CategoryOur Brilliant Human Revolution

This essay by Ikeda Sensei was published in the March 27, 2023, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. Part one is published in the May 3, 2023, World Tribune.  This March marks the 12th anniversary of the devastating March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. I wish to offer my sincerest prayers once

The following essay excerpts were published in the Dec. 28, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. At the November headquarters leaders meeting commemorating the Soka Gakkai’s founding [held on Nov. 12, 2022], the Soka Gloria Wind Orchestra and Kansai Wind Orchestra gave a stirring performance of the fourth movement of Beethoven’s

This essay by Ikeda Sensei was published in the Jan. 26, 2023, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun.  My mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda, placed deep trust in our pioneering members of Tohoku, centering around Sendai Chapter. He regarded them as a model for the entire country and did everything

The following essay by Ikeda Sensei was originally published in the Oct. 26, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. Our movement for kosen-rufu is about building a culture of peace. As part of that endeavor, we hold a wide range of exhibitions around the world. Twenty years have passed since the

The following is an essay from Ikeda Sensei, originally published in the Sept. 29, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. I recall an evening not long after the Seikyo Shimbun had been founded, when I was busily preparing for Josei Toda’s upcoming inauguration as second Soka Gakkai president. A number of

The following essay by Ikeda Sensei was translated from the Aug. 4, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. A statue depicting the French author Victor Hugo (1802–85) striding forward as he holds a book stands in the lobby of the main auditorium of Soka University, “a fortress for the peace of

The following essay by Ikeda Sensei was originally published in the June 30, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. Today, June 30, is the 65th anniversary of the student division, a proud gathering of young Bodhisattvas Universal Worthy—people of broad-ranging wisdom. This year is also the 60th anniversary of the start

The following new essay by Ikeda Sensei was published in the May 24, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. Time is nothing other than the mystic rhythm of cosmic life. Hence, when we chant and spread the Mystic Law, our lives will accord with the time, and time will be on

The energy of the February Campaign also inspired the development of our organization in Kansai, which grew into a great people’s movement heralding the dawn of the effort to realize Nichiren Daishonin’s vision of building a better society.  There was a book that my fellow Kansai members and I cherished as an unforgettable treasure. It

This has been a particularly harsh and snowy winter in Japan. Nichiren Daishonin writes, “I feel the eight cold hells in my life now” (“Aspiration for the Buddha Land,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 213). Having endured many bitter winters himself, he understood the difficulties his disciples faced.  Praising the seeking spirit

Each December, there is a poem of my mentor’s that I recall with boundless gratitude: Winning and losingare bothpart of life,but I pray to the Buddhafor final victory. Second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda presented me with this poem in December 1957. After overcoming numerous daunting hurdles, he had finally seen the attainment of his

We who dedicate our lives to kosen-rufu are always together with Nichiren Daishonin, the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. While residing on Mount Minobu in Kai Province (present-day Yamanashi Prefecture), Nichiren sent a letter to the elderly lay nun of Ko, a dedicated follower who lived on Sado Island—“a thousand [miles away]

On the occasion of the autumn equinox [traditionally a time for memorial services for the deceased in Japan], I offered solemn prayers for all our noble fellow members who in life strove for kosen-rufu, your deceased loved ones and those who have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic. I am also praying for an

I would like to offer my deepest sympathies to our members around the world struggling in the wake of various natural disasters, including in western Japan, which recently suffered devastating torrential rains. As Nichiren Daishonin indicates in his treatise “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land,” torrential rains, along with epidemics,

In this year celebrating the 800th anniversary of Nichiren Daishonin’s birth,[1] I am reminded of his profound connections to Tokyo, an area then known as part of Musashi Province and the Musashino Plain. The Daishonin likened the Lotus Sutra’s assembly in the air—where innumerable Bodhisattvas of the Earth vow to carry out kosen-rufu in the

My mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda, treasured and took great pride in the happy, smiling faces and the bright, compassionate voices of the women of Soka. In an age when there are far too many mean faces and unkind words, he enjoyed telling people to look at the smiling faces of Soka women

The following essay by Ikeda Sensei was originally published in the Feb. 25, 2021.

Part 2 of 2

Part 1 of 2

Ikeda Sensei’s Message