The following is a summary of Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada’s speech at the Fifth Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial and the SGI General Meeting, held at the Tokyo Toda Memorial Auditorium in Sugamo, Tokyo, on Nov. 17, 2024. The meeting celebrated the 94th Soka Gakkai Founding Day [Nov. 18] and the kickoff toward 2025—the Year of Soaring Higher Toward a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide. It was translated from the Nov. 23, 2024, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun.
Congratulations on this Fifth Headquarters Leaders Meeting commemorating the founding of the Soka Gakkai on Nov. 18, held in conjunction with the SGI General Meeting.
Today we are joined by 280 leaders from 75 countries and territories who have come to Japan with an eager seeking spirit to participate in the first SGI autumn training course held in five years. Thank you for traveling such long distances; we extend our warmest welcome.
Next year, 2025, we will not only mark the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Soka Gakkai but also the 65th anniversary of Ikeda Sensei’s first overseas guidance tour after he became the third Soka Gakkai president and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the SGI.
In light of the chaos we are seeing in the world, the mission of our Soka movement to transform the karma of humanity is more important than ever. With a strong determination to further grow and develop our youthful global network, let us advance under the banner of our theme for the coming year—the Year of Soaring Higher Toward a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide.
Sensei had high hopes for the youth, declaring: “Nothing is stronger than young people’s wings of challenge and creativity. Their youthful energy, intelligence and passion allow them to soar to new heights, undaunted by the fiercest winds of the times.”[1]
Let’s respect the independence and initiative of our young members, joining together to support every challenge they take on and creating an environment that enables them to energetically engage in activities, while also warmly fostering our precious future division members.
In his novel The New Human Revolution, Sensei writes: “The necessary conditions for the kosen-rufu movement to really take off … have all been met. You are all in the driver’s seat now. I hope that, without depending on others, you will stand up with the same determination and awareness as me, taking full responsibility as you carry out activities for kosen-rufu. In other words, a new age is a time when disciples rise into action, when they demonstrate proof of their victory” (NHR-19, 79).
The way we will soar higher as a youthful Soka Gakkai across the globe is by standing up as disciples and demonstrating actual proof of our victory, in these years leading up to our centennial. Embodying the Soka Gakkai spirit that is undaunted by even the fiercest winds, let each of us strongly contribute to the development of a youthful Soka Gakkai as we spread our wings as a global movement.
At this time, to enable SGI organizations in each country and territory to strengthen their unity and solidarity and to promote the vigorous advance of worldwide kosen-rufu, an unprecedented global movement, the foundational principles of the SGI’s administrative regime were recently clarified at a meeting of the Soka Gakkai Executive Council. These clarifications are: first, that the SGI will regard Ikeda Sensei as the mentor of worldwide kosen-rufu and the president and spiritual leader of the SGI in perpetuity; and, second, that, with the unity of “many in body, one in mind,” the SGI will promote worldwide kosen-rufu based on the guidance and spirit of the three founding presidents, especially of the SGI president, Daisaku Ikeda, centering itself around the Soka Gakkai president and assisted by the SGI general director.
The Constitution of the Soka Gakkai has been revised to reflect these points and Yoshiki Tanigawa has been selected at the recent SGI Board of Directors meeting to serve as the new SGI general director. Many congratulations!
On Nov. 15, the one-year memorial service for Sensei was solemnly conducted at the Hall of the Great Vow for Kosen-rufu. In March 1959, approaching the first anniversary of second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda’s passing, Sensei visited the Chubu and Kansai regions to encourage the members. His schedule was intensely packed, as he visited Aichi on March 22, Shiga on March 23, Fukui on March 24, Kyoto on March 25 and Gifu on March 26. Explaining the intentions behind his visits, he said: “Those who can endure times when the Soka Gakkai is being attacked are true allies. I have come here to create such true allies.”
The allies Sensei is talking about aren’t defined by their status, such as whether or not they are a member of the Soka Gakkai, but by their attitude and way of life.
Now is precisely the time for us, hearts aligned with Sensei, to actively set forth, spreading encouragement and increasing our efforts in dialogue to forge and expand our network of true allies.
In closing, I’d like to share some words of Sensei that were published in the Seikyo Shimbun [in 1959] under the title “Thoughts on the Occasion of President Toda’s First Anniversary”:
A year has gone by since Mr. Toda’s passing—a brief time, one could say, but also the longest, heaviest year imaginable. Yet President Toda’s way of thinking, his voice, his spirit, are just as vivid to me now as when he was alive. In the last year, the Soka Gakkai has boldly pressed forward on the path of kosen-rufu that he paved for us. In this sense, I believe that he is still leading the Soka Gakkai even after his death.
Let us serenely soar into the vast skies of worldwide kosen-rufu under the eternal guidance of Sensei.
December 13, 2024, World Tribune, p. 9
References
- Aug. 18, 2023, World Tribune, p. 2. ↩︎
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