by the South Zone team
What is your zone motto? We have a cheer: South Zone! South Zone! Together with Sensei! South Zone! South Zone! We will lead the way! REMIX! All across the nation there’s a SOUTH ZONE sensation, that makes you want to slide and move from side to side! South Zone!
Tell us briefly about your zone’s history. In 1963, three pioneer members arrived in Columbus, Georgia. A year later, in 1964, five more pioneers arrived in the Atlanta area. This was the beginning of the expansion of kosen-rufu here in South Zone and a great source of pride for us.
When the three territory system was launched in 2007 [expanding to four territories in December 2023], South Zone was born and included eight states: Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina and the Florida Panhandle. In 2017, we had a reorganization that led to the current makeup of our zone, which is now composed of Georgia, South Carolina and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Do you have a Buddhist center in your zone? Yes, we have two centers that support the members in our zone: the Atlanta Buddhist Center and the Columbia Buddhist Center in South Carolina.
Does your zone have a particular point of pride? The Gandhi King Ikeda Award began at Morehouse College with Dr. Lawrence E. Carter Sr., Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. Our relationship with Dean Carter and Morehouse College is a strong point of pride for the members of South Zone.
What is your prime point with Ikeda Sensei as a zone? We have many prime points with Sensei!
On March 15, 1974, with less than 24 hours’ notice, members from seven states in the southeast (which later became our former South Zone) came together to attend a meeting with Sensei at the University of New Orleans. He named the members in attendance the “Happiness Group” and asked them all to cultivate trees of happiness in their communities. (See March 2024 Living Buddhism, pp. 12–20, for interviews and photos).
Another prime point is Sensei’s visit to Miami on March 11, 1993. Members from Atlanta joyfully supported that movement. Sensei expressed his sincere appreciation to the members of Southeastern Region (which was centered in Atlanta at the time), for their hospitality (see My Dear Friends in America, fourth edition, p. 272).
On April 4, 2014, we finally built, from the ground up, our very own Atlanta Buddhist Center in the Atlantic Station neighborhood of Midtown Atlanta, an area bustling with young people.
Being chosen as one of the nine cities to host the 50,000 Lions of Justice Festival in 2018 is also a source of immense pride. South Zone members fought and chanted a lot to welcome youth who were all seeking their mentor’s heart!
Do you have something that is unique to your zone? In 2014, at the opening of the Atlanta Buddhist Center, then-SGI Vice President Shigeo Hasegawa said that “Southern Hospitality” is a unique trait of South Zone and the key to our advancement of kosen-rufu. Southern Hospitality is kindness, warmth and a welcoming spirit toward others.
What is your zone’s vision toward 2030? We are determined to have a zone of 8,000 members strong by 2030. We also have a vision to continue developing a strong student division with several campus clubs at the many colleges and universities located in our zone. We believe that this will be essential for the continuous development of the youth division.
We are also determined to open at least one more Buddhist center in South Zone by 2030.
Anything else you’d like to add? The legacy of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., which largely took place in our zone, remains a profound source of pride and inspiration as we strive to fulfill Sensei’s dream of a just and peaceful world. We are determined to carry forward Sensei’s spirit and the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement to fight for the human and civil rights of all people through the expansion of kosen-rufu.
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