Chanting Growers Group

[PassTheDoobie]

And by the way, a big hello to doobieduck! Happy to see you here Brother!

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Quick response:

Quick response:

"...since I circulated the email among the youth division"

"I know PTD's mentor is not Sensei Ikeda, as recently mentioned here."

Peace,
MyohoDisco

Why in the world would you have done that? Creating public awareness of dissention is never the solution. You assume everyone is on your level in regard to objectivity and capacity. That would be a very big mistake.

If your comments cause even a bit of disunity or confusion then know that you should have handled it differently. Be responsible for that; you made the decision to do so. (hmm, what's the fifth of the five cardinal sins we respect as Nichiren Buddhists based on his teachings?)

I was with you until you said you had distributed your comments. I think you need to chant very deeply about what your motives truly were in doing so. Before you decide to try and influence other people, make sure you have made enough personal effort to be credible in being objective and genuinely having a seeking mind. If you had these issues and questions, there would be no reason to express those questions in such a manner without knowing first what the answers would be. Then you would have a chance to chant to clearly understand them based on faith.



My worst nightmare would be to influence ANYONE to have an attitude about accepting Daisaku Ikeda as their personal mentor. If one can be inspired in this way, then it would be a big mistake to resist such an influence in one's life. If you could pull it off, how could you fail?

What does accepting Daisaku Ikeda as your mentor mean? Aren't they really just saying and expressing to us the truth that we should have his same passion to achieve kosen rufu? To a great degree we already do that by trying to capture that spirit here on this thread. I quote him quite a lot don't you think? What part of what he is saying might I try and dissuade someone from embracing?

Could you have done those nine shakubuku without the SGI? Could you read that Gosho without the SGI having had it translated for you by world renowned academics? It's Daisaku Ikeda's passion for kosen rufu that helped you accomplish that. To embrace and share that passion is a good thing.

Something one must keep in mind in regard to my practice, which is not true to those of you beginning yours now--we lacked the english language references that allow people to access Mr. Ikeda's thinking today. Also, frankly, there was a greater number of very capable 'leaders' (experienced members sharing their life experiences and inspiring and directing others) "per capita" then there are today. I had the good fortune to have people that I had life to life relationships with, which were very capable people. Some may not have that good fortune.

So in fact, I am a defacto disciple of Daisaku Ikeda in that the things that my mentors taught me, they learned from the ideals, faith and practice of the Soka Gakkai as directed and nurtured in growth and dynamic by Daisaku Ikeda. President Toda had already been dead for sixteen years when I started practicing, but a big english language based influence from Daisaku Ikeda didn't occur for at least ten or fifteen years after I received Gohonzon in '73.

I agree with all of your comments about the potential of confusing new members that might regard discussion of a term referred to as mentor/disciple from the wrong perspective. But until you get past your own prejudices, just as I am attempting to get past mine, we can never influence others as we are directed to by our Eternal Master, Nichiren. I would take your chapter leader up on his offer to speak with someone more senior than himself, and chant lots of Daimoku in anticipation of that meeting.

Deep respect!

Thomas (more to say, but not enough time to say it)

PS: Thanks for all of the change you all have thrust upon me since '04! I have just been appointed an SGI Men's Division district chief again. They will announce my appointment next month.

 

[EasyMyohoDisco]

Thanks PTD! And welcome to Doobieduck, I been seeing you around the Boards and I'm glad you made it!

Thank you very much once again for the prompt responses. I chanted for a bit then did gongyo before after writing down this post and getting some fucked up phone calls and totally ended up coming out with a clearer mind and much better outlook to end the day for me well. I was finally called and spoke to the Zone YMD leader for an hour and he was able to comprehend me and then he offered to come over on sunday for the Study meeting in which I'm ironically enough going to discuss The Mentor Disciple Relationship. The posts by Thomas shall be read at this meeting and I'll be able to have a clearer head come Sunday so that I can give a helluva presentation.

I needed to vent tonight, I will need to vent some more tomorrow but daimoku and faith got me through today very well! Thanks for being there for me. This thread helped me start changing my life and whats in store for all of us, who knows, I'm working on kosen-rufu and we'll see what happens!

