The following is Ikeda Sensei’s speech at the Soka Gakkai headquarters leaders meeting held at the Tokyo Makiguchi Memorial Hall in Hachioji, on Oct. 11, 2001. It was translated from the Nov. 28, 2025, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun.
On Nov. 18, [2001,] we will celebrate our first Soka Gakkai Founding Day of the 21st century.
The Soka Gakkai is an organization dedicated to kosen-rufu, a goal that is the very essence and will of Nichiren Daishonin. Because we are an organization working to accomplish kosen-rufu, the Soka Gakkai has been able to overcome every obstacle and realize phenomenal development by continually growing and advancing, and by winning victory after victory. This is all due to your efforts. I wish to thank you most sincerely.
Our Buddhist practice is for our good health. I hope all of you will become people who enjoy abundant good health, possess wisdom and compassion, and embody profound philosophy.
Nichiren Daishonin quotes the following words of the Great Teacher Dengyo:
Those who praise him [a person who upholds the Lotus Sutra] will receive blessings that will pile up as high as Mount Calm and Bright [i.e., Mount Sumeru], while those who slander him will be committing a fault that will condemn them to the hell of incessant suffering.[1] (“The Selection of the Time,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 583)
Mount Sumeru is a towering peak like Mount Everest, rising at the center of the world in Indian mythology. As this passage indicates, the benefit that accrues to individuals who praise the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra is incalculable.
You are taking action for kosen-rufu. You are advancing for peace, happiness, security and harmony. You are spreading the teachings of Buddhism, which provide the foundation for all of these things. There is no nobler life than this. All of you have my unstinting praise.
What is happiness? The French writer Romain Rolland (1866–1944) said that happiness is finding one’s own course, adding: “Nothing stagnant. Life in motion. … The forward march.”[2] The spirit of Buddhism is that of ceaseless advance—continuing to “exert oneself bravely and vigorously” (see The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, p. 56). Not to advance is to regress.
Who is a youth? It is not simply a question of age. A youth is someone who keeps progressing day after day. This was Mr. Makiguchi’s conviction. A person who advances is a youth in the truest sense. Moreover, the Mystic Law is the font of perennial youth and eternal life. It allows us to make our way through the three existences of past, present and future with infinite life force.
The Soka Gakkai is overflowing with the dynamic spirit of continual advance in every corner of Japan. We are always cheerful and high-spirited, standing proud and tall as invincible champions of truth, no matter what happens.
The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), whose thought Mr. Makiguchi studied up to his death in prison, wrote, “A cheerful heart alone is able to find happiness in the good.”[3] The Soka Gakkai is limitlessly cheerful because it stands for truth and justice. It possesses the strength of the people, their ability to smile brightly in the face of adversity and keep moving forward.
“Come, let us take action!” “Let us work for kosen-rufu!” “Let us expand our Soka network!” Joy resides in such a bright, positive spirit. Those who strive gladly for kosen-rufu and for the welfare of their friends savor true happiness.
A religion that does not make people happy but instead makes them feel gloomy and depressed is in error.
The Soka Gakkai today has achieved tremendous development as a global religious organization.
I wish to share with you the honors I have received—you, my friends, who have weathered countless obstacles and triumphed over them all alongside me.
I earnestly pray each day that you will lead the happiest lives and that you may enjoy good fortune, safety, longevity and good health.
I wish to declare that through your united efforts, the Soka Gakkai has completely triumphed in every respect.
As a glance at the international situation will reveal, we are living in a turbulent age. Let us recall some of our goals.
We have vowed to secure the foundation for peace in Asia and throughout the world during the second Seven Bells in the first half of the 21st century. Then, during the third Seven Bells[4] in the second half of the 21st century, we will see the philosophy of respect for the dignity of life established as the spirit of the age and the world.[5]
Humanity’s future is still in peril. The only real way to break through the darkness is for human beings themselves to change. With our grand vision for the 21st century, let us ring the bells of eternal peace, of kosen-rufu, steadily and resolutely, one after another!
