Nichiren teaches the meaning of true happiness and the true purpose of life. Fame and momentary glories are no more than illusions. True happiness lies in cultivating the great state of Buddhahood within one's life. This is life's true purpose. By chanting daimoku, we can change all of our sufferings into the ingredients for attaining a Buddha's lofty state of life.
Daisaku IkedaI once wrote a poem which included the line "Everything shimmers on the surface" and this guidance reminded me of that. Time after time we hear the celebrity gossip of people who appear to be in an enviable position having fame, wealth and beauty, but what a pretty unhappy bunch most of them seem to be. Of course, not all are, but they do tend to be the ones who have a much more solid life state and I think this is basically what this guidance is saying.
By chanting daimoku, we reveal the qualities of the Buddha .. in fact we ARE buddhas ... we reveal courage, compassion and wisdom and use these to base our lives on on a daily basis. Of course, with this comes challenges and at times we certainly may not feel as though we are Buddhas, but as long as we return to daimoku as the focal point of our practise, we will, as the guidance says, be able to turn our sufferings into victories.
