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Ikeda Sensei

Marking 75 Years of Buddhist Practice

Nineteen-year-old Daisaku Ikeda attends his first Soka Gakkai meeting, where he encounters Josei Toda, who would become his life mentor, Aug. 14, 1947. Courtesy of Seikyo Press.

Ikeda Sensei composed the following poems to commemorate Aug. 24, the 75th anniversary of the start of his Buddhist practice. They were translated from the Aug. 24, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun.

On my 75th anniversary 
of embracing faith, 
I dedicate to my mentor 
the honor of making the Mystic Law 
resound throughout the world.


A great tree of justice stands 
unbowed by the storm, 
anchored in the garden 
of our grassroots 
discussion meetings.


Having vowed from the remote past 
to enact the principle of  
“emerging from the earth,” [1] 
may you chant and share the Mystic Law 
with one person and then another!

References

  1. “The True Aspect of All Phenomena,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 385. ↩︎

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