Daily Life
The Cure to ‘Peacelessness’
Now is the time to strengthen the SGI’s peace movement and foster successors.
Daily Life
7 Ways Daimoku Can Revitalize Our Lives
Insights on prayer based on the Gosho “King Rinda.”
Protect the Pure World of Children
The following excerpt is Ikeda Sensei’s guidance on bringing up children with humane brightness and cheer. It can be found in Happy Parents, Happy Kids, pp. 93–95 I cherish the boys and girls of the future division. I suppose that among you who have gathered here today, there are those who have many children. Children
Setting Your Life Up for Ultimate Victory
How Sustaining Contribution builds the foundation for our happiness.
Creating Hope in Turbulent Times
For two weeks in October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the world teetered on the edge of nuclear war as the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a direct and dangerous confrontation involving nuclear missile deployments. Amid the Cuban Missile Crisis, as it came to be known, Ikeda Sensei, appearing in
What Buddhist Thought Can Teach AI
On July 16, 1945, the atomic age came into being when scientists detonated the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan Project, would later recall in a magazine profile the reactions of those present: some laughed, some cried, most were silent. In his own mind ran
Our Attitude Toward Life Makes Us Young
The following excerpts are from Ikeda Sensei’s guidance in The Third Stage of Life, where he speaks about how we can live our lives to the fullest. Trials Enrich Our Life If we triumph at a crucial moment, then in accord with the Buddhist principle of consistency from beginning to end, we will enter a
Lessons
Virtue Victorious and the Mud Pie
Making Offerings Sows Seeds in a Field of Fortune The following excerpts are from Ikeda Sensei’s novel The New Human Revolution, vol. 4, pp. 116–118. Sensei appears in the novel as Shin’ichi Yamamoto. In a letter addressed to Lord Matsuno, Nichiren Daishonin describes how a child named Virtue Victorious was reborn as King Ashoka
The Heart of Propagating Buddhism
In August 1957, Ikeda Sensei initiated a propagation campaign in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward, where more than 200 new members joined the Soka Gakkai in one week. During this time, Sensei had been worried about his mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda, who was battling serious health challenges. With Mr. Toda’s lifetime goal of 750,000
The Jewel in the Robe
In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni tells this story: There was once a very poor man who had to search for food every day to survive. One day, his friend invited him to dinner, where he ate his fill. After staying up talking, laughing and drinking with his friend, he fell asleep. The friend had to
Q&A
Q: I often hear people talking about “kosen-rufu.” But what does it mean?
Q: When I try introducing my friends to Buddhism, they usually say that organized religion isn’t for them. Why do we practice in an organization?
Q: It’s hard to say if my life is changing for the better. How can I tell?
Q: What is the Buddhist approach to asking people to chant for me?
Q: I’ve been feeling discouraged. How can I make a fresh start?
Q: What is the Sangha?
Q: Why do we chant to the Gohonzon?
Q: How to Enshrine the Gohonzon and Care for Your Buddhist Altar
In Society
It Is 90 seconds to Midnight
Shortly after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock—a symbolic piece that conveys the time that remains before the extinction of the human race. This year, the hands of the Doomsday Clock moved to 90 seconds to midnight, largely because of the war
A Buddhist Take on History
A middle-school U.S. history textbook from one of the top three educational publishers in the country features a quote from Daisaku Ikeda in its 2023 edition. McGraw Hill Education describes the primer United States History: Voices and Perspectives as designed to “empower students to make connections between the past and present as they experience history
Home run!
On Aug. 28, Hawaii’s Honolulu Little League won the Little League World Series championship with a 13-3 win against Curaçao. This was the the fourth time in 17 years a team from Hawaii has won the youth baseball tournament and the second championship for Honolulu, who won the title in 2018. Gerald Oda, head coach
Baggio Takes Flight
Italy’s national airline, ITA Airways, dedicates a plane to Roberto Baggio, Italian soccer legend and longtime SGI member. The only Italian to score in three World Cups, Baggio is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. His journey is chronicled in the Netflix documentary Baggio: The Divine Ponytail. As an homage
