The May Commemorative Contribution Activity embodies our vow to practice and spread the Mystic Law, expressing gratitude for the profound benefits we have received through Buddhist practice. Beyond personal appreciation, it serves as a means to financially sustain and expand the kosen-rufu movement, ensuring that future generations have access to the transformative teachings of Nichiren Buddhism. Practically speaking, contributions enable the SGI-USA to open and maintain Buddhist centers, provide programs and services for members and those interested in Buddhism, and offer encouragement through publications and books. On a deeper level, making offerings is an essential aspect of Buddhist practice—a heartfelt expression of our determination to protect and extend kosen-rufu far into the future.
This year’s May Commemorative Contribution Activity will take place between April 28 and June 1.
In this issue, Naoko Leslie and James Herrmann, the SGI-USA women’s and men’s leaders, respectively, talk about how they learned the spirit of offerings in the SGI.
Naoko Leslie: James, I’m curious. How did you learn about the spirit of offerings from your mom, whom I know to be a precious kosen-rufu pioneer?
James Herrmann: When I think about it, Naoko, it was through her actions rather than her words that I learned that spirit. I want to tell you a funny story as an example. When I became old enough to earn an allowance by doing household chores, she once contributed my allowance to SGI-USA and gave me the receipt and said, “Congratulations!”
Back in the early ’80s, after my dad retired from the U.S. Army, he worked as a roughneck on offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico a month or so at a time. During this period, my mom would tighten the food budget by feeding my brother and me instant ramen noodles and hot dogs every day and would use the money she saved to contribute to kosen-rufu.
Watching my mom cut food expenses (without putting us through any unnecessary hardship) to save money for the purpose of making offerings was a bit hard for me to fully grasp at the time, but today I fully understand her spirit and deeply appreciate her doing so.
When I got my first job at McDonald’s at 15, my mom entrusted me with the responsibility to make contributions to the SGI-USA with my own money. She said I should really appreciate my job because it allows me to contribute to kosen-rufu and reassured me that nothing is more important than kosen-rufu.
She said if I always contribute with this spirit of appreciation, without complaining, I would never be unemployed and would have a great job in the future. I accepted this responsibility without hesitation and have been contributing ever since then. In fact, just 30 days after my first contribution, I got a better job at the local Piggly Wiggly supermarket, with better pay and better hours!
Although my mom trusted me to continue contributing after this epic benefit, she also informed my district women’s leader what days I got paid. As a result, every payday, that district leader would show up at my work with a big smile, warmly encouraging me to make my contribution before I spent my paycheck on anything else.
Naoko, how about you?
Naoko: Wow! What an amazing mom! She made you into the boy Virtue Victorious[1] who offered a mud pie to Shakyamuni Buddha!
My first offering was in my college years. I had lost the joy of living and felt very empty as a teenager. That’s when I stood up in my Buddhist practice, thanks to my mom’s prayers and my student division campus club leader, who repeatedly visited me even when I tried to dodge her!
I wanted to make any cause I could to transform my life, so I would share Buddhism with others and make financial offerings to the SGI—the two major ways I was taught to accumulate unlimited fortune in my life and change my karma. Initially, it was an experiment for me, one that worked.
Since money is so precious, offering money for the sake of the Mystic Law really felt like an incomparably powerful cause to me. I also loved the idea of saving up fortune in the “bank account of the universe,” which my chapter women’s leader, whom I loved and respected, shared with me!
Because of the causes I made then, I’ve been able to achieve my goals and dreams and continue to transform my karma. And my mom, who lives in Japan, continues to make offerings even to this day at the age of 90.
Her life proves that the benefit and protection deriving from the Mystic Law is undeniable. For example, several years ago when my dad got sick, she became his caregiver. As she got busier attending to him, she was unable to run errands in the neighborhood as she used to. However, soon a store opened right in front of her house so now, all she has to do is walk outside a few steps to get food and anything else she needs. My dad passed away two years ago, but even his transition was undeniable proof of the Mystic Law.
I am still blown away when I think of the incredible protection she’s received in her immediate environment. She still opens her home for group meetings and lives each day with deep appreciation for Ikeda Sensei and the Gohonzon. I can also see abundant fortune transmitted to my children.
