February 2025 Living Buddhism

Gongyo—which includes reciting portions of the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span of the Thus Come One” chapters of the Lotus Sutra morning and evening—is part of daily practice for Nichiren Buddhists.  This series will carry Ikeda Sensei’s explanations of gongyo, section by section. The full text can be found in The Heart of the Lotus

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 Youth Training Session, held at the Malibu Training Center, Malibu, California, February 26, 1990. The full speech can be found in My Dear Friends in America, fourth edition, pp. 84–94.

My battles with illness taught me that chanting is the strongest medicine, because I am still here. I am Valerie Ewing, of Chicago.

by Naoko Leslie SGI-USA Women’s Leader Happy February 27, SGI-USA Women’s Division Day! In this exciting Year of Soaring Higher Toward a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide, as SGI-USA, we are focusing on our discussion meetings where we can joyfully gather and encourage one another as fellow members and friends! We will especially focus our efforts on

The Heritage for Attaining Buddhahood Flows in the Lives of Disciples Who Strive Selflessly for Others’ Happiness in the Same Spirit as the Mentor

Please base your monthly discussion meeting on one of the following: 1) Writings for Discussion Meetings (pp. 40–41) 2) Buddhist Concepts (pp. 42–43)3) Material from any recent issue of the World Tribune or Living Buddhism Writings for Discussion Meetings Live Without Regrets With Steadfast Faith Passage Be resolved to summon forth the great power of

“As youth, you face all sorts of difficulties, and wrestle each day with worries and problems. Precisely for this reason, it is crucial that you stand up with a great vow and strive to achieve a fundamental goal. Once you decide what is fundamental, nothing that happens will sway you, and you can grow by

In this excerpt from volume 6 of The New Human Revolution, Ikeda Sensei writes about an editorial he penned for the April 1962 issue of the Daibyakurenge, titled “To the Student Division,” in which he offers guidelines to the student division members. Sensei appears in the novel as Shin’ichi Yamamoto.  Revealing his high hopes for

Installment 22: On the Four Stages of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice

Ikeda Sensei’s serialized novel The New Human Revolution chronicles the history of the Soka Gakkai following his inauguration in 1960 as its third president. It carries practical guidance on how to expand our movement for kosen-rufu and hundreds of experiences of inner transformation. Sensei appears in the novel as Shin’ichi Yamamoto. The following takes place

November 3, 1995. I had just received an honorary doctorate of letters from Nepal’s Tribhuvan University. After the ceremony, we headed away from the city to a hilltop from which I could get a good picture of the Himalayas. … Just as our car pulled up, a young girl, her back laden with rice straw,