Peace my friends and I hope you all have great days,
M

 

[GeorgialouWho]

Greetings all! I am back and on my computer and its sooooo good to see the site back up and running; Rock on Gypsy and DG! I know it's been back now for a couple of days but that's about how far behind I am from myself; very hard trying to catch up to yourself dontcha think?
So a quick question off the point of buddhism?? How many posts equates one post? or is the length of posts? I have gone back to look and it seems like its every so many posts equals one? Okay I will stop obsessing for now lol I would insert the smilies here too but it seems to be not letting me do that either!
Big thanks to the Babba's again for not only 'upping' my daimoku but also for their graciousness as I stopped by there the other night after a week of travelling to many places and taking care of many things in a very short amount of time and it was a nice to decompress before I landed home...thank you thank you thank you! >insert big kisses and hugs here<
It is so 'myoho' that the topic of late is the mentor/disciple relationship because I happened upon a gosho study at the SFCC this past friday night. Okay first of all I must preface this by saying and the Babba's can attest to this was I was SOOOOOOOOO excited!!! What such fortune! What a great benefit! Especially there at that center; it holds soooo many memories for me especially as a youth division! Also that I was married there and I was thinking "ah shit....so many emotions are going to come up" considering my current circumstances; and they did come up but it was tears of joy; because that center holds for me more than that one(although very important) time in my life. I traveled to that community center more times from monterey than I can even count; when I first started ywd(kotekitai) every sunday to the daly city cc then the SFCC when it was purchased. It took us two hours there and back; but we did it every sunday and then at times during the week. What great causes; what good fortune I have accumulated and I say that with all that is going on around me and I say it with integrity and honesty. No BS here life is too short!
So the lecture was on the mentor/disciple relationship which I have also have and still have at times my own struggles with (especially as a woman) that. I think its natural especially in our western/christian culture to have that. I don't want to go on and on and I will post more later when I have more time but there were a couple key points i wanted to share right now. It was based on the Jan/Feb issue of Living Buddhism and it is installment 9 of the lecture on "the heritage of the ultimate law of life" "Shoji Ichidaiji Kechi Myaku"
So first the entire lotus sutra is based on the mentor/disciple relationship. Shakyamuni did not just sit around and pontificate his teachings; he left those palace walls and walked the walk and talked the talk as they say. Now think about it the entire lotus sutra is based on this concept. Take a moment and take that in. Nothing to do with President Ikeda or Nichiren; based on the lotus sutra. They have also walked the walk and talked the talk. That is why they are "mentors" in faith. One of the other things that was said was once they diafied the buddha he no longer was a mentor. I don't think I spelled diafied right?
"Buddhism is open to all. This universally accessible nature of the heritage is so important that it simply cannot be emphasized too strongly. When it is correctly understood, Buddhism can serve as a humanistic and universal religion; when it is not, Buddhism can become narrow and authoritarian, deviating from the original spirit of the Buddha." (Living Buddhism jan/feb o8)
sorry its not letting me do bold either for my quotes; dang it!
Even the guy giving the lecture who has practiced many years, decades has had his own issues with the mentor/disciple thing and the word Vow. So you are right where you should be Easy really and that is your mission to question, to make these leaders go and chant about whatever it is you want to know and keep pushing until you find the right answer. Believe me when Pres. Ikeda first started practicing nobody liked him and he didn't like the organization and Toda told him then change it; you don't like it then you change it and that my friend is the concept of Human Revolution; the human revolution in one individual can change a nation; look at Mandala, Dr. King, Ghandi, Mother Teresa; there are so many examples of those people.
Listen not only do we as people have karma so do our town, cities, states, and countries; its like those russian dolls so too does each area in the organization have its karma. After we moved back from Vegas back to Monterey we were at a leaders meeting and the bs politics of the organization comes up and I was not shy on my opinion and of course did not slander anyone person or anybody but stated what I had to say and I will tell you these people who had known me since I was 12 looked so disgusted at me and one of them even told me that President Ikeda would be so ashamed of me!!?? It was heavy dude and yes we can go back and say well it gave me something to chant about and it is a reflection on me yes but also you have to stand up and speak up; this organization is not about being sheep; if Toda had told Ikeda to just go chant about it and well that's your opinion; where the f*ck would we all be? We all have our role and as long as we are coming a place of intergrity then keep pushing the envelope I say. Boy I went off on a tangent there haha
So I will end with this quote that was highlighted during the meeting, "Both mentor and disciple dedicate their lives eternally to bodhisattva practice-this point is crucial to understanding the Lotus Sutra's essence. Once in a lecture open to all members, President Toda explained:"When I said: 'I'm going to go and be reborn in the country of Japan when it is in a state of ruin. Why don't you all come with me?' you all replied, 'Okay let's go!' 'Yes, why not!' And as a result, we all appeared in this world...
"The sutra says that wherever they may be, practioners of the sutra are sure to be born together with their mentor is various Buddha lands. This is certainly not a lie. It means that mentor and disciple are always born together. In light of these words of Nichiren, I feel tremendous gratitude to all of you. We were born together in this world as a result of a promise that we made in the past." (Living Buddhism jan/feb 08)

