The following are excerpts from Ikeda Sensei’s speech at the 12th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting, held at the Tokyo Makiguchi Memorial Hall in Hachioji, Tokyo, on June 16, 1997. Video footage of the speech was broadcast during the recent Fourth Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial, on Sept. 7, 2024. The excerpts were translated from the Sept. 22, 2024, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun.
As an expression of my deep gratitude to all our Many Treasures Group members, I’d like to share a story about one of them.
This member joined the Soka Gakkai in November 1959, prompted by illness. She was in her 40s and suffered from an enlarged heart. A doctor told her she had only two or three years to live.
A women’s division member assured her that she could regain her health by practicing Nichiren Buddhism, which teaches that no prayer goes unanswered.
The words of those of pure faith penetrate deeply into people’s hearts.
Sharing Buddhism with someone is the act of bringing Nichiren Daishonin into their home. It is incredibly noble, a truly wonderful thing to do. That is why none are more admirable than those who earnestly engage in Soka Gakkai activities as proud members of our organization.
Those who work for kosen-rufu with tireless commitment are greater than any noted scholar, celebrity or powerful figure. The Daishonin would surely bestow the highest praise on such earnest, dedicated members and warmly embrace them.
Striving in faith with sincere, unwavering commitment is the mark of a life of true honor. Such individuals are the treasures of kosen-rufu and the Soka Gakkai.
The Soka Gakkai will always be a realm of ordinary people. The people are the foundation, the great earth of all things.
Though her husband initially opposed her faith, the aforementioned Many Treasures Group member successfully helped many others begin their practice of Nichiren Buddhism. Her heart condition also improved steadily, reflecting the principle of “prolonging one’s life through faith”[1] taught in “Life Span,” the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra. She has shown actual proof by extending her life by 40 years.
She says: “In Nichiren Buddhism, everything is very clear-cut and nothing is ever wasted. One’s efforts may go unrewarded in society, but this is never the case in faith.”
Her confidence is impressive, and she continues to engage joyfully in Soka Gakkai activities to this day. She has developed a network of friends numbering in the hundreds and is helping a great many people form connections with Buddhism.
“Each time I have given my all for kosen-rufu,” she says, “I have been able to transform my karma, gain benefit and realize the life I have today. When I have set aside my own worries and desires and worked my hardest, all of my prayers have been fulfilled quite naturally as well.”
That spirit is truly admirable. Making a great vow and dedicating oneself to it—that’s the true Soka Gakkai spirit and the true essence of faith.
The Many Treasures Group member is particularly fond of this passage from the Daishonin’s writings: “Bring forth the great power of faith, and be spoken of by all the people of Kamakura, both high and low, or by all the people of Japan, as ‘Shijo Kingo, Shijo Kingo of the Lotus school!’”[2] (“Earthly Desires Are Enlightenment,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 319).
Taking these words to heart, she has moved forward with fortitude and determination. And just as she vowed, she is now showing splendid proof of her faith. Her life is a song of victory.
“When I first joined the Soka Gakkai,” this great pioneer says, “some ridiculed me for joining such a ‘low-class religion’ and spoke ill of me. I have striven with the resolve to show them just how wrong they were.”
Nothing will happen if we don’t speak out. Only by sharing the truth of our movement and setting the record straight can we prove the validity of Nichiren Buddhism.
World history is filled with great people who have led outstanding lives. But more wonderful still are the lives of “great ordinary people.” These are practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism, Soka Gakkai members and members of the Many Treasures Group.
Let’s keep advancing with the conviction that kosen-rufu is winning and winning is kosen-rufu!
During World War II, amid a storm of persecution, first Soka Gakkai President Tsunesaburo Makiguchi spoke out for the actualization of kosen-rufu.
As a result of his efforts, the organization’s membership began to increase steadily from around 1940.
This came about because he adopted a revolutionary approach to spreading Nichiren Buddhism. He focused on visiting one home after another, speaking to one individual after another. That is the only way to do it, the way it must be done, he concluded.
Mr. Makiguchi, a great scholar, at first hoped that his writings would be an effective means of propagation, but they were not. Then he tried speaking to large groups at lectures and meetings. That, too, proved ineffective.
Books were no good, big meetings were no good. So he set out on his own to meet one individual after another. This led him to the conclusion that “the only way is to find a few like-minded friends.”
After that, propagation advanced significantly. Capable individuals gradually began to emerge.
Mr. Makiguchi always took an experimental approach, putting his ideas to the test. He tried things out for himself in order to find the best course. He was a truly extraordinary person. I can see why second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda was so devoted to him.
In closing, I’d like to share a passage from the Daishonin’s writing “On the Four Stages of Faith”:
I entreat the people of this country: Do not look down upon my disciples! If you inquire into their past, you will find that they are great bodhisattvas who have given alms to Buddhas over a period of eight hundred thousand million kalpas. … And if we speak of the future, they will be endowed with the benefit of the fiftieth person [who rejoices on hearing the Lotus Sutra],[3] surpassing that of one who gave alms to innumerable living beings for a period of eighty years [see The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, pp. 289–91]. They are like an infant emperor wrapped in swaddling clothes, or a great dragon who has just been born. Do not despise them! Do not look on them with contempt! (WND-1, 788–89)
None are nobler than the Bodhisattvas of the Earth who work for kosen-rufu. The Daishonin says that people must not look down upon them: “Do not despise them! Do not look on them with contempt!”
The universe is vast, as is the realm of Buddhism. The “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra states that there are “five hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a million nayuta asamkhya major world systems” (LSOC, 266). Buddhahood is a state of being in which we can make our way with perfect freedom through this infinitely vast universe. Serenely rising above small, trivial matters, let us advance confidently with broad and generous hearts.
I am praying each day that all of you, my dear fellow members, will lead safe, healthy and prosperous lives, moving straight ahead on the path of kosen-rufu.
I pray morning and evening that each one of you will become happy, achieve your great vow and lead a truly meaningful and fulfilling life.
October 11, 2024, World Tribune, pp. 2–3
References
- Prolonging one’s life through faith: This is based on the passage in “Life Span,” the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, that reads, “We beg you to cure us and let us live out our lives!” (The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, p. 269). This is in the section that explains the parable of the outstanding physician, who gives “good medicine” to his children who have “drunk poison” (that is, succumbed to delusion) and who implore him to cure their illness. Through taking this good medicine (that is, embracing faith in the wonderful Law of the Lotus Sutra), they are cured and able to enjoy many more years of life. ↩︎
- The Lotus school was originally another name for the Tendai school, which based itself on the Lotus Sutra. Later the term came to mean the Buddhism established by Nichiren Daishonin. ↩︎
- Benefit of the fiftieth person: This refers to the immeasurable benefit obtained by even the fiftieth person in a chain of transmission who rejoices on hearing the Lotus Sutra. ↩︎
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