Excerpts from SGS General Director Goh Kim Hua’s Speech at the SGS Leaders’ Meeting on September 21
Thank you very much for attending tonight’s SGS representative leaders’ meeting to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of Asia Kosen-rufu. It is our greatest honour to have the top leaders of SGI joining us tonight after visiting Malaysia last week attending SISM’s entrance ceremony and the SGI Southeast Asia Executive Conference.
On behalf of SGS, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada, SGI General Director Yoshiki Tanigawa, SGI Vice General Director Kimiko Nagaishi, Executive Bureau Vice-General Executive Officer, Shinji Ushioda and SGI Southeast Asia Director Yuki Kawanaka, for being here to mark this significant milestone in the annals of worldwide kosen-rufu and to encourage us.
Sixty-five years ago on January 28, 1961, our eternal mentor Ikeda Sensei departed Japan for his first and historical visit to Asia namely Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. The first district in Asia outside Japan was formed in Hong Kong during the trip.
This 18 days’ journey that Ikeda Sensei embarked on was driven by his iron-willed determination to realise the westward transmission of Buddhism that was predicted by Nichiren Daishonin.
While Buddhism originally flowed from India eastward to China and Japan, the Daishonin prophesied that the “Buddhism of the Sun” would eventually return from Japan westward, back through Asia, to bring about peace to the entire world.
His mentor, Toda Sensei also expressed his dearest wish through the waka poem he composed.
“To the people of Asia / Who pray for a glimpse of the moon / Through the parting clouds, / Let us send them, instead, / The light of the sun”.
Although Singapore was not one of the six countries on this historical trip, Ikeda Sensei’s plane did stop in Singapore for refuelling.
In his essay Singapore – A Citadel of Global Citizens, he recounted the moment he was at the Paya Lebar Airport.
“Although it was not an official visit, I set foot on the Lion City’s soil for the first time on January 29, 1961. It was during a stopover on my way to India….
“Darkness began to fall over the airport as we landed for refuelling. Waiting inside the airport, I gazed up at the stars in the sky, visible through the windows. They were beautiful.
But when I recalled Singapore’s painful history, its invasion by Japan, the countless innocent people who were killed, and the cruel suffering that had been inflicted on so many, my heart ached as if it were being ripped apart.
“I decided right then and there that…I would devote my life to bringing peace and happiness to the people of Singapore. I prayed, deeply and strongly, ‘Emerge, Bodhisattvas of the Earth! Assemble, my comrades of profound mission!’ — so that a new glorious dawn might be ushered in for Singapore.”
All of us are the Bodhisattvas of the Earth that are called forth by our mentor through his fervent prayers and devout efforts. We have all experienced great transformation that has enabled us to live the most value creative life, fulfilling our noble mission for kosen-rufu. We are eternally grateful to our mentor Ikeda Sensei.
With deepest gratitude, we have expanded the kosen-rufu movement in Singapore. I am most happy to share that we have achieved the breakthrough of 12,000 attendees in last month’s four division discussion meetings that commemorated August 24, the day that Ikeda Sensei began his journey of faith and mentor and disciple, with an attendance of 12,403.
Out of this, 450 new friends attended. The 1.2 billion daimoku we have chanted in the spirit of many in body, one in mind for the advancement of kosen-rufu in Singapore this year has been the driving force behind this achievement. Thank you very much, everyone, for your great efforts!
Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of kosen-rufu in Singapore. For the past six decades, kosen-rufu in Singapore has advanced in great strides powered by the three visits of our mentor Ikeda Sensei in 1988, 1995 and 2000.
Towards 2030, let us further expand the network of Bodhisattvas of the Earth through shakubuku and build an organisation where youth can blossom joyfully with a deep sense of mission in their life, becoming the driving force of kosen-rufu in Singapore.
Together with fellow comrades around the world, we vow to carry on our eternal mentor’s legacy of kosen-rufu by ensuring that it shines on into the eternal future, fulfilling Nichiren Daishonin’s decree of establishing the correct teaching for the peace of the land and transforming the destiny of humankind.
