Tagmentor and disciple

Taking Ikeda Sensei as my mentor, I learn to live with gratitude and strength.

Part 2 of 2. The following was written by Ikeda Sensei as part of his series “The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Mentor-Disciple Relationship,” originally published in the Aug. 28, 2009, World Tribune. Part one appears in the Nov. 11, 2022, World Tribune, pp. 2–3.

The following excerpts are from Ikeda Sensei’s speech at the 13th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting held at the Tokyo Makiguchi Memorial Hall in Tokyo, on July 9, 1997. Video footage of the speech was broadcast during the 11th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial held  on Nov. 12, 2022. This was translated

11/18 Soka Gakkai Founding Day  In 1930, founding Soka Gakkai President Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, together with Josei Toda, published the first volume of The System of Value-Creating Education (Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei). This date later became known as the founding day of the Soka Gakkai. In November 2013,  based on his vow to lead all people to

Message to the Nationwide Young Men’s Leaders Meeting

8/6 Ikeda Sensei Begins and Concludes The New Human Revolution In 1993, Ikeda Sensei began writing The New Human Revolution and completed it exactly 25 years later in 2018. This novel has been published in 13 languages in 24 countries and territories around the world.  8/14 75th Anniversary of Sensei’s First Encounter with Josei Toda

The Lay Nun Myoshin

In the summer of 1957, the 29-year-old Ikeda Sensei stood up to the Yubari Coal Miners’ Association and the Osaka City Prosecutors Office. These entities felt their authority threatened by the people’s movement of the Soka Gakkai and took steps to make members abandon their faith and dismantle the organization. Recalling these events, Sensei wrote:

“Moreover, it is extremely difficult to meet a person who expounds this sutra exactly as the sutra directs. It is even more difficult than for a one-eyed turtle to find a piece of floating sandalwood, or for someone to hang Mount Sumeru from the sky with the fiber from a lotus stem.” (“Letter to the Brothers,” 

Ikeda Sensei’s Lecture Series—Installment 77

Chapter 3 “On Practicing the Buddha’s Teachings”—Part 3 of 3 Ikeda Sensei conveys in this lecture the importance of disciples who practice the Buddha’s teachings with the same spirit as Nichiren Daishonin. Propagating the Correct Teaching Rouses Opposition From the Three Powerful Enemies Now, in the Latter Day of the Law, who is carrying out

SGI-USA member Kryssi Staikidis is a painter, professor and head of Art and Design Education at the Northern Illinois University School of Art and Design. In 2021, she was conferred the National Art Education Association’s June King McFee Award for her research and art, teaching practices that focus on community, inclusivity and social justice. World

Chapter 1 “On Practicing the Buddha’s Teachings”—Part 1 of 3 Nichiren Daishonin addressed “On Practicing the Buddha’s Teachings” to all his followers, urging them to courageously uphold and spread the Buddha’s teachings, taking on any opposition they are bound to face along the way.  The title of this letter literally translates as “On Practicing as

This has been a particularly harsh and snowy winter in Japan. Nichiren Daishonin writes, “I feel the eight cold hells in my life now” (“Aspiration for the Buddha Land,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 213). Having endured many bitter winters himself, he understood the difficulties his disciples faced.  Praising the seeking spirit

In the predawn chill of March 16, 1958, some 6,000 youth gathered at the foot of Mount Fuji for a solemn ceremony with their mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda. Mr. Toda was fighting the limits of his own mortality as he searched for ways to empower as many youth as possible to assume

During the last weekend of March, the youth division will hold general meetings across SGI-USA themed “Redefining Joy Amid the Times.” The meetings will celebrate March 16, Kosen-rufu Day, the day second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda entrusted the youth division with the future of kosen-rufu in March 1958 (see p. 8). “The March youth general

This month we celebrate the 122nd anniversary of second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda’s birth. Josei Toda was born on Feb. 11, 1900, in Ishikawa Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. He was an educator, publisher and entrepreneur who was responsible for publishing Soka kyoikugaku taikei (The System of Value-Creating Education), the seminal work

Happy New Year! My best wishes to you in the coming year. There was a subject second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda often spoke about as if passing on a solemn legacy to his successors. That subject was courage. He once gave this clear-cut guidance: The essence of Buddhism is compassion. We, too, need to

Each December, there is a poem of my mentor’s that I recall with boundless gratitude: Winning and losingare bothpart of life,but I pray to the Buddhafor final victory. Second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda presented me with this poem in December 1957. After overcoming numerous daunting hurdles, he had finally seen the attainment of his

Concept #20: Oneness of Mentor and Disciple