CategoryOur History

Commemorating Ikeda Sensei’s 27th and Final Visit to the U.S. in 1996.

Ikeda Sensei visited the U.S. 27 times. This year marks 30 years since his final visit in 1996. The following pages recount Sensei’s last trip to America, along with reflections from members on how their encounters with him transformed their lives and have continued to inspire them toward 2028 and beyond.  America is vast. It

Thirty years later, a look back at the origins of the retreat center.

For U.S. youth representatives, their March youth training course in Japan becomes a turning point as they take up the mantle of peace.

Whatever trials may descend upon us, we, the members of Soka, always embark anew toward victory from the starting point of May 3, the sun of time without beginning shining forever in our hearts.—Ikeda Sensei On May 3, 1951, Josei Toda became the second president of the Soka Gakkai, at which time the lay Buddhist

Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the Men’s Division

Learning From the Momentous Struggle of Nikko Shonin

Learning From the Momentous Struggle of Nikko Shonin

This is a translation of an installment of a Soka Gakkai Study Department series, published in September 2024 issue of the Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. Installment 27: Successors From the time Nichiren Daishonin first declared his teaching at age 32 until he began residing in Minobu at 53, he endured 21 years

In June 1928, at the age of 57, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, a forward-thinking educator, took faith in Nichiren Buddhism at the urging of a friend. Writing of this decision, he said, “With an indescribable joy, I completely changed the way I had lived for almost 60 years.” With this inner awakening, he set out to realize

Oct. 2 marked SGI World Peace Day, the 65th anniversary of Ikeda Sensei embarking on his first overseas journey for peace. On that day this year, photographers captured the rise of the sun and the moon from these cities Sensei visited in 1960: Honolulu, Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles. Nichiren Daishonin in

This is a translation of an installment of a Soka Gakkai Study Department series, published in August 2024 issue of the Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. Installment 26: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as the Object of Devotion In the ninth month of 1278, one year before the Atsuhara Persecution—the persecution of his followers in Atsuhara Village

In February 1987, Ikeda Sensei met in Los Angeles with the journalist and humanist Norman Cousins, who was dubbed “the conscience of America” for speaking out tirelessly for nuclear abolition. Sensei referred to their meetings (in 1987 and 1990) in a commencement message to Soka University of America, providing this insight from their dialogue: Life

‘To My Beloved Young American Friends—Youthful Bodhisattvas of the Earth’ In June 1981, Ikeda Sensei returned to New York for the first time in six years. It was there that he crystallized his hopes for the SGI-USA youth in the poem “To My Beloved Young American Friends—Youthful Bodhisattvas of the Earth.” In the following excerpts,

How our Buddhist movement has expanded over the years.

In the mid-1970s, as the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War dominated the news, Ikeda Sensei delivered his first overseas university lecture, “The Enduring Self,” on April 1, 1974, at UCLA. Speaking to 600 students, he introduced Buddhist principles largely unfamiliar to Western society and urged a shift from a civilization focused on the “lesser

What Ikeda Sensei taught us about peace during his 27 visits to America.

Ikeda Sensei’s 27 Visits to America

This is a translation of an installment of a Soka Gakkai Study Department series, published in the July 2024 issue of the Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. The previous installment is published in the May 2025 Living Buddhism, pp. 50–55. Installment 25: The Atsuhara Persecution  After 1277, when Nichiren Daishonin’s disciples such as

On Sept. 5, 2001, 41 SGI-USA youth representatives attended a headquarters leaders meeting in Tokyo with Ikeda Sensei in attendance. Ahead of the meeting, the youth had presented Sensei with the newly created SGI-USA youth division flag, solidifying their determination to advance kosen-rufu in the 21st century. They were surprised to find that Sensei had