by Naoko Leslie, Maya Gunaseharan and Olivia Saito
SGI-USA Women’s Leader, Young Women’s Leader and Youth Leader
To the women and young women of the SGI-USA, thank you for your dedicated efforts to unite together and win in 2018, the Year of Brilliant Achievement in the New Era of Worldwide Kosen-rufu!
Thanks to your tireless actions, last year was filled with unprecedented advancement and growth as we fought courageously together toward the 50,000 Lions of Justice Festival and gathered over 53,000 people at our November discussion meetings to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Hall of the Great Vow for Kosen-rufu. We also celebrated the completion of SGI President Ikeda’s lifework The New Human Revolution on Sept. 8, 2018.[1] Congratulations on a year overflowing with brilliant achievements!
We are now well underway in the Year of Soka Victory. Twenty-nine years ago, on Feb. 27, 1990, SGI-USA representative women’s leaders from throughout the country gathered in Los Angeles for the first SGI-USA Women’s Division Meeting. On that day, which also marked the birthday of SGI Honorary Women’s Leader Kaneko Ikeda, President Ikeda gave his enduring speech “Buddhism Is the Clear Mirror That Reflects Our Lives” (see My Dear Friends in America, third edition, pp. 92–103). At the request of the SGI-USA, this day came to be recognized as SGI-USA Women’s Day.
This month, we celebrate the 29th anniversary of SGI-USA Women’s Day with commemorative gongyo meetings to pray for the peace of the land. These meetings will be open to all SGI-USA women and young women and guests.
The beautiful joint efforts of our women and young women.
In a recent message, our mentor shared these words about the powerful force that is created when women and young women work together:
A showing of a Soka Gakkai–sponsored exhibition titled “Me and the Universe” will open in Hiroshima this month. Among the panels on display is a photograph of the Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51) and its smaller neighboring galaxy (NGC 5195). The photograph shows two beautiful spiral galaxies sitting companionably side by side—like a mother and daughter holding hands as they produce an infinite number of new stars. This reminds me of the beautiful joint efforts of our women’s division and young women’s division members.
The Soka Gakkai is a magnificent galaxy causing an unending multitude of capable Bodhisattvas of the Earth to shine brightly like sparkling stars in the whirlpool of our unceasing dynamic movement of kosen-rufu. Let us vibrantly and powerfully continue to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which is “the greatest of all joys” (The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, p. 212), and bring forth even greater numbers of inspiring “torchbearers of justice” in the youth division and future division. (Nov. 9, 2018, World Tribune, p. 3)
When we join our hearts and efforts, we can dramatically advance our movement for kosen-rufu and peace in our families and communities.
In this Year of Soka Victory, let us deeply study and embody the spirit of The New Human Revolution in our lives and write our own personal chapters of human revolution by conquering our fears, challenging our weaknesses and resolving to work for the happiness of others. In the “Afterword” to volume 30 of The New Human Revolution, President Ikeda states:
It is my sincere hope that Soka Gakkai members will make the completion of The New Human Revolution a fresh starting point and stand up as “Shin’ichi Yamamotos”[2] to work for the happiness of others. I pray that, through their tireless, tenacious efforts, they will create their own brilliant history of human revolution.
As long as suffering and misery exist anywhere on our planet, we must continue to weave with rich color and bold creativity the magnificent tapestry of human victory that is kosen-rufu. That is why our mentor-disciple journey to realize the great vow for kosen-rufu will continue forever. (March 2019 Living Buddhism, p. 17)
In support of our fresh endeavor to read and embody The New Human Revolution in our own lives, and stand up as “Shin’ichi Yamamotos,” this issue of the World Tribune includes a check card to keep track of your study of The New Human Revolution (see insert). Please use this exciting new tool to help you delve into studying our mentor’s lifework over the next two years.
Furthermore, let’s ensure that we thoroughly win in the February discussion meetings and use our Feb. 27 women’s and young women’s gatherings as a place to celebrate our collective victory.
Together, let’s experience a year of dramatic victory as we undergo our own inner transformations, based on winning in the district and learning from The New Human Revolution!
References
- SGI President Ikeda completed writing the final installment of The New Human Revolution on Aug. 6, 2018, which was then published in the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, the Seikyo Shimbun, on Sept. 8, 2018. ↩︎
- Shin’ichi Yamamoto refers to President Ikeda in The New Human Revolution, but, more broadly, he epitomizes what it means to be a disciple. ↩︎
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