SGI Canada Newsletter, No. 91 - November 3, 2023
SGI Canada Newsletter
Issue no. 91
November 3, 2023
Welcome to the 91st 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.
Encouragement
SGI President Daisaku Ikeda’s editorial: “Let’s Confidently Demonstrate the Power of Nichiren Buddhism”
In his November editorial in the Daibyakurenge study magazine, SGI President Ikeda writes of the correct attitude in faith:
Members share their joy-filled experiences in discussion meetings around the globe. Today, not only are such experiences featured in the pages of the Seikyo Shimbun and other print publications, but they are instantly available to the world via various online platforms.
Once, at a discussion meeting, a youth who had just started practicing asked Mr. Toda about the correct attitude in faith. My mentor’s reply was simple: “You need to have the conviction of one who shows proof.” Warmly encouraging the young man, he went on to explain: “This means having absolute conviction that you will show proof of the greatness of the Mystic Law with your body, your life, your entire being.”
Buddhism teaches that all the problems and struggles we encounter in our lives are due to the principle of “voluntarily assuming the appropriate karma.”1 They are trials we have willingly taken on as Bodhisattvas of the Earth to help and to guide to enlightenment others with whom we share karmic ties. With this deep awareness, limitless strength wells forth within us, making it possible for us to overcome any obstacle.
The month after the Osaka Incident2 [August 1957], I embarked on a fresh campaign for the victory of the people with my dear, dedicated members in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward.3 Throughout, I proclaimed my wish for each of them to become happy without fail and my firm conviction that making great efforts for kosen-rufu is the only way to achieve this.
[1] Voluntarily assuming the appropriate karma: This refers to bodhisattvas who, though qualified to receive the pure rewards of Buddhist practice, relinquish them and make a vow to be reborn in an impure world in order to save living beings. They spread the Mystic Law while undergoing the same sufferings as those born in the evil world due to karma. This term derives from Miao-lo’s interpretation of relevant passages in “The Teacher of the Law” (10th) chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
[2] Osaka Incident: The occasion when President Ikeda, then Soka Gakkai youth division chief of staff, was arrested and wrongfully charged with election law violations in a House of Councillors by-election in Osaka in 1957. At the end of the court case, which continued for more than four years, he was fully exonerated of all charges on January 25, 1962.
[3] In a roughly weeklong campaign in Arakawa Ward in August 1957, President Ikeda led the members there in realizing a 10-percent increase in membership, adding over 200 new member households.
The complete editorial will be available in the December 2023 New Century.
News
Introductory Exam
Thank you to everyone for your support of this year’s Introductory Study Exam. Over 500 SGI Canada members and friends registered for the exam, and many people wrote the exam in-person or online on Sunday, October 29.
Exams can be written until the end of the day on Sunday, November 5. If you have decided that you would like to write the exam, please tell your district leader, and please register at:
https://www.sgicanada.org/activities/sgi-canada-introductory-exam-2023
SGI Canada Special Fund
Thank you very much for your generous donations to the SGI Canada Special Fund.
Members can contribute at any time through their SGI Canada online portal account (by credit card or debit card) at https://sgicinfo.org/portal/login or by mailing a cheque to SGI Canada at 2050 Dufferin Road, Toronto, Ont. M6E 3R6. Monthly contributions from a chequing account can also be made by completing a Pre-Authorized Payment (PAP) form available from district leaders.
Thank you so much for your sincere dedication and for your support in every way for the advancement of kosen-rufu in Canada!
Upcoming events
District General Meetings this month
SGI Canada districts will be holding their General Meetings during the month of November. These are great opportunities to reach out to all practitioners, friends and family members, and to strengthen those heart-to-heart connections that are at the core of Nichiren Buddhism. At the General Meetings we can encourage one another by sharing our victories in faith from this year.
District General Meetings commemorate the founding of the Soka Gakkai in 1930, as recounted in The Basics of Nichiren Buddhism for the New Era of Worldwide Kosen-rufu, chapter 9, “The history of the Soka Gakkai”. November 18 – Soka Gakkai Founding Day – is one of the significant dates we often aim for when setting goals for ourselves.
10th Anniversary of the Opening of the Hall of the Great Vow for Kosen-rufu
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Hall of the Great Vow for Kosen-rufu:
In November 2013, a new edifice, the Hall of the Great Vow for Kosen-rufu, was completed in Shinanomachi, Tokyo, as part of the Soka Gakkai Headquarters complex.
In his dedication on the monument displayed in the entrance lobby of the Hall of the Great Vow, Ikeda Sensei wrote: “Kosen-rufu is the path to attaining universal peace and prosperity. It is our great vow from time without beginning for the enlightenment of all people.”
Members from across Japan and around the world gather at the Hall of the Great Vow to do gongyo and chant daimoku. United in their vow to achieve kosen-rufu, they pray to the Soka Gakkai Kosen-rufu Gohonzon, which bears the inscription “For the Fulfillment of the Great Vow for Kosen-rufu through the Compassionate Propagation of the Great Law,” and start anew with fresh determination.
Through the efforts of the Soka Gakkai, Nichiren Buddhism now shines as a great source of hope throughout the world, like a sun illuminating all humankind.
(The Basics of Nichiren Buddhism for the New Era of Worldwide Kosen-rufu, Chapter 9 “The History of the Soka Gakkai”, p.102)
We hope you found this newsletter beneficial. Please email your questions or comments to contact@sgicanada.org. Please note that the next SGI Canada Newsletter will appear on November 17, 2023. See you then!