This section features Ikeda Sensei’s seminal guidance to the members of the SGI-USA. The following is an excerpt of his speech given at the First SGI-USA Youth General Meeting in San Francisco, March 14, 1993. The full speech can be found in My Dear Friends in America, fourth edition, pp. 284–93.
Transcending the Sufferings of Birth, Aging, Sickness and Death
The sufferings of birth, aging, sickness and death are universal to humankind. They are the basic issues we face in our unending search for happiness. Yet almost all leaders sidestep them. They furtively avert their eyes from the very issues that any leader who feels a sense of responsibility for the welfare of the people cannot possibly neglect. This is a great misfortune for the people.
The SGI confronts these fundamental problems head-on. And Nichiren Daishonin reveals the means for resolving them completely.
He elucidates the Mystic Law, which enables us to serenely overcome the four sufferings and all other kinds of hardship and obstacles, and in fact even use our sufferings as an impetus to propel us forward as we live lives pervaded by the four virtues of eternity, happiness, true self and purity. …
Being Victorious in Life
Life is a struggle. Reality is a struggle. Nichiren teaches that Buddhism is about winning. He exhorts us to be victorious. So we must win in life. To embrace the Mystic Law is to grasp the sword of victory. We can triumph over all. We can triumph and enjoy our lives. A “person of faith” is synonymous with a “person of victory.”
Therefore, I hope all of you will be victorious in your lives. Live your lives so that you can each declare: “I have no regrets. I enjoyed my life. I encouraged many others and gave them hope. It was a good life.”
The Buddha of the Latter Day, Nichiren, promises us that this will be the result if we practice correctly, following the principle of faith manifesting itself in daily life. The words of the Buddha contain no falsehood. …
To Live Is to Move Forward
Not advancing is retreating—this is true not only of faith but also of study, work and all areas of our lives.
Students who do not study, workers who do not work—both are retreating. Living is moving forward, making progress on all fronts. If you stop trying to move forward, it means you are retreating from life itself.
And since faith is the driving force of our lives, retreating in faith is the cause of all unhappiness. That is why you must, with your fellow members and with the organization devoted to kosen‑rufu, encourage one another and achieve victory in faith and in life.
Without the organization, it would be extremely difficult to carry through with correct faith on your own. The Buddhist Order comprising the followers of Nichiren in his time was, in modern terms, an organization for kosen-rufu. Shakyamuni Buddha also created an organization of believers (a Buddhist Order). Society is an organization, as is each human body. And the SGI organization exists to enable each member to freely carry out their mission. …
The Power of Wisdom Puts Knowledge Into Action
What the world urgently needs now is an age of wisdom. No matter how much information or knowledge we may have, it does not necessarily produce value or bring happiness. The power of wisdom effectively puts that knowledge and information to use, puts it into action.
Second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda once told the following story:
In the Edo period (1600–1868), a certain Japanese scholar went to study Western medicine under Dutch physicians in Nagasaki, the only Japanese port open to the Western world at that time. He copied every word of the lectures into his notebooks, which amounted to an enormous number of words by the time he had completed his studies.
He then prepared to return home, but the ship on which he sailed sank, and his notes were lost. Though the scholar escaped with his life, his notebooks were all destroyed, and not a single word of them remained in his head.
Knowledge must be fully absorbed; you must make it a part of yourself. In that effort, you must develop your wisdom. You cannot attain wisdom without first walking through the door of knowledge. On the other hand, unless you acquire wisdom, you will drown in a flood of knowledge and lose sight of the right direction in life.
Buddhism enables us to tap the fundamental wisdom for correct living from the depths of our lives and to polish and cultivate that wisdom.
I hope that, in whatever situation you may find yourselves, you will always demonstrate a vigorous intelligence and engage reality with wisdom and cheer.
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