September 2019 Living Buddhism

Kathy Vichakchon DiFrancescoDALLAS Living Buddhism: Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Kathy. What was your life like before you started your Buddhist practice? Kathy Vichakchon DiFrancesco: It is an honor to share my experience. I never thought that my experience would encourage others. My parents met in New York after they both emigrated

[44] For Our Wonderful New Members Part 5 Soka Religious Revolution—Blazing a Great Path of Humanism to Unite All People LECTURE Second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda declared: “Kosen-rufu is a religious revolution to enable people around the world to become happy.” The “revolution” he called for is one free from the violence and bloodshed

PART 3: KOSEN-RUFU AND WORLD PEACE OVERVIEW OF THIS SERIES “The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace” is a three-part series that features key selections from SGI President Ikeda’s collected works, which thus far have been compiled into 150 volumes in Japanese. These selections introduce core concepts expressing the wisdom and universal message of Nichiren

It is rare to be born a human being. The number of those endowed with human life is as small as the amount of earth one can place on a fingernail. Life as a human being is hard to sustain—as hard as it is for the dew to remain on the grass. But it is

The Ikeda Wisdom Academy is an SGI-USA youth division movement to engage youth leaders in advanced study. This month, academy members will study chapter 3 of The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life: SGI President Ikeda’s Lecture Series. While the Ikeda Wisdom Academy is a youth leaders study program, all SGI-USA members are invited

A: There are various ways to explain what is meant by “human revolution.” The word revolution points to a revolution in how we act and behave. In terms of our daily lives, proof of our human revolution could be simply stated as becoming a better person today than we were yesterday. And, from the perspective

Nichiren Daishonin persevered in his efforts to spread the Mystic Law, overcoming a succession of persecutions in order to establish a teaching that could lead all people to absolute happiness. There are numerous examples of the oneness of mentor and disciple that unfolded between Nichiren and his disciples. This series showcases how his disciples took

“While it’s of course important that you become a great scholar in Australia, your underlying responsibility is to advance kosen-rufu here. That is your fundamental mission as a Bodhisattva of the Earth.” —SGI President Ikeda Australia is the world’s sixth largest country, with a wide range of landscapes that are home to wildlife found only

by SGI Vice President Hiromasa Ikeda

Chapter Summary Shin’ichi Yamamoto made sure that all Soka Gakkai activities were successful leading up to the seventh memorial of the passing of his mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda. The memorial services took place over two days in early April 1964 at the head temple’s newly completed Grand Reception Hall, which had been

Chapter Summary On June 1, an announcement was made that the high school and junior high school divisions would be established within the youth division. On June 7, Shin’ichi Yamamoto attended the inaugural ceremony of the Tokyo No. 2 Headquarters young men’s high school division. On January 15, 1965, the junior high school division was

Chapter Summary The youth are the ones who will take the lead in the “essential era” of kosen-rufu. In June 1964, the young women’s division achieved a membership of one million, while the student division reached fifty thousand by June 30, the date of their Student Division general meeting. During this meeting, Shin’ichi Yamamoto announced

Chapter Summary In October 1964, a palpable excitement pervaded Japan about the Olympics, which were taking place in Tokyo. The October 24 closing ceremony highlighted countless dramas of athletes trans-cending national and ethnic differences. Some mingled about while others walked arm in arm around the track. Shin’ichi Yamamoto watched this closing ceremony on television. Each

This installment, published in the June 19, 2019, issue of the Seikyo Shimbun, focuses on passages from Nichiren Daishonin’s writings that SGI President Ikeda discussed in volume 9 of The New Human Revolution. Passage 1 “Regard your service to your lord as the practice of the Lotus Sutra.” (“Reply to a Believer,” The Writings of

Deeply committed to the education and development of children and youth, SGI President Ikeda, as the third Soka Gakkai president, established the high school division in June 1964, the junior high school division in January 1965, and the boys and girls division in September 1965—which together comprise the Future Division. The present generation of future

This monthly encouragement by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda was originally published in the August 2019 issue of the Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. Seventy-two years have passed since that hot summer day when I started my practice of Nichiren Buddhism and began my ascent of the mountain of kosen-rufu, after meeting my mentor,