

2.    Gosho Passage

Carry through with your faith in the Lotus Sutra. You cannot strike fire from flint if you stop halfway. Bring forth the great power of faith, and be spoken of by all the people of Kamakura, both high and low, or by all the people of Japan, as “Shijo Kingo, Shijo Kingo of the Lotus school!”

3.    Background

• a letter Daishonin sent from Sado Island, land of exile, to Shijo Kingo, the central figure of his disciples in Kamakura.
• said to have been written in the fifth month of the ninth year of Bun’ei (1272), but also thought to be in the fifth month of the following year, the tenth year of Bun’ei (1273).
• when Daishonin was facing the Tatsunokuchi Persecution and the Sado Exile, his greatest persecutions, his followers also met with oppressions such as imprisonment, banishment and confiscation of fiefs, and many backslided.
• in such whirlpool of great persecutions, Shijo Kingo fought to the very end without retreating even one single step.
• wishing for such victory of his disciples, the Daishonin wrote The Opening of the Eyes, in which he declared his great life-state as the original Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law, in the second month of the ninth year of Bun’ei (1272), addressing it to all his followers through Shijo Kingo.
• Shijo Kingo and the Daishonin’s followers, coming into contact with such great conviction of the Daishonin, stood up and won over the evilness of that time.
• they must have struggled very hard in the propagation of the Mystic Law, standing up for the comeback and revival of the Daishonin’s followers in opening up the future, while mutually encouraging one another.

4.    Summary

• at the very beginning, Daishonin expresses his gratitude to Shijo Kingo for his strong will in supporting and protecting his mentor all this while.
• Daishonin teaches that meeting with great persecutions as the votary of the Lotus Sutra is a rather joyful thing to him, and through these, he is able to sever the shackles of the sufferings of birth and death, and attain the great life-state of Buddhahood.
• Daishonin then says that although the Nam-myoho-renge-kyo that he expounded consists of only seven characters, it is extremely profound and goes deeper than the teaching expounded by T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo.
• he teaches that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is indeed the ultimate Law that enables all Buddhas to attain Buddhahood, and the wisdom of all Buddhas that leads all living beings to attain the Buddha way.Daishonin – wishing to save all living beings in the Latter Day of the Law, encounters great persecutions in accordance with the passages of the Lotus Sutra, and propagated the Mystic Law.
• Shijo Kingo – meeting persecutions together with the mentor, strives in the transmission of the Mystic Law as the votary of the Lotus Sutra.
• Daishonin praises Shijo Kingo for his struggle of the oneness of mentor and disciple, and encourages him to carry through to the very end his faith without slackening, bringing forth the great power of faith, and be praised by all in the country as “Shijo Kingo, Shijo Kingo of the Lotus school!”

5.    Main Points for Study

• what is our “victory” in the practice of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism?
• it is to carry through our faith unwaveringly throughout our whole life, and to show the actual proof of the trust in which our community and society can depend upon.
• “You cannot strike fire from flint if you stop halfway” – the Daishonin is emphasizing again to Shijo Kingo, who was striving in his propagation efforts amidst the whirlpool of persecutions, to “carry through with your faith in the Lotus Sutra!”
• propagating the Mystic Law is already a tremendous task even in times of smooth sailing and favorable condition, not to mention that in times of adverse wind and amidst adversities, the challenges are even more respectworthy.
• in difficult times as well as at crucial moment, standing up with such great power of faith that “Now is the time!” and “From now on!” bearing in mind the pride of “a foot soldier of kosen-rufu” and in continuing the struggle of  expanding hope and courage, we will be able to establish the life-state of happiness of attaining Buddhahood.
• Daishonin teaches Kingo that he must become someone who is spoken of by all the people of Kamakura, where Kingo himself lived, and by all the people of Japan, as “Shijo Kingo of the Lotus school.”
• for all of us today, we must be irreplaceable existences in our community and society, winning the trust of all the people who look up to us as “who and who of Soka Gakkai,” and such growth and role-play of us showing proofs of the greatness of the Mystic Law and the wonderfulness of Soka Gakkai.
• Ikeda Sensei:

“It is important that you have the awareness of being a key player – in other words, not to merely regard yourself as a part of the SGI, but to view the SGI as an integral part of yourself. 
I have done that from my youth. 
Even when I was a very junior front line leader in the organization, I still regarded the entire Gakkai as my responsibility and I agonized, pondered and prayed about how to advance kosen-rufu. 
In tackling any undertaking, I always tried to put myself in the shoes of my mentor, a great leader of kosen-rufu, asking myself, ‘What would Mr. Toda do in this situation? What approach would he take?’ 
This is the courageous path of a champion of kosen-rufu.” 

[Thoughts on The New Human Revolution, Booklet 6, pp. 41-42]

• inheriting the struggle of the mentor, one by one the disciples stand up! 
• Let us start from now towards such new challenges!

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