CategoryIkeda Sensei

This new essay by Ikeda Sensei was published in the June 9, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. June is the birth month of our founding president, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. It is also the month celebrating the women of Soka, our shining suns—with SGI Ikeda Kayo-kai Day on June 4 and Women’s

By living in rhythm with the Mystic Law, we are always able to energize and invigorate our lives. Nichiren Daishonin metaphorically describes the unstoppable flow of kosen-rufu: “Though the trees may desire to be still, the wind will not cease to blow; though we may wish for spring to linger, it must give way to

Ikeda Sensei’s acceptance message for his honorary doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

Originally published in the May 2022 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. “Start anew with a fresh spirit!”—that’s the message I imparted to our Soka Gakkai Sports Division members. Whatever your present condition, the key is to always start anew and tackle the next challenge with a fresh spirit. We have the writings of Nichiren

The Lay Nun Toki

This encouragement from Ikeda Sensei was originally published in the July 2018 Living Buddhism, pp. 4–5.  We, the members of the Soka family, are the sowers of seeds. We sow the seeds of the Mystic Law, the supreme seeds of happiness and peace, spreading them far and wide.  Nichiren Daishonin, the Buddha of the Latter

These are excerpts from Ikeda Sensei’s speech at the 88th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting, which was held at the Chubu Culture Center in Nagoya, on May 17, 1995. Video footage of the speech was broadcast during the most recent Soka Gakkai headquarters leaders meeting, on April 16, 2022. This was translated from the April

Ikeda Sensei sent this message to the Ninth Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial—commemorating May 3, Soka Gakkai Day and Soka Gakkai Mother’s Day—at the Toda Memorial Auditorium in Sugamo, Tokyo, on April 16, 2022. This message was originally published in the April 17, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo

Originally published in the April 2022 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. In “The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs,” the fifth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, we find the beautiful expression “human flowers” (The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, p. 142). I recall my conversation with South Africa’s great humanitarian leader

The following essay was translated from the March 29, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun.  As the anniversary of the death of our mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda,  approaches [on April 2], I hear his voice in my mind—words spoken during an interview for a Tohoku Broadcasting radio program

The following essay was translated from the Feb. 21, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. For part 1, see the March 18, 2022, World Tribune, pp. 2–3. 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

We of the Soka Gakkai will forever walk the great path of basing ourselves on the Gosho, the writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Nichiren Daishonin, the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law, left these timeless, precious texts for humanity. Reading them, we will faithfully uphold and work to fulfill “the great vow for kosen-rufu

Originally published in the March 2022 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. As human beings, we cannot be more than human beings, nor do we need to be. Nichiren Daishonin opened the way for all human beings, just as they are, to shine their brightest, with supreme nobility, dignity and humanity. Praising Sage Nichimyo,

Ikeda Sensei sent the following message to the Eighth Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial at the Soka Gakkai Kanagawa Ikeda Auditorium in Yokohama, Japan, on March 6, 2022. This message was originally published in the March 7, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. It was here in Kanagawa,

The following essay was translated from the Feb. 21, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. 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,

The following are excerpts from Ikeda Sensei’s speech at the 20th SGI General Meeting, held jointly with the 21st Century Hyogo Hope General Meeting, at the Hyogo Ikeda Culture Center in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, on Oct. 17, 1995, nine months after the devastating Kobe earthquake of Jan. 17. They were translated from the Feb. 16,

Ikeda Sensei sent the following message to the Seventh Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial on Feb. 6, 2022, held in conjunction with the Hyogo General Meeting, at the Hyogo Ikeda Culture Center in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, in the Kansai region. Soka Gakkai members throughout Hyogo Prefecture also attended the meeting remotely at

This essay was written by Ikeda Sensei as part of his series “The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Mentor-Disciple Relationship.” It was originally published in the Feb. 5, 2009, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun, and in the June 19, 2009, World Tribune. In the light of the Buddha’s prophecy, “the

Originally published in the February 2022 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. I am reminded of a passage from Nichiren Daishonin’s writings that my mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda, and I spoke about as we walked along the street one chilly winter night, gazing up at the luminous full moon: The moon

The Light of the Century of Humanity