New Years Gongyo Meeting
SGI President Ikeda’s New Year’s Message
Congratulations and best wishes at this festive start of the Year of Youth and Victory.
As the sun of Soka continues to illuminate the world with the fresh yet timeless light of a new dawn, it is revealing a clear path of hope and good fortune for all humanity. I am confident that it will shine on with ever-greater brilliance into the farthest reaches of human history.
Let us proudly embark on another year of momentous triumphs, as we aim toward the 80th anniversary of the Soka Gakkai and the 35th anniversary of the SGI in 2010!
In 1974, 35 years ago, I visited China and the Soviet Union, which were then in a state of considerable tension. In Japan, a storm of criticism descended upon me. Failing to understand my motives, many questioned my traveling to nations that rejected religion. Nevertheless, I met and spoke with innumerable ordinary citizens in China and the Soviet Union, forging bonds of friendship. For it was my firm belief that amicable exchange among the people of the world, transcending all differences, is the way to build an unshakable foundation for peace. I also engaged in frank discussions with the leaders of both nations.
The following year, in January 1975, I flew to the United States and also had meaningful dialogues with leaders there who held the keys to peace.
That very month, the SGI was founded on Guam, the final stop on my U.S. visit. In other words, it was established in the midst of my efforts to bring the United States, China and the Soviet Union closer together through dialogue in a world shrouded by the dark clouds of the Cold War.
History teaches us the bitter lesson that coercive balances of power and attempts to resolve conflicts through military force only create greater division. Choosing dialogue is the key to building peace and achieving a victory of our inner humanity. Since the founding of the SGI, this truth has continued to ring out vibrantly across the globe as the cry of world citizens.
René Dubos, the eminent French-American microbiologist whom I met at the recommendation of
British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, warned, “Despite our scientific and technological triumphs we suffer from a loss of nerve and have become a conservative society satisfied with continuing on our present course.”
Humankind today needs courage and hope to choose a new path of change-for the sake of achieving sustainable development and for lasting peace. The noble mission of the SGI is to impart the energy of courage and the philosophy of hope to societies around the world.
Our movement is not something abstract or beyond the scope of daily life. It is manifested in our relationships with those in our immediate surroundings, the people around us, in our neighborhoods, communities and societies. It is a movement that spreads from individual to individual, through sincere and earnest one-on-one dialogue.
Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, a leading Gandhian scholar and champion of human rights with whom I have shared many discussions, has also observed that true dialogue transforms clashing views from wedges dividing people into bridges linking them. I have met and spoken with thousands of leaders and thinkers of every nationality, ethnic background, religion and ideology. In each of those encounters, the greater the differences between us, the more I concentrated on trying to understand as deeply as possible the other person’s thoughts and feelings. I also strove to act in a spirit of sincere and genuine friendship.
For all our infinite diversity, we are all human beings. We all face the same fundamental issues of existence-birth, aging, sickness and death. It is no exaggeration to say that dialogue between civilizations is ultimately a dialogue between human beings, one life touching and communicating with another.
The ancient Roman philosopher Seneca described the effect philosophy should have on our lives:
“The first thing which philosophy undertakes to give is fellow-feeling with all [people]; in other words, sympathy and sociability.” These qualities are equally important for us in today’s modern world, where human relationships are becoming increasingly superficial and transitory. We need, in other words, to build a new community that will be an oasis for the human heart. We need to establish and expand a network of friendship brimming with mutual consideration and support.
Instead of withdrawing into our own shells, we each need to go out and actively contribute to the prosperity and betterment of society.
The Mystic Law is a powerful source of vitality and creativity for opening the way to such a new age and new society. We of the SGI, sharing the bonds of mentor and disciple and an infinitely profound mission, have energetically demonstrated the essential power of the Mystic Law in communities around the world.
Nichiren Daishonin declares: “Great evil portends the arrival of great good. If all of Jambudvipa [the entire world] were to be thrown into chaos, there could be no doubt that [the Lotus Sutra would] ‘be widely propagated throughout Jambudvipa’ ” (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p.1122). Our world today is facing many daunting challenges, among them pressing global environmental problems and a “once-in-a-century” financial crisis. In the midst of this-with the emergence from the grassroots level of youthful leaders calling for change-we are entering a period of historic transformation and harmony. The world is looking for a unified force of ordinary citizens who will be the linchpins for creating a better society.
You, the members of the SGI, are an invaluable presence in our world. You are stirring a groundswell of dialogue through your patient and persevering efforts and contributing to your communities as pillars of trust, eyes of conscience and great ships of hope. From the perspective of Buddhism, each one of you is a genuine treasure of your country and a precious treasure of humankind.
Nichiren says: “Great joy [is what] 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” (The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, pp. 211-12). Wherever you bravely venture and reach out to others in dialogue, you bring with you a deepening awareness of the sanctity
of life and create ripples of the joy of life that touch countless others.
The great Dutch humanist Erasmus, urging the importance of peace, wrote: “One would imagine that the common name of man might be sufficient to secure concord between all who claim it.” He also stated: “[It would be better to] reflect that this world, the whole of the planet called earth, is the common country of all who live and breathe upon it, if the title of one’s country is sufficient reason for unity among fellow-countrymen.”1 His words resonate deeply with the ideals of our movement.
Our SGI movement for peace, culture, and education in accord with the universal principles of humanism and based on the Mystic Law-a teaching of the supreme dignity and sanctity of life-has spread to 192 countries and territories. The foundations for worldwide kosen-rufu have now been solidly secured. Working together with you, my noble friends, I created the time and set the stage for the global spread of the Daishonin’s Buddhism.
It makes me very happy to see the youth division members, whom I love so dearly, carrying on the baton of peace I have handed to them, and ever more young men and women joining them on the great path of Soka leading into the infinite future.
My mentor, second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda, called out to us: “Foster capable people!
That is the surest path to future victory!” This was his golden rule for success.
Strive to foster young people to become even more capable than you are. Shine with the noble spirit of mentor and disciple, and boldly build an unsurpassed citadel of the people dedicated to kosen-rufu and an incomparably strong bastion of Soka youth.
The German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) wrote:
“How might I live joyfully and long?”
You must always seek the most exalted:
The unknown exalted brings about so much,
And upon it time and eternity impose no limitation.2
Your daily SGI activities-through which you strive to polish and elevate your lives and help others do the same-are a source of infinite value that will shine on with eternal splendor. They constitute admirable and lofty efforts for peace that will adorn your lives with the highest satisfaction, fulfillment, and joy.
My wife and I continue to chant daimoku earnestly that all of you, our precious and cherished members everywhere, will enjoy the best of health, long life, harmony, and happiness, and that your communities and countries will be safe from harm and will prosper and flourish.
Let’s advance together into the New Year, working toward new great victories, our hearts filled with a glorious song of joy!
New Year’s Day 2009
Daisaku Ikeda
SGI President