Thanks for letting me share and remember I am now around 3 hours from the nearest community center so I will be a buzzing about it for awhile...ahhhh so fortunate huh!

So be it, Will it so...Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

GeorgialouWho

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"Winter always turns to spring."

(Winter Always Turns to Spring - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 1, page 536) Selection source: "Myoji no Gen", Seikyo Shimbun, January 22nd,
2008

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"This year the question of which Buddhist teachings are right and which are wrong will definitely be resolved."

(Letter to the Priests of Seicho-ji - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 1, page 650) Selection source: SGI President Ikeda's speech, Seikyo Shimbun, January 5th, 2008

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"No matter how close we may be in proximity, without a spirit of mutual respect and equality, the effort to build bridges of peace and friendship would just be an illusion."

SGI Newsletter No. 7438, The New Human Revolution -- Vol. 20: Chap. 3,Ties of Trust 20, translated Dec. 21st, 2007

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"Planting Seeds of Hope in Japan's Youth"

"Planting Seeds of Hope in Japan's Youth"

The Japan Times, 2nd install.--Jun. 8, 2006

From a 12-part essay series by Daisaku Ikeda carried in The Japan Times, a leading English-language daily published in Japan, from May 2006 through April 2007.

The bright laughter of children is the true measure of a society's health.

Ten years ago, I was in San José, Costa Rica, for the opening of an exhibition on the reality and threat of nuclear weapons. Even as participants began a dignified rendition of the national anthem, through the wall that separated the venue from the Children's Museum next door came the sound of free and raucous voices--elementary school pupils waiting for the exhibition to open. As the ceremony proceeded, the noise generated by the children at times came close to drowning out the speeches of the invited guests.

The ceremony participants exchanged smiles. It seemed that the cheerful and vibrant voices of the children were the symbol and embodiment of peace. Their voices conveyed a sense of hope capable of countering even the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

As adults, it is our responsibility to ensure that these pure voices resonate loudly throughout society. And yet, in Japan in recent years, hardly a day passes without news of tragic and disturbing incidents involving children. It is painful in the extreme to learn of children and young people falling victim to or becoming otherwise entangled in violent crime.

The lives of children are a mirror on society. These incidents reflect an underlying pathology, one that justifies indifference to others, the casual disregard of their pain.

I am intensely concerned that by offering young people only the example of an uncaring and brutal way of life, we are extinguishing from their hearts the light of hope. The unfulfilled hearts of children become desolate. They are then rendered even more vulnerable to a distorted value system that--by the single, arbitrary measure of wealth--coldly separates society's "winners" from its "losers."

We need to initiate an earnest and principled rethinking of what it means to win in life and what a genuinely affluent society would look like.

The members of my generation also experienced the pain of finding the values offered us by society empty and meaningless.

I was seventeen when World War II ended. There was among young people a tormented sense of spiritual void. It wasn't just the physical landscape that had been reduced to ashes. The bizarre system of values drilled into us in the wartime years had been exposed as fraudulent and razed to the ground.

