CategoryOn the Cover

Ikeda Sensei: The Soka Gakkai has always been committed to encouraging the honest, hardworking ordinary people of the world. That’s the very heart of our discussion meetings. In the eyes of society, our discussion meetings may seem very simple, modest gatherings, involving a small number of individuals and not particularly noteworthy. But these meetings are

Trogir is a fortified island town in Croatia, founded by Greek settlers over 2,000 years ago. Its cultural heritage has been well preserved, largely due to its surrounding walls and manmade water channel separating it from the mainland. Trogir’s layout dates back to prehistoric times. At the center of the main town square stands the

The Rocky Mountains are the largest mountain system in North America and, in the parts north of the U.S. border, home to several Canadian national parks: Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho. The vast Canadian Rockies are studded with mountain peaks, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, canyons and limestone caves, forming striking mountain landscapes. It is also the

Located in Australia’s southeast Queensland and Northeast New South Wales, the Gondwana Rainforests are like a time capsule of Earth’s evolutionary history, packed with biological diversity. Within the forests are plant and animal species still closely related to their ancient ancestors. The world’s oldest-known species of conifer tree, which thrived during the Jurassic period, still

Discussion meetings are the heart of the SGI’s kosen-rufu movement. At these gatherings, we study Buddhist philosophy and share our struggles and victories. We inspire fellow members and guests by showing that we can overcome obstacles through faith. Whether the number of people who attend a meeting is large or small, the important thing is

Known as “the land of fire and ice,” the Vatnajökull National Park is a vast volcanic region spread across nearly 3.5 million acres, covering 14% of Iceland’s territory. The park is located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which separates the North American and Eurasion tectonic plates. This creates the conditions for its 10 central volcanoes, two

The walled city of Jaipur is the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded in 1727, it is one of the first planned cities of modern India, based on the Vastu shastra, a Hindu “science of architecture” inspired by ancient texts. Markets, shops, residences and temples line the streets, which intersect in large public

Bryggen is a historic harbor district in Bergen, one of North Europe’s oldest port cities on Norway’s west coast. It was a trade hub of the Hanseatic League—a medieval commercial and defense guild that controlled maritime trade in the North and Baltic Seas from the 14th to the mid-16th century. The old wharf is characterized

The city of Potosí is located at an altitude of more than 13,000 feet, making it one of the world’s highest. Founded in the mid-16th century when silver was discovered in the Potosí Mountain, it soon became the largest city in the New World and the world’s largest industrial complex for its silver mining industry.

On the morning of October 9, 1960, Ikeda Sensei took a walk in Chicago’s Lincoln Park during his first visit to the United States. He looked on as a group of young boys played with a ball. When a Black child came along, the others ignored him. When one of them missed the ball and

Rising 12,388 feet, Mount Fuji is Japan’s highest peak. Though still classified as active, the stratovolcano has lain dormant since 1707. Its cultural and spiritual influence extends far beyond Japan’s borders. Mount Fuji is known as a beloved symbol of Japan, featured in art and poetry through the ages, including the famous Hokusai woodblock print

Located in northern Cambodia, the city of Angkor was the center of the Khmer Kingdom, which thrived from the 9th to the 14th centuries. In that time, the Khmer erected architectural masterpieces in the city, including Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious structure, and other temples like the Bayon, Preah Khan and Ta Prohm. Many

Lord Howe Island was uninhabited until the late 1700s when the British navy claimed it and other nearby islands. The remote island’s thriving ecosystem includes rare endemic species such as the Lord Howe Woodhen, a flightless bird, and the Lord Howe Island Phasmid, the world’s largest stick insect. Soaring mountain peaks formed by an underwater

In the spring of 1992, the world’s eyes were on Los Angeles, as the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked massive social unrest and a national debate about police brutality, racial discrimination and economic inequality. In its aftermath, Ikeda Sensei delivered his poem “The Sun of Jiyu Over a New Land” on January 27,

For almost 25 centuries, the Acropolis of Athens has survived wars, earthquakes and fires, adapting to different uses and civilizations. Original fortifications on the hilltop site date back to the 13th century BCE. The Acropolis—which stands as the most complete monument of Greek antiquity—was built in the 5th century BCE alongside other great architectural achievements,

Koutammakou is home to the Batammariba people of northeastern Togo. This living cultural landscape is characterized by takienta—tower-shaped houses built out of mud and straw. The site’s outstanding architecture and its integration of the forests, sacred rocks, springs and other elements of the environment in its construction express the close relationship that the Batammariba have

Tenochtitlàn, the capital of the Aztec Empire, was founded on an island in Lake Texcoco around the year 1325. The location was chosen when the ancient people found an eagle eating a snake atop a cactus, a scene believed to be a sign from the god Huitzilopochtli. It became the center of the most powerful

The previous SGI-USA Las Vegas center didn’t provide enough space for the growing membership. As members formed a committee to search for a new castle of kosen-rufu, there were many false starts and dead ends. But the members weren’t defeated. They refreshed and deepened their resolve each time and took action by conducting chanting sessions

The medieval town of Carcassonne, located in the Occitania region of France, was originally a Gaulish settlement that the Romans transformed into a fortified town in the third century. It is most famous for its nearly two miles of walls interspersed with 52 towers that surround the area, making it the largest walled city in

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, also known as the Genbaku Dome, was almost completely destroyed by the heat waves and blast wind of the atomic bomb dropped on Aug. 6, 1945. It was one of the only structures left standing near the hypocenter of the explosion.  An exact figure of casualties of the bomb is unknowable,