Grade 1 Study Material 2012 - SGI-UK E-Bulletin and Podcast

EXAM QUESTIONS • SGI-UK grade one study course 2012 

SGI-UK GRADE ONE EXAM QUESTIONS 2012 

There are four sections in this exam (A-D) and you should prepare answers for all the questions, even though on the 

day of the exam you will not be required to answer all of them. Each section contains instructions explaining how you 

should answer the questions. The answers can be found in the 2012 Grade One Study Course Material, which contains 

the following: 

Section A (worth 20%) 

SECTION A1: 

A1 The Life of Nichiren Daishonin and 

A2 Supporting Material 

Section B (worth 30%) 

Section C (worth 20%) 

SGI President Daisaku Ikeda’s Lecture on ‘The Hero of the World’ 

Basic Principles of Nichiren Buddhism, taken from SGI President Ikeda’s Lecture on ‘The Proof of the Lotus 

Sutra’ 

Section D (worth 30%) 

• Changing poison into medicine 

• The Three Obstacles and Four Devils 

• The role of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth 

The History of SGI: 

• The priesthood issue 

• The three presidents 

• SGI President Ikeda in Europe 

NB: All members wishing to take the Grade 1 Study Exam on Sunday 11 November 2012 should complete the 

application form at the back of this material and give it to their HQ Study leader by 30 September 2012. 

THE LIFE OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN 

This section is in two parts. A1 requires you to fill in the 

spaces with places, names or words; A2 requires you to 

write your answer in full. 

In the study exam, you will be set three questions from 

A1 and one question from A2. A1 is worth 10% and A2 

is worth 10% of the total marks. 

A1. Based on the material in Section A1: The Life of 

Nichiren Daishonin, complete the following sentences: 

a) Nichiren Daishonin was born on __/__/____ (day/ 

month/year) into a fishing family in ___ ________ 

(present day southern Chiba prefecture). At the age 

of __ he became a novice-monk at Seicho-ji temple, 

near Mount Kiyosumi in Awa; in those days there 

were no schools, and ______ served as centres of 

learning. 

b) In a letter to a follower in 1277, Nichiren Daishonin 

wrote, ‘Since childhood, I, Nichiren, have never 

prayed for the secular things of this life but have 

single-mindedly sought to become a _______.’ 

At noon on __/__/_____ Nichiren Daishonin 

declared that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo was the correct 

teaching for the Latter Day of the Law. 

c) In 1258 Nichiren Daishonin met a 12 year old 

novice, Hoki-bo, who expressed a desire to become 

his _______. In time, as _____ _______, he would 

become Nichiren Daishonin’s immediate successor. 

d) Witnessing the suffering of ordinary people 

during a series of natural disasters, including the 

Kamakura earthquake of 1257, Nichiren Daishonin 

began research which culminated in his first 

remonstration with the government. This took the 

form of a treatise entitled ___________________ 

__________________________. On 16 July _____, he 

presented this treatise to Hojo Tokiyori, the retired 

regent, but still Japan’s most influential figure. 

1


e) Nichiren Daishonin was exiled twice. In 1261 

he was exiled to the ____ peninsular, where he 

was cared for by Funamori Yasuburo and his wife 

who later became his disciples. Following the 

___________ persecution on 12th September _____, 

Nichiren Daishonin was exiled for the second time 

to _____ _________. 

f) Nichiren Daishonin was deeply moved by the 

attitude of the disciples in ___________ who were 

ready to give their lives if need be to defend the 

Law. Realizing that the time had come for him to 

fulfil his ultimate purpose in life, on __/__/____ he 

inscribed the ___ _________. 

SECTION A2: 

THE LIFE OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN 

– SUPPORTING MATERIAL 

A2. In 50-100 words, and based on the material in 

Section A2, explain the following subjects as if you 

were talking to a friend who is interested in Buddhism. 

Include at least three different points for each subject 

in your answer. In the exam, only one of the three 

subjects will be set. 

a) Nam-myoho-renge-kyo 

b) The Lotus Sutra 

c) The Gohonzon 

SECTION B: 

‘THE HERO OF THE WORLD’ 

All your answers should be based on the material in 

Section B: ‘The Hero of the World’. This lecture is 

included in the 2012 Grade One Study Course Material, 

and will also appear in the October 2012 issue of the 

Art of Living, as the Gosho study for that month. 

Write a short paragraph (maximum 200 words) in 

answer to the following questions. 

In the study exam, you will be set three questions from 

this section. 

B1. From the section ‘Faith in the Mystic Law is the 

foundation for victory’: 

a) Explain why ‘the hero of the world’ is another 

name for the Buddha. 

b) What should we make our fundamental guide 

and standard amid the realities of daily life and 

society? What does this mean? 

c) What is meant by ‘Buddhism primarily concerns 

itself with victory or defeat’? 

B2. From the section ‘Persevering with unremitting 

faith’: 

a) When is ‘unremitting faith’ of paramount 

importance? 

b) How should we regard difficulties from the 

viewpoint of our faith? 

B3. From the section ‘Forging inner strength and 

maintaining resolute faith’: 

a) What should be our state of mind to achieve 

victory? How do we develop such a state of 

mind? 

b) What is the guideline that the Daishonin gives 

Shijo Kingo to achieve victory? 

B4. From the section ’The bonds of mentor and disciple 

in Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism’: 

a) What is required of disciples to ensure the 

eternal transmission of the Law? 

b) How did President Makiguchi and President Toda 

describe winning? 

SECTION C: 

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF NICHIREN BUDDHISM 

All your answers should be based on the material in 

Section C: Basic Principles in Nichiren Buddhism, 

taken from SGI President Ikeda’s Lecture on ‘The 

Proof of the Lotus Sutra’. This lecture is included in 

the 2012 Grade One Study Course Material, and will 

also appear in the September 2012 issue of the Art of 

Living, as the Gosho study for that month. 

Write a paragraph (maximum 300 words) to explain 

the following principles. 

In the study exam, you will be set two questions from 

this section. 

a) Changing Poison into Medicine 

b) The Three Obstacles and Four Devils 

c) The role of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth 

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SECTION D: 

THE HISTORY OF SGI 

All the material for Section D is found in the 2012 

Grade One Study Course Material. 

D1) The priesthood issue: Extracts from Spiritual 

Independence: An Introduction to Soka Spirit 

(published by SGI-USA) 

D2) The three presidents: contained in 2012 Grade 

One Study Course Material 

D3) SGI President Ikeda in Europe: Extracts from SGI 

President Ikeda in Europe, Volume 1 

The length of your answers will vary for each question, 

but you will not need to write more than 400 words for 

any of them. 

D1. Based on the section ‘Material for Question D1: 

The priesthood issue’ prepare answers for the 

following questions. In the exam, only one of the 

three questions will be set. 

a) What events took place in November 1991? 

b) What happened when members called for the 

reform of the priesthood? 

c) Why is the Soka Gakkai so diverse? 


The three presidents’ prepare answers for the 

following questions. In the exam, only two of the six 

questions will be set. 

a) When was the Soka Gakkai founded? 

b) Why was Mr Makiguchi arrested? 

c) What were Mr Toda’s two realizations in prison? 

d) What do we commemorate on 16 March and 

why? 

e) When was President Ikeda inaugurated as third 

president of the Soka Gakkai? 

f) Name the two historical novels written by Daisaku 

Ikeda chronicling the development of the Soka 

Gakkai and SGI. 


Extracts from SGI President Ikeda in Europe, Volume 

1’ prepare answers for the following questions. In 

the exam, only two of the three questions will be 

set. 

a) When did President Ikeda depart for his first visit 

to Europe? 

b) What were the main purposes of his trip? 

c) With his visit to Europe imminent, what was 

President Ikeda’s vow? 

3

STUDY MATERIAL • SGI-UK grade one study course 2012 

Extracts from guidance on study 

by SGI President Ikeda 

The Gosho is a work of faith, of philosophy, of daily living, 

of eternal peace and boundless hope. It is set with myriad 

jewels of guidance. SGI members have read a single 

passage of the Gosho with their entire life and not only 

changed their lives for the better but also achieved their 

human revolution. 

What is the purpose of studying the Gosho? The answer 

is expressed clearly in the following passage: 

Believe in the Gohonzon, the supreme object of 

devotion in all of Jambudvipa. Be sure to strengthen 

your faith, and receive the protection of Shakyamuni, 

Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions. 

Exert yourself in the two ways of practice and study. 

Without practice and study, there can be no Buddhism. 

You must not only persevere yourself; you must also 

teach others. Both practice and study arise from faith. 

Teach others to the best of your ability, even if it is only 

a single sentence or phrase. (WND-1, p. 386) 

The main elements of the practice of Nichiren Daishonin’s 

Buddhism are summed up in this passage. What is 

important is first faith, second practice and third study. 

Strong faith leads us directly to Buddhahood. And it 

is practice and study that strengthen and deepen that 

faith. For us study must never be a mere accumulation of 

knowledge. It must be strictly a practical study to deepen 

one’s own faith and elevate one’s own state of life. 

Moreover the path of practice and study leads to 

the Gohonzon and to society. Because of practice and 

study, we face the Gohonzon, recite the sutra and chant 

daimoku. With the wisdom and life-force gained thereby, 

we carry out our practice and study in the midst of 

society. Herein lies what we call the bodhisattva way. 

That is the action of leading other people towards lasting 

happiness while striving to establish enduring peace for 

humanity. That practice begins with the inner reformation 

of the individual, and through that practice the substance 

of our lives is deepened and enriched. The ultimate of 

those changes is the attainment of Buddhahood in this 

lifetime, or in modern terms, human revolution or selfactualisation. 

…The Daishonin writes: 

The heart of the Buddha’s lifetime of teachings is the 

Lotus Sutra, and the heart of the practice of the Lotus 

Sutra is found in the ‘Never Disparaging’ chapter. What 

does Bodhisattva Never Disparaging’s profound respect 

for people signify? The purpose of the appearance in 

this world of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, 

lies in his behaviour as a human being. (WND-1, p. 852) 

It is when the fruits of studying the Gosho show in our 

own behaviour that we can say we have truly read it. 

Source: Daisaku Ikeda, Foreword to The Writings of Nichiren 

Daishonin, Volume 1 (Soka Gakkai, 1999), p. xii, p. xiv. 

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SECTION A • STUDY MATERIAL • SGI-UK grade one study course 2012 

SECTION A1: THE LIFE OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN 

Childhood period 

Nichiren Daishonin was born on 16 February 1222, into a 

fishing family in Awa Province (present-day southern Chiba 

Prefecture). His birth name is still the subject of debate. 

At the age of 11 he became a novice-monk at Seichoji 

temple, near Mount Kiyosumi in Awa; in those days 

there were no schools, and temples served as centres 

of learning. Initially, Seicho-ji was attached to the Tendai 

school 1 , which taught the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra 

(For more on the Lotus Sutra see section A2). Later it fell 

under the influence of first the True Word school 2 , with 

its mystic rituals, and later the Pure Land school 3 , which 

taught belief in Amida Buddha. There was much confusion 

within Buddhism at that time about what was the true or 

correct teaching. 

Becoming the wisest person in Japan 

As the young Nichiren Daishonin advanced in his studies, 

serious doubts arose in his mind about Buddhist 

teachings and their effect on the society of his time. How 

was it that the doctrines taught by the Buddha had given 

rise to schools with such contradictory tenets? And why, 

despite sincere Buddhist prayers for peace, had Japan 

been subjected to years of conflict? He prayed to a statue 

of Bodhisattva Space Treasury to become the wisest 

person in Japan. In a letter to a follower in 1277, Nichiren 

Daishonin wrote, ‘Since childhood, I, Nichiren, have never 

prayed for the secular things of this life but have singlemindedly 

sought to become a Buddha.’ (WND-1, p. 839) 

The years of study 

In his search for truth, the Daishonin thoroughly studied 

the doctrines of the Eight Schools 4 as well as those of 

the later Zen and Jodo schools and on 8 October 1237, in 

his sixteenth year, was ordained a priest by Dozen-bo, the 

chief priest of Seicho-ji. In becoming a priest he initially 

took the religious name Zesho-bo Rencho. 5 

For a while he remained at Seicho-ji but, probably 

during the spring of 1239 at the age of 17, journeyed to 

Kamakura, where the shogunate was based, to further his 

studies. He briefly returned to Seicho-ji in the spring of 

1242 before undertaking a second study journey, to Nara 

and Kyoto. 

Rencho, as he was then known, then spent twelve years 

at the temples of Nara and the monasteries of Mount Hiei 

and Mount Koya, 6 near Kyoto, and read all the important 

Buddhist texts he could. After some fourteen years of 

study, he finally became convinced that Shakyamuni’s 

ultimate teaching was found in the Lotus Sutra. 

Proclamation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo 

When Rencho returned at the end of his long years of 

study, his old master, Dozen-bo, was very proud of him. 