It was only natural that many young people fell into a state of desperate skepticism, convinced there was nothing in which they could believe. Like them, I found it impossible to trust the intellectuals and politicians who, having sung the praises of war and driven large numbers of young people to their deaths, overnight became apostles of peace and democracy.

I feel deeply fortunate that at this most difficult juncture in my youth, I was able to encounter a person who was willing to engage with me and other young people head-on and whom I would come to regard as my mentor in life.

When I first met Josei Toda at a small gathering of Soka Gakkai members, he was 47, almost 30 years my senior. And yet he responded to my questions with unadorned directness and sincerity. Toda had resisted the militarist regime that stripped the Japanese people of their rights and freedoms, plunging the country into a war of invasion. As a result, he had endured persecutions and a two-year imprisonment. The words of a person who had suffered imprisonment for his convictions carried a special weight. I felt intuitively that I could trust him.

Toda was an educator with a profound love for the young. Puffing a cigarette, his talks would range freely across different subjects as he shared insights into life's more intractable problems.

He organized outdoor study sessions for young people in beautiful natural settings that helped us regain a sense of expansive vitality. I recall an occasion when, around a campfire by a river, we spoke with him late into the night about the things that concerned us: our relations with our parents, marriage, our lives and futures…

Toda had a deep faith and trust in young people. He saw in them possibilities they themselves could not imagine. In turn they were transformed by the confidence, courage and hope he instilled.

From my own experience, I am convinced that few things are more crucial to the healthy growth of children than encountering someone who truly believes in them. Studies suggest that young people who act violently often suffer from the feeling that no one is interested or cares. The problem behavior of children is a harsh reflection on the heartless egotism and apathy of adult society.

The Lotus Sutra includes the following parable.

There once was a man who had a rich friend. One day the man called on his friend who entertained him until, sated on wine, he fell asleep. The rich friend was called away on business. Before leaving, as a parting gift he sewed a priceless jewel into the hem of the sleeping man's garment. Knowing nothing of this, the man awoke and went about his business. Falling on hard times, he wandered the world in poverty. Years later, they met again. The rich man, astonished at his friend's condition, told him of the gift he had given him, and which he had possessed all along.

Each young person possesses a precious inner treasure of infinite worth. To remain unaware of this and stumble about in spiritual poverty is a tragic waste. In contrast, a person fully awakened to the jewel-like dignity of their own life is capable of truly respecting that treasure in others.

We all have opportunities, in our families and communities, to interact with young people. I hope adults will take the time and make the effort to listen attentively to the voices of the young. Such small acts of caring can help refresh and replenish a young heart. We should each strive to be a consistent source of warmth and spiritual nourishment.

While this may seem laborious and time-consuming, I am convinced that from such efforts--the resonance and trust that arise between one life and another--emerge people keenly sensitive to the sufferings of others, people capable of empathetic action on others' behalf. This is the first step toward building the values that will support a genuinely healthy society. These are the seeds of future hope we can plant today.

(from: http://www.daisakuikeda.org/index.php?mid=resources&sub=works&sub2=opinion&quid=34 )

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch

By A. George, Editor, SGI Quarterly

Daisaku Ikeda is a Buddhist philosopher, peacebuilder, educator, author and poet. He is the third president of the Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist organization and the founding president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), which is today one of the world's largest and most diverse lay Buddhist organizations, promoting a philosophy of character development and social engagement for peace.

Ikeda is founder of the Soka (value-creation) schools, a nondenominational school system based on an ideal of fostering each student's unique creative potential and cultivating an ethic of peace, social contribution and global consciousness. The school system runs from kindergarten through graduate study and includes a university in Tokyo, Japan, and another in California, U.S.A.

Ikeda is a staunch proponent of dialogue as the foundation of peace. Since the 1970s he has pursued dialogue with a wide range of individuals around the world in political, cultural, educational and academic fields. Over 50 of these have been published in book form, with people such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Elise Boulding, Joseph Rotblat and André Malraux. In furtherance of his vision of fostering dialogue and solidarity for peace, Ikeda has founded a number of independent, nonprofit research institutes that develop cross-cultural, interdisciplinary collaboration on diverse issues: the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century, the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy. The Min-On Concert Association and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum promote mutual understanding and friendship between different national cultures through the arts.

