The following is SGI President Ikeda’s dedication to the new World Seikyo Center, which completed construction on Sept. 8 and opened on Nov. 18 in Tokyo. This is the official building of the Seikyo Shimbun, the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper.
Kosen-rufu is a struggle of words. The Soka Gakkai’s development hinges on the power of words to communicate boldly the true greatness and validity of Nichiren Buddhism.
My mentor [second Soka Gakkai President], Josei Toda, first shared with me his vision of the Seikyo Shimbun [the Soka Gakkai’s newspaper] on Aug. 24, 1950. His business enterprises were facing perilous storms, but together we were determined to propel the great movement for kosen-rufu forward. Our conversation that day as mentor and disciple marks the starting point of the Seikyo Shimbun.
The first issue was published the following year, on April 20, just before my mentor was inaugurated as second Soka Gakkai president, having triumphed over every setback.
In the decades since, with the Seikyo Shimbun as the main stage in my struggle of words, I have wielded my pen tirelessly to record the truth of Soka mentors and disciples for posterity and to convey messages of encouragement to each of my fellow members.
With the support of everyone involved in its production, the readers and above all the precious deliverers, the Seikyo Shimbun has kept the flame of the written word burning brightly in order to create an age of victory for the people.
Today, sister publications of the Seikyo Shimbun around the world share in the mission of imparting the light of wisdom. Through advances in technology, the message of the Seikyo Shimbun, a truly humanistic newspaper, now reaches readers across the globe simultaneously. As we witness the fruition of President Toda’s cherished dream of making the Seikyo Shimbun available to people everywhere, this Soka Gakkai World Seikyo Center stands as testimony to the triumph of mentor and disciple.
Nichiren Daishonin writes, “It is through the use of words and letters that the Buddha saves living beings” (“Letter to Renjo,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 2, p. 6). From the standpoint of Buddhism, the Seikyo Shimbun has a profound and solemn mission. I am confident that the lion’s roar of mentor and disciple striving together in shared purpose will issue forth forever from this great “bastion of the pen” that is dedicated to realizing the Daishonin’s ideal of “establishing the correct teaching for the peace of the land” and the goal of worldwide kosen-rufu.
Sept. 8, 2019
Daisaku Ikeda
Third Soka Gakkai President
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