To celebrate his return and to discover the depth of his 

knowledge, the priests organised a meeting at which 

Rencho was to preach a sermon, and invited dignitaries 

from the surrounding area. Very early on the morning of 

28 April 1253 he chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for the 

first time (For more on Nam-myoho-renge-kyo see section 

A2). Later that day a large audience duly gathered and 

at noon Rencho appeared and recited Nam-myoho-rengekyo 

three times, declaring it to be the only teaching that 

would enable all human beings in the Latter Day of the 

Law to reach supreme enlightenment in this lifetime. His 

audience was surprised – no one had ever heard this 

invocation before. 

Rencho declared that he had taken a new name, 

Nichiren (‘Sun Lotus’), and then refuted the four most 

influential Buddhist schools of the time. He criticised the 

Pure Land School because of its teaching that salvation 

could be attained through the external power of an 

absolute being; Zen for its assertion that enlightenment 

could only be arrived at through the direct perception of 

one’s own mind and with being content with that selfenlightenment; 

The True Word School for teaching that 

benefit could be gained through mystic practices; and 

The Precepts School because of its focus on controlling 

people through strict precepts and rituals. 

In pronouncing these so-called ‘four dictums’, Nichiren 

Daishonin 7 effectively declared that none of the existing 

Buddhist schools had the power to save humanity, and 

that practising their teachings actually caused suffering to 

individuals and society. 

When the steward of the region, Tojo Kagenobu, a 

fervent believer of the Pure Land school, heard that 

Nichiren Daishonin had predicted the hell of incessant 

suffering to all those who practised it, he immediately 

issued an arrest warrant. With the help of Dozen-bo and 

others, Nichiren Daishonin escaped. 

In the summer of 1253, Nichiren Daishonin went 

to Kamakura and settled in the small hermitage of 

Matsubagayatsu. In November 1253, a travelling priest 

became the first of Nichiren Daishonin’s disciples. He 

later became the eldest of the six elder priests, taking 

the name Nissho. Other disciples followed. Some were 

priests, others belonged to the families of samurai. 

Among these first disciples were Toki Jonin, Shijo Kingo, 

Kudo Yoshitaka and Ikegami Munenaka. 

5


‘On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the 

Peace of the Land’ 

During this period, famine and epidemics were ravaging 

the country. After the great Kamakura earthquake of May 

1257, tremors shook the region, culminating in another 

huge earthquake in August, and again in November. In 

August 1258, violent winds ravaged Kamakura and a 

tempest hit Kyoto. In October 1258, torrential rain beat 

down on Kamakura, causing a flood that killed many 

people. In March 1259 and in April 1260, in accordance 

with custom, the government proclaimed new eras in 

order to try to surmount these calamities, to no avail: the 

extraordinary phenomena continued unabated. 

In 1258, Nichiren Daishonin went to Jisso-ji, a temple 

in Iwamoto that contained in its library all of the major 

Buddhist sutras. There he met a 12-year-old novice, 

Hoki-bo, who soon expressed the desire to become his 

disciple. In time, as Nikko Shonin, he would become 

Nichiren Daishonin’s immediate successor. 

The Daishonin consulted all the sutras in Jisso-ji’s 

library, seeking to determine the fundamental cause 

of, and remedy to, human suffering, in particular the 

suffering then being experienced by the Japanese people. 

He concluded that the nation’s misfortunes sprang from 

its disregard and slander of the Lotus Sutra. In several 

places, Shakyamuni makes it clear that his fundamental 

teachings are found only in the Lotus Sutra. All the 

Buddhist schools in Japan at this period, however, with 

the exception of the Tendai school, were founded on 

Shakyamuni’s provisional teachings, expounded prior 

to the Lotus Sutra. Even the Tendai school, which was 

originally based on the Lotus Sutra, had become sullied 

by the teachings of the True Word and Pure Land schools. 

The first remonstration with the government 

Nichiren Daishonin formulated the conclusion of his 

research in a treatise entitled ‘On Establishing the 

Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land’. On 16 July 

1260, he presented this treatise to Hojo Tokiyori, the 

retired regent but still Japan’s most influential political 

figure. The treatise is known as Nichiren Daishonin’s first 

remonstration with the government, and begins with a 

description of the misery of the era: 

Once there was a traveller who spoke these words 

in sorrow to his host: ‘In recent years, there have 

been unusual disturbances in the heavens, strange 

occurrences on earth, famine and pestilence, all 

affecting every corner of the empire and spreading 

throughout the land. Oxen and horses lie dead in 

the streets and the bones of the stricken crowd the 

highways. Over half the population has already been 

carried off by death, and there is hardly a single person 

who does not grieve.’ (WND-1, p. 6) 

Nichiren Daishonin expressed his conviction that the 

fundamental cause of the disasters that had struck the 

country lay in the fact that everyone, ‘from the sovereign 

to the most humble’, was opposed to or ignorant of the 

teaching of the Lotus Sutra. He particularly criticised 

Honen, the founder of the Pure Land school. Quoting the 

Great Collection Sutra and the Medicine Master Sutras, 

which elaborate the three calamities and the seven 

disasters, 8 Nichiren Daishonin predicted that civil war 

and foreign invasion, the only disasters that had not yet 

occurred, would surely happen if the country continued to 

reject correct teaching, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. 

Nichiren Daishonin knew perfectly well that he would 

encounter violent persecution if he addressed his treatise 

to Hojo Tokiyori, but did so nonetheless from profound 

compassion, considering the sufferings of others as 

though they were his own. Sure enough, priests and 

believers of the Pure Land school soon took action 

against Nichiren Daishonin and his disciples. 

Persecution at Matsubagayatsu and exile 

to Izu 

During the night of 27 August 1260, several hundred Pure 

Land followers attacked Nichiren Daishonin’s dwelling 

at Matsubagayatsu. The action was instigated by Hojo 

Shigetoki, father of the then regent Hojo Nagatoki and a 

Pure Land school follower. Fortunately, Nichiren Daishonin 

managed to escape and took refuge at the house of one 

of his disciples, Toki Jonin. In spite of the danger, Nichiren 

Daishonin returned to Kamakura the following spring 

and once again began to propagate his teachings. His 

overwhelming desire was to awaken the Japanese people 

to the truth of Buddhism. 

The Pure Land school priests continued to slander 

Nichiren Daishonin to the authorities. This time the regent 

himself, Hojo Nakatoki, supported their accusations 

and on 12 May 1261, without even a court case, the 

government sent Nichiren Daishonin into exile to Ito, a 

Pure Land school stronghold on the Izu peninsula. 

He was abandoned on a beach by his guards as they 

reached Ito and left to his fate. Despite the hostility felt 

towards exiles, Nichiren Daishonin was taken in and cared 

for by a fisherman called Funamori Yasuburo and his 

wife. Later, they became his disciples. This clearly shows 

the affinity Nichiren Daishonin had with ordinary people, 

a feeling that was increasingly reciprocated during his 

lifetime. Shortly thereafter, hearing that the local steward 

was ill, Nichiren Daishonin successfully prayed for his 

recovery: the lord also became a follower. 

In February 1263, after almost two years in Izu, 

the Daishonin was pardoned. As he explains in ‘On 

Persecutions Befalling the Sage’, ‘the lay priest of 

Saimyo-ji [Hojo-Tokiyori 1227-1263], now deceased, and 

the priest ruler [Hojo Tokimune 1251-1284] permitted my 

return from my exile when they found I was innocent of 

6


the accusations against me.’ (WND-1, p. 997) It is also 

likely that Hojo Tokiyori understood Nichiren Daishonin’s 

true intention in sending him ‘On Establishing the Correct 

Teaching’ in July 1260, and shared his desire to protect 

the Japanese people from further catastrophes. Once 

pardoned, the Daishonin returned to Kamakura. 

The Komatsubara Persecution 

In autumn 1264, learning about the serious illness of 

his mother, Nichiren Daishonin decided to visit Awa 

for the first time in ten years. His father had died in 

1258. On 11 November 1264, on his way to visit his 

disciple Kudo Yoshitaka, Tojo Kagenobu, steward of the 

region, ambushed the Daishonin and his disciples at a 

place called Komatsubara. Hearing of the attack, Kudo 

Yoshitaka rushed to the scene with some other followers. 

But they were outnumbered and Kudo Yoshitaka and 

another follower, Kyonin-bo, were killed. Although he 

escaped safely, Nichiren Daishonin himself was injured on 

the forehead by a sword and had his left arm broken. This 

incident is known as the Komatsubara Persecution. 

Nichiren Daishonin returned to Kamakura in early 1268. 

In January of that year an envoy from the Mongol Empire 

had arrived in Kamakura with a message demanding that 

Japan acknowledge fealty to their empire, or face invasion. 

The envoy was sent back empty-handed and the Japanese 

government began to prepare for war. This confirmed 

Nichiren Daishonin’s prediction of foreign invasion, made 

in ‘On Establishing the Correct Teaching’. In April 1268, 

Nichiren Daishonin sent ‘The Rationale for writing “On 

Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the 

Land”’ to an active member of the government. In it he 

explained the circumstances leading to his writing the 

treatise, and reminded the shogunate of its conclusions: 

Now, nine years after I presented my memorial [to the 

lay priest of Saimyo-ji], in the intercalary first month of 

this year [1268], the official letter arrived from the great 

kingdom of the Mongols. The events that have occurred 

match the predictions made in my memorial as exactly 

as do the two halves of a tally. (WND-1, p. 163) 

In October, he sent letters to eleven high-ranking political 

and religious leaders pointing out that his predictions 

were now being fulfilled, and calling for a public religious 

debate to demonstrate the validity of his teachings. His 

appeal was ignored. Nichiren Daishonin was a man of 

great learning, reason enough for the religious leaders of 

Kamakura to refuse to debate with him. But he knew that 

there was another reason for their refusal, which had been 

clearly stated in the thirteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra: 

These men with evil in their hearts, 

constantly thinking of worldly affairs, 

will borrow the name of forest-dwelling monks… 9 

In short, he knew them to be hypocrites who preached 

doctrines they themselves could not or would not put 

into action. 

The second warning to the government 

In 1271, Japan suffered a severe drought and the 

government asked Ryokan, chief priest of the True Word- 

Precepts school, and considered the foremost Buddhist 

scholar of the city, to pray for rain. When Nichiren 

Daishonin heard this, he issued a public challenge, vowing 

to become Ryokan’s disciple if he managed to make 

it rain within seven days. If Ryokan failed, however, he 

should become the Daishonin’s disciple. Ryokan accepted 

the challenge, but was humiliated when his prayers failed. 

Rather than discarding his beliefs, however, he plotted to 

get rid of his rival. Conspiring with his followers, he began 

to spread false rumours about the Daishonin among the 

wives of leading government officials. 

The tactic worked. On 10 September 1271, Nichiren 

Daishonin was summoned and questioned by Hei no 

Saemon, Deputy Chief of the Office of Military and Police 

Affairs (the chief being the regent himself). Nichiren 

Daishonin repeated his prediction that the nation would 

fall into ruin if the true Law continued to be slandered. 

This encounter is known as the second remonstration 

with the government. Writing of this meeting in the Gosho 

‘The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra’, Nichiren 

Daishonin warns Hei no Saemon: 

If you wish to maintain this land in peace and security, 

it is imperative that you summon the priests of the 

other schools for a debate in your presence. If you 

ignore this advice and punish me unreasonably on 

their behalf, the entire country will regret your decision. 

If you condemn me, you will be rejecting the Buddha’s 

envoy… (WND-1, p.765) 

The meeting ended without agreement. 

The Tatsunokuchi Persecution 

On the night of 12 September 1271, Hei no Saemon and 

a troop of armed soldiers arrested Nichiren Daishonin. 

Treating him like a traitor, they took him to Tatsunokuchi 

beach, an execution site near Kamakura: on his own 

initiative, Hei no Saemon had decided to have Nichiren 

Daishonin beheaded. On the way to Tatsunokuchi the 

arresting party passed the shrine to Hachiman, one of 

Japan’s protective deities. The Daishonin asked to stop 

and at once he reprimanded Hachiman: 

Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, are you truly a god? … 

I, Nichiren, am the foremost votary of the Lotus Sutra 

in all of Japan, and am entirely without guilt… When 

Shakyamuni Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra, Many 

7


Treasures Buddha and the Buddhas and bodhisattvas 

of the ten directions gathered, shining like so many 

suns and moons, stars and mirrors. In the presence of 

the countless heavenly gods as well as the benevolent 

deities and sages of India, China and Japan, Shakyamuni 

Buddha urged each one to submit a written pledge to 

protect the votary of the Lotus Sutra at all times. Each 

and every one of you gods made this pledge. I should not 

have to remind you. Why do you not appear at once to 

fulfil your solemn oath? … If I am executed tonight and 

go to the pure land of Eagle Peak, I will dare to report 

to Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, that the 

Sun Goddess and Great Bodhisattva Hachiman are the 

deities who have broken their oath to him. If you feel this 

will go hard with you, you had better do something about 

it right away! (WND-1, p. 766, p. 767) 

So saying, Nichiren Daishonin remounted his horse and 

the party continued on to Tatsunokuchi. Sent for by his 

master, Shijo Kingo 10 rushed barefoot to join him, with his 

three brothers. He held the reins of Nichiren Daishonin’s 

horse until they reached the execution site, ready to give 

his own life. At the moment when Nichiren Daishonin was 

about to be beheaded, however, a bright object crossed 

the sky. Panicking, the executioner threw down his sword 

and the petrified soldiers were unable to proceed with the 

execution. 