Ikeda is a prolific writer who has published more than one hundred works, ranging from Buddhist philosophy to biographical essays, poetry, children's stories and photographic collections.

Life

Ikeda was born in Tokyo, Japan, on January 2, 1928, the fifth of eight children, to a family of seaweed farmers. The devastation and senseless horror he witnessed as a teenager during World War II gave birth to a lifelong passion to work for peace, rooting out the fundamental causes of human conflict.

For much of his early life Ikeda struggled against ill health, nearly succumbing, in his teens, to the ravages of tuberculosis, one of the leading killer diseases at the time. In 1947, at the age of 19, he met Josei Toda (1900-58), educator and leader of the Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist society whose activities were based on the philosophy of the 13th-century Buddhist teacher and reformer Nichiren. Ikeda found in Toda an open and unaffected person, a man of unshakable conviction with a gift for explaining profound Buddhist concepts in logical, accessible terms. He soon found employment at one of Toda's companies and later completed his education under the tutelage of Toda, who became his mentor in life.

In May 1960, two years after Toda's death, Ikeda, then 32, succeeded him as president of the Soka Gakkai. Under his leadership, the movement began an era of innovation and expansion, becoming actively engaged in cultural and educational endeavors worldwide. Ikeda has dedicated himself to fulfilling Toda's dreams by developing initiatives in the areas of peace, culture and education.

In 1975, Ikeda became the first president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), now a global network linking over 12 million members in 190 countries and territories.

The central tenet of Ikeda's thought, and of Buddhism, is the fundamental sanctity of life, a value which Ikeda sees as the key to lasting peace and human happiness. In his view, global peace relies ultimately on a self-directed transformation within the life of the individual, rather than on societal or structural reforms alone. This idea is expressed most succinctly in a passage in his best-known work, The Human Revolution, Ikeda's novelization of the Soka Gakkai's history and ideals: "A great inner revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, will enable a change in the destiny of all humankind."(1)

Ikeda has two sons, Hiromasa and Takahiro, and lives in Tokyo with his wife, Kaneko. ---A.G.¬

1) Ikeda, Daisaku. 2004. The Human Revolution, Book 1, p.viii. CA: World Tribune Press.

(from: http://www.daisakuikeda.org/index.php?mid=profile&dimchar=normal&sub=bio&sec=bio-01 )

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch (continued)

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch (continued)

Early Life

Daisaku Ikeda was born in Tokyo in 1928 as the fifth son in a family that harvested edible seaweed for a livelihood.

Throughout his youth, Ikeda suffered from a weak constitution, compounded by tuberculosis. His doctor's prediction that¬ he would probably not live beyond thirty imparted to him a spirit of intensity, the determination not to waste a moment of life, which has become a defining aspect of his character.

Ikeda grew up in Tokyo in an age when Japan, which had already annexed Korea and Taiwan, and the country's militarist regime was driving the nation inexorably toward World War II. Nearly every facet of Japanese life--from families and factories to schools and religious groups--was marshaled for the war effort. Dissent had been ruthlessly suppressed.

This was the seeding ground of Ikeda's passion for peace. Even today his recollections of that period seethe with anger at the foolishness and arrogance of militarism. Ikeda was a young teenager in 1940s when Japan entered World War II. His family, like most other Japanese families, was devastated, spiritually and materially. Their home was twice destroyed in air raids and at one point he and his parents lived in a makeshift shelter constructed over a bomb crater.

Ikeda's four older brothers were drafted. He has frequently recalled the memory of the eldest brother, Kiichi, home on temporary leave, describing with disgust the Japanese military's treatment of the Chinese people. When the war had ended, after a long, anxious wait for news of his brother, he remembers too watching his mother silently receive the small white box containing Kiichi's cremated remains. "I developed" he writes, "a deep hatred for war, its cruelty, stupidity and waste." (1)

Rather than relief, the war's end brought to many of Ikeda's generation only a deeper sense of spiritual anguish and confusion. He writes:

"I was 17 when World War II ended. There was among young people a tormented sense of spiritual void. It wasn't just the physical landscape that had been reduced to ashes. The bizarre system of values drilled into us in the wartime years had been exposed as fraudulent and razed to the ground... I found it impossible to trust the intellectuals and politicians who, having sung the praises of war and driven large numbers of young people to their deaths, overnight became apostles of peace and democracy." [Read full text above] (2) ---A.G.

