Good morning. Shine as only you can, at your very best — this is Yukihiro Shima of SGI Butsudan Net (Oubaitori.com), a specialist store for Soka Gakkai butsudan.
In today’s 149th YouTube Live, I shared a challenge I’m taking on right now. A man who once struggled even to chant daimoku has become someone who chants 10,000 daimoku every single day — and I want to share that living, present-tense proof with you.
▲ Part 1: “Let’s Daimoku” — English edition coming soon (YouTube Live, Episode 149)
A man who struggled with daimoku, now chanting 10,000 a day
To be honest, chanting daimoku never came easily to me. To change that, I created “Kokū Zushi,” a butsudan designed to help daimoku rise naturally — and I set out to prove, with my own life, whether daimoku really would flow.
In the midst of that challenge, ten million daimoku rose over three years. But those ten million are not a finish line for me. If this were a building, I’ve only just finished laying the foundation. From here, the structure above begins to rise — and I’m right at that threshold.
Thankfully, another one million have accumulated over the past three months, reaching 11.02 million as of today. Not as a past accomplishment, but in the present progressive tense — how does one’s karma transform, how does human revolution unfold? That is the drama I’ll keep chronicling.
“Let’s Daimoku” — the English edition is coming soon
The book that captures this challenge is “Let’s Daimoku.” The Japanese edition has been read by so many people, including on Amazon, and now the English edition is finally almost ready. I’m confident I can deliver it as early as next week.
The English edition of my previous book, “Butsudan Revolution: Kokū Zushi,” was translated by Mr. Gordon, a person of truly remarkable character. For “Let’s Daimoku,” I didn’t want to burden Mr. Gordon any further, so I had AI (Claude) study his translation and render this book in that same “Gordon style.” My own English is barely at the “This is a pen” level — yet the feelings I wrote in Japanese are being carried into English with the help of AI. That’s the challenge I’m taking on.
This edition will be a bilingual, facing-page format in a slightly larger trim size. Let me say clearly, up front: I am not publishing this book to make a profit. That said, I can’t let it run at a loss either, so I’ll offer it at a fair price that covers printing and production. My one aim is to leave a record of how one ordinary person transforms — a record of human revolution rooted in daimoku.
“Not challenging” becomes your own limit
Lately I feel this deeply: whether or not you take on a challenge is what decides your limits. The moment you decide “I won’t challenge anymore,” that becomes your ceiling. As long as you keep challenging, your limit is still somewhere further ahead.
It’s like trying to leave the earth for space. Just before the atmosphere thins out, the air grows sparse and breathing becomes hard. Sometimes you break straight through; other times you’re pulled back, catch your breath, and rise to try again. But falling back is not failure. As long as you keep aiming to break through, that is the challenge itself — and only giving up becomes the true limit.
This power wells up from within the moment you make the daimoku of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo your foundation. Not something you do because you’re told to, but a feeling of “I must do this, no matter what” that springs up endlessly. That, I believe, is exactly why we are Bodhisattvas of the Earth — bodhisattvas who well up from the ground.
My challenge is far from over. Let’s each carry through, in our own place, what only you can do and what only I can do. Let’s make each precious day shine to its fullest. Why not begin your own challenge today?
🙏 A message from Yukihiro Shima | SGI Butsudan Net
Shine as only you can, at your very best!
SGI Butsudan Net — a specialist store for Soka Gakkai butsudan
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