This event is of the utmost significance. Not only did 

the Buddhist gods 11 protect Nichiren Daishonin, saving 

him from death, but at this crucial moment he revealed 

his true identity as the original Buddha by discarding 

his provisional or transient identity as ‘the votary of the 

Lotus Sutra’: 

On the twelfth day of the ninth month of last year, 

between the hours of the Rat and the Ox (11 pm to 

3 am), this person named Nichiren was beheaded. It is 

his soul that has come to the island of Sado. 

(WND-1, p. 269) 

Exile to Sado Island 

The authorities detained Nichiren Daishonin, at Echi, 

Sagami prefecture, as they tried to decide what to do. 

The verdict was exile once more, and so, on 10 October 

1271, he was taken north from Echi, to Sado Island in 

the Sea of Japan. Here, on 1 November, he was forced 

to settle in a small, ruined temple in an old cemetery at 

Tsukahara. He had no warm clothes or enough food to 

sustain him against the terrible, cold weather. Moreover, 

the inhabitants of the island were very hostile; not only 

were they mainly Pure Land school believers, but exiles to 

Sado were, for the most part, common criminals. 

The authorities did not expect the Daishonin to 

survive the winter, but far from dying, Nichiren Daishonin 

increasingly won support from the local population and 

converted many individuals to his teachings, including 

Abutsu-bo and his wife Sennichi-ama, Ko Nyudo and his 

wife, Nakaoki Nyudo and Sairen-bo Nichijyo. 

The leaders of the other Buddhist schools were not 

satisfied, even with Nichiren Daishonin in exile. Early in 

1272 scores of priests converged on the island from 

their home provinces. But the deputy constable, Homma 

Shigetsura, dashed their hopes for a quick end to Nichiren 

Daishonin by telling them: 

An official letter from the regent directs that the priest 

shall not be executed. This is no ordinary, contemptible 

criminal, and if anything happens to him, I, Shigetsura, 

will be guilty of grave dereliction. Instead of killing him, 

why don’t you confront him in religious debate? 

(WND-1, p. 771) 

The ‘Tsukahara Debate’ – as it became known – duly took 

place on 16-17 January 1272, pitting Nichiren Daishonin 

against several hundred priests of the other schools. 

He describes the event in the Gosho ‘The Actions of the 

Votary of the Lotus Sutra’: 

I responded to each, establishing the exact meaning of 

what had been said, then coming back with questions. 

However, I needed to ask only one or two at most before 

they were completely silenced… I overturned them as 

easily as a sharp sword cutting through a melon or 

a gale bending the grass. They not only were poorly 

versed in the Buddhist teachings but contradicted 

themselves. They confused sutras with treatises or 

commentaries with treatises. (WND-1, pp.771-772) 

After the debate, many of those attending abandoned 

their beliefs, or even converted to Nichiren Daishonin’s 

teachings. In February, the predictions of a civil war made 

by the Daishonin twelve years earlier, in ‘On Establishing 

the Correct Teaching’, became reality when conflicts arose 

within the ruling Hojo clan, which culminated in violent 

clashes at both Kamakura and Kyoto. The government 

began to take Nichiren Daishonin more seriously and he 

was transferred in April from his hut at Tsukahara to an 

ordinary residence at Ichinosawa on Sado Island. 

Shortly after the Tatsunokuchi Persecution, while still on 

the mainland, Nichiren Daishonin had begun to inscribe 

personal Gohonzon for his closest followers (For more 

on the Gohonzon see section A2). On Sado, he produced 

many important writings including, ‘The Opening of the 

Eyes’, ‘The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind’, 

‘The Entity of the Mystic Law’ and ‘Letter from Sado’. 

These are important because they explain the significance 

of the Gohonzon and, in so doing, laid the foundations 

of the Daishonin’s teachings. For example, ‘The Opening 

of the Eyes’ explains why the Daishonin is the person 

qualified to establish the Gohonzon. ‘The Object of 

Devotion for Observing the Mind’ explains why Nam- 

8


myoho-renge-kyo is the Law to be established, why in the 

form of the Gohonzon, and why the present period is the 

correct time for the establishment of the supreme object 

of devotion. 

The end of exile 

In February 1274, the then regent, Hojo Tokimune, granted 

Nichiren Daishonin permission to leave Sado Island. This 

was probably motivated by two events that took place in 

1273: the attempted rebellion of Hojo Tokimune’s brother, 

and the arrival, once again, of a Mongol delegation to 

Japan. Both confirmed the Daishonin’s predictions. 

The third remonstration with the government 

and departure for Mount Minobu 

Nichiren Daishonin left Ichinosawa on 13 March for 

Kamakura and on 8 April met Hei no Saemon at the 

latter’s request. For the third time, he remonstrated with 

the government, warning that the Mongol invasion was 

imminent, but still the government refused to listen. A few 

months later, in October, Kublai Khan’s forces attacked 

the southern part of Japan. According to ancient Chinese 

custom, if a sage gives three warnings to the authorities 

and these warnings go unheeded, he should retire to a 

mountain retreat. Therefore, Nichiren Daishonin travelled 

to the remoteness of Mount Minobu, in present-day 

Yamanashi prefecture. At Minobu he would continue to 

write and to raise disciples capable of propagating the Law. 

He devoted much of his time to writing, and nearly 

half of his extant works date from this period. He also 

spent much time lecturing and training his disciples, in 

particular Nikko Shonin. Nikko Shonin faithfully recorded 

these lectures in The Record of the Orally Transmitted 

Teachings. 

The Atsuhara Persecution and fulfilment of the 

Daishonin’s mission 

In 1275, Nikko Shonin took the lead in propagating 

Nichiren Daishonin’s teachings in the Fuji area, centred on 

the village of Atsuhara, and succeeded in converting many 

lay people (mostly farmers) and priests. One strong lay 

supporter in the area was Nanjo Tokimitsu, who, though 

still only in his late teens, contributed wholeheartedly to 

the propagation movement. 

The propagation caused intense opposition from the 

local temples. In particular, the assistant chief priest 

of a Tendai temple in Atsuhara village, Gyochi, grew 

increasingly jealous. Seeing his income threatened, he 

began to harass the Daishonin’s followers and falsely 

accused twenty disciples of stealing rice while harvesting 

the temple’s fields. He conspired to have them arrested 

and taken to Kamakura on 21 September 1279, where he 

tried to force them to renounce their faith in Nam-myoho- 

renge-kyo. They refused, even under torture and the 

threat of death. Meanwhile, Nanjo Tokimitsu fought at the 

risk of his life to protect the Law and his precious fellow 

believers, despite severe government reprisals – he was 

so heavily taxed, for example, that he even had to sell his 

horse, a vital necessity. 

Nichiren Daishonin was deeply moved by the attitude of 

these disciples, who were ready to give their lives if need 

be to defend the Law. Realising that the time had come 

for him to fulfil his ultimate purpose in life, on 12 October 

1279, he inscribed the Dai-Gohonzon. In the Gosho 

‘On Persecutions Befalling the Sage’, he discusses the 

significance of this event: 

Now, in the second year of Koan [1279], cyclical sign 

tsuchinoto-u, it has been twenty-seven years since I first 

proclaimed this teaching at Seicho-ji temple. It was at 

the hour of the horse [noon] on the twenty-eighth day 

of the fourth month in the fifth year of Kencho [1253], 

cyclical sign mizunoto-ushi, on the southern side of the 

image hall in the Shobutsu-bo of Seicho-ji temple in Tojo 

Village. Tojo is now a district, but was then a part of 

Nagasa District of Awa Province. Here is located what 

was once the second, but is now the country’s most 

important centre founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo, the 

general of the right, to the Sun Goddess. The Buddha 

fulfilled the purpose of his advent in a little over forty 

years, the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai took about thirty years, 

and the Great Teacher Dengyo, some twenty years. I have 

spoken repeatedly of the indescribable persecutions they 

suffered during those years. For me it took twenty-seven 

years, and the great persecutions I faced during this 

period are well known to you all. (WND-1, p. 996) 

Three days later, on 15 October, three of the farmerdisciples 

held in Kamakura were beheaded. The seventeen 

others still refused to recant, and were banished from 

Atsuhara. The harassment of the Daishonin’s followers 

continued intermittently for a time. Collectively, the 

persecution of his followers in and around Atsuhara from 

1275 to 1281 is known as the Atsuhara Persecution. 

Transmission of the Law and the death of 

Nichiren Daishonin 

By 1280, Nichiren Daishonin had already decided upon 

Nikko Shonin as his successor, as he states in the 

document that he transferred to him, ‘The One Hundred 

and Six Comparisons’. Nikko was clearly foremost among 

his disciples in faith, practice and study. He accompanied 

and served Nichiren Daishonin twice in exile (in Izu and 

on Sado), and he was also the most active in propagation 

activities and in training other disciples. Nikko had a deep 

respect for Nichiren Daishonin as the Buddha for this age, 

and understood the profound meaning of his teachings 

from the viewpoint of faith. He was therefore the person 

9


to whom Nichiren Daishonin transferred all his teachings 

and the Dai-Gohonzon, inscribed for all humankind, in 

September 1282. He formally certified Nikko as his 

successor and the leader of the propagation of his 

Buddhism in the ‘Document for Entrusting the Law Which 

Nichiren Propagated throughout His Life’. 

Shortly after this, on 8 September 1282, his health 

deteriorating further, the Daishonin left Mount Minobu, 

where he had lived for nine years, and went to the Hitachi 

hot springs and then on to the residence of one of his 

lifelong followers, Ikegami Munenaka. Here, in Musashi 

(present day Tokyo), he drew up his final testament for 

the future. On 8 October, he designated six senior priests 

as his most important priest-disciples – Nissho, Nichiro, 

Nikko, Niko, Nitcho and Nichiji – and entrusted them with 

the mission to train and develop followers in the different 

regions of Japan. 

On 13 October, just before his death, Nichiren 

Daishonin wrote a second transfer document, ‘Document 

for Entrusting Minobu-san’, again designating Nikko as 

his legitimate successor. In this he entrusts all of his 

teachings to Nikko and appoints him high priest of Kuon 

temple. 12 

At Ikegami Munenaka’s home that same day, aged 60, 

Nichiren Daishonin passed away. 

Footnotes for the life of Nichiren Daishonin 

material: 

1. A school founded by Dengyo in Japan. Its head 

temple is Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei. In 804 Dengyo 

made the journey to T’ang China, where he completed 

his study of the T’ien-t’ai (Jp. Tendai) teachings. He 

returned to Japan in 805 and officially founded the 

Tendai school in 806. Jikaku and Chisho, respectively 

the third and fifth chief priests of Enryaku-ji, 

incorporated esoteric teachings into the doctrine 

of the Tendai school. Hence the Tendai school in 

Japan rapidly assumed the character of esotericism, 

differing in this respect from the Chinese. 

2. True Word school. A reference to the Chinese Chenyen 

school and the Japanese Shingon school. 

(Shingon, or true word, is the Japanese pronunciation 

of chen-yen.) It follows the esoteric doctrines found in 

the Mahavairochana and the Diamond Crown sutras, 

which were later introduced to Japan by Kobo. 

3. Pure Land school. A school that teaches the 

attainment of rebirth in the Pure Land of Amida 

Buddha by means of the chanting of Amida’s name. 

Honen is the founder of the Japanese Pure Land 

school. In Japan, the Pure Land school is also called 

the Nembutsu school. 

4. The eight major schools of Buddhism in Japan before 

the Kamakura period (1185-1333). 

5. The Chinese character ze is comprised of three 

radicals that signify ’the person’, ‘under’ and ‘the 

sun’; sho means ‘sage’ or ‘sacred’; Rencho means 

‘lotus growth’. 

6. Monasteries of Mount Hiei and Mount Koya: head 

temples, respectively, of the Tendai and True Word 

schools. 

7. Daishonin – Literally, ‘Great Sage’; an honorific title 

later given to Nichiren by his disciples. 

8. A reference to two sets of three calamities – lesser 

and greater. The three lesser calamities are warfare, 

pestilence and famine. The calamity of famine is also 

called the calamity of high grain prices or inflation, 

because inflation was caused by a shortage of grain. 