The world at peace and all humanity living together in harmony is the dream and hope of the 21st century. The surest first step toward realizing that goal is for human beings to reach out and engage in dialogue that transcends all differences.
There is a key line in Nichiren Daishonin’s treatise “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land”: “Let us discuss the question at length” (WND-1, 7). The host is inviting his guest to engage in a dialogue. The Daishonin always highly valued one-to-one dialogue, and the treatise itself is structured as a dialogue between the host and his guest. This writing is the starting point for peace. It is said that Nichiren Buddhism begins and ends with “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land.” And dialogue is the backbone of this important work. It is through one-to-one dialogue that individuals form bonds of genuine trust. Neither military force nor political coercion hold any answers.
People coming together without prejudice and transcending national and ethnic differences—our organization is truly a model of that ideal. Just look at the international gathering we are holding today, with so many friends from diverse lands. What we need to do is expand this. We are promoting dialogue for peace throughout the world. We are conducting dialogue with people of different cultures and traditions.
The Soka Gakkai’s movement for peace is striving through dialogue to establish the philosophy of respect for the dignity of life as the spirit of the age in the 21st century. The dialogues you engage in each day are noble and important. I hope you will continue them with supreme confidence and pride.
I hope you will compose “poems of friendship” in your own cherished communities.
No doubt the situation of each community is unique, but as long as you have courage, wisdom and sincerity, you can turn everyone and everything into an ally through the “art of humanity.” I hope you will all become this sort of “great artist” overflowing with the spirited determination to build bridges of trust and peace in your communities.
The important thing is to continue moving forward with the determination “Whatever happens, I will keep going! I will challenge myself! And I will win!” This is the mark of a true champion.
Buddhism is about winning. Therefore, the correct course is striving to emerge victorious without fail. Let us win in all our struggles and live lives of great satisfaction, so that we can declare with real feeling, “Ah, that was fun!”
From the Buddhist perspective, we are all family forever, throughout the three existences. The Daishonin writes, “You should always talk with each other to free yourselves from the sufferings of birth and death and attain the pure land of Eagle Peak, where you will nod to each other and speak in one mind” (“Flowering and Bearing Grain,” WND-1, 909).
Let us work and talk together in this lifetime, the Daishonin says, and after death, let us talk together on Eagle Peak.
Throughout eternity, we will converse with one another, encourage one another and advance together toward happiness. This is the way of fellow members who share in the struggle for kosen-rufu.
Thank you for your long attention. Listening to a discourse on the Mystic Law and the philosophy of kosen-rufu is even more meaningful than studying the most advanced fields of learning at the finest universities in the world. Please know that in doing so you are pursuing the field of eternal and indestructible happiness.
Thank you! Please stay well!
January 1, 2026 World Tribune, pp. 2–3
References
- Dengyo, A Clarification of the Schools Based on T’ien-t’ai’s Doctrine. ↩︎
- Romain Rolland, A World in Birth: The Concluding Volume of The Soul Enchanted, translated by Amalia de Alberti (Henry Holt & Co., 1934), p. 582. ↩︎
- Translated from German. Immanuel Kant, “Pädagogik: Abhandlung,” Vorlesungen Kants Über Pädagogik, in Immanuel Kants Werke, vol. 8, edited by Ernst Cassirer (Verlegt Bei Bruno Cassirer, 1923), p. 495. ↩︎
- The Seven Bells are series of seven seven-year periods outlining targets for the Soka Gakkai’s development. The first series of Seven Bells started with the organization’s founding in 1930 and ended in 1979. May 3, 2001, signaled the start of the second set of Seven Bells spanning the years until 2050. Together with the third set of Seven Bells to follow, it represents the establishment of respect for the dignity of life as the underlying spirit of the age. For more on the Seven Bells, please see the Feb. 2, 2024, World Tribune, p. 10. (https://www.worldtribune.org/ 2024/the-seven-bells). ↩︎
- For reference, please see The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, part 3, revised edition, pp. 517–23. ↩︎
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