CategorySoka Spirit

What is the sangha? The Sanskrit word sangha refers to the Buddhist Order, or the community of Buddhist believers who uphold, practice and spread the Buddha’s teachings. This community of believers is the third of the three treasures in Buddhism: the treasure of the Buddha, the treasure of the Law (the Buddha’s teachings) and the

Our behavior makes all the difference. What effectively conveys the greatness and power of our Buddhist teaching and practice is nothing but our respectful, humanistic actions. As Nichiren Daishonin states: “The purpose of the appearance in this world of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, lies in his behavior as a human being” (“The Three

Scientific studies suggest that certain basic attitudes can greatly enhance our quality of life. One confirms what we may have long suspected: Having a sense of purpose can improve our health, even prolong our lives. A reason for living, it seems, can help us go on living. While purposes come in many shapes and sizes,

After World War II, agricultural land reforms had stripped the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood of most of the farmland it once owned, leaving it on the verge of financial collapse. In November 1950, a local mayor prompted the priesthood to make their head temple, Taiseki-ji, a tourist site to generate revenue. Second Soka Gakkai President Josei

Daisaku Ikeda was in his late teens when World War II ended. Amid the chaos and uncertainty of postwar Japan, he at times found solace in music. “Listening to the masterworks of Beethoven … was a source of incredible encouragement,” he says. “It infused me with the strength I needed to get through those extremely

Most of us started practicing Nichiren Buddhism because someone encouraged us to give it a try. Their actions exemplify the founding spirit of Buddhism. Shakyamuni Buddha engaged countless people in dialogues to awaken them to their enlightened potential. Nichiren Daishonin took up this effort, giving his life to spreading the teaching of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to open

April 24, 1979—On this day, Daisaku Ikeda, having served for 19 years as third Soka Gakkai president, announced that he would step down. He had sought for some time to entrust the presidency and the Soka Gakkai’s management to able successors. This decision came at a crucial time and served to protect the Soka Gakkai

How do we continue developing ourselves and gaining benefit in faith throughout our lives? We can learn from the countless examples of those who have committed themselves heroically to creating a peaceful world by spreading Buddhism and supporting the Soka Buddhist community. We can also learn from negative examples: unscrupulous people who, controlled by the

Nichiren Daishonin taught that, based on faith in the Lotus Sutra and the Mystic Law, all people equally have the ability to bring forth their innate enlightenment and achieve the same life state as the Buddha. The Soka Gakkai emerged in modern times to spread those teachings as a practical means for all people to

Nov. 28, 2021, will mark 30 years since the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood excommunicated 10 million SGI members, signifying our spiritual independence from the authoritarian priesthood. Leading up to this anniversary, this series will focus on important themes and events related to the priesthood issue based on key excerpts from The New Human Revolution, volume 30.

A Life Committed to Spreading Buddhism

Born on June 6, 1871, in the coastal village of Arahama in present-day Niigata Prefecture, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi experienced tremendous hardships from an early age. By age 6, his parents could no longer care for him, and they placed him with relatives. At 11, he quit school to work to support his impoverished family. And at

The following excerpt is from Ikeda Sensei’s dialogue series “The World of Nichiren Daishonin’s Writings,” installment 3, published in the June 2002 Living Buddhism, pp. 13–17. This serves as supplemental study for the article titled “Transforming Tendencies That Block Our Happiness,” in the Sept. 18, 2020, issue of the World Tribune. Ikeda Sensei: It is clear

Overcoming adversity enables us to develop the courage, wisdom and resilience needed to achieve the ultimate aim of revealing our Buddhahood and establishing genuine and lasting happiness. Buddhism describes obstacles in various ways—namely as devilish functions, the three obstacles and four devils and the devil king of the sixth heaven. These negative functions are expressed

Shakyamuni Buddha who attained enlightenment countless kalpas ago, the Lotus Sutra that leads all people to Buddhahood, and we ordinary human beings are in no way different or separate from one another. To chant Myoho-renge-kyo with this realization is to inherit the ultimate Law of life and death. This is a matter of the utmost

In the Feb. 21 World Tribune, we learned how the 67th high priest of Nichiren Shoshu, Nikken Abe, embodied the third powerful enemy whose function is to orchestrate an effort to dismantle the movement for kosen-rufu. In this article, we will learn about Nikken’s successor, 68th high priest Nichinyo Hayase, who has inherited this role