The Search For Enlightenment

Often we hear about the different attitudes of religious doctrine around the world, some we are happy to embrace, others we find unsettling. But whatever the doctrine, religion must teach us an ‘attitude to life’.

To live a life of true human dignity is certainly difficult. Life is change, it is continuous change. Nothing is constant. The  four sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death are an eternal theme that no one can escape.

Amid harsh reality, people yearn from the depths of their beings, to live with dignity, for their lives to have meaning, and they make efforts towards that end. The product of these human yearnings, these prayers, is religion. Religion was born from prayer.

What is Nichiren’s response to these prayers of human beings? What attitude towards life does he teach? The answer, in short, is the principle of attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime through continued practice.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.