Silicon Valley Center Opens

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Dec. 14, 2025—With jubilant cheers, waving pom-poms and playing SGI songs outside the entrance, SGI-USA members and guests gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the SGI-USA Silicon Valley Buddhist Center—a long-awaited new home for kosen-rufu in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The new center, located in Sunnyvale, was once a 24-hour gym and has now been completely remodeled into a bright, welcoming space dedicated to kosen-rufu through friendship and community. Serving Silicon Valley East Region and Silicon Valley West Region, the center’s opening also drew members from across the zone—including visitors from San Francisco City, San Francisco Peninsula and Monterey Bay regions—eager to support this historic day.

To welcome everyone, members held two grand opening meetings, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., with a combined attendance of 648 (310 in the morning and 338 in the afternoon). At the morning meeting, Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein, joined by Associate Planner Wendy Lao, offered congratulations and presented a certificate recognizing the occasion.

Reflecting on the pace of life in the area, Mayor Klein noted that Sunnyvale sits at the center of a fast-moving region surrounded by technology industries—and that people need a place like this to pause, reflect and pray.

Both meetings began with gongyo led by SGI-USA General Director Adin Strauss, followed by warm words of welcome and an introduction to Nichiren Buddhism for new friends. A highlight of the day was a moving future division performance by the Ikeda Youth Ensemble, featuring a medley of the zone song “Ever Victorious” and the future division song “Be Brave.” More than 40 future division members participated, and many in the audience were visibly moved by their pure-hearted determination—especially when one 5-year-old later shared that, when the choreography felt difficult, he kept going because he “thought of Ikeda Sensei.”