CNY 2008

A very Happy Chinese New Year to my readers!!

Sharing the Chinese New Year Message from my mentor:

The brilliant sun of hope is rising on the New Year. Happy New Year! My sincere congratulations on holding your glorious Chinese New Year gathering with good fortune and virtue permeating your lives.

I would like to extend my heartfelt welcome to our friends and distinguished guests. We are now living in a world filled with discord. No place in society is as bright and enjoyable as a gathering like yours that is filled with trust and friendship. Please have a meaningful time together.

At the beginning of a new year, Nichiren Daishonin once wrote to the family of Nanjo Tokimitsu that was moving on despite its sorrow at the loss of a most beloved family member, “The joy we feel at the beginning of spring is like the blossoms that open on the trees or the plants that spring up in the mountains. I, as well as others, am filled with joy” (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 2, p. 982).

Buddhism is a philosophy of infinite hope. Teaching us to change any hardship into the source of joy, it expounds the great Law that enables us to change poison into medicine.

Nichiren Daishonin refers to, “… the great joy that one experiences when one understands for the first time that one’s mind from the very beginning has been the Buddha. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the greatest of all joys” (The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, pp. 211-212).

We don’t have to bemoan our destiny. We don’t have to envy others, either. While proudly and confidently living up to your own identity, please live out your existence while seeking happiness for yourself and others, as you share the joy of living with everyone you meet.

Noble members of the Chinese Group! I am praying that you will advance along the path of victory, brightly and cheerfully staying in good health all the time, burning with hope, and becoming the happiest and most fortunate of people. Please take care.

Daisaku Ikeda
February, 2008