The three greater calamities are those of fire, water 

and wind. These calamities occur at the end of a 

kalpa. The three lesser calamities are often referred 

to in conjunction with the seven disasters as the 

‘three calamities and seven disasters’. 

9. The Lotus Sutra, trans. Burton Watson (Columbia 

University Press, 1993) Chapter 13, p. 194. 

10. Shijo Kingo (1230-1300): Samurai and disciple of 

Nichiren Daishonin. 

11. Buddhist Gods (Jp. shoten zenjin): benevolent 

heavenly beings. Traditionally, gods who assembled 

to listen to Shakyamuni teach the Lotus Sutra and 

vowed to guard its devotees, but interpreted to mean 

the life-supporting and protecting power inherent in 

the universe, including one’s own life, which can be 

activated by one’s Buddhist practice. 

12. Kuon temple: built at Mount Minobu in November 

1281. 

10


SECTION A2: THE LIFE OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN 

– SUPPORTING MATERIAL 

The Lotus Sutra 

In Nichiren Daishonin’s time, the tradition was that 

the Lotus Sutra was taught in the last eight years of 

Shakyamuni Buddha’s life. The sutra is a collection of 

parables and teachings which, collectively, explain that all 

phenomena (and therefore all people) share the potential 

to reveal Buddhahood, and that the Buddha Shakyamuni 

did not attain enlightenment for the first time in his 

present life in India, but that this enlightenment in fact 

occurred in the far distant past. The sutra also taught that 

women can attain Buddhahood. 

Various versions of the Lotus Sutra exist. The Sanskrit 

version (called Saddharma-pundarika-sutra) was translated 

into various languages. The translation into classical 

Chinese done by the famed translator, Kumarajiva 

(344-413), was highly regarded. The sutra opens with 

Shakyamuni Buddha and an assembly of countless 

listeners gathered on Eagle Peak in India. The first half 

of the sutra (the first fourteen chapters) are called the 

theoretical teaching, and take the form of preaching by 

the historical Shakyamuni who is depicted as having 

first attained enlightenment during his own lifetime. 

The Buddha declares that his previous teachings are 

not ends in themselves but are only means to lead 

people to the one supreme vehicle of Buddhahood. In 

the second chapter the Buddha reveals ‘the true aspect 

of all phenomena’ indicating that there is no essential 

difference between an ordinary person of the nine worlds 

and a Buddha, and that the potential for enlightenment 

exists in everyone. The chapter further clarifies this by 

declaring that the one reason Buddhas appear in this 

world is to enable all people to attain the Buddha wisdom. 

The theoretical teaching also explains how difficult it will 

be to spread the teachings of the Lotus Sutra after the 

Buddha’s death. It dramatically illustrates the principle 

that all people can attain Buddhahood with the examples 

of Devadatta, an evil man, and the dragon king’s daughter, 

a female in reptile form, both attaining enlightenment. 

The second half (chapters fifteen to twenty-eight) sees 

the Buddha discard his transient role as the historical 

Shakyamuni and reveal his true identity as the Buddha 

who actually attained enlightenment in the unimaginably 

remote past. The gathered assembly moves from Eagle 

Peak to a ‘Ceremony in the Air’ focused around a jewelled 

treasure tower in which Shakyamuni is invited to sit by 

another Buddha, Many Treasures, who has appeared to 

verify that everything Shakyamuni is preaching in the 

sutra is the truth. Shakyamuni had urged his disciples 

to propagate the sutra in the evil age to come, but was 

not satisfied that they were capable of doing so. In the 

fifteenth (‘Emerging from the Earth’) chapter, countless 

bodhisattvas appear from beneath the earth and the 

Buddha explains that these are his original disciples 

whom he has been teaching since long ago and who will 

spread the heart of his teaching in the age of conflict that 

will occur in the future. The Buddha is asked how he could 

possibly have taught this number of disciples in the mere 

forty or so years since his enlightenment and he explains 

in the sixteenth (‘Life Span’) chapter that he actually 

attained enlightenment in the inconceivably distant past, 

and describes a time period of enormous magnitude. 

He says that since this original enlightenment, he has 

always been in this world, using various expedient means 

to teach and convert the people. The remainder of the 

sutra describes the necessity and benefits of propagation. 

One important teaching is the story of Bodhisattva Never 

Disparaging whose unconditional attitude of respecting 

everyone he meets, regardless of their behaviour towards 

him, is presented as the ideal behaviour for disciples 

of the Buddha. At the conclusion of the sutra’s twentyeight 

chapters, the assembly returns to Eagle Peak and 

disperses. 

(This material is drawn from The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, 

Soka Gakkai, 2002) 

11


Nam-myoho-renge-kyo 

According to Nichiren Daishonin’s teaching, Nam-myohorenge-kyo 

is the ultimate Law or truth of the universe. 

Nichiren first taught the invocation of Nam-myoho-rengekyo 

on 28 April 1253 to a small group of people at 

Seicho-ji temple. It literally means ‘devotion to Myohorenge-kyo’ 

which is the Japanese reading of the Chinese 

title of the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren regarded the title of the 

Lotus Sutra as encapsulating the sutra’s essence, and 

identified it with the universal Law or principle that is 

implicit in the meaning of the sutra’s text. 

Nam is a Sanskrit word, while Myoho-renge-kyo are 

Chinese words, signifying the universality of the teaching. 

The meaning of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is explained 

in the opening section of The Record of the Orally 

Transmitted Teachings, the record of Nichiren’s lectures on 

the Lotus Sutra compiled by his disciple and successor, 

Nikko. 

Nam derives from the Sanskrit word namas and is 

translated as ‘devotion’, or ‘dedicating one’s life’. 

Myo [i.e., mystic] stands for enlightenment, while 

ho [i.e., Law] represents darkness or ignorance. 

Together myoho expresses the idea that ignorance and 

enlightenment are a single entity. 

Renge (which means ‘lotus flower’) stands for the two 

elements of cause and effect. Cause and effect are also 

a single entity. 

Kyo [which means ‘sutra’, or ‘teaching’) represents 

the words and voices of all living beings. One source 

says, ‘The voice carries out the work of the Buddha, and 

it is called kyo.’ Kyo may also be defined as that which 

is constant and unchanging in the three existences of 

past, present and future. Nichiren Daishonin taught that 

the practice of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo involves chanting it 

oneself and teaching others to do so as well. He not only 

established the invocation (or daimoku) of Nam-myohorenge-kyo 

but he also embodied it as the Gohonzon. 


Soka Gakkai, 2002, and The Record of the Orally Transmitted 

Teachings, Soka Gakkai, 2004) 

The Gohonzon 

The Gohonzon is the object of devotion in Nichiren 

Daishonin’s Buddhism. Nichiren viewed his inscription of 

the Dai-Gohonzon on 12 October 1279 as the fulfilment of 

his life’s mission. 

The word ‘go’ is an honorific prefix, and ‘honzon’ means 

object of fundamental respect or devotion. 

Down the middle of the Gohonzon is written ‘Nam-myohorenge-kyo 

Nichiren’, signifying the Law which enables a 

person to become a Buddha, and the person who has 

become a Buddha through the practice of the Law. 

The form of the Gohonzon is based on the Ceremony 

in the Air, which occurs in the essential part of the Lotus 

Sutra. 

The Gohonzon represents the Ten Worlds (or conditions 

of life) illuminated by the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and 

revealing their enlightened aspects. Through the workings 

of the Law, our earthly desires , as well as the sufferings 

of life and death, can be transformed into enlightenment. 

In Nichiren’s teaching, the object of devotion has two 

aspects: the object of devotion in terms of the Law and 

the object of devotion in terms of the Person. 

The object of devotion in terms of the Law 

Nichiren’s Gohonzon embodies the eternal and intrinsic 

Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. That Law is the source of 

all Buddhas and the seed of Buddhahood for all people. 

In other words, Nichiren identified Nam-myoho-renge-kyo 

as the ultimate Law permeating life and the universe and 

embodied it in the form of the Gohonzon. 

The object of devotion in terms of the person 

Through the Tatsunokuchi persecution, Nichiren revealed 

a deeper, true identity and his followers equate that 

identity with the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. 

Because the Law is inseparable from the person, and 

vice versa, the object of devotion in terms of the person 

and the object of devotion in terms of the Law are one in 

essence. Nichiren Daishonin embodied in the Gohonzon 

the state of life he enjoyed as the eternal Buddha who 

personified the Law, so that people can attain the same 

state of enlightenment as he had. 


Soka Gakkai, 2002) 

12

SECTION B • STUDY MATERIAL • SGI-UK grade one study course 2012 

SECTION B: ‘THE HERO OF THE WORLD’ 

SGI President Ikeda’s Study Lecture Series (SGI Newsletter No. 8122, 13 December 2010) 

LEARNING FROM THE WRITINGS OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN: THE TEACHINGS FOR VICTORY 

[21] “The Hero of the World” 

The Victory of the Disciples is the Victory of the 

Mentor and the Victory of Buddhism 

Having glanced through your letter, I feel as relieved as 

if the day had finally broken after a long night, or as if I 

had returned home after a long journey. 

Buddhism primarily concerns itself with victory or 

defeat, while secular authority is based on the principle 

of reward and punishment. For this reason, a Buddha 

is looked up to as the Hero of the World, while a king 

is called the one who rules at his will. India is called 

the Land of the Moon, and our country, the Land of the 

Sun. Of the eighty thousand countries in the land of 

Jambudvipa, India is one of the largest, and Japan, one 

of the smallest. When it comes to the auspiciousness 

of their names, however, India ranks second and Japan 

first. Buddhism began in the Land of the Moon; it 

will reside in the Land of the Sun. It is in the natural 

course of events that the moon appears in the west 

and travels eastward while the sun proceeds from 

east to west. This truth is as inalterable as the fact 

that a magnet attracts iron, or that the ivory plant is 

nourished by the sound of thunder. Who could possibly 

deny it? (WND‑1, p. 835) 

*** 

If there are any among my followers who are weak 

in faith and go against what I, Nichiren, say, they will 

meet the same fate as did the Soga family… 

Draw your own conclusions from what I said above. 

Those among my followers who fail to carry through 

their faith to the end will incur punishment even more 

severe. Even so, they should not harbour a grudge 

against me. Remember what fate Sho‑bo, Noto‑bo, and 

others met. 

Be extremely cautious, and for the time being never 

submit yourself to writing a pledge, whatever it may 

concern… Untempered iron quickly melts in a blazing 

fire, like ice put in hot water. But a sword, even when 

exposed to a great fire, withstands the heat for a while, 

because it has been well forged. In admonishing you in 

this way, I am trying to forge your faith. 

Buddhism is reason. Reason will win over your lord. 

No matter how dearly you may love your wife and 

wish never to part from her, when you die, it will be to 

no avail. No matter how dearly you may cherish your 

estate, when you die, it will only fall into the hands of 

others. You have been prosperous enough for all these 

years. You must not give your estate a second thought. 

As I have said before, be millions of times more 

careful than ever. 

Since childhood, I, Nichiren, have never prayed for 

the secular things of this life but have single‑mindedly 

sought to become a Buddha. Of late, however, I have 

been ceaselessly praying for your sake to the Lotus 

Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha, and the god of the sun, for 

I am convinced that you are a person who can inherit 

the soul of the Lotus Sutra. (WND‑1, pp. 838‑39) 

Lecture 

Mentors always look forward to hearing about the 

victories and successes of their disciples. That certainly 

was the case with my mentor, second Soka Gakkai 

president Josei Toda. I always strove valiantly as his 

direct disciple, and nothing made me happier than 

being able to report my achievements to him. It is the 

same even now. I am especially proud today to be in 

a position to report to him that we have established a 

solid network of youth dedicated to advancing worldwide 

kosen-rufu into the future. 

The actual development of our movement hinges on 

disciples striving and winning in their respective missions 

for kosen-rufu. 

In Nichiren Daishonin’s day, too, the period after 

he moved to Mount Minobu is marked by the earnest 

struggles of genuine disciples. Many of them battled 

and surmounted great obstacles, going on to achieve 

brilliant victories. Throughout, the Daishonin continued to 

encourage and guide these disciples. Among them was 

Shijo Kingo. 

13


In 1277, Kingo faced his greatest adversity. In June of 

that year, a religious debate was held at Kuwagayatsu 1 in 

Kamakura. Afterward, Ema, the feudal lord whom Kingo 

served as a samurai retainer, was falsely informed that an 

armed group led by Kingo had burst in and disrupted the 

proceedings. This led Ema to order Kingo to write an oath 

renouncing his faith in the Lotus Sutra – failure to comply 

would result in his lands being confiscated. 

Kingo sent the Daishonin a letter in which he voiced 

his resolve never to submit such an oath. In reply, the 

Daishonin wrote “A Warning against Begrudging One’s 

Fief”, 2 dated the following month. While praising Kingo 

for his determination, he affirmed: “However wretched 

a beggar you might become, never disgrace the Lotus 

Sutra.” (WND-1, p. 824) He also composed “The Letter of 

Petition from Yorimoto” 3 on Kingo’s behalf to explain the 

true situation to Ema. 

