On Woman's Beauty

                                          By ~darkfitoplancta

By Daisaku Ikeda
(A Piece of Mirror)

"Women tend to find themselves caught in the trap that makes them eager to fit themselves in the mold of 'the beautiful woman' - a standard set by the social trends of time."

I find a woman's face weathered from numerous storms in life to be beautiful. No matter what her age, just like the beauty grains on wood that deepens with passage of time, beauty that has endured hardships shines with a distinctive splendour.

When one sees a woman for what she really is, free of decoration or cosmetics, I believe her life in all its naturalness, and her true, indestructible beauty emerges. But what is this elusive quality called beauty?


In ancient Chinese literature the so-called beautiful woman looks thin and fragile. Her feet are tiny, because they have been bound, and she looks frail, almost sickly. That seems to have been the preference at a certain time. But later, in the T'ang dynasty, am ideal woman was someone voluptuous and healthy looking. Even today, many cultures consider plump women to be beautiful and young woman are strongly encouraged to eat well. This may sound incredible to women who live in societies where tall and thin models set the trend for what is considered beautiful.

In my country, Japan, too, the definition of beauty seems to vary according to the times. Beautiful women who were portrayed in woodblock prints during the Edo period had long faces, thin eyes and large, protruding chins. But, after World War II, women who were quite buxom were suddenly considered attractive. This makes me question how there can be such different standards in society concerning women's beauty.

Women tend to find themselves caught in a trap that makes them eager to fit themselves in the mold of 'the beautiful woman' - a standard set by the social trends of the time. The purpose of this endless pursuit and to whom it is for, are often forgotten. Perhaps, in the end, the pursuit of beauty is actually for yourself, so that you can feel good when you look at yourself in the mirror. If the purpose of beauty is to be attractive to others, then, I would honestly recommend that this time and energy be spent on polishing and cultivating your inner self: your character, as I think that would be much more effective in serving your purpose.

Whether it be your boyfriend, husband, or friends...why are they attracted to you? I am sure it is not only because of your looks but because of who you are, what they find in you, the beauty of your mind and your personality. No matter how pretty a woman is, if her attraction is only in her physical looks, I do not think the appeal will last, but rather fade away with time. True, lasting attraction to another human being comes from an inner beauty and confidence that shine from within. 

I once heard a story from a woman who had gone to her 20th high school reunion. She made an astonishing discovery. Most of the women who had been beauties in their youth looked rather dull, while many of these who had been plain now shone with an inner beauty. As she talked to these friends from many years back, she realized that some of those who had been beautiful had not had to make such an effort to attract attention, and this rather self-satisfied attitude had stayed with them through the years, whole the more plain-looking women had clearly been working to develop themselves and had become truly attractive as human beings. 

For me a woman's true beauty lies not in her appearance, but deep within her heart. A woman who makes all-out efforts and who exerts herself wholeheartedly in her field is beautiful; she really shines. She looks sharp and focused and full of confidence. This kind of radiance will always outshine for me any external beauty related to what a woman is wearing. In fact those who are aware of their inner beauty do not need to seek borrowed beauty from outside. And, sadly, those who care only for their physical appearance are often spiritually impoverished and trying to conceal that lack with exterior trappings.

We all long for things of beauty- beauty of nature, of appearance, of life, a beautiful family and so on. But these cannot be gained if we are withdrawn and isolated, just looking at ourselves. We must create better relationships with other people and interact with our community and society with an open heart. We must be kind to nature. It is only through this process that we truly grow and cultivate our own beauty.  

A woman who can praise, appreciate and wholeheartedly respect those around her is more beautiful than another who is constantly criticizing others. In the same way, someone who can find joy and excitement of her own in her daily life, or even in nature and the changes of the seasons, has the warmth and brightness that give a sense of peace and comfort to others. Being an expert in discovering beauty makes one beautiful.

The famous sculptor, Rodin, once said that beauty is not found in one woman but in every woman. And he identified the source that lights up this beauty as the 'flame in one's inner life'. The flame of a pure heart, the flame of compassion, the flame of hope, and the flame of courage. These flames are the source of light that enable women to shine with beauty.

                                  by coolkidsgotorehab


It is said: "A woman's beauty shines with age." I find so much wisdom in these words. People normally connect beauty and youth, and cannot link the word 'beautiful woman' with 'older woman'. A young woman in her teens is indeed beautiful, but there is a different kind of beauty that is found in women in their 30s, 50s, even 70s. When we seek beauty inside a person, we will realize that a truly beautiful woman is a person whose inner beauty continues to deepen and be cultivated with time.

Buddhism teaches that your physical appearance is a reflection of your inner self. Hence, a truly beautiful woman knows who she is and what her strengths are and is happy and confident to be true to herself. 