1) Ikeda, Daisaku. 1996. “Columbia daigaku deno SGI kaicho no koen [SGI President Ikeda’s Lecture at Columbia University].” Seikyo Shimbun, June 16, p. 2.
2) Ikeda, Daisaku. 2006. "Planting Seeds of Hope." Japan Times, June 8.

(from: http://www.daisakuikeda.org/index.php?mid=profile&dimchar=normal&sub=bio&sec=bio-02 )

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch (continued)

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch (continued)

Encountering a Mentor

Amid the postwar chaos and confusion Ikeda read voraciously, searching for answers in whatever scarce books on literature and philosophy he could get his hands on. It was at this juncture that he encountered Josei Toda (1900-58), the person who would come to have the most formative influence on his life. Toda, an educator and the cofounder of the Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist association, had opposed the policies of the wartime government and had suffered persecutions and a two-year imprisonment as a result.

In 1947, Ikeda attended a small gathering of Soka Gakkai members where he heard Toda speak. Although Ikeda was generally suspicious of religious ideology, he writes, "The words of a person who had suffered imprisonment for his convictions carried a special weight. I felt intuitively that I could trust him."[Read Full text above.](1)

Toda's willingness to stand up to the militarist state particularly impressed Ikeda. Having endured the abuse of the authorities and suffered the death of his own mentor, Toda was deeply passionate about the need to effect a transformation within Japanese society. "I decided," Ikeda recalls, "to follow him and to learn from him."(2)

The Soka Gakkai

Toda was, at this time, in the process of rebuilding the Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist association, which he had founded together with his mentor and fellow educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944) in 1930 and which had been all but destroyed by the militarist government during World War II. [Brief history on the Soka Gakkai / http://www.sgi.org/about/history/history.html ]. Toda was deeply convinced that the philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism ( http://www.sgi.org/buddhism/origins/nichiren.html ), with its focus on the profound potential of the individual human being, would be the key to bringing about a social transformation within Japan.

The years following his release from prison in 1945 until his death in 1958 were spent in a monumental effort to develop a movement of individuals empowered by this philosophy. Ikeda, who had devoted himself to supporting Toda and his vision, naturally came to play a central part in the development of the Soka Gakkai.

Ikeda's association with Toda lasted only ten years. His mentorship by Toda, however, has become the defining experience of his life and, as he describes it, the source of everything he has done and become. Ikeda speaks and writes about his mentor continually. Almost all of his speeches and writings reference Toda’s ideas and influence. The theme of mentorship is one that Ikeda continues to explore and discuss. In his exchanges with notable individuals, he inevitably questions them about their mentors, and his writings and speeches about historical figures frequently examine this same theme. ---A.G.

1) Ikeda, Daisaku. 2006. "Planting Seeds of Hope." Japan Times, June 8.
2) Ikeda, Daisaku. 2001. Interview in “Daisaku Ikeda Up Close.” Videocassette. Tokyo: Owners Promotion, Inc.

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch (continued)

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch (continued)

Attending "Toda University"

In 1948, Ikeda began working at Toda's publishing company. Here he began to develop his literary talents as the editor of a boys' magazine, while attending night classes at a college.

As well as being a first-rate educator, Toda was a very creative and successful entrepreneur--talents which he combined to good effect. He had, before the war, run a very successful cram school and published a bestselling book on mathematics, as well as successfully managing a number of other businesses. At the end of 1949, however, he encountered a series of major setbacks resulting from postwar hyper-inflation that brought him to the brink of social and financial ruin. Determined to protect the Soka Gakkai from harm, he resigned his leadership.

Unable to receive pay, his employees left him one after the other. Ikeda, however, remained, and took on the arduous task of negotiating with the firm's creditors.

