Live a Happy Life as You desire
From SGI President Ikeda´s question-and-answer session at a North Italy leaders meeting in Milan, July 3, 1992
Question: Which is more important, the quality or quantity of chanting?
SGI President Ikeda: Both quality and quantity are important. Nichiren Daishonin says, "What is called faith is nothing unusual,"(*1) meaning that in the practice of faith we can be natural. You can pray for whatever you wish. When you are suffering, you will pray for relief, and when you feel sad, you pray that the sadness will pass. At times, you may pray for something just as children pester their mothers for pocket money. Ultimately, your prayers will be fulfilled without fail.
Because the desire of Nichiren Daishonin was to make all people truly happy, if we believe in the Gohonzon, the object of devotion that embodies his enlightened life, how can we not become happy?
We practice this faith for our own sake. The amount of daimoku(*2) you chant is not a formality but rather depends on hte extent to which you feel satisfied. In fact, there is no rule as to how much is appropriate. What is important is how you feel after chanting. The accumulation of your daily efforts will as a matter of course enable you to reach the state of life you have long wanted to achieve.
*1. The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol.1 (Tokyo: Soka Gakkai, 1999) p.1036
*2. daimoku. The invocaiton of Nam-myoho-rengue-kyo (literally, "devotion to the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law), the ultimate Law or truth of the universe
願った通りの幸福人生に
北イタリア代表幹部会(１９９２年７月３日）
質問— 唱題の「質」と「量」と、どちらが大切なのでしょう。
SGI会長— 「質」も「量」も、両方、大事です。そのうえで、御書には「夫信心と申すは別にはこれなく候」（1255㌻）—そもそも信心というのは、特別なものではない、と仰せです。ありのままの自分で、よいのです。無作というか、苦しければ、苦しいままに、悲しければ、悲しいままに、時には、だだっ子が、お小遣いをねだるように（笑い）、思った通りに祈っていくことです。最後には祈りは絶対に叶います。大聖人の願いは、私どもの幸福なのだから、その大聖人の御生命に触れ、つながっていって、幸福になれないはずがない。
どこまでも自分のための信心です。
唱題も「自分が満足する」ということが大切です。決して、何遍やらなければいけないとか、形式ではない。自分が、ああ、すっきりしたと満足することが一番です。その毎日毎日の積み重ねが、自然のうちに「所願満足」の人生を開いていくのです。