Live #160: Does a New Butsudan Raise Your Daimoku? The Gohonzon Is the Same | Oubaitori.com

Hello, everyone. This is Shima from Oubaitori.com. I streamed Live #160 from home.

This time there are two stories: how I pushed past my limits and collapsed, and a member who wrote, “I’m struggling financially, but I want to buy a butsudan.”

Beyond the atmosphere, not enough oxygen

On April 6 this year I reached 10 million daimoku. Three months later, another million. As of today, 11.79 million.

On top of that, I added dictation for my next book, LB³ (Limit Break). September was, for me, a decisive battle. Thinking “I can still do more,” I set out to break my own limits — and I broke a little myself.

In August I was telling people, “I’m already up around the stratosphere.” After September 30, I finally broke through the atmosphere. Out in space, suddenly there wasn’t enough oxygen. That’s where I am. Yesterday I slept seven hours, twice — two days’ worth. Driving to the store felt unsafe, so today’s live came from home.

Pushing until you collapse is reckless

In the chat, some of you wrote, “Please don’t push so hard.” Thinking you should keep going until you collapse is reckless. Rest before you reach that point.

Health comes first. Without health, you can’t fight. Without a long life, the fight can’t continue. Even a Nobel Prize takes 20, 30, 50 years of research before it takes form.

“I’m struggling, but I want a bowl of ramen”

Recently someone wrote to me on LINE: “I’m struggling financially, but I’m thinking of buying a butsudan.” The altar they received about 25 years ago had grown old, and they wanted a new one, even a used one.

Imagine a ramen shop owner hearing, “I’m struggling, but I want ramen.” How would you answer? That feeling is wonderful. But I’m an odd one, so this is how I answered.

Even a million-yen altar holds the same Gohonzon

A replacement, a used altar, or a brand-new one costing a million yen — the Gohonzon is the same. The question is whether you chant daimoku to the Gohonzon.

If you say, “I can’t chant because the altar is old,” you’re blaming the old altar. You’re not blaming the Gohonzon.

If your own inner resolve doesn’t change, a new altar won’t raise your daimoku. We buy a Soka Gakkai butsudan in order to chant. If you replace it so you can chant to the Gohonzon anew, I think that’s fine.

Financial hardship, too, is something we create ourselves. Together with the Gohonzon, we carry out our own economic revolution. That’s how I got here. It was precisely because my daimoku wasn’t rising that the Kokū Zushi was born.

Only you know whether you’re chanting

No one can tell from the outside whether you’re chanting. But you know. Because I’m chanting now, I can talk like this.

So it starts with yourself. If you haven’t felt for yourself that daimoku is good, jumping to “Now let’s share Buddhism” gets the order wrong. Speak not from conviction alone, but from what you have actually experienced. That’s how I see it now.

Today’s suggestions

• Chant daimoku yourself first.
• Don’t blame the altar. A new one holds the same Gohonzon.
• Health comes first. Rest before you collapse.

The goal is already in sight — around the final corner, into the home stretch. What I’ve been improving day after day will soon take form in this saha world. I’m convinced of it.

Every moment, three thousand realms shift in a single life-moment. Feel free to watch me like a pet: “There he goes again, doing his own thing.”

Let’s Daimoku!