Soka Gakkai Commemorative Day on Nov. 15

On Nov. 27, 2023, Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada announced at a divisional representatives conference that Nov. 15, the anniversary of Ikeda Sensei’s passing, will now be commemorated every year, along with Nov. 18 and April 2, the memorial anniversaries of presidents Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda, respectively.

In The New Human Revolution, Ikeda Sensei writes about attending a service commemorating the 16th anniversary of the death of his mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda, which he described as an occasion not only to pray for his mentor but also for the members’ ancestors as well as the deceased who dedicated their lives to kosen-rufu.

Afterward, Sensei shared brief encouragement, in which he stressed that to really know the mentor is to learn how he put his faith in Nichiren Buddhism into practice and to do the same ourselves. Sensei continued:

As disciples of the great leader of kosen-rufu, Josei Toda, let’s pledge to make this April 2 a day marking a deeply meaningful leap forward in our lives, our faith and our movement for kosen-rufu.

The Lotus Sutra says, “Those persons who had heard the Law dwelled here and there in various Buddha lands, constantly reborn in company with their teachers” (The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, p. 178). Those who make their mentor’s spirit their own and give their all for kosen-rufu are always together with their mentor. (The New Human Revolution, vol. 19, revised edition, p. 184)