Grounded in “One Youth. Infinite Hope.” The SGI-USA youth are strengthening their focus through study and dialogue, striving to awaken hope in each young person and transform the very roots of society.
Dear SGI-USA members and friends,
Thank you very much for your efforts to expand your circles of dialogue and trust in your communities. We are deeply moved to hear of the many stories of one youth learning to believe in themselves again and move forward with hope.
As youth leaders and student division members, we join monthly Ikeda Wisdom Academy meetings to study from Ikeda Sensei’s study series The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, which dives deep into understanding how to actualize the teachings of the Lotus Sutra in our daily lives.
In volume 5, Sensei, along with study leaders, discusses how a skewed sense of nationalism that views the people as a means comes about as a result of the desolation, or emptiness, in people’s hearts. He writes:
When people’s hearts are vacant, democracy is imperiled, and the devilish potential of power can set in. That is when the dark shadow of nationalism begins to spread. … In short, it is our efforts to pray for and help other people become happy that are the hallmark of the foremost popular movement and that directly contribute to the creation of a truly democratic society. (WLS-5, 39–40)
The suffering and violence we are seeing in our country are rooted in what is in people’s hearts. Although it may seem that the solution lies in structural change, it is evident that the battle we need to wage begins with addressing what is in the hearts of the people.
When youth don’t have anything to believe in, they will seek external identities and can be easily influenced.
This got us thinking. If the source of what we’re seeing play out in America is a result of people losing a sense of meaning in their lives, then we have the antidote. Nichiren Daishonin and our three founding Soka Gakkai presidents have shown us with their lives what is needed to transform people’s hearts—from hearts consumed by apathy or despair to hearts blazing with a fierce determination to transform suffering into joy. By speaking to even one youth and giving them hope, we are directly combating the apathy or hopelessness that leads a person to embrace a sense of nationalism that puts the nation before the people and that is driven by a worship of power.
Although we have set a goal of 10,000 new youth joining the SGI-USA by Sensei’s 100th birthday on Jan. 2, 2028, the number of youth we will actually need to have dialogues with is more likely 100,000 or even 200,000. Why? Because we live in a time when, according to Buddhist teachings, believing in the value of your life and that of others is on the decline.
We realized the change we are seeking won’t come on Jan. 2, 2028. The time to create that change and take action is right now! In order to introduce one youth, we need to speak with many more, and through those efforts, we can affect change in America every day!
Many of us haven’t yet helped a youth join the SGI, but that’s OK! More importantly, we can each ask ourselves: How many youth can I inspire today to feel that their life has meaning? Did my interaction with that person leave them feeling happier?
While in our hearts we burn with the determination to help a young person join our movement, let’s reaffirm that our effort to build friendship with and be a source of inspiration for youth is what is transforming our society at its root. Through these efforts, we are filling the void in young people’s hearts that can lead them down dark paths. The effort to reach out to young people in our community and be the person to believe in them is the most powerful act we can make to combat the narrow nationalism we see playing out in society.
Sensei has said that “human revolution is meeting people. Kosen-rufu is talking with people” (Making the Impossible Possible, p. 60).
Together, let’s achieve 10,000 new youth joining by talking to many more youth! Thank you very much!
From the SGI-USA National Youth Team
Check out this new “One Youth. Infinite Hope.” video message from our national youth team.
May 3, 2026 World Tribune, pp. 6–7
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