"For six months I did not receive any salary. My shoes were falling apart, I didn't have any proper clothes, and I was in poor health. But if it meant I could protect President Toda, I was willing to suffer in the worlds of even Hunger and Hell. I was determined not to have any regrets."(1)

It was in the midst of this struggle against bankruptcy and failure that Toda outlined his vision of establishing a school and a university run according to the principles of the value-creation (soka) education philosophy of his own mentor, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944). Such an idea must have seemed fanciful in the extreme at the time, yet the utmost seriousness with which the 22-year-old Ikeda contemplated this vision is demonstrative of the profundity of his bond with Toda. Two decades later he brought this vision to reality, establishing the Soka Schools and Soka University.

With Ikeda's help, Toda was eventually able to pay off his debts and resolve his financial affairs. To save his mentor from ruin required Ikeda's full, exhaustive efforts and meant that he had to give up his schooling. Toda pledged to give Ikeda a thorough, university-level education. These lessons--what Ikeda now refers to as "Toda University"--were carried out in the mornings before work and on weekends and continued until 1956, the year before Toda's death.

"Every day before work, he would teach me a curriculum of history, literature, philosophy, economics, science and organization theory. On Sundays, our one-on-one sessions started in the morning and continued all day. He was constantly questioning me--interrogating might be a better word--about my reading."(2)

Toda's education was thorough, wide-ranging and rigorous. "The school of my youth was the private instruction I received from a master in 'the study of humanity,' Josei Toda. He gave me a thorough and complete grounding in an encyclopedic range of subjects, including politics, economics, law, Chinese classics, chemistry and physics. Mr. Toda often asked me, 'What book have you read today?' or 'What are you reading now?' and then would demand that I summarize the book's contents. He would really put me on the spot. Sometimes it was so tough that I felt deeply mortified..."(3) He says also, "Most of all, however, I learned from his example. The burning commitment to peace that remained unshaken throughout his imprisonment was something he carried with him his entire life. It was from this, and from the profound compassion that characterized each of his interactions, that I most learned. Ninety-eight percent of what I am today I learned from him." [Read full text / http://www.daisakuikeda.org/index.php?mid=resources&sub=works&sub2=lect&quid=3 ] (4) ---A.G.

1) Ikeda, Daisaku. 2003. The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, Volume 6, p.166. CA: World Tribune Press.
2) Ikeda, Daisaku. 1996. "Columbia daigaku deno SGI kaicho no koen[SGI President Ikeda's Lecture at Columbia University]." Seikyo Shimbun, June 16, p. 3.
3) Ikeda, Daisaku. 1999. "Zuihitsu 'Shin-ningenkakumei,' 117,'Toda daigaku' no meikogi [Thoughts on The New Human Revolution: 117, The Superlative Classes at 'Toda University']." Seikyo Shimbun, March 15, p. 3
4) Ikeda, Daisaku. 1996. "Columbia daigaku deno SGI kaicho no koen [SGI President Ikeda's Lecture at Columbia University]." Seikyo Shimbun, June 16, p. 3.

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch (continued)

Daisaku Ikeda: A Biographical Sketch (continued)

Learning Leadership

As well as developing Ikeda's scholarship, Toda also began to place him in challenging leadership roles within the Soka Gakkai, testing and developing his leadership skills. In 1951, with his personal financial affairs in order, thanks largely to Ikeda's efforts, Toda was inaugurated as president of the Soka Gakkai. During the inauguration ceremony he declared his goal to build an organization of 750,000 households before his death, from what was then a mere 3,000 members. The announcement was accepted by the existing Soka Gakkai membership as rhetorical hyperbole. Ikeda, however, realized that Toda was absolutely serious. The years between 1951 and 1957, when the goal was accomplished, became a period of intense activity for the organization and, increasingly, Ikeda.

One of the first instances in which Ikeda was able to demonstrate his leadership abilities occurred in 1952. Frustrated by the slow pace of the organization's growth, Toda appointed Ikeda in a position of responsibility in Tokyo's Kamata Chapter. Within the single month of February the chapter added a completely unprecedented 201 new households to its membership. This example invigorated the entire organization, triggering the momentum for the realization of Toda's goal of 750,000 member households.