In addition, at the end of the writing titled “The Hero of 

the World” – which we will be studying in this instalment 

– the Daishonin discusses the timing for submitting 

this letter of petition. (WND-1, p. 839) 4 “The Hero of the 

World” is therefore thought to have been written not long 

after “A Warning against Begrudging One’s Fief”. The 

Daishonin’s encouragement in this letter is imbued with 

his ardent wish to guide Shijo Kingo in the direction of 

victory. 

Mentors invariably want their disciples to succeed. 

The key point of the Daishonin’s guidance in “The Hero 

of the World” is that “Buddhism primarily concerns itself 

with victory or defeat.” (WND-1, p. 835) 

*** 

Having glanced through your letter, I feel as relieved as 

if the day had finally broken after a long night, or as if I 

had returned home after a long journey. 

Buddhism primarily concerns itself with victory or 


of reward and punishment. For this reason, a Buddha 

is looked up to as the Hero of the World, 5 while a king 

is called the one who rules at his will. India is called 

the Land of the Moon, 6 and our country [Japan], the 

Land of the Sun. Of the eighty thousand countries in 

the land of Jambudvipa [the entire world], India is one 

of the largest, and Japan, one of the smallest. When it 

comes to the auspiciousness of their names, however, 

India ranks second and Japan first. Buddhism began 

in the Land of the Moon; it will reside in the Land of 

the Sun. It is in the natural course of events that the 

moon appears in the west 7 and travels eastward while 

the sun proceeds from east to west. This truth is as 

inalterable as the fact that a magnet attracts iron, 

or that the ivory plant is nourished by the sound of 

thunder. 8 Who could possibly deny it? (WND‑1, p. 835) 

Faith in the Mystic Law is the foundation 

for victory 

The opening lines of this writing suggest that there may 

have been some positive development in Shijo Kingo’s 

situation that had greatly reassured the Daishonin. He 

says: “I feel as relieved as if the day had finally broken 

after a long night.” (WND-1, p. 835) Or perhaps the source 

of his relief may simply have been due to the fact that 

Kingo, despite his difficult circumstances, had made a 

profound resolve. Another possibility may have been that 

Lord Ema had softened his stance somewhat and was 

willing to meet with Kingo – the words towards the end 

of this writing, “If your lord coaxes you with soft words” 

(WND-1, p. 839), could be taken as alluding to such 

an opportunity. Nevertheless, the Daishonin remained 

apprehensive, as reflected in such lines as: “never submit 

yourself to writing a pledge, whatever it may concern”, and 

“you will certainly be deceived by others”. (WND-1, p. 839) 

Whatever the case may be, Shijo Kingo’s situation was 

still critical, and the Daishonin must have felt it even more 

imperative that Kingo stand firm and tenaciously continue 

his struggle. At this crucial time, the Daishonin taught his 

disciple the principle that “Buddhism is win or lose” so 

that he could achieve true victory in life. 

In this opening section, the Daishonin addresses 

Buddhism and secular authority. This was undoubtedly a 

subject of vital relevance to Shijo Kingo, who was faced 

with two choices: (1) continuing his Buddhist practice 

and risking the loss of his estate; or (2) obeying his lord’s 

directive and discarding his faith in the Lotus Sutra. 

Though he had already resolved not to write the oath 

sought by Ema, he nonetheless was still embroiled in a 

situation that pitted his faith against the decree of his 

lord. 

Buddhism does not deny things of worldly or secular 

value. As practitioners, however, we will not be able to 

realize true happiness if we lose sight of the supreme 

teaching and highest value of Buddhism by allowing 

ourselves to become obsessed with ephemeral 

attainments such as wealth, status and fame, or 

intimidated by tyrannical secular authorities. All that will 

await us in the end is spiritual defeat. 

That’s why, amid the realities of daily life and society, 

we must always make Buddhism our fundamental guide 

and standard, and continue challenging ourselves 

tenaciously to secure ultimate victory. Making Buddhism 

our foundation means forging ahead with rock-solid faith 

that is not swayed by the reward or punishment of secular 

authority or the vicissitudes of worldly fortune. 

“Buddhism primarily concerns itself with victory or 

defeat” (WND-1, p. 835), says the Daishonin. This 

fundamental tenet is at the heart of our commitment 

to keep striving based on the unsurpassed teaching of 

Buddhism, come what may. Our determination and actual 

efforts to show concrete proof of the power of faith, 

therefore, are crucial. 

14


Next, the Daishonin refers to the “Hero of the World,” 

one of the titles of the Buddha, meaning a champion 

of peerless wisdom who has triumphed over suffering 

and delusion and acquired a state of indestructible 

happiness. The Daishonin most likely mentions this title 

to underscore the importance of using the profound 

wisdom of Buddhism to discern what is of true value and 

confidently build a life of genuine happiness and victory 

amid the realities of society. 

He then notes that a king is called “one who rules at 

his will”. (WND-1, p. 835) In a general sense, this can 

be taken to refer to how a king in the secular realm rules 

his subjects, meting out reward and punishment as he 

pleases. But perhaps the Daishonin also draws this 

distinction to indicate that the power of the Buddha – the 

Hero of the World and the king of the Law 9 – is exercised 

freely. 10 In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni states: “I am the 

Dharma king, free to do as I will with the Law.” (LSOC3, 

p. 109 [LS3, p. 72]) 

In the feudal society in which Shijo Kingo lived, the 

fortunes of a samurai retainer were determined by the 

evaluation and judgement of his lord – namely, the 

rewards and punishments he meted out. Here, however, 

the Daishonin is showing Kingo how it is possible to 

ultimately triumph over any secular authority – no matter 

how powerful or oppressive – by basing oneself on the 

supreme teaching of Buddhism and freely exercising its 

power in one’s life. 

To clarify this point, the Daishonin turns to the history of 

Buddhism’s transmission in China and Japan, noting how 

people in these two countries came to accept Buddhism, 

and how people prospered at those times when they lived 

in accord with Buddhist principles. 

Those who act to destroy Buddhism bring 

about their own ruin 

In “The Hero of the World”, the Daishonin gives a detailed 

description of the transmission of Buddhism in Japan, 

citing The Chronicles of Japan. 11 He recounts the conflict 

between the pro-Buddhist Soga clan and the anti- 

Buddhist Mononobe clan. Of course, today the history of 

this conflict is viewed in the context of a broader power 

struggle, rather than simply centring around the question 

of accepting the teachings of Buddhism. Nevertheless, 

the main point here is what the Daishonin seeks to 

impart based on the historical records of his day. 

The Daishonin outlines how Buddhism in Japan was 

denounced and repressed before it came to be widely 

respected in society. He gives examples of how, even 

among secular rulers, there were those who governed 

justly based on Buddhist principles and enjoyed 

prosperity, and those who actively opposed and attacked 

Buddhism and brought ruin upon themselves. Further, 

he observes that there is evidence that when Buddhism 

was first transmitted in China and Japan, people who 

venerated painted or wooded images of Shakyamuni 

Buddha prospered. In light of this, he says: “Thus 

Shakyamuni Buddha is perfectly just in administering 

reward and punishment.” (WND-1, p. 838) What he 

means by this is that our actions, depending on whether 

they are in tune with or against the universal principles 

of Buddhism expounded by Shakyamuni Buddha, 

produce either positive or negative consequences 

– reward or punishment – in our lives, based on the 

inexorable workings of the law of cause and effect. 

(cf. WND-1, p. 838) 

The Daishonin notes that even high and mighty secular 

powers of earlier times could not help but fall into ruin as 

a result of their attempts to destroy Buddhism, an act that 

went against reason. It was obvious, then, that the forces 

persecuting Shijo Kingo – a practitioner of the correct 

teaching – would lose their strength and disappear. The 

Daishonin therefore urges Kingo not to be defeated, 

however difficult his present circumstances might be. 

The Daishonin’s profound compassion is clearly 

discernible in the great lengths he goes in this writing 

to explain the history of Buddhism and key Buddhist 

principles in order to help Kingo fortify his conviction and 

emerge victorious. 

*** 

If there are any among my followers who are weak 

in faith and go against what I, Nichiren, say, they will 

meet the same fate as did the Soga family… 

Draw your own conclusions from what I said above. 

Those among my followers who fail to carry through 

their faith to the end will incur punishment even more 

severe. Even so, they should not harbour a grudge 

against me. Remember what fate [treacherous former 

disciples such as] Sho‑bo, Noto‑bo, and others met. 

(WND‑1, p. 838–39) 

Persevering with unremitting faith 

Next, the Daishonin relates that, though the once pro- 

Buddhist Soga clan rose to the height of power and 

influence, the subsequent tyranny and ruthless cruelty 

of its leaders led to the eventual downfall of the entire 

clan. These individuals who had “grown so arrogant” (cf. 

WND-1, p. 838), he notes, were ultimately defeated by 

forces who respected and venerated Shakyamuni Buddha. 

The ruined Sogas came to serve as an example of people 

who, though they had made significant contributions to 

the cause of Buddhism in the past, ended their lives in 

defeat as a result of growing arrogant and departing from 

the caring and compassionate Buddhist spirit to guide 

others towards genuine happiness. 

The Daishonin declared that should any of his disciples 

turn their backs on him – a teacher selflessly propagating 

the Law for the enlightenment of all people, just as the 

Lotus Sutra taught – they were bound to meet a fate 

15


similar to that of the Soga clan. Citing examples from 

history, he stressed the importance of always persevering 

in faith without being swayed by secular concerns. He 

said that those disciples who failed to carry through with 

their faith as a result of being defeated by their own inner 

weakness or preoccupied with immediate gain would incur 

negative consequences even more severe than those 

experienced by the Soga clan in times past. He exhorted 

them not to travel the same course as such former 

disciples of his as Sho-bo or Noto-bo, who abandoned 

their faith and betrayed their teacher and fellow believers. 

(cf. WND-1, p. 839) 12 

It is in times of adversity that the true measure of one’s 

faith is revealed. When it comes to battling the three 

obstacles and four devils, 13 confronting the three powerful 

enemies, 14 or waging a critical struggle to transform one’s 

karma, unremitting faith is of paramount importance. 

During the difficult period of his Sado Exile (1271-74), 

and also during times when Kingo himself faced great 

personal hardship, the Daishonin consistently encouraged 

his loyal samurai disciple to remain steadfast in faith. 

For instance, he urged Kingo: “Carry through with your 

faith in the Lotus Sutra. You cannot strike fire from flint if 

you stop halfway.” (WND-1, p. 319) He also told him: “To 

accept is easy; to continue is difficult. But Buddhahood 

lies in continuing faith. Those who uphold this sutra 

should be prepared to meet difficulties.” (WND-1, p. 471) 

Difficulties forge our faith and strengthen our character. 

They are inescapable obstacles that we have to surmount 

on the road to attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime. If 

we persevere in faith and overcome every obstacle, the 

laurels of victory will definitely await us. The important 

thing is that we never discard our faith. The Daishonin’s 

strict compassion for Shijo Kingo is particularly evident in 

this section of “The Hero of the World”. 

*** 

Be extremely cautious, and for the time being never 

submit yourself to writing a pledge, whatever it may 

concern… Untempered iron quickly melts in a blazing 

fire, like ice put in hot water. But a sword, even when 

exposed to a great fire, withstands the heat for a while, 

because it has been well forged. In admonishing you in 

this way, I am trying to forge your faith. 

Buddhism is reason. Reason will win over your lord. 

No matter how dearly you may love your wife and 

wish never to part from her, when you die, it will be to 

no avail. No matter how dearly you may cherish your 

estate, when you die, it will only fall into the hands of 

others. You have been prosperous enough for all these 

years. You must not give your estate a second thought. 

As I have said before, be millions of times more 

careful than ever. (WND‑1, p. 839) 

Forging inner strength and maintaining 

resolute faith 

Here, the Daishonin cautions Kingo against being ruled by 

his emotions and acting rashly. He instructs him neither 

to bow to harsh intimidation nor to let an outwardly benign 

attitude on his lord’s part lull him into a false sense of 

security and cause him to adopt a conciliatory stance – or, 

in either case, Kingo would be giving in to Ema’s demands 

and end up discarding his faith. Out of his sincere wish to 

protect his disciple, the Daishonin offers detailed advice 

on how to wisely handle the situation. 

Untempered iron will melt in a blazing fire, but a finely 

forged sword will not, says the Daishonin. With this 

admonition, he seeks to forge Kingo’s faith and inner 

resolve. 

We cannot achieve victory in a true sense if we are 

constantly vacillating between hope and fear over what 

might await us in the future. Buddhism is reason. Only 

when we approach life with a serene, unclouded state 

of mind – forged through cultivating inner strength and 

polishing our faith – can we truly bring forth from within 

us the wondrous workings of life that put us on a course 

to victory. 

