In this section we offer resources for the SGEs discussion meetings, which we celebrate this month as “16th June Commemorative Meetings”. These are: a special part centred around “16th June”, a passage from the writings of Nichiren Daishonin commented by Daisaku Ikeda (“Advancing with the Gosho”), and a “Perspective.”
16th JUNE
The date we commemorate, which has been chosen to celebrate SGEs’ Women’s Division Day each year, has an important meaning for the whole of the Soka movement of our country and beyond.
On 16th of June, an SGI General Meeting took place in Europe, more precisely in France. It was held in the same Soka Gakkai European Centre located in the Provencal town of Trets in which ten years earlier, the summer course [1] reminisced upon in the European Vow Meeting this month took place. But, if in 1981 the participants were brought together under a marquee, in 1991 they gathered in the brand-new auditorium, recently built as a place for the European and African members to gather and deepen Buddhist practice and study from then onwards.[2] SGI President, Daisaku Ikeda, travelled there with a delegation to be present.
Although, just as the name of the activity states, this had an international repercussion, for the one hundred Spanish members who participated, it became a real turning point. They travelled there just three months after the start of the crisis generated by the terrible behaviour of the previous leader of the organization of the country, which shook the foundation of the local kosen-rufu movement.[3] In the midst of this difficult situation, the opportunity to receive the mentor’s warm encouragement and guidance made it possible for the members to live those days as a stay in a true humanity oasis. This was something absolutely necessary as they found in it the strength to retake a task that, even during the following years, was to be as hard as a walk through the desert.
In this way, they “shared sufferings and joys, respected each other as the Buddha’s children dedicated to kosen-rufu” and, with the start of the 21st Century, they became aware that, almost without noticing it, they had built “the unshakable citadel of people dedicated to truth and justice of which they had dreamed”[4] – namely the SGEs which we know and keep constructing.
ADVANCING WITH THE GOSHO
Now, no matter what, strive in faith and be known as a votary [practitioner] of the Lotus Sutra, and remain my disciple for the rest of your life. If you are of the same mind as Nichiren, you must be a Bodhisattva of the Earth.
(The True Aspect of All Phenomena, WND-1, p. 385.)
“By striving in our Buddhist practice, we can turn all challenges into fuel for personal growth and opportunities to make great breakthroughs. There is not the slightest doubt that in the end our lives will exceed our expectations. It’s therefore crucial to persevere with steadfast faith until the last moment.
(…) kosen-rufu means building a happy, peaceful world in which everyone is glad to have been born, appreciates their life, and can lead an enjoyable, fulfilling existence in harmony with others. It is just as we say in our silent prayers at the end of gongyo every morning and evening: ‘I pray for peace throughout the world and the happiness of all living beings.’ […]
The key is to have ‘the same mind as Nichiren’ (WND-1, p. 385). While undergoing numerous harsh persecutions, the Daishonin opened the great path of kosen-rufu into the eternal future out of his wish for the happiness of all humanity. The Soka Gakkai has acted in perfect accord with the Daishonin’s words. (…)
Soka Gakkai members around the world embrace the vow of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, who deliberately choose to fight amid hardship. They are bravely rising to their challenges, determined to transform karma into mission. No matter how trying our present circumstances or the difficulties we face, we advance with optimism and an invincible spirit.”[5]
PERSPECTIVE
In a recent message, Daisaku Ikeda reminds us that an important theme explored by philosophy since ancient Greek times is one that summarises the first Delphic precept which states “Know yourself.” Related to this, he mentions that “Nichiren Buddhism is a teaching that illuminates the true meaning of who we are from the fundamental perspective of life and its eternity throughout past, present, and future.”[6] The quote and the commentary stated above these lines talk about this matter, as does the section “Este mes” (This Month) of this Civilización Global issue. In the words of the Daishonin “Great joy [is what] one experiences when one understands for the first time that one’s mind [or life] from the very beginning has been a Buddha”[7] we find a summary of the answer that the practice of faith allows us to find and the benefit of doing so. In practical and contemporary terms, we can affirm that, in actively learning about the history of the Soka Gakkai, in such opportunities as these commemorative meetings, we learn about ourselves. This gives us and allows us to provide other beings true happiness.
[1] ↑ See the section “NRH 30”, in the Civilización Global issue 193 of May 2021.
[2] ↑ In October 2011, during the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of European kosen-rufu, a network of European cultural centres was estabilished. The Soka Cultural Centre in Spain is part of this network.
[3] ↑ See the sections “Mi historia” and “Este mes” in the Civilización Global, issue 191 of March 2021.
[4] ↑ IKEDA, Daisaku: “Victorious, Passionate Spain”, Seikyo Shimbun, 25/3/2002.
[5] ↑ See the section “Estudio mensual” of this issue.
[6] ↑ IKEDA, Daisaku: “Brim with the Great Joy of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth,” Seikyo Shimbun, 1/2/2021.
[7] ↑ OTT, p. 211-212.