May 2019 Living Buddhism

Deepti Kedare Jain Emeryville, California Living Buddhism: Thank you, Deepti, for sharing your experience with us. How did you encounter Nichiren Buddhism? Deepti Kedare Jain: I moved to Southern California from India in 2008 to pursue a master’s degree in occupational therapy. Living apart from my family in a new country proved to be difficult.

This monthly encouragement by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda was originally published in the April 2019 issue of the Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. “Let’s fight our hardest, with courage and joy!”—this was the dauntless spirit with which my mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda, faced the most formidable challenges. No matter how

The following is the fifth in a five-part series describing the events surrounding April 24, 1979, when Daisaku Ikeda stepped down as third Soka Gakkai president to protect the members from the perverse machinations of the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood, which sought to seize control of the lay organization. This incident came to be known as

The Mentor-Disciple Relationship and the Journey of Kosen-rufu

The Ikeda Wisdom Academy is an SGI-USA youth division movement to engage youth leaders in advanced study. In March, a new cycle of the academy began, focusing on the study of On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime: SGI President Ikeda’s Lecture Series. This month, academy members will study chapters 5 and 6 of this lecture

This guidance is from section 25.7 of “The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace” series, published in the November 2017 Living Buddhism, pp. 61–62. At the leaders meeting, the young men’s division leader asked Shin’ichi Yamamoto:“With the beginning of the second chapter of kosen-rufu, the Soka Gakkai will initiate a multifaceted movement that reaches out

Chapter Summary On the evening of October 8, 1961, Shin’ichi Yamamoto and his companions did a solemn gongyo in his hotel room in Germany. Earlier that day, he had stood before the Berlin Wall [the symbol of Berlin’s physical and ideological division]. In his prayers, Shin’ichi made a powerful pledge to see Germany reunited and

Chapter Summary Shin’ichi Yamamoto and his party arrived in Madrid, Spain, on the evening of October 15. He prayed earnestly for many Bodhisattvas of the Earth—the Pablo Picassos and Pablo Casals of the Mystic Law—to someday emerge in this country. The next morning, the group flew to Geneva, Switzerland, where Shin’ichi encouraged a couple of

Chapter Summary On October 30 and November 1, one week after returning from Europe, Shin’ichi Yamamoto appeared before the Osaka District Court in connection with charges brought against him in what had come to be called the Osaka Incident. The trial was reaching its final stage. On November 5, Shin’ichi attended the 10th young men’s

Chapter Summary On January 1, 1962, Shin’ichi Yamamoto led the first gongyo of the Year of Victory at the Soka Gakkai Headquarters in Shinanomachi. He prayed deeply to achieve total victory on all fronts. On January 13, he traveled to Hokkaido to attend a memorial service for a region young women’s leader who had passed

This installment, published in the February 20, 2019, issue of the Seikyo Shimbun, focuses on passages from Nichiren Daishonin’s writings that Ikeda Sensei discussed in volume 5 of The New Human Revolution. Passage 1ASSAGE 1 “If Nichiren’s compassion is truly great and encompassing, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo will spread for ten thousand years and more, for all eternity.”

A: Let’s start with the second part of the question, regarding the vow for kosen-rufu. As SGI members, we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for the happiness of ourselves and others, participate in and support SGI activities, and strive to share this Buddhism with our friends. Such efforts are themselves expressions of our vow for kosen-rufu. This vow

“It was from my beloved Kanagawa that I launched my first battle after becoming the Soka Gakkai’s honorary president, holding aloft the flag of truth and justice all alone.” —SGI President Ikeda Following the May 3, 1979, headquarters general meeting, SGI President Ikeda and his wife, Kaneko, went directly to the Kanagawa Culture Center, which

Part 3: Kosen-rufu and World Peace—The Flowering of a New Humanism

For Our Wonderful New Members—Part 1 [40]