CategoryIkeda Sensei

In 1981, which the Soka Gakkai designated as the Year of Youth, I traveled throughout Japan and the world, presenting many poems to our youthful Bodhisattvas of the Earth. I fondly recall writing these lines for my young friends in America: Faith is the engine that propels usin the thrilling voyage of life,a life victorious

The following essay by Ikeda Sensei was translated from the May 18, 2023, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. On May 3, Soka Gakkai Day, we made a joyful, united fresh start in our journey for kosen-rufu with our fellow members around the world.  It was in May 750 years ago that

The following excerpts are from Ikeda Sensei’s speech at the 33rd Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting held at the Tokyo Makiguchi Memorial Hall in Hachioji, Tokyo, on May 1, 1999. Video footage of the speech was broadcast during the 13th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial held on May 3, 2023. The excerpts

Ikeda Sensei sent the following message to SGI-USA student division members, which was read at a meeting held in Laguna Hills, Calif., on May 24, 2023.  Nichiren Daishonin states, “These great bodhisattvas [who emerged from the earth] are particularly suited to bring benefit to people in the Latter Day of the Law, like fish who

The following essay from Ikeda Sensei was translated from the April 14, 2023, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun.  My treasures are my inspiring fellow members who devote themselves with unwavering faith to realizing kosen-rufu and the ideal of “establishing the correct teaching for the peace of the land.” Nichiren Daishonin, the

Originally published in the May 2023 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. All of you, my treasured fellow members, engage in dialogue throughout the four seasons to realize Nichiren Daishonin’s ideal of “establishing the correct teaching for the peace of the land.” You embody the principle that “where there is unseen virtue, there will

Ikeda Sensei sent the following message to the 13th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial held on May 3, 2023, at the Toda Memorial Auditorium in Sugamo, Tokyo. The meeting commemorated May 3, Soka Gakkai Day and the 35th anniversary of  Soka Gakkai Mothers Day. This message was originally published in the May

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

This essay by Ikeda Sensei was published in the March 27, 2023, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun.  The power to create history is born of deep life-to-life connections. In particular, the courageous efforts of successors who respond to the trust placed in them by their predecessors open a new age.  In

Originally published in the April 2023 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. The spiritual bond of mentor and disciple is profound and unfettered. The final encounter between Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda was a brief moment following their arrest for their religious beliefs. Passing each other in the corridor of the police headquarters as

The following essay was written by Ikeda Sensei as part of the series “The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Mentor-Disciple Relationship.” It was originally published in the Nov. 13, 2009, World Tribune.  “Nichiren declares that the [shared] sufferings that all living beings undergo … all these are Nichiren’s own sufferings.” (“On Reprimanding Hachiman,” The

The following was written by Ikeda Sensei as part of the series “The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Mentor-Disciple Relationship.” It was originally published in the Oct. 16, 2009, World Tribune. Part one, “Soka: Never Being Defeated,” appears on pp. 2–3 of the April 7, 2023, World Tribune.  “Employ the strategy of the Lotus

The following was written by Ikeda Sensei as part of the series “The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Mentor-Disciple Relationship.” It was originally published in the Sept. 4, 2009, World Tribune.  “Employ the strategy of the Lotus Sutra before any other. ‘All others who bear you enmity or malice will … be wiped out.’ These

Originally published in the March 2023 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. What good fortune we have to journey throughout the three existences—past, present and future—with Nichiren Daishonin, the Mystic Law and our fellow members, forever walking the path of eternity, happiness, true self and purity. In a letter to Soya Doso, who exerted

The following are excerpts from Ikeda Sensei’s speech at a Soka Gakkai headquarters leaders meeting, held at the Tokyo Makiguchi Memorial Hall in Hachioji, Tokyo, on Jan. 8, 2002. The speech was originally published in the Feb. 8, 2002, World Tribune, pp. 6–7.  Today, January 8, is a solemn day of mentor and disciple. It

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

To deplore our circumstances reflects a mind that is controlled by its environment.

The following are excerpts from Ikeda Sensei’s speech at the Fifth Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting held at the Tokyo Makiguchi Memorial Hall in Tokyo in March 2007. Video footage of the speech was broadcast during the 12th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial held on on Jan. 7, 2023. The excerpts were

Originally published in the February 2023 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. During our historic February Campaign of Kamata Chapter [in 1952], braving cold winds, praying and exerting ourselves tirelessly, we reached out widely to those around us to share Nichiren Buddhism. A passage from Nichiren Daishonin’s treatise “The Selection of the Time” that

The following is Ikeda Sensei’s message to “EMERGE,” the Southern California youth meeting commemorating 30 years since Sensei dedicated the poem “The Sun of Jiyu Over a New Land” to the members of  Los Angeles, held on Jan. 29, 2023, at the SGI-USA World Culture Center in Santa Monica, California.  To my most cherished members