“Even when Jakusho and other priests set out from Japan to take some sutras to China, no one was found there who could embrace these sutras and teach them to others. It was as though there were only wooden or stone statues garbed in priests’ robes and carrying begging bowls.” (“On the Buddha’s Prophecy,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 401)
Background
In this passage, Nichiren Daishonin teaches how important it is to have successors who can keep the flow of kosen-rufu going. No matter how great Buddhism is, without those who can share its teachings, it will be impossible for people to benefit from it. If successors don’t move or speak, Nichiren says, they’re no more helpful than statues.
The important thing is to take action to help the person right in front of us. For Nichiren Buddhism to endure, for peace and prosperity to be achieved, we need people who propagate the Law. SGI members are the ones who take such action and who shoulder the future. By renewing our vow each day, let’s persevere in faith and grow to be capable successors.
Ikeda Sensei’s Guidance
Kosen-rufu is the struggle to ensure that the brilliant light of the Mystic Law endures forever and to help all people attain enlightenment. Naturally, it is an endeavor that cannot be achieved in a single lifetime. For that very reason, we must ensure that the Lotus Sutra’s fundamental aim of leading all living beings to the Buddha way is never lost but passed on to future generations.
The path of mentor and disciple is dedicated to keeping alive this essential wish of the Buddha—kosen-rufu, the widespread propagation of the Mystic Law— securely passing on the baton of this lofty cause as in a relay race, handed from one runner to the next. The great vow for kosen-rufu can only be fulfilled through the correct teaching of Buddhism being transmitted from mentor to disciple. (A Foundation for Your Life, pp. 80–81)
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