James: That’s so amazing, Naoko! At 88, my mom continues to make offerings as well. Even though my dad passed away 29 years ago, my mom has remained independent. She drives my son to school daily, to his hockey practice and even goes grocery shopping. How wonderful it is that due to our moms’ efforts, we can see clear actual proof of multigenerational protection that extends not only to our lives but to those of our children, too.
Naoko: Yes! The spirit of offerings that we learned from our mothers and that we carry forward is what we have learned from our mentor. I know that we were both inspired when Sensei shared the following about writing The New Human Revolution and many other works. He said:
Composing daily installments of a serialized work is very demanding. There have been times when I was too tired to lift my pen to write, and I had to dictate the day’s installment to my wife. As husband and wife, we have persevered behind the scenes in this struggle of the pen. If Josei Toda were still alive, I know he would have praised us for our efforts.
All the proceeds from the books I have written have been offered as a contribution to kosen-rufu and for educational projects. My wife firmly concurs that this is the right thing to do, saying she is sure Soka Gakkai presidents Josei Toda and Tsunesaburo Makiguchi would have been pleased by my decision, as of course are all the Soka Gakkai members. Although this is a private matter, I wanted to share this for the sake of our leaders in the future. (October 11, 2024, World Tribune, p. 11)
James: Absolutely! Until this was shared, I don’t think many of us were aware of this fact. More than anyone, Sensei deeply understood the importance of our offerings to kosen-rufu and their significance in fulfilling the mission of the SGI.
Now more than ever in the SGI-USA, we have the great mission to transform our district communities throughout our country.
Our sincere and dedicated offerings to kosen-rufu enable the SGI-USA to continue to broaden its efforts to expand our movement that upholds the dignity of human life and spreads happiness.
Naoko: Sensei encourages us saying: “The spirit of joyful offering elevates our state of life and produces immeasurable benefit. This in turn, deepens our conviction in faith. It is an unchanging equation for consolidating the foundation of happiness in our lives” (NHR-4, revised edition, 115).
Let’s fully enjoy May Contribution this year!!
Learning From Ikeda Sensei
The Benefit That Accrues From Making Financial Offerings
The benefit of making offerings to the Lotus Sutra is boundless. Through that benefit, we can triumph over any obstacle and devilish function. And nothing is stronger than a person whose life is instilled with this confidence. (Learning From the Writings: The Hope-Filled Teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 4)
The benefit that accrues from making contributions is clearly spelled out in Nichiren Daishonin’s writings. If we were to contribute to kosen-rufu just as the writings teach and then failed to receive actual proof, then Buddhism would be false. The Gohonzon has tremendous power. I’m sure you are all well aware of that through your own experiences in faith until now.
Confident of the good fortune we are attaining, let us continue to advance joyfully, harmoniously and in high spirits toward our next goal, bracing ourselves for the struggle ahead.Also, let us remember that the amount of one’s contribution is not important; it is one’s sincerity that matters. (The New Human Revolution, vol. 10, revised edition, p. 160)
One kind of actual proof of victory in daily life is financial security. Therefore, I hope that as you accumulate bountiful treasures of the heart and much good fortune, you will also become secure financially. …
As long as we are living and working in society, having a certain amount of financial security is an important element for happiness. Josei Toda used to say, even though your wallet may be empty, there is an abundance of money floating about in the world—it just hasn’t come your way, that’s all! But, he would continue, if you accumulate good fortune, using it to drill a hole into that vast reservoir of money and tap some for yourself, you will never be in want. (My Dear Friends in America, fourth edition, p. 362)
References
- According to The Story of King Ashoka, one day when the Buddha was begging for alms, he came upon two boys, Virtue Victorious and Invincible. The two boys wished to present an offering to the Buddha but had nothing to give, so Virtue Victorious hastily made a mud pie and offered it to the Buddha, and Invincible pressed his palms together in reverence. Due to the blessings from this offering, a hundred years after the Buddha’s death, Virtue Victorious was reborn as King Ashoka and Invincible as his consort. ↩︎
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