Daily Gosho - The Problem to Be Pondered Night and Day

So this Gosho is the reason why I don't get my sleep quota! And by the sounds of it, I'm not alone! I'm cutting short my sleep time because I made a vow in the distant past to propogate the Mystic Law, and if that means less sleep, so be it! This is my mission, this is my aim, and I will not begrudge my life in achieving kosen-rufu. I'm not superhuman, I am tired, but my sense of purpose and my vow to my mentor is overiding... *PS, it's important to remember that we need a sense of balance in our lives too - let's use our wisdom and use our time carefully!


"In the light of the above points, this shows, my followers, that you had better cut short your sleep by night and curtail your leisure by day, and ponder this! You must not spend your lives in vain and regret it for ten thousand years to come."

(The Problem to Be Pondered Night and Day - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Volume 1, page 622)  http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=620 Selection source: Kyo no Hosshin, Seikyo Shimbun, August 11th, 2012

Background

This letter was written to Toki Jonin, a learned and dedicated disciple who lived in Shimosa Province. In it Nichiren Daishonin stresses the extreme seriousness of the offense of slander and also the importance of embracing the supreme Buddhist teaching. The letter is dated simply the twenty-third day of the eighth month, and though it is generally thought to have been written in the first year of Kenji (1275) at Minobu, no firm conclusion has been reached in this regard. Other opinions are that the Daishonin wrote it in 1276 or even in 1273 while he was still on Sado Island.

In the Daishonin’s teaching, rather than adherence to a specific code of conduct, one’s fundamental posture toward the Mystic Law, or ultimate reality, determines one’s happiness or unhappiness in life. A person who seeks and awakens to the ultimate truth within will attain enlightenment, while one who remains in ignorance of it or even slanders it will continue to be bound by suffering. Hence the Daishonin’s emphasis on exclusive commitment to the Lotus Sutra, which teaches the direct attainment of Buddhahood for all people.

In the last part of this letter, the Daishonin raises a question that had crossed many people’s minds: on the basis of what sort of insight does he dare to criticize such eminent teachers of the past as Kobo, Jikaku, and Chisho? However, instead of answering this question directly, he simply says, “You had better cut short your sleep by night and curtail your leisure by day, and ponder this!” This passage, from which the letter takes its name, suggests that the most important task of our human existence is to seek out and uphold the correct teaching leading to enlightenment.