SGI Canada Newsletter, No. 126 - March 14, 2025
SGI Canada Newsletter
Issue no. 126
March 14, 2025
Welcome to the 126th 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 study article - “‘Emerging from the Earth’ chapter”
This month we will be studying SGI President Ikeda’s article on a passage from The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings which deals with the “Emerging from the Earth” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The following excerpt is titled “Heroic Bodhisattvas of the Earth Active All Over the Globe”:
Being aware of our identity as Bodhisattvas of the Earth is the fundamental Soka spirit. This originated in President Toda’s awakening while in prison under state oppression.
The moment Mr. Toda realized that he was a Bodhisattva of the Earth, the Lotus Sutra was revived in modern times. Without the emergence of people who base themselves on this awareness, the sutra passages teaching the propagation of the Lotus Sutra after Shakyamuni’s death would be empty and meaningless. Likewise, we could not carry on the Daishonin’s persevering struggle amid great hardships to open the way for kosen-rufu in the Latter Day of the Law.
After his release from prison, Mr. Toda spoke of the profound awakening he had experienced, saying: “Our life is eternal, without beginning and without end. I am now aware that we have all appeared in this world with the great mission to propagate the seven-character Lotus Sutra [Nam-myoho-renge-kyo],[1] in the Latter Day of the Law. If I define our status in accord with this conviction, we are all Bodhisattvas of the Earth.”[2]
This awareness of being a Bodhisattva of the Earth—which Mr. Toda alone had first affirmed to his late mentor and our founding president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi—eventually spread throughout the Soka Gakkai. And it ultimately led to the fulfillment of Mr. Toda’s vow to achieve a membership of 750,000 households.
Mr. Toda often said to the youth: “I’ll take care of kosen-rufu. I’ll achieve this goal of 750,000 member households through my own efforts. Do you want to help me?” This impassioned cry of a Bodhisattva of the Earth, arising from the depths of his being, instilled the profound eternal mission of kosen-rufu in the hearts of one member after another.
Today, members around the world are standing up with the conviction that they are Bodhisattvas of the Earth. We have entered an age when heroic Bodhisattvas of the Earth are active all over the globe, illuminating people everywhere with the light of hope. The Soka Gakkai has seen to it that the story of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth recorded in the Lotus Sutra has become a reality and has spread throughout the entire world.
[1] Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is written with seven Chinese characters (nam, or namu, being comprised of two characters) and represents the supreme essence of the entire 28-chapter Lotus Sutra.
[2] Translated from Japanese. Josei Toda, “Soka Gakkai no Rekishi to Kakushin” (The History and Conviction of the Soka Gakkai), in Toda Josei zenshu (Collected Writings of Josei Toda), vol. 3 (Tokyo: Seikyo Shimbunsha, 1983), pp. 119–20.
The complete study article is available in the February issue of New Century.
News
Tax receipts available now!
Your official 2024 donation receipt for income tax purposes is now available. If you have chosen to receive your receipt by mail, it will be sent to you over the next few weeks.
If you have chosen to download your official income tax receipt, you can do so immediately by signing into your SGI Canada online portal account and choosing Donations and then Tax Receipts.
You can change the way in which you receive your income tax receipt at any time between March 16 and December 30 each year by emailing contact@sgicanada.org.
Youth Division General Meetings this weekend!
Youth Division members, Young Phoenix Group members and many young guests will be meeting across the country this weekend to commemorate March 16, Kosen-rufu Day. The theme of the meetings is “Be the Sun of Hope”, and the preparation for the meetings has involved many dialogues and home visits.
In a 2009 essay about the significance of March 16, Ikeda Sensei writes:
The Lotus Sutra is known as the king of sutras, because it can lead all people to enlightenment. We of the Soka Gakkai are accurately practising the sutra, just as the Buddha teaches. We are not swayed by the whims of secular authorities. We are lion kings practising the Mystic Law, our lives aligned with the fundamental law of the universe, dwelling in the palace of the ninth consciousness [the pure, undefiled Buddha nature], the unchanging reality that reigns over all of life’s functions” (WND-1, 832).
The Daishonin declares: “Those with the heart of a lion king are sure to attain Buddhahood” (WND-1, 302). Youth, be confident! Never fear! You are young lions. You are the successors who will carry on the struggle of the great lion kings of Soka who have gone before you.[3]
[3] NEW CENTURY, March 2025, p.16.
For information about the Youth Division General Meeting in your area, please contact your local Youth Division leaders.
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 March 28, 2025. See you then!