MARA AND THE MIDDLE WAY: ENCOURAGEMENT TO KEEPING UP THE PRACTICE IN TIMES OF STRUGGLE by Ben

I will keep this short, for there is no need to exhaust the main point of this message. There is in our very human life the urge to give up when we meet with the various sufferings life presents us with. But in the case of the ones who have taken up the privilidge in uphoding the Daimoku in this age, such miseries which come often as a result of malignant forces pressing against us, must not shake our faith, but instead must reinforce it! When we meet difficulty and persecution it is because we have entered the correct path. Lies despise the truth, ignorance abhores enlightenment. The devil king Mara will do all that he can to keep the wordling from attaining enlightenment, how much more so will he assail the bodhisattva who not only works for his own enlightenment but for that of every creature in this world and others! Mara will even give you material gains in order to hide the path from you. So stay in the middle way! Do not think you will be immune from life difficulties, for nothing is immune. It is a law bound up with life. Our Buddhist practice is not there to make everything smooth and convenient in the material sphere.  So anyone who takes up Daimoku dont give up at the first sign of trouble, you took the medicine to wake you up, not to shut you down! Lets keep it real always :)

 Through it all keep chanting.Namu Myoho Renge Kyo for peace in the land