This monthly encouragement by Ikeda Sensei was originally published in the May 2020 issue of the Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal.
How incredibly noble, deep and strong are the ties shared by mentor and disciples who have overcome all kinds of adversity together, solidly united in spirit and commitment!
Nichiren Daishonin, the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law, revealed his most important teachings specifically to disciples who remained undefeated by the hardships that beset them in the wake of the Tatsunokuchi Persecution and his subsequent exile to Sado Island.
In “Letter to Misawa,” in which he clarifies the significance of the teachings he expounded during and after his Sado exile, Nichiren writes: “Only this great teaching [of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo] will spread throughout the entire land of Jambudvipa [the entire world]. Since all of you have a bond with this teaching, you should feel reassured” (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 896).
Throughout the nine decades since its founding, the Soka Gakkai has triumphed over the onslaughts of the three powerful enemies and accomplished the propagation of the Mystic Law all across the globe, just as the Daishonin predicted. In so doing, its members have accumulated boundless good fortune and benefit. I read Nichiren’s words, “Since all of you have a bond with this teaching, you should feel reassured,” as being addressed directly to all the noble members of the Soka Gakkai.
Pained by the conditions of the postwar period—rife with poverty, illness, natural disasters and conflicts—my mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda, said to me with deep feeling: “Nichiren Daishonin lamented: ‘We live today in a time of trouble, when there is little that ordinary people can do [literally when the power of the people is weak]’ (“The Bodies and Minds of Ordinary Beings,” WND-1, 1134). It is vital that we empower people and do everything we can to build solidarity among the global family to bring an end to these troubled times.”
Now, as the world confronts the coronavirus pandemic and other serious global challenges, our members everywhere are striving in the spirit of Nichiren’s treatise “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land.” They are praying earnestly together, uniting across borders, to bring “order and tranquillity throughout the four quarters of the land” (WND-1, 24) and change poison into medicine, while making sincere and wholehearted contributions to their respective societies.
The powerful sound of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo permeates the entire universe. We now have built a network of ordinary people, Bodhisattvas of the Earth, that is undaunted by any of the “three calamities and seven disasters” described in the Daishonin’s writings. Let us continue, limitlessly into the future, to forge ties of respect and trust among people far and wide, based on our conviction that “All people have the Buddha nature” (“The Fourteen Slanders,” WND-1, 756).
I concluded my second lecture at Harvard University (in 1993), with the following words from The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings: “We use the [four] aspects of birth, aging, sickness, and death to adorn the [treasure] towers that are our bodies” (OTT, 90).
United by the bonds of mentor and disciple, Soka Gakkai members are showing countless examples of victory in their human revolution, of positively transforming the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness and death into the hope-filled virtues of eternity, happiness, true self and purity.
Let us now each make our lives shine with ever-greater radiance while continuing our efforts to create a world in which the life of every single member of the human family, each an invincible treasure tower, is truly valued and respected.
My trusted
fellow members of Soka,
your lives shining with brilliant light,
transform all hardships and sufferings,
and illuminate humanity.
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