Ikeda's ability to organize and to inspire people was demonstrated on an even grander scale four years later during a now historic propagation campaign in Osaka in 1956. Under his leadership the organization in Osaka added 11,111 new households to its membership in the space of a single month.

Marriage

In 1952, Ikeda married Kaneko Shiraki, with whom he has had three sons.

Before they married, he would occasionally walk her home after a Soka Gakkai meeting. Although polite and engaging, Kaneko recalls how Ikeda would quickly fall into deep philosophical musings as the two strolled along the riverbank toward her house, articulating his thoughts on world affairs and social injustices, or the nature of life and the universe, and elaborating visions of future human society. "He would discuss topics of such grand scale that I found it difficult keeping up with his thoughts,"(1) Kaneko would later confide. She also recalls him as a person deeply sensitive to any sort of social injustice, who would talk often about the kind of ideal, humanistic organization he would like to construct.

After their marriage Kaneko became Daisaku's closest confidante. Later, after he took on the crushing pressures of the organization's presidency, her support became vital. ---A.G.

1) Ikeda, Kaneko. 2005. Kaneko-sho (On Kaneko), p.60. Tokyo: Shufu no tomosha Press.

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the Law of time without beginning. When we chant and practise that Law, the life-state of the Buddha of time without beginning shines brightly in our hearts. The Daishonin writes that to embrace 'the Mystic Law of time without beginning, of the oneness of eternity and a single life-moment,' is to inherit the supreme and unsurpassed Law (GZ, 867). For us who uphold the Mystic Law and dedicate our lives to kosen-rufu, every day is 'time without beginning'; every day is New Year's Day. Hence, we possess the power to constantly improve ourselves and elevate our lives with a vigour like that of the first day's sun as it rises majestically to bathe all in its bright, restorative light.

SGI Newsletter No. 7455, DIVISIONAL EXECUTIVE CONFERENCE--PART 1 [OF 2], Starting the Year Off with Fresh Determination (At a divisional executive conference held at the SGI International Conference Hall in Shinanomachi, Tokyo, on Jan. 2nd, 2008) Translated Jan 17th, 2008

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"This passage refers to the great joy that one experiences when one understands for the first time that one's mind from the very beginning has been the Buddha. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the greatest of all joys."

(Ongi kuden - Gosho Zenshu, page 788, The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, page 211) Selection source: SGI President Ikeda's poem, Seikyo Shimbun, January 18th, 2008

 

[truck]

This is the first time I made it to this page. I see I must have some good karma to come across this. I have a lot of reading to catch up on, I love buddism. If anyone hasn't read anything by eckhart tolle you should, I have read the power of now and currently reading "a new earth". It seems to be buddism in more lay terms and works through more of the modern American paradigm. I definitely don't feel the internal pain or fight internally as much since my conscience pursuit of enlightenment. I have listen to one buddist reading on "the meaning of life: buddist perspectives on cause and effect". I can't wait to read more.

Thank you

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Now is the time to chant!
It is vital for our leaders to wholeheartedly chant daimoku
that all of our fellow members advance victoriously and successfully
and that everyone lives out their lives confidently and in high spirits.

Daisaku Ikeda

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Welcome truck!

 

[truck]

How do people like us help change this world. I pray, now I will chant, and this is where I feel I lack the most is action. Until recently, for about a year, as I believe it to be a part of my enlightenment I've felt a sense of letting go of who or what I thought I was, I have found I want to act on my beliefs but don't know how to go about helping cause more change. Anyone else feel this urge to act but are not sure where to start? I feel there is change coming but also feel it being pulled on by both the darkness and light. I believe our sacred plant could possibly be an important part of change especially in the area of LAW, which could help shift the balance in the favor of the light...eternal peace. I hope I'm not being considered a thread high jacker, just have a passion for spirituality and herb, but for me as many the two are the same.

 

[DharmaDawg]

welcome Truck. hello everyone, I have found my way back to the site. I also am always looking for spirituality and herb and here I find encouragment and through my practice of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo I find peace. Thanks T for your encouraging words. I have some reading to catch up on.