Today, we live in an age where commercialism determines what is 'beautiful', but please remember that you cannot find true beauty in these fashionable trends. Beauty cannot be bought with money either. Many insecure women tend to become confused by such messages sent out by the mass producers of today's society, but I feel that appreciating and realizing your own beauty means establishing a secure and robust inner self that will not be swayed by outer circumstances.

Every woman can be beautiful. It all begins by believing in your own beauty.  

Daimoku—A “Lion’s Roar” of Happiness and Victory

(President Ikeda's Editorial 
 Translated from the November 2007 issue of the Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai monthly study journal)

Singing
a joyous song of life
together,
let us vibrantly chant
invigorating daimoku.

The daimoku of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo serves as the hope-filled driving force for all people to realize their deepest wish of making the most of each and every day and leading a worthwhile and victorious life while brimming with the joy of being alive.
The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings states: “Great joy [is what] one experiences when one understands for the first time that one’s mind from the very beginning has been the Buddha. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the greatest of all joys” (OTT, 211–12).

The resonant chanting of daimoku is a supreme paean to human dignity and life, proclaiming that we ourselves are entities of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. It is an invincible roar that fills our being with the immeasurable and unlimited power of the Buddha and the Law.

My mentor Josei Toda, who awakened to the essence of the Mystic Law during his imprisonment at the hands of the Japanese militarist authorities, gave the following guidance: “You must have this conviction: ‘I chanted with all my heart this morning. I’m going to do so again tonight. And I can chant right now. Therefore, whatever happens, I know everything will be all right.’ Chanting wholeheartedly through to the very end is the quintessential way to achieve the best possible outcome in all things.”

Daimoku
is an acclamation
of victory,
so chant confidently,
with the roar of a lion.

According to Indian philosopher Dr. Lokesh Chandra, with whom I have conducted a dialogue, Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) included Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in the prayers of his ashram. Gandhi, he said, recognized daimoku as the ultimate expression of the cosmic power that resides within each of us and a manifestation of life resonating with the ultimate rhythm of the universe.

In a letter to Gandhi, the French author Romain Rolland (1866–1944) wrote: “True prayer is [that] which, like yours, is offered in the midst of action.” Prayer leads to action. Prayer is the engine.

When Mr. Toda’s businesses were facing their direst crisis, I chanted resolutely to support my mentor and to build a new Soka Gakkai. I chanted and took action; took action and chanted. I prayed and exerted myself with all my being to transform the situation. There is no weapon more powerful than daimoku.

As Mr. Toda’s disciple, I strove all out in the spirit that the Daishonin describes as “diligent practice, exhausting the pains and trials of millions of kalpas in a single moment of life” (cf. OTT, 214). Through all these efforts, I was finally able to present my mentor with the accomplishment of total victory.

The prayers
of our great Soka women
are utterly fearless—
may they thoroughly
enjoy each day.

“Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion. What sickness can therefore be an obstacle?” (WND-1, 412), writes the Daishonin. Whenever you face an obstacle or challenge in life, vigorously set to chanting daimoku until it has been surmounted. Daimoku is a lion’s roar. It is the fundamental means for vanquishing all devilish functions and eradicating all evil.

Speaking of the tremendous power of the Mystic Law to transform poison into medicine, Mr. Toda declared: “We are the Bodhisattvas of the Earth and the followers of the Daishonin. We were born into this world as people who undergo various sufferings in order to demonstrate just how happy we can become through the power of the Mystic Law. Faith means leading a wonderful and meaningful life.”

In the history of the Soka Gakkai, in particular, we must never forget how the power of the earnest daimoku of our women’s and young women’s division members has enabled us to overcome innumerable trials and tribulations.

Nichiren Daishonin writes: “But no matter how others may chant Nam-myoho- renge-kyo, if they are persons who show enmity toward Nichiren, then without fail they will fall into the hell of incessant suffering. And then, after countless kalpas have passed, they will become Nichiren’s disciples and will succeed in attaining Buddhahood” (WND-2, 457). This applies equally to those who seek to harm the Soka Gakkai, which practices in the true lineage of the Daishonin.

Speaking to a pioneering member practicing alone in the early days of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (lit. Value-creating Education Society; forerunner of the Soka Gakkai), founding president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi said: “When the Daishonin first chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, he was completely alone. The fact that you are the only one in your community to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo right now means that—in accord with the principle of bodhisattvas emerging from the earth—a second, and a third, and then a hundred others and more, all sharing the mission for kosen-rufu, will eventually appear.” Here we find the eternal formula for increasing our ranks of capable people in the realm of faith.