Constantly polishing and strengthening ourselves 

through faith – this path of inner self-development based 

on the Mystic Law is the direct path to genuine victory 

in life. For us of the SGI today, this entails our regular 

practice of morning and evening gongyo and carrying out 

activities for kosen-rufu. It is through these continued 

efforts and the progress we make in our own human 

revolution that we open the door to victory. 

The Daishonin then provides an unerring road map to 

guide Kingo to victory, by saying: “Buddhism is reason. 

Reason will win over your lord.” (WND-1, p. 839) Those 

who live their lives with honesty and integrity based on 

faith in the Mystic Law will win in all areas as a matter of 

course. “Win over your lord” here means that even Lord 

Ema – who wielded power over the lives of Shijo Kingo 

and his other retainers by administering rewards and 

punishments – would be no match for the lucid principles 

of Buddhism. 

Depending on how the situation unfolded, however, 

the need might arise for Shijo Kingo to risk his life and 

admonish the error of his lord. It was for this purpose that 

the Daishonin composed a letter of petition on Kingo’s 

behalf, denouncing the priest Ryokan 15 of Gokurakuji 

temple, [who was active behind the scenes in the 

persecution of Shijo Kingo following the Kuwagayatsu 

Debate and] whose teachings Lord Ema esteemed. 

In terms of Buddhism, Ryokan was a source of great evil 

[in disseminating erroneous teachings and leading people 

astray from the correct path to enlightenment]. Only by 

thoroughly repudiating evil can it be subsumed by good. 

The Daishonin, therefore, to be doubly sure, strongly 

emphasizes to Kingo again that he must on no account 

discard his faith out of a reluctance to part with his 

16


estate. Essentially, this represents a solemn admonition 

to persevere in faith, no matter what happens. The 

Daishonin offers Kingo a clear guideline: when forced to 

make a life-and-death choice, choose faith, which is the 

foundation for everything. Such an unfaltering resolve is 

crucial in times of great adversity. 

Of course, if Kingo were to relinquish his estate and 

retire from his lord’s service in a negative or angry frame 

of mind, it would not constitute a genuine solution. 

Though on the surface it might seem he was acting based 

on faith to sever ties with an unjust feudal lord, in reality 

it would be nothing more than him being defeated by his 

own weakness. 

For Kingo, “winning over his lord” meant remaining 

steadfast in faith, conducting himself with integrity and 

sincerity, and eventually awakening Ema to the correct 

teaching of Buddhism. 

Realizing happiness for oneself and others 

The Mystic Law is a teaching of harmony. It is the ultimate 

Law that embraces and gives meaning to all things. It 

is the core and foundation of harmony. The true victory 

of the Daishonin’s Buddhism is found in transforming 

misunderstanding into understanding, conflict into trust, 

and division into unity through the power of the Mystic 

Law. The certain victory for which he urges his disciples 

to strive essentially consists of realizing happiness for 

oneself and others by bringing forth the harmonizing 

power of the Mystic Law. 

For instance, he instructs the Ikegami brothers, 16 

whose father opposed their practice of the Daishonin’s 

Buddhism, to aim for the goal of family harmony by solidly 

uniting together in faith. As a result of staunchly upholding 

the correct teaching in spite of their father’s drastic step 

of disowning one of them in an attempt to persuade 

both to abandon their faith, they succeeded in achieving 

a great and dramatic victory. Not only did their father 

rescind the elder brother’s disownment, but he eventually 

even embraced the Daishonin’s teaching himself. Through 

the brothers’ faith, their father was enfolded in the Mystic 

Law and came to awaken to the correct teaching. 

Similarly, the Daishonin reminds Shijo Kingo that he 

owes his lord a great debt of gratitude, despite presently 

being persecuted by him. At the time of the Tatsunokuchi 

Persecution and the Sado Exile, he points out, Ema stood 

by Kingo when virtually everyone in Japan was hostile to 

the Daishonin, and many of his followers were having their 

lands confiscated or being banished. If Kingo were to forget 

this, he says, and bear an unreasonable grudge against 

his lord, the benevolent forces of the universe would not 

protect him. (cf. WND-1, p. 794) 17 In another letter, the 

Daishonin tells Kingo that even though his lord does not 

presently embrace faith in the Lotus Sutra, he will definitely 

accumulate good fortune and enjoy prosperity because he 

has protected Kingo. (cf. WND-1, p. 848) 18 

In response to this guidance, Kingo continued praying for 

his lord to take faith in the Lotus Sutra. Eventually, Ema 

regained his trust in Kingo and his attitude changed. In the 

end, Kingo was able to show great actual proof of victory by 

receiving a new estate from his lord. Referring to the cause 

of this triumph, the Daishonin writes in another letter: “It 

must have happened because of your profound sincerity 

in trying to lead your lord to faith in the Lotus Sutra… This 

is solely because of your deep faith in the Lotus Sutra.” 

(WND-1, p. 940) Through Kingo’s faith, the boundless 

power of the Mystic Law enveloped Ema’s life. 

Victory in the Daishonin’s Buddhism is victory based on 

the supreme principle of the Mystic Law. And its greatest 

victory in a real sense is the harmonious realm of the 

Mystic Law spreading in the sphere of our daily lives, 

workplaces, communities and beyond – on a global scale 

transcending national borders. 

The Mystic Law has the power to create value, 

transforming negative influences into positive influences. 

It has the power to change karma, transforming great evil 

into great good. It has the power of justice, transforming 

inhumanity into humanity and reason. 

Each disciple winning in society constitutes actual 

proof of human revolution. This means each individual 

placing utmost importance on the “treasures of the 

heart” (WND-1, p. 851) and developing greater depth as 

a person. In terms of the philosophy of the Lotus Sutra, 

it means always showing respect for others in one’s 

behaviour, based on the conviction that all people have 

the potential for Buddhahood. The individual growth of 

each practitioner ensures victory in faith. 

That’s why the Daishonin constantly admonishes his 

disciples against abandoning their faith. He describes 

a number of treacherous erstwhile disciples as being 

“cowardly, unreasoning, greedy and doubting”. (WND-1, 

p. 998) His words are deliberately severe to prevent 

other disciples from going the same way. If they were to 

succumb to negative emotions and lose sight of faith, 

they could easily descend into a way of life oblivious to 

the “treasures of the heart” and obsessed with status 

and wealth. The Daishonin’s effort to dispel any arrogance 

or complacency in his disciples is an expression of 

supreme compassion. 

Live wisely 

Shijo Kingo faithfully followed the Daishonin’s guidance 

and conducted himself with integrity. He won in his heart 

or “mastered his mind”, just as the Daishonin instructed. 

This dramatically changed his entire situation. 

Actual victory is achieved through meticulous efforts 

based on careful thought and wisdom, recognizing that 

even the smallest things matter. Practitioners upholding 

the Daishonin’s teachings and striving to demonstrate 

clear proof of faith in an evil age rife with negative 

influences must remain alert and vigilant. The Daishonin 

17


even warns Kingo to “be millions of times more careful 

than ever”. (WND-1, p. 839) It is crucial that he exercise 

wisdom and prudence. The Daishonin further points out to 

Kingo the importance of making firm allies of the people 

around him as part of his efforts to personally create an 

environment for victory. He also advises him to be deeply 

resolved to win and, based on faith, tenaciously endure 

what must be endured and then press forward with 

wisdom towards a breakthrough when the time comes. 

At this stage of his life’s struggle, when the 

development of kosen-rufu would hinge more and more on 

the victorious endeavours of his disciples, the Daishonin 

taught Shijo Kingo the vital cornerstones of the win-or-lose 

struggle of Buddhism. I’d now like to reaffirm them. 

First, we must always make Buddhism our foundation, 

basing our lives on faith in the Mystic Law. Second, we 

must challenge our own weakness and develop inner 

strength, rising above malicious attacks, temptation, 

and other negative influences. This essentially means 

battling negativity and evil. Third, we must believe in the 

limitless power of the Mystic Law, and consistently act 

with integrity and rich humanity. In other words, we must 

persevere in our struggle for truth in accord with the 

principles of Buddhism, bringing forth profound wisdom. 

Basing our lives on the Mystic Law with the spirit 

that Buddhism means winning is the key to achieving 

fundamental victory and genuine happiness that 

transcends the vicissitudes of society and the times and 

endures throughout eternity. 

*** 

Since childhood, I, Nichiren, have never prayed for the 

secular things of this life but have single‑mindedly 

sought to become a Buddha. Of late, however, I have 

been ceaselessly praying for your sake to the Lotus 

Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha, and the god of the sun, for 

I am convinced that you are a person who can inherit 

the soul of the Lotus Sutra. (WND‑1, p. 839) 

“A person who can inherit the soul of the 

Lotus Sutra” 

Buddhism is win or lose. The victory of each individual 

practitioner demonstrates the victory of Buddhism. 

In the spirit that Buddhism means winning, Nichiren 

Daishonin himself resolutely fought against obstacles and 

vanquished all negative forces. He boundlessly opened 

the path to victory for us who are living in the Latter Day 

of the Law. It was through the triumphant actual proof of 

faith that he demonstrated that the transmission of the 

great Law for the enlightenment of all people in the Latter 

Day began to spread in society. 

The Daishonin revived the “soul of the Lotus Sutra” – 

the spirit to widely propagate the Law and lead people 

to enlightenment. Who, then, will inherit this soul or 

fundamental spirit? Who will further expand this path 

and help people realize genuine happiness into the 

infinite future of the Latter Day? It is none other than 

disciples who, just like their mentor, challenge and 

triumph in their endeavours with the conviction that 

Buddhism means winning. 

When mentor and disciple both win, that achievement 

creates a powerful current of kosen-rufu that will flow into 

the eternal future of the Latter Day. 

In “The Hero of the World”, the Daishonin writes that he 

is constantly praying for Shijo Kingo so that his disciple 

could be victorious in his struggles. (cf. WND-1, p. 839) 

Needless to say, this is an expression of his profoundly 

compassionate wish for Kingo’s happiness. At the same 

time, he emphasizes that he is praying above all to 

ensure that kosen-rufu will continue to flow without cease 

and that the benefit of the Lotus Sutra will be passed on 

to future generations. 

The appearance of disciples “who can inherit the soul of 

the Lotus Sutra” (cf. WND-1, p. 839) signifies the victory 

of the mentor and the victory of Buddhism. It is then up 

to the disciples to make the mentor’s heart their own – to 

strive and win through faith with the same spirit as their 

mentor. 

The Daishonin wholeheartedly wished for the growth 

and success of his disciples. And his disciples valiantly 

challenged the various difficulties they faced, rose above 

their karmic suffering, and demonstrated wonderful actual 

proof of faith. This was true of Shijo Kingo and his wife, 

the Ikegami brothers and their wives, Nanjo Tokimitsu 

and his mother the lay nun Ueno, Toki Jonin and his wife, 

Oto Gozen and her mother, the lay nun Myoichi, and many 

others. In response to the Daishonin’s encouragement, 

they each went on to enact a grand drama of victory in 

life. This became the wellspring of the eternal flow of 

kosen-rufu into the Latter Day. 

The bonds of mentor and disciple in Nichiren 

Daishonin’s Buddhism 

“Buddhism means winning” is not simply a motto or 

maxim. It is the very heart and essence of the mentordisciple 

relationship in Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. 

In “On Repaying Debts of Gratitude”, the Daishonin 

writes: 

If Nichiren’s compassion is truly great and 

encompassing, Nam-myoho-renge- kyo will spread for 

ten thousand years and more, for all eternity, for it has 

the beneficial power to open the blind eyes of every 

living being in the country of Japan, and it blocks off 

the road that leads to the hell of incessant suffering. 

(WND-1, p. 736) 

It was through his selfless struggles, carried out in the 

spirit that Buddhism means winning, that the Daishonin 

opened the way for the eternal transmission of the Law 

18


into the eternal future of the Latter Day. It was also in 

this way that he activated the power of the Law to open 

the eyes of those blinded by delusion and block off the 

road to the hell of incessant suffering. For that reason, 

the transmission of the Law can only be undertaken by 

disciples who struggle with the same selfless dedication 

as the Daishonin. 

In the present age, the SGI alone has persisted on 

the path of faith with the spirit that Buddhism means 

winning, as taught by the Daishonin. Indeed, it would be 

no exaggeration to say that, before the Soka Gakkai’s 

appearance, the earnest struggle for inner transformation 

based on the Daishonin’s Buddhism – what we of the SGI 

today call human revolution and transforming reality – was 

nearly completely forgotten. 

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the first Soka Gakkai president, 

declared that showing actual proof of faith through striving 

and triumphing with the spirit that Buddhism means 

winning is the “lifeblood of the Daishonin’s Buddhism”. 

