Koto New Year Address - 2012
Happy New Year! Welcome to Myoshi-ji on this first day of 2012.
First, On behalf of the Myoshin-ji Hokkeko, I would like to thank Reverend Kimura for conducting this morning’s Gantan Ceremony and for the guidance that he has just given us for this “Year of Advancing Kosen Rufu Thorough Shakubuku”. I also would like to thank Reverend Natsui for his assistance with the Gantan Ceremony as well.
Also on behalf of our Myoshin-ji Hokkeko I would like to wish Reverend Kimura, Mrs. Kimura and Reverend Natsui a very Happy and Successful New Year.
I also want to take a moment to thank Mr. Eric Sofge for reading High Priest Nichinyo Shonin’s New Years Message and Ms. Brooke Stewart for reading Reverend Urushibata’s New Years Message. They did a great job! Thank you both very much.
I would also like to say Congratulations to you all for being able to come to Myoshin-ji this morning to start out the year by doing Gongyo and Chanting Daimoku in Itai Doshin with the Priesthood. I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year that is filled with Good Heath, Great Fortune and Good Circumstances.
As you have already heard, we have three practical points for our practice that we should focus upon in this “Year of Advancing Kosen Rufu Thorough Shakubuku”.
- To consistently do Gongyo and Shodai together with our families.
- To accomplish our individual shakubuku goals through consistent shakubuku
- To encourage all believers to make a pilgrimage to the Head Temple
We should use these practical points for our practice will help us along the way toward the achievement of our long term objectives given to us by our High Priest Nichinyo Shonin. He wants us to increase our Hokkeko Membership by 50% by Nikko Shonin’s birthday in the year 2015 and achieve the goal of 800,000 members by Nichiren Daishonin’s birthday in 2021.
On another note, I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone for all the efforts that we made in working toward accomplishing our shakubuku goal for 2011. Many of you took Reverend’s Kimura’s guidance of not giving up until the last moment to heart and we were able to accomplish 57 Shakubuku. Congratulations!
I am convinced that our slogan “Today’s Shodai Creates Tomorrow’s Shakubuku” is a true statement. During the last half of the year, there were a number of members that got together to chant in itai doshin and to my amazement, one by one, new members appeared to take faith in True Buddhism.
In the January Oko address last year, Reverend Kimura told us about a statement that was made by Our Honorable Retired High Priest Nikken Shonin. He stated, “The key that opens up all possibilities is none other than chanting Daimoku.” Reverend Kimura also pointed out that he even wrote a short poem that goes like this:
Boundlessly opening forth our life condition, Constantly chanting Daimoku, As we advance towards kosen-rufu.
So let’s etch these sentiments in our heart and keep our momentum going in 2012 by continuing to chant lots of Daimoku together for the sake of Kosen Rufu.
With compassion in our hearts, with strong faith in the power of the Gohonzon and with a strong determination, let’s make our best effort to support the Shakubuku goals set forth by our Chief Priest, Reverend Kimura so we can follow the Guidance from our High Priest Nichinyo Shonin and achieve our goal of increasing the membership of Myoshin-ji by 50% by the time we reach the year 2015.
Thanks so much for listening and for all that you do to support Myoshin-ji.
David Murphy
Koto