In Moscow 33 years ago (in 1974), at the height of the Cold War, I said to those accompanying me: “Let’s imbue the rich earth of Mother Russia with our daimoku. Someday, a steady stream of bodhisattvas will emerge from the earth here, too.” And that is exactly what has happened, and will continue to happen into the future.

Dr. Lou Marinoff, founding president of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association (APPA), with whom I have engaged in dialogue, said he was struck by the powerful sound of SGI members chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, a practice that, he noted, was open to all people and served as a means for attuning one’s life with the dynamic rhythm of the universe.

Those who base their lives on chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo are philosophers possessing complete inner freedom, shining with a wisdom and vitality that are one with the universe and creating value in the promotion of peace and justice.
Mahatma Gandhi declared: “Prayer from the heart can achieve what nothing else can in the world.”

With optimistic confidence,
chant powerful daimoku
and win again today.

Changing Impossibility to Possibility

 

By Linda Johnson

SGI-USA Women’s Leader


Nichiren Buddhism holds the key to helping people build an indestructible palace of happiness within their lives. We must share this key with others, and we must learn to utilize it to the maximum within our own lives. 

I find that when we judge our ability to accomplish our goals through intellectual analysis rather than faith, we concede to defeat even though we practice this great teaching. If we fail to employ the “strategy of the Lotus Sutra” as the Daishonin instructs us, we tend to perceive that our goals are unattainable and do not even bother to challenge them through faith, thus making our mistaken perception a reality. Nichiren Daishonin tells us, however: “If you only chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, then what offense could fail to be eradicated? What blessing could fail to come? This is the truth, and it is of great profundity. You should believe and accept it” (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 130). 

Now is the time to make these words a reality in our lives. We must experience how transforming the power of faith is by mustering our courage to challenge the impossible. After all, as Nichiren warns us in “Reply to Kyo’o”: “A coward cannot have any of his prayers answered,” and, “The mighty sword of the Lotus Sutra must be wielded by one courageous in faith” (WND, 412). 

Women and young women compose nearly two-thirds of our organization. Our ability to help one another apply Nichiren Buddhism to our daily lives and transform our destinies will create ripples of change throughout the SGI-USA and our society as a whole. 

Nichiren Buddhism explains that everything is interconnected. A change in the life of one person, because it is inseparable from the environment, produces ripple effects in others. 

Marilyn Monroe

  

But how many of us really believe this? Many of us think we are just insignificant individuals who cannot have an impact upon others. What’s needed to change this is for each of us to experience the interconnectedness of life, as nothing is really separate. 

Therefore, our theme of making the impossible possible embraces two objectives: first, it is for every woman to challenge her own limitations daily; and second, for every woman to wholeheartedly apply her time and effort toward helping others win over their challenges.

“If we exert ourselves for Buddhism and the happiness of others,” says SGI President Ikeda, “we ourselves and everything around us will shine brightly. In contrast, self-centered actions often inflict only suffering on others. If we behave that way, we ultimately stand to lose. Buddhism teaches us to work for the welfare of others. 

Everything we do for others returns as our own benefit. No effort for kosen-rufu is ever wasted” (Oct. 22, 2004, World Tribune, p. 3).

It is also important that we support one another until everyone achieves a victory. This is why we are doing the hour of united prayer every day in which we are praying for every person to experience the limitless potential of his or her life through faith, every person to awaken to his or her mission to spread Nichiren Buddhism, and for an undeniable, tangible victory in Soka Spirit. This prayer, significantly, includes everyone, not just women.

Of course, in addition to prayer, it is vital that we visit other members, call and inspire them to go for their dreams, to use faith to challenge the impossible and to never, ever give up. We must also commit ourselves to sharing Nichiren Buddhism with others.

Today people are yearning for hope, to know that they can lead a fulfilled daily existence while making this world a better place. Nichiren Buddhism has the key to make this possible.

Absolute & Relative Happiness

Written by Daisaku Ikeda

What is the purpose of life? It is to become happy. Whatever country or society people live in, they all have the same deep desire: to become happy.


Yet, there are few ideals as difficult to grasp as that of happiness. In our daily life we constantly experience happiness and unhappiness, but we are still quite ignorant as to what happiness really is. 

A young friend of mine once spent a long time trying to work out what happiness was, particularly happiness for women. When she first thought about happiness she saw it as a matter of becoming financially secure or getting married. (The view in Japanese society then was that happiness for a woman was only to be found in marriage.) But looking at friends who were married, she realized that marriage didn't necessarily guarantee happiness.


She saw couples who had been passionately in love suffering from discord soon after their wedding. She saw women who had married men with money or status but who fought constantly with their husbands.