He wrote: 

[Clear actual proof of faith] is the lifeblood of the 

Daishonin’s Buddhism. As Nichiren Daishonin says: 

“Buddhism primarily concerns itself with victory or 


of reward and punishment.” (WND-1, p. 835) 19 

In addition, Mr Toda asserted: “Faith is a struggle against 

deadlock – for the individual, and for humanity. It is a 

struggle between devilish functions and the Buddha. 

That is why Buddhism concerns itself with winning in any 

struggle.” That was also his spirit when his businesses 

were in dire straits. He once said to me: “Daisaku, 

Buddhism is about winning. Let’s fight with courage, giving 

it our all as long as we live. Life is eternal. Proof of our 

dedicated efforts will definitely appear in some form in 

this lifetime.” I have fought in accord with these words. I 

have produced proof. Therefore, I can honestly say that I 

have not the slightest regret. 

Mr Toda often used to say: “We are practising the 

Daishonin’s Buddhism in order to achieve absolute 

victory. It is crucial that we win in our jobs and in all areas 

of our life with this resolve.” He also said: “Buddhism 

means being victorious. If we’re going to engage in a 

struggle, we must do so with thoroughgoing preparation, 

determination, and passion, and win without fail.” 

And he composed the following poem – the very last 

one I received from him: 

Winning and losing 

are both 

part of life, 

but I pray to the Buddha 

for final victory. 

Embracing the spirit that Buddhism means winning, the 

first three Soka Gakkai presidents have triumphed over 

every obstacle. 

Everyone faces the fundamental inner struggle 

between positive and negative impulses – expressed 

in Buddhism as the struggle between the Buddha and 

devilish functions. Buddhism is the teaching for winning in 

this elemental battle. Our victory ensures that truth and 

justice prevail, and also attests to the correctness and 

validity of Buddhism. 

Today, SGI members are emerging in ever-increasing 

numbers around the world. Each of them – as a person 

“inheriting the soul of the Lotus Sutra” – is striving with 

the spirit that Buddhism means winning. 

Disciples are standing up, taking vibrant action, and 

achieving great victories. We have truly entered an age 

when the brilliant achievements of the mentors and 

disciples of Soka encompass the entire globe. The 

victorious smiles of our members are a bright source 

of hope for people everywhere. Their actual proof of 

happiness is creating ripple effects that will change the 

world. 

As we embark on a renewed effort to reach out to young 

people and foster the development of an ever-youthful SGI 

organization, I would like to pass on, from heart to heart, 

the spiritual baton for eternal victory to each one of my 

beloved fellow members. 

(Translated from the October 2010 issue of the Daibyakurenge, the 

Soka Gakkai monthly study journal) 

19


Footnotes for President Ikeda’s lecture: 

1. This is a reference to the Kuwagayatsu Debate, which 

was held between the Daishonin’s priest-disciple 

Sammi-bo and a Tendai priest named Ryuzo-bo, a 

protégé of Ryokan, the chief priest of Gokuraku-ji 

temple in Kamakura who was hostile towards the 

Daishonin. Ryuzo-bo was soundly defeated by Sammibo 

in front of a large audience, which included Shijo 

Kingo. Fellow samurai retainers who were followers 

of Ryokan and jealous of Kingo saw a chance to 

disgrace him in the eyes of his lord Ema. They falsely 

reported to Ema that Kingo had forcibly disrupted the 

debate and shown contempt not only for Ryuzo-bo but 

also Ryokan whom Lord Ema highly esteemed. These 

reports led Lord Ema to threaten to confiscate Kingo’s 

fief unless he abandoned his faith in the Lotus Sutra. 

2. WND-1, pp. 823-25. 

3. WND-1, pp. 803-13. (Yorimoto is part of Shijo Kingo’s 

full name.) 

4. The Daishonin writes: “If the opportunity arises, 

submit to your lord the petition I have written on your 

behalf. Since it contains matters of great import, it 

will certainly create a stir.” (WND-1, p. 839) 

5. The Hero of the World is another name for the 

Buddha, so called because he valiantly confronts all 

sufferings and leads all people to enlightenment. The 

“Parable of the Phantom City” (7th) chapter of the 

Lotus Sutra reads: “World hero without peer, / you 

who adorn yourself with a hundred blessings, / you 

have attained unsurpassed wisdom” (LSOC7, p. 158 

[LS7, p. 121]). 

6. Land of the Moon (Chin. Yüeh-chih): A name for India 

used in China and Japan. In the late third century 

B.C.E., there was a tribe called Yüeh-chih who ruled a 

part of India. Since Buddhism was brought from India 

to China via this territory, the Chinese seem to have 

regarded the land of the Yüeh-chih (lit. moon tribe) as 

India itself. 

7. “The moon appears in the west” refers to the fact 

that the new moon is first seen in the west just after 

sunset. Of course, the moon rises in the east and 

sets in the west each day just as the sun and stars 

do, but because its orbital motion is from west to 

east, it appears to move incrementally in retrograde, 

from west to east, each day. 

8. According to the Nirvana Sutra, the ivory plant is said 

to grow with the sound of thunder. 

9. King of the Law: Also, Dharma king. Another name for 

the Buddha. 

10. The Annotated Vimalakirti Sutra says: “A secular 

king commands the people at will. The Dharma 

king commands the Law at will.” A passage in the 

Immeasurable Meanings Sutra also states: “He [the 

king of the Law] can exercise his powers freely, free in 

command of the Law” (LSOC, p. 10). 

11. As described in The Chronicles of Japan, the pro- 

Buddhist Soga clan were led by the father and 

son Iname (d. 570) and Umako (d. 626). Iname, 

the senior minister to Emperor Kimmei, argued in 

favour of the acceptance of Buddhism. Umako, the 

senior minister during the reign of Emperor Bidatsu, 

destroyed the anti-Buddhist Mononobe no Moriya and 

built a Buddhist temple. The anti-Buddhist Mononobe 

clan were led by the father and son Okoshi (n.d.) and 

Moriya (d. 587). Okoshi, the chief minister of Emperor 

Kimmei, opposed the Soga clan. Moriya, the chief 

minister to the two emperors Bidatsu and Yomei, 

opposed the acceptance of Buddhism, but was killed 

by Umako. 

12. In “Letter to Ben”, the Daishonin discusses the 

situations of a number of followers who had 

abandoned their faith. He writes: “Noto-bo was 

actually a supporter of mine, but out of fear of what 

the world might do to him, or out of greed, he not only 

abandoned me but in fact became my enemy. And 

Sho-bo has done likewise.” (WND-2, p. 661) 

13. Three obstacles and four devils: Various obstacles 

and hindrances to the practice of Buddhism. The 

three obstacles are (1) the obstacle of earthly 

desires, (2) the obstacle of karma, and (3) the 

obstacle of retribution. The four devils are (1) the 

hindrance of the earthly desires, (2) the hindrance of 

the five components, (3) the hindrance of death, and 

(4) the hindrance of the devil king. 

14. Three powerful enemies: Three types of arrogant 

people who persecute those who propagate the Lotus 

Sutra in the evil age after Shakyamuni Buddha’s 

death, described in the concluding verse section of 

the “Encouraging Devotion” (13th) chapter of the 

Lotus Sutra. The Great Teacher Miao-lo (711–82) 

of China summarizes them as arrogant lay people, 

arrogant priests, and arrogant false sages. 

15. Ryokan (1217–1303): Also known as Ninsho. A 

priest of the True Word Precepts school in Japan. 

With the patronage of the Hojo clan, Ryokan became 

chief priest of Gokuraku-ji temple in Kamakura, 

and commanded enormous influence both among 

government officials and among the people. He 

was hostile to the Daishonin and actively conspired 

with the authorities to have him and his followers 

persecuted. Lord Ema and the Ikegami brothers’ 

father were among his devout followers. 

20


16. Ikegami brothers: Leading disciples of the Daishonin. 

The elder brother, Munenaka, was twice disowned 

by their father, who was a follower of Ryokan of 

Gokuraku-ji temple. At the same time, their father 

tempted Munenaga, the younger brother, to abandon 

his faith in the Daishonin’s teaching and take his 

brother’s place as the next head of the family. 

Despite these adversities, the brothers persevered 

in their Buddhist practice. The father later rescinded 

Munenaka’s disinheritance, and in the end took faith 

in the Daishonin’s teaching. 

17. In “The Eight Winds” the Daishonin writes: “Moreover, 

he [Lord Ema] showed you great clemency by taking 

no action against your clan when I incurred the wrath 

of the government and the entire nation hated me [at 

the time of the Tatsunokuchi Persecution and Sado 

Exile]. Many of my disciples had their land seized by 

the government and were then disowned or driven 

from their lords’ estates. Even if he never shows you 

the slightest further consideration, you should not 

hold a grudge against your lord… But if you nurse an 

unreasonable grudge against [him], they [the heavenly 

gods] will not protect you, not for all your prayers.” 

(WND-1, p. 794) 

18. In “The Three Kinds of Treasure” the Daishonin 

writes: “Although he [Lord Ema] has not professed 

faith in the Lotus Sutra, you are a member of his clan, 

and it is thanks to his consideration that you are able 

to make offerings to the sutra. Thus, these [offerings] 

may become prayers solely for your lord’s recovery. 

Think of a small tree under a large one, or grass by a 

great river. Though they do not receive rain or water 

directly, they nonetheless thrive, partaking of dew 

from the large tree or drawing moisture from the river. 

The same holds true with the relationship between 

you and your lord.” (WND-1, p. 848) 

19. Translated from Japanese. Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, 

Makiguchi Tsunesaburo Zenshu (Collected Writings of 

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi) (Tokyo: Daisanbunmei-sha, 

1987), vol. 10, p. 47. 

21

SECTION C • STUDY MATERIAL • SGI-UK grade one study course 2012 

SECTION C: 

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF NICHIREN BUDDHISM 

SGI President Ikeda’s Study Lecture Series (SGI Newsletter No. 8098, 5 November 2010) 

LEARNING FROM THE WRITINGS OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN: THE TEACHINGS FOR VICTORY 

[21] “The Proof of the Lotus Sutra” 

The Prayers of a Votary of the Lotus Sutra to 

Overcome Illness 

How does the mirror of the Lotus Sutra portray the 

people who, in the evil world of the latter age, believe 

in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra just as they are 

set forth in the sutra? Shakyamuni Buddha has left 

us words from his golden mouth revealing that such 

people have already made offerings to a hundred 

thousand million Buddhas in their past existences… 

[W]hen ordinary people in the latter age believe in 

even one or two words of the Lotus Sutra, they are 

embracing the teaching to which the Buddhas of the 

ten directions have given credence. I wonder what 

karma we created in the past to have been born as 

such persons, and I am filled with joy. The words of 

Shakyamuni that I referred to above indicate that the 

blessings that come from having made offerings to a 

hundred thousand million Buddhas are so great that, 

even if one has believed in teachings other than the 

Lotus Sutra and as a result of this slander been born 

poor and lowly, one is still able to believe in this sutra 

in this lifetime. A T’ien‑t’ai [school’s] commentary 

states, “It is like the case of a person who falls to the 

ground, but who then pushes himself up from the 

ground and rises to his feet again.” One who has fallen 

to the ground recovers and rises up from the ground. 

Those who slander the Lotus Sutra will fall to the 

ground of the three evil paths, or of the human and 

heavenly realms, but in the end, through the help of 

the Lotus Sutra, they will attain Buddhahood. 

Now since you, Ueno Shichiro Jiro [Nanjo Tokimitsu], 

are an ordinary person in the latter age and were born 

to a warrior family, you should by rights be called an 

evil man, and yet your heart is that of a good man. 

I say this for a reason. Everyone, from the ruler on 

down to the common people, refuses to take faith in 

my teachings. They inflict harm on the few who do 

embrace them, heavily taxing or confiscating their 

estates and fields, or even in some cases putting 

them to death. So it is a difficult thing to believe in 

my teachings, and yet both your mother and your 

deceased father dared to accept them. Now you have 

succeeded your father as his heir, and without any 

prompting from others, you too have wholeheartedly 

embraced these teachings. Many people, both high 

and low, have admonished or threatened you, but 

you have refused to give up your faith. Since you now 

appear certain to attain Buddhahood, perhaps the 

heavenly devil and evil spirits are using illness to try to 

intimidate you. Life in this world is limited. Never be 

even the least bit afraid! … 

And you demons, by making this man [Nanjo 

Tokimitsu] suffer, are you trying to swallow a sword 

point first, or embrace a raging fire, or become the 

archenemy of the Buddhas of the ten directions in 

the three existences? How terrible this will be for you! 

Should you not cure this man’s illness immediately, 

act rather as his protectors, and escape from the 

grievous sufferings that are the lot of demons? If you 

fail to do so, will you not have your heads broken into 

seven pieces in this life and fall into the great hell of 

incessant suffering in your next life! Consider it deeply. 

