CategoryIkeda Sensei

The following excerpts are from Ikeda Sensei’s speech at the 13th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting held at the Tokyo Makiguchi Memorial Hall in Tokyo, on July 9, 1997. Video footage of the speech was broadcast during the 11th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial held on Nov. 12, 2022. This was translated from

The following text is Ikeda Sensei’s Foreword to The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, the first volume of the Soka Gakkai’s official English translation of Nichiren’s collected works. The publication in a single volume of the translations of 172 writings of Nichiren Daishonin, including his five major works, is indeed wonderful news, not only

To my treasured friends of Los Angeles, the city of my dreams. A brilliant, burning sunrises above the newborn land,aiming toward a new century,raising the curtain on a new stageof humanity’s history.Shedding its light equally on all things,it seeks the sky’s distant midpoint. In this land wrappedin the limitless lightof the morning sun,my splendid American

11th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting

Originally published in the November 2022 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. Nichiren Daishonin writes, “The wish-granting jewel …, though only a single jewel, can shower all kinds of treasures upon the wisher” (“The Recitation of the ‘Expedient Means’ and ‘Life Span’ Chapters,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 69). Just like

The following essay by Ikeda Sensei was originally published in the Oct. 26, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. Our movement for kosen-rufu is about building a culture of peace. As part of that endeavor, we hold a wide range of exhibitions around the world. Twenty years have passed since the

The following essay was written by Ikeda Sensei as part of his series “The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Mentor-Disciple Relationship,” originally published in the Aug. 21, 2009, World Tribune. This is part one of a two-part essay.  “Bound as we common mortals are by earthly desires, we can instantly attain the same virtues

The following excerpt is from Ikeda Sensei’s essay “Be Champions of Wisdom, Diligently Training in Practice and Study!” published in the Oct. 21, 2022, World Tribune, pp. 2–3. Studying Nichiren’s writings rouses the Daishonin’s indomitable fighting spirit in our hearts and causes our beings to resound with his great compassion to alleviate the sufferings of

Message to the Nationwide Young Men’s Leaders Meeting

Originally published in the October 2022 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. Eight hundred years have passed since the birth of Nichiren Daishonin, who described himself as “the son of a commoner” and “the son of commoner parents.” The time has come for Nichiren Daishonin’s sunlike Buddhism of the people to dispel the darkness

Ikeda Sensei’s poem commemorates November 18, Soka Gakkai Founding Day. It was originally published in the February 2, 2001, World Tribune, pp. 4–5. The morning sun!O the morning sun shining in the eastern sky! The light illuminatingthe great stageof the 21st centurybeckons usto stride out exuberantlyinto the new age ahead of us. His gaze on

The following is an essay from Ikeda Sensei, originally published in the Sept. 29, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. I recall an evening not long after the Seikyo Shimbun had been founded, when I was busily preparing for Josei Toda’s upcoming inauguration as second Soka Gakkai president. A number of

The following essay was written by Ikeda Sensei as part of his series “The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Mentor-Disciple Relationship,” originally published in the July 31, 2009, World Tribune. Part one appears in the Sept. 9, 2022, World Tribune.  Therefore, I say to you, my disciples, try practicing as the Lotus Sutra teaches,

The following excerpt is from one of Ikeda Sensei’s essays on the basics of Nichiren Buddhism Faith, Practice, and Study, p. 43. When we are in the depths of despair, reading Nichiren’s writings can make the sun of hope rise in our hearts. When we face an impasse, reading them can help us summon forth

The following excerpts are from Ikeda Sensei’s speech at a youth division leaders meeting held at the Soka International Friendship Hall in Tokyo on April 13, 1993. Video footage of the speech was broadcast during the most recent Soka Gakkai Headquarters leaders meeting on Aug. 27, 2022. This was translated from the Sept. 6, 2022,

Originally published in the September 2022 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal. When I was young and battling illness, I was struck by a passage in Nichiren Daishonin’s writings: “Through illness, [the Buddha taught] the power [of Buddhism]” (“On Curing Karmic Disease,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 631). I realized that

Ikeda Sensei sent the following message to the 10th Soka Gakkai Headquarters Leaders Meeting Toward Our Centennial, held on Aug. 27, 2022, at the Toda Memorial Auditorium in Sugamo, Tokyo. This message was originally published in the Aug. 28, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. Twenty-five years ago, before an audience

The following essay was written by Ikeda Sensei as part of his series “The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Mentor-Disciple Relationship.” It was originally published in the July 24, 2009, World Tribune. Therefore, I say to you, my disciples, try practicing as the Lotus Sutra teaches, exerting yourselves without begrudging your lives! (“The Selection

The following essay by Ikeda Sensei was translated from the Aug. 4, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. A statue depicting the French author Victor Hugo (1802–85) striding forward as he holds a book stands in the lobby of the main auditorium of Soka University, “a fortress for the peace of

Ikeda Sensei composed the following poems to commemorate Aug. 24, the 75th anniversary of the start of his Buddhist practice. They were translated from the Aug. 24, 2022, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. On my 75th anniversary of embracing faith, I dedicate to my mentor the honor of making the Mystic Law resound throughout the