Be a Lamp (Nirvana Sutra)
World Honored One Flicks Dirt with His Toe (Vimalakirti Sutra)
Calming and Contemplation of Anger (Maka Shikan)
Effect of Thunderbolts on Ivory (Maka Shikan)
Blind Heir of a Wealthy Merchant (Maka Shikan)
Mongolian Wisdom (ancient sayings)
Mighty Bodhisattva Warriors (13th Dalai Lama)
Seeing Ourselves as Suchness (Shinnyo kan)
Wu-lung and I-lung (Writings of Nichiren Daishonin)
Parables:
The
Spider Thread
Mr.
Makiguchi and Fudo Myo-o
Taishaku
and the Fine Feathered Bird
A
Little Priest Fable
Shakyamuni
and the Lovers
The
Parable of the Zither
SuShi
and the Buddhist Monk
Wo
and Jah
Stonecutter
(Tao of Pooh)
The
Dancing Monk and the Self-Denying Monk
24
Hours To Die
Essays:
The
Jewel and the Genome
Mantras
of Kitties
The
Mantras of Other Beings
The
Wave Theory of Karma
Water
Karma
Gandhi
on Anger
Buddhas'
Footprints
Connections
The
Great Wish, the DaiGohonzon, and the SGI
The
Gakkai Spirit
Humor:
The
Daimoku Parrot
The
Excommunicated Newlyweds
The Order of EnlightenmentIf the Universal Law is non-discriminatory, why are some enlightened before others?
The Maka Shikan explains:
When the sun appears in the east, it first illuminates the tallest mountains, then the next highest peaks until finally even the valleys are filled with light.Nichiren Daishonin wrote:The sun does not discriminate.
The first enlightened are those who seek the truth most strenuously, they are like the tallest mountains who first receive sunlight. Inspired by their example, others follow and are illuminated like the next highest peaks.
Finally, the Universal Law illuminates even those of low capacity, like sunlight filling the valley.
[Paraphrased from Great Calming and Contemplation (a translation of the Maka Shikan), p. 122]
"Fire can be produced by a stone taken from the bottom of a river, and a candle can light up a place that has been dark for billions of years. If even the most ordinary things of this world are such wonders, then how much more wondrous is the power of the Mystic Law."(From "The One Essential Phrase")And:
"Please understand that I am merely joining my one drop to the rivers and the oceans or adding my candle to the sun and the moon, hoping in this way to increase even slightly the volume of the water or the brilliance of the light."
(From "Recitation of the Hoben and Juryo Chapters")