SGI Canada Newsletter, No. 143 - Nov 21, 2025

SGI Canada Newsletter

Issue no. 143

November 21, 2025

 

Welcome to the 143^rd issue of the SGI Canada Newsletter, a bi-weekly summary of news, upcoming events and encouragement. If you are not subscribing to the SGI Canada Newsletter, you may do so by clicking on the button below. Subscriptions are free of charge, and the SGI Canada Newsletter will be emailed directly to you.

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Encouragement

SGI General Director Tanigawa’s speech at SGI Canada Nationwide All-Leaders’ Meeting

SGI General Director Yoshiki Tanigawa (Photo credit: Antonio Choi)  

During his visit to Canada in October, SGI General Director Yoshiki Tanigawa spoke at the nationwide All-Leaders’ Meeting held at the Toronto Culture Centre (and throughout Canada online) on October 13. The following excerpt from his speech deals with the concept of “many in body, one in mind”:

The term “many in body”—which can also be translated as “different in body”—means that we each have our own unique personalities, qualities and roles to play. “One in mind” or “one in heart” generally means sharing a common goal or common values. More specifically, in Nichiren Buddhism, it means sharing faith in the Mystic Law and the great vow for kosen-rufu. 

The Daishonin concludes that the heritage of the ultimate Law of life and death flows in the lives of those who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. And he emphasizes that, in all things, the unity of “many in body but one in mind” is indeed the key to achieving victory in all things; it is the fundamental criteria for winning. 

Again, in another writing, Nichiren says, “Employ the strategy of the Lotus Sutra before any other.”^[1] We could say that the unity of many in body, one in mind reflects the ultimate “strategy of the Lotus Sutra.” And that strategy always begins with prayer. Therefore, to create this kind of unity requires praying with the same heart and mind. 

Without prayer to unite in many in body and one in mind, no matter what kind of plans or methods you might try to use, kosen-rufu will not advance. However, those who have as their basis a powerful prayer to realize such unity, those organizations will flourish and speed past all others. 

Nichiren further asserts that “herein lies the true goal of Nichiren’s propagation.”^[2] In other words, he says, “when you are so united, even the great desire for widespread propagation can be fulfilled.”^[3] 

However, while it’s one thing to understand that creating this kind of beautiful unity is the key to achieving victories, we will still encounter people we don’t like, making it at times challenging to foster unity. 

I once received guidance from Ikeda Sensei. He said:

“To bring about victory, there’s nothing more important than unity. Needless to say, if you create the unity of many in body, one in mind, you can win in every single endeavour. However, it isn’t such an easy thing to realize such unity. To fight toward something united in heart requires overcoming all kinds of differences. To get to the point of uniting in heart, you need something that serves as a central axis. That central axis is the mentor-disciple relationship. Genuine unity is borne from the disciple’s desire and spirit to report kosen-rufu victories to one’s mentor and to bring the mentor joy. It is borne from each person having this same heart and vow as a disciple.”

That was his guidance to me. 

I’d therefore like to call out to all of you: With the goal to report our victorious results for kosen-rufu to Ikeda Sensei, let’s chant united in heart, let’s strive to do our best, and with the unity of many in body, one in mind, let’s break all barriers and limitations and achieve resounding success! 

^[1] The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 1 (Tokyo: Soka Gakkai, 1999) “The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life,” p.1001.

^[2] Ibid., p.217.

^[3] Ibid., p.217.  

You’ll find the complete speech in the December issue of New Century.

 

News 

Seikyo Press releases video of Canadian visit

Seikyo Press has released a short video of SGI General Director Tanigawa’s visit to Canada in October. The video is narrated in Japanese and shows excerpts from the dedication of the Niagara peace monument and from the nationwide All-Leaders Meeting. You can find the video at https://youtu.be/R7Ts0L_ud4g.

 Nationwide All Leaders Meeting at the SGI Canada Culture Centre in Toronto, October 13 2025 (Photo credit: Seikyo Press) 

Memorial Service Marks Second Anniversary of President Daisaku Ikeda’s Passing

Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada leads the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo at the memorial service
(Photo credit: Seikyo Press)   

On November 15, a memorial prayer service marking the second anniversary of President Daisaku Ikeda's passing was held at the Hall of the Great Vow for Kosen-rufu in Tokyo, Japan. Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada, General Director Shigeo Hasegawa and Women’s Division Leader for Japan Masami Nasu attended the ceremony along with 270 leaders from 75 countries and territories who were visiting Japan for a training course. In his speech, President Harada encouraged participants to continue to work for the creation of a peaceful world based on the humanistic philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism, setting 2029, the sixth anniversary of President Ikeda’s passing, as a milestone in these efforts.  

New SGI Leadership Appointments Announced

On November 13, at an SGI Representative Leaders Conference held at the Soka Gakkai Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada announced new leadership appointments: Hiromasa Ikeda as SGI Executive Advisor, Shigeo Hasegawa as Counselor to the SGI, Masami Nasu as SGI Women’s Leader and Miyuki Horiguchi as SGI Young Women’s Leader. 

SGI Canada Online Bookstore Closed in December for Inventory Audit

SGI Canada’s popular Online Bookstore will be closed from December 7 to January 1 for the annual inventory audit. If you are hoping to order books or other items before the end of the year, we encourage you to visit the bookstore as early as possible this month. You can visit the Online Bookstore at: https://sgicanada.myshopify.com/

Thank you for your understanding.  

Going paperless with your official income tax receipt!

You now have two options for obtaining the official income tax receipt for your donations to SGI Canada:

• SGI Canada can mail the receipt to you
• You can go paperless and download the receipt yourself from the SGI Canada website

Choosing to download the receipt yourself will allow SGI Canada to reduce its use of paper and devote more resources to activities for members. Once you choose to go paperless, you will no longer receive a receipt in the mail from SGI Canada.

In order to go paperless and download the receipt yourself:

• Sign in to your SGI Canada account at https://sgicinfo.org/portal/login. (If you do not have an SGI Canada account yet, please see the instructions below)
• On your personal information page, you will see a section titled Official Tax Receipt
• Click on the button in front of Your current option, and follow the instructions

You can change the way in which you receive your income tax receipt at any time between March 16 and December 30 each year.

Your tax receipt for 2025 will be available online by February 28, 2026.

Have you set up your online account yet?

SGI Canada members now have access to an online portal in which they can create their own personal SGI Canada accounts, subscribe to publications and make secure online donations.

Members can also use their online account to read the English and French-language publications to which they subscribe, and access their tax receipts and personal information.

How to set up your online account:

• Go to the SGI Canada website at sgicanada.org and click on the Online Portal button near the top right corner of your screen.
• Click on I have not created an online account and then Submit
• Fill out the personal information fields and click on Submit
• You will receive an email from accounting@sgicinfo.org . The email will confirm your username and password (which you can change once you log into the site the first time). For assistance with setting up your account, please contact support@sgicinfo.org.
• Once your username and password have been confirmed, you will be able to log into the online portal from the SGI Canada website at any time.

Many SGI Canada members have already registered. We hope you will also take advantage of this convenient method of making online donations, printing your tax receipts, subscribing to SGI Canada publications and reading them online.

  

Upcoming events 

Calendar for November and December

Throughout November	District General Meetings
December 30	Deadline for changing way to receive your income tax receipt

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