July 3 is Mentor and Disciple Day, an eternal reminder of the selfless dedication of the three founding presidents of the Soka Gakkai. Through their life and death struggles, they built the Soka Gakkai, an organisation that has boldly appeared in this troubled age with a vow to fulfil its noble mission in accord with the Buddha’s will and decree for kosen-rufu.
July is also the month of youth. In 1951, the Young Men and Young Women Divisions were established on July 11 and July 19 respectively by second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda.
It was upon the shoulders oftheyouththatheentrusted the responsibilities for kosen- rufu. In his “Precepts for Youth”,TodaSenseiwrote,“A new century will be created by the passion and the power of youth.” From this, we can see how Toda Sensei had full trust and faith in the youth in creating a better world.
Though it was not long after the war and the youthful disciples of Toda Sensei were living under extremely harsh conditions, they responded to his vision and exerted themselves selflessly to lay the foundation for kosen-rufu in Japan. Due to their tenacious efforts, the organisation grew and developed rapidly in Japan and overseas.
Today, this movement of hope for peace and happiness based
on the Daishonin’s teachings and the spirit of the three founding presidents has spread to 192 countries and territories in the world.
Ikeda Sensei is calling upon all of us, particularly the youth division members, to be the star players, the protagonists for kosen-rufu who advance boldly with the courage of the Lion King to make Nichiren Buddhism a world religion — a religion of actual proof bringing hope and happiness to the world through human revolution.
In his message to the SGS youth division in August 2022, Sensei wrote,
“Chanting the lion’s roar of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with ever greater vigour, manifest the inherent life state of Buddhahood from within your lives and live the most fulfilling and meaningful youth together with ‘good friends’ of faith. Let’s also strive to spread the immeasurable benefits of the Mystic Law to the people with whom we have made connections, to our communities and country.
“Having to live amidst tumultuous times like these, I believe life is filled with challenges and hardships. However, this also proves the profound mission you have been entrusted with. It is therefore my fervent wish that each of you will grow to become outstanding leaders dedicated to justice and peace for the sake of your beloved fathers and mothers, for all people, for society at large and for the future of our world.”
SGS youth have an important mission. You are the emissaries of the Buddha who are born here with the pledge to bring happiness to this land. Please exert yourselves to succeed in your daily life and contribute to
society based on strong faith, realisetruehappinessandcrown your life with good fortune.
We have six more months to go before we end this Year of Youth and Triumph. Let’s be victorious and not leave any room for regrets. We must win every day in our shared struggle with Sensei and let’s go all out to win in our Let’s E.A.T Gathering this July.
