December 2024 Living Buddhism

This section features Ikeda Sensei’s seminal guidance to the members of the United States. The following is an abridgement of his speech given at the First SGI All-America General Meeting, held at the World Peace Ikeda Auditorium, Santa Monica, California, February 24, 1990. The full speech can be found in My Dear Friends in America,

Ikeda Sensei: When we do gongyo and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we conduct a ceremony in which we praise the Gohonzon and the great pure Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. On one level, it could be said that our daily chanting is like a paean for the Buddha and for Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the fundamental Law of the universe. At the

In the eighth volume of [the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai’s] Great Concentration and Insight and in the eighth volume of [the Great Teacher Miao-lo’s] The Annotations on “Great Concentration and Insight” it says, “The stronger one’s faith, the greater the protection of the gods.” This means that the protection of the gods depends on the strength

Remembering our vow amid hardship, we transform karma and build eternal fortune. We are Akiko and Lee Look from Albany, California.

In this essay, Ikeda Sensei writes of the power source of victory—gongyo. This essay was translated from the February 10, 2006, issue of the Soka Gakkai’s daily newspaper, Seikyo Shimbun. Some members from Chiba sent me a photo of this year’s [2006] first sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. My wife, Kaneko, and I often admire

Installment 20: ‘The Selection of the Time’

The sixth class of Ikeda Wisdom Academy returned to the material studied by its first class 10 years ago, The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra.  The Ikeda Wisdom Academy section of the November 2024–January 2025 issues of Living Buddhism will include workbook questions to guide youth members in preparing for the exam, which will be

Installment 10 | Installment 20 | Installment 30 | Installment 40 | Installment 50 | Installment 60 Installment 1 History moves. Times change. The determination and actions of human beings make this happen. On August 12, 1978, the Japan-China peace and friendship treaty was signed, setting in motion a new age of Japan-China relations. At

Buddhism is a teaching conveyed through the mentor-disciple relationship. The oneness, or shared commitment, of mentor and disciple forms the essence of Buddhist practice. If we forget the mentor-disciple relationship, we cannot attain Buddhahood. Nor can we achieve eternal happiness or realize kosen-rufu. It is through the bond of mentor and disciple that the Law

Please base your monthly discussion meeting on one of the following: 1) Writings for Discussion Meetings (pp. 54–55) 2) Buddhist Concepts (pp. 56–57) 3) Material from any recent issue of the World Tribune or Living Buddhism Writings for Discussion Meetings Become a Person of ‘Pure Gold’ Passage Gold can be neither burned by fire nor