Gradually, she realized that the secret of happiness lay in building a strong inner self that no trial or hardship could ruin. She saw that happiness for anyone - man or woman - does not come simply from having a formal education, from wealth or from marriage. It begins with having the strength to confront and conquer one's own weaknesses. Only then does it become possible to lead a truly happy life and enjoy a successful marriage.


She finally told me, "Now I can say with confidence that happiness doesn't exist in the past or in the future. It only exists within our state of life right now, here in the present, as we face the challenges of daily life."


I agree entirely. You yourself know best whether you are feeling joy or struggling with suffering. These things are not known to other people. Even a man who has great wealth, social recognition and many awards may still be shadowed by indescribable suffering deep in his heart. On the other hand, an elderly woman who is not fortunate financially, leading a simple life alone, may feel the sun of joy and happiness rising in her heart each day. 

Happiness is not a life without problems, but rather the strength to overcome the problems that come our way. There is no such thing as a problem-free life; difficulties are unavoidable. But how we experience and react to our problems depends on us. Buddhism teaches that we are each responsible for our own happiness or unhappiness. Our vitality - the amount of energy or "life-force" we have - is in fact the single most important factor in determining whether or not we are happy.


True happiness is to be found within, in the state of our hearts. It does not exist on the far side of some distant mountains. It is within you, yourself. However much you try, you can never run away from yourself. And if you are weak, suffering will follow you wherever you go. You will never find happiness if you don't challenge your weaknesses and change yourself from within.


Happiness is to be found in the dynamism and energy of your own life as you struggle to overcome one obstacle after another. This is why I believe that a person who is active and free from fear is truly happy.


The challenges we face in life can be compared to a tall mountain, rising before a mountain climber. For someone who has not trained properly, whose muscles and reflexes are weak and slow, every inch of the climb will be filled with terror and pain. The exact same climb, however, will be a thrilling journey for someone who is prepared, whose legs and arms have been strengthened by constant training. With each step forward and up, beautiful new views will come into sight. 

My teacher used to talk about two kinds of happiness - "relative" and "absolute" happiness. Relative happiness is happiness that depends on things outside ourselves: friends and family, surroundings, the size of our home or family income.


This is what we feel when a desire is fulfilled, or something we have longed for is obtained. While the happiness such things bring us is certainly real, the fact is that none of this lasts forever. Things change. People change. This kind of happiness shatters easily when external conditions alter.


Relative happiness is also based on comparison with others. We may feel this kind of happiness at having a newer or bigger home than the neighbors. But that feeling turns to misery the moment they start making new additions to theirs!


Absolute happiness, on the other hand, is something we must find within. It means establishing a state of life in which we are never defeated by trials and where just being alive is a source of great joy. This persists no matter what we might be lacking, or what might happen around us. A deep sense of joy is something which can only exist in the innermost reaches of our life, and which cannot be destroyed by any external forces. It is eternal and inexhaustible.


This kind of satisfaction is to be found in consistent and repeated effort, so that we can say, "Today, again, I did my very best. Today, again, I have no regrets. Today, again, I won." The accumulated result of such efforts is a life of great victory.


What we should compare is not ourselves against others. We should compare who we are today against who we were yesterday, who we are today against who we will be tomorrow. While this may seem simple and obvious, true happiness is found in a life of constant advancement. And the same worries that could have made us miserable can actually be a source of growth when we approach them with courage and wisdom.


One friend whose dramatic life proved this was Natalia Satz, who founded the first children's theater in Moscow. In the 1930s, she and her husband were marked by Soviet Union's secret police. Even though they were guilty of no crime, her husband was arrested and executed and she was sent to a prison camp in the frozen depths of Siberia.


After she recovered from the initial shock, she started looking at her situation, not with despair, but for opportunity. She realized that many of her fellow prisoners had special skills and talents. She began organizing a "university," encouraging the prisoners to share their knowledge. "You. You are a scientist. Teach us about science. You are an artist. Talk to us about art."


In this way, the boredom and terror of the prison camp were transformed into the joy of learning and teaching. Eventually, Mrs. Satz even made use of her own unique talents to organize a theater group. She survived the five-year prison sentence, and dedicated the rest of her long life to creating children's theater. When we met for the first time in Moscow in 1981, she was already in her 80s. She was as radiant and buoyant as a young girl. Her smile was the smile of someone who has triumphed over the hardships of life. Hers is the kind of spirit I had in mind when I wrote the following poem on "Happiness":

A person with a vast heart is happy.
Such a person lives each day with a broad and embracing spirit.
A person with a strong will is happy.
Such a person can confidently enjoy life, never defeated by suffering.
A person with a profound spirit is happy.
Such a person can savor life's depths
while creating meaning and value that will last for eternity.
A person with a pure mind is happy.
Such a person is always surrounded by refreshing breezes of joy.