Welcome to the SGI Canada University Clubs Web site.

To navigate this site, click on the links above and on the left side of the screen. The "Club Menu" section has university-specific links. Click on your respective university to find all the information about your university's club (Club Schedule of Events, Club Executives' Contact Information, etc..). The "Main Menu" section has general SGI-related links, providing all the basic information about SGI and its activities and goals.

Introduction

The mission of the SGI Canada University Clubs is to foster SGI's goals of Peace, Culture, and Education in the university community, sharing a Buddhist perspective on global, regional, and personal issues and topics. Throughout the academic year, university clubs organize seminars and other events aimed at promoting peace and cultural understanding from a Buddhist perspective.

An underlying theme in all club events is the understanding that any endeavour for positive good is based on the need for individuals to engage in self-reformation, evoking the characteristics of the Buddha--that of courage, compassion and wisdom. Central to the Nichiren school of Buddhist thought, is the belief that the inherent virtues of the individual are powerful enough to not only change one's own, personal circumstances, but also create humanistic value in the world around us.

For more information on SGI and its activities, as well as the details of your university's SGI student club, click on the respective links to the left and above.

SGI at a Glance

"SGI" stands for "Soka Gakkai International," an international, multiethnic, multicultural lay-Buddhist organization with members in 183 countries and territories around the world. Based on the Nichiren school of Mahayana Buddhism, the SGI promotes world peace and individual happiness through a variety of activities, ranging from monthly discussion and study meetings to cultural activities and exhibitions.

"Soka Gakkai" is a Japanese word meaning, "Value Creation Society." Founded in Japan in 1930 by Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Soka Gakkai was originally an educator's association of teachers, Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (Value Creation Education Society), working to apply Makiguchi's educational philosophy of enriching a student's education by nurturing a child's enjoyment of learning, and encouraging critical thinking at a young age. During the Second World War, Makiguchi and fellow educator, Josei Toda, were arrested and imprisoned as "thought criminals" for their non-cooperation with the Japanese military government's demand of enforcing state Shintoism. Makiguchi died in prison in defense of his faith. It was in prison that Josei Toda, having spent his incarceration studying the Lotus Sutra, came to the realization that "Buddhahood is life itself," and after being released following Japan's defeat in the war, rebuilt and refocused Soka Gakkai into a lay-Buddhist organization. In one of his last addresses to youth, Toda called on the youth of the world to abolish the use of nuclear weapons, thus forming the basis of SGI's peace activities. Daisaku Ikeda, became third president of Soka Gakkai and expanded the visionary ideas of Makiguchi and Toda into reality, establishing the Soka School System in Japan and Asia, Soka University in Japan and America, peace and scholarly research institutes, and expanding Soka Gakkai into an international organization in 1975. As President of SGI, Daisaku Ikeda has engaged in many dialogues with many renowned individuals throughout the world, promoting SGI's ideals of peace, culture and education. His extensive dialogues and writings have been published and translated into many different languages.

For more insight into SGI and its activities, click on any of the links on the left side of the page.