Consider it. If you ignore my words, you will certainly 

regret it later. (WND‑1, p. 1108–09) 

Lecture 

Good health is the wish of all people. Long life is the 

desire of all humankind. From the time I became Soka 

Gakkai president (in 1960), I have chanted earnestly 

each day for the health and longevity, the safety and wellbeing, 

of all our members. For five decades, I have prayed 

fervently that all Buddhas and bodhisattvas, all heavenly 

deities – the positive forces throughout the universe 

– would rigorously protect and safeguard my disciples 

without fail. 

The daimoku of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the great 

beneficial medicine for good health and long life; it is the 

fundamental rhythm of the universe and the wellspring 

of the immense life-force of Buddhas. My sincerest wish, 

therefore, is that all who possess this wonderful medicine 

of the Mystic Law will lead supremely rewarding and 

22


deeply satisfying lives of mission, living out their lives to 

the fullest. Faith in the Mystic Law makes this possible. 1 

In this instalment, with my sincere prayers for the 

happiness and safety of all our members, I would like 

to discuss the writing “The Proof of the Lotus Sutra”, 

a letter into which Nichiren Daishonin pours his whole 

life to encourage a beloved disciple battling a lifethreatening 

illness. 

This letter is dated 28 February, 1282. The Daishonin 

himself had been suffering from ill health since the 

previous year. News had recently reached him that Nanjo 

Tokimitsu 2 – who had been fighting valiantly under the 

leadership of Nikko Shonin against religious persecution 

in Suruga Province (present-day central Shizuoka 

Prefecture) – had fallen seriously ill. Tokimitsu was only in 

his early 20s at the time. 

Three days before writing this letter, the Daishonin 

had dictated a note conveying his prayers for Tokimitsu’s 

speedy recovery, which had been transcribed and 

dispatched by Nichiro, a principal disciple. But it 

appears that he could not stem his concern for his 

beloved young follower and finally took up his brush to 

write him a personal letter of earnest encouragement. 

In this letter, he teaches Tokimitsu the essence of 

faith for overcoming illness, seeking to awaken in his 

young life the fighting spirit not to be defeated by the 

devil of illness. This illustrates the incredible care and 

compassion of the Daishonin. 

One rather unusual feature of this writing is that the 

Daishonin signs his name at the beginning rather than at 

the end. We find the words, “Nichiren, the votary of the 

Lotus Sutra” (WND-1, p. 1108), appearing at the start. 

This is the only one of the Daishonin’s extant writings 

where this is the case. 

A votary of the Lotus Sutra is someone who works to 

establish the supreme teaching for the enlightenment 

of all people in the evil age of the Latter Day and 

selflessly propagates that teaching for the sake of 

worldwide kosen-rufu into the eternal future. In “The 

Proof of the Lotus Sutra”, the Daishonin offers strict 

yet compassionate guidance as a votary of the Lotus 

Sutra to a young follower who will carry on the mission of 

propagating the Mystic Law. He urges Tokimitsu to battle 

and resolutely triumph over the devil of illness so that he 

may bring forth the victorious life-state of Buddhahood for 

all to see. 

In addition, the Daishonin directly addresses the socalled 

demons, or negative workings in life. He sternly 

admonishes them for inflicting suffering on the disciple 

of a votary of the Lotus Sutra, warning that in doing so 

they risk making enemies of all the Buddhas throughout 

the ten directions and three existences. His words 

deeply and powerfully convey his towering spirit and 

conviction as a votary who has triumphed over great 

obstacles in his efforts to widely propagate the Mystic 

Law in the Latter Day. 

At the end of the writing, we find the words: “Delivered 

by Hoki-bo.” (WND-1, p. 1109) This indicates that the 

letter was first sent to Hoki-bo – otherwise known as 

Nikko Shonin. We can well imagine the Daishonin’s 

trusted disciple going to see the ailing Tokimitsu with 

this heartfelt letter of encouragement and reading it to 

him at his bedside. Most certainly the ardent lion’s roar 

of the Daishonin contained therein penetrated his young 

follower’s life and made him deepen his resolve not to 

be defeated by the negative functions that were assailing 

him. And in fact, Tokimitsu overcame his illness and lived 

for another fifty years. 

When the disciple strives with the same spirit as the 

mentor, there is no obstacle or devilish function that 

cannot be surmounted, and there is no illness that cannot 

be positively transformed in accord with the principle of 

“changing poison into medicine”. 3 “The Proof of the Lotus 

Sutra” is a writing of the victory of mentor and disciple – a 

writing that highlights the key to good health and long life. 

*** 

How does the mirror of the Lotus Sutra portray the 

people who, in the evil world of the latter age, believe 

in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra just as they are 

set forth in the sutra? Shakyamuni Buddha has left 

us words from his golden mouth revealing that such 

people have already made offerings to a hundred 

thousand million Buddhas in their past existences. 4 

[W]hen ordinary people in the latter age believe in 

even one or two words of the Lotus Sutra, they are 

embracing the teaching to which the Buddhas of the 

ten directions have given credence. I wonder what 

karma we created in the past to have been born as 

such persons, and I am filled with joy. The words of 

Shakyamuni that I referred to above indicate that the 

blessings that come from having made offerings to a 

hundred thousand million Buddhas are so great that, 

even if one has believed in teachings other than the 

Lotus Sutra and as a result of this slander been born 

poor and lowly, one is still able to believe in this sutra 

in this lifetime. A T’ien‑t’ai [school’s] commentary 

states, “It is like the case of a person who falls to 

the ground, but who then pushes himself up from 

the ground and rises to his feet again.” 5 One who has 

fallen to the ground recovers and rises up from the 

ground. Those who slander the Lotus Sutra will fall to 

the ground of the three evil paths [i.e., the worlds of 

hell, hungry spirits, and animals], or of the human and 

heavenly realms, but in the end, through the help of 

the Lotus Sutra, they will attain Buddhahood. (WND‑1, 

p. 1108) 

23


Possessing a profound connection with the 

Lotus Sutra 

In the first half of this writing, the Daishonin explains 

that those who believe in the Lotus Sutra in the Latter 

Day have an extremely profound karmic connection with 

Buddhism reaching back to previous existences. First, 

he emphasizes that they are people who have made 

offerings to “a hundred thousand million Buddhas” in the 

past. Not only does Shakyamuni Buddha tell us this, but 

Many Treasures Buddha and all the Buddhas of the ten 

directions also affirm it. (cf. WND-1, p. 1108) 

We are able to uphold the Lotus Sutra – the teaching 

of the highest truth – in the Latter Day because our 

lives are endowed with great good fortune and benefit 

beyond imagination. This is a truth to which Shakyamuni, 

Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions 

unanimously attest. 

This prompts the Daishonin to observe: “I wonder what 

karma we created in the past to have been born as such 

persons, and I am filled with joy.” (WND-1, p. 1108) It 

is through immense good fortune and an extraordinary 

karmic connection that we are able to uphold the Lotus 

Sutra in the Latter Day, an age steeped in suffering and 

confusion. The Daishonin teaches that if we practise 

the Lotus Sutra with this conviction, we will definitely be 

able to overcome any hardship and attain the life-state of 

absolute happiness that is Buddhahood. 

Why is it, then, that those whose lives are endowed with 

vast good fortune and benefit gained from having made 

offerings to countless Buddhas should be born into an 

evil age and experience sufferings and hardships? This, 

the Daishonin explains, is because of their slander of the 

Lotus Sutra in past existences. However, their immense 

good fortune and benefit of making offerings to untold 

Buddhas, he says, still makes it possible for them – 

through their reverse relationship with the Lotus Sutra 

– to be born in this world as people who believe in the 

Lotus Sutra and with the potential to attain enlightenment 

through this sutra in this lifetime. 

This is illustrated by a passage in Miao-lo’s Annotations 

on “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra”: “It is like 

the case of a person who falls to the ground, but who 

then pushes himself up from the ground and rises to 

his feet again.” 6 (WND-1, p. 1108) This passage offers 

a metaphor for people who, though falling into evil paths 

as a result of slander, form a connection with the correct 

teaching that will ultimately enable them to find their way 

to enlightenment through that teaching. 

Those who fall to the ground will get back on their 

feet by using the ground to push themselves up. In the 

same way, those who slander the Lotus Sutra will gain 

enlightenment through the Lotus Sutra. The Mystic Law 

embraces even those who form a reverse relationship 

with it, enabling all people to attain Buddhahood. 

Such is the unfathomable power of the “poison-drum 

relationship” 7 in Buddhism. 

Seeing illness as an opportunity to deepen 

one’s faith 

Those who uphold the Mystic Law have the power to 

withstand any adversity. The daimoku of the Lotus Sutra – 

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo – has the beneficial power to lessen 

karmic retribution and change poison into medicine. 

Here, let us look at some of the encouragement and 

guidance that the Daishonin sent to other followers who 

were struggling with illness. 

In “On Curing Karmic Disease”, which is addressed to 

the lay priest Ota, he writes that even illnesses that result 

from karma and are the most difficult to cure can be 

healed by the good medicine of the Lotus Sutra, Myohorenge-kyo. 

(cf. WND-1, p. 632) And he cites a passage 

from the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai’s Great Concentration 

and Insight that explains: “Even if one has committed 

grave offences… the retribution can be lessened in this 

life. Thus, illness occurs when evil karma is about to be 

dissipated.” (WND-1, p. 631) This expresses the principle 

of “lessening karmic retribution”. 8 

The Daishonin explains that Ota is most surely 

experiencing his present illness so that he can avoid 

worse suffering that would appear as retribution for 

his past slander of the Law. He also assures him that 

he will definitely be healed and his life span extended. 

(cf. WND-1, p. 634) The Daishonin even goes so far 

as to say that should there fail to be signs of recovery, 

Ota should cry out: “The Buddha, the eye of the entire 

world, is a great liar, and the Lotus, the wonderful sutra 

of the single vehicle, is a scripture of clever flourishes. 

[If this is not the case, then] the World-Honoured One 

[Shakyamuni Buddha] should give me proof if he cares 

about his good name.” (WND-1, p. 634) In these words of 

encouragement, the Daishonin is voicing his wholehearted 

wish that Ota regain his health. 

Elsewhere, the Daishonin assures the lay nun Toki (Toki 

Jonin’s wife), who was suffering from a protracted illness, 

that because Buddhism has the power to change even 

fixed karma, 9 it was definitely possible for her to extend 

her life. He tells her: “Sincere repentance will eradicate 

even fixed karma, to say nothing of karma that is unfixed” 

(WND-1, p. 954); and “You can rely on the power of the 

Lotus Sutra to cure even illness that is due to karma.” 

(cf. WND-1, p. 656) 

Being gravely ill doesn’t necessarily mean that one 

will die. The Daishonin writes to the lay nun Myoshin, 

the wife of the ailing lay priest Takahashi: “A person’s 

death is not determined by illness.” (WND-1, p. 937) 

He continues: “Could not this illness of your husband’s 

be the Buddha’s design, because the Vimalakirti and 

Nirvana sutras both teach that sick people will surely 

attain Buddhahood? Illness gives rise to the resolve to 

attain the way.” (WND-1, p. 937) If, as a result of falling 

ill, one deepens one’s determination in faith, then the 

path to Buddhahood will definitely open. Illness then 

becomes “the Buddha’s design”. 

24


No doubt the Daishonin also wished to convey this 

powerful conviction to Tokimitsu. In “The Proof of the 

Lotus Sutra”, he writes in a similar vein: “In the end, 

through the help of the Lotus Sutra, they will attain 

Buddhahood.” (WND-1, p. 1108) The Daishonin is urging 

Tokimitsu to have absolute confidence that he will gain 

the life-state of Buddhahood. 

*** 

Now since you, Ueno Shichiro Jiro [Nanjo Tokimitsu], 

are an ordinary person in the latter age and were born 

to a warrior family, you should by rights be called an 

evil man, 10 and yet your heart is that of a good man. 

I say this for a reason. Everyone, from the ruler on 

down to the common people, refuses to take faith in 

my teachings. They inflict harm on the few who do 

embrace them, heavily taxing or confiscating their 

estates and fields, or even in some cases putting 

them to death. So it is a difficult thing to believe in 

my teachings, and yet both your mother and your 

deceased father dared to accept them. Now you have 

succeeded your father as his heir, and without any 

prompting from others, you too have wholeheartedly 

embraced these teachings. Many people, both high 

and low, have admonished or threatened you, but 

you have refused to give up your faith. Since you now 

appear certain to attain Buddhahood, perhaps the 

heavenly devil [the devil king of the sixth heaven] 11 and 

evil spirits 12 are using illness to try to intimidate you. 

Life in this world is limited. Never be even the least bit 

afraid! (WND‑1, p. 1108‑09) 

Being determined to battle the Three 

Obstacles and Four Devils 

Here, the Daishonin broadens the scope of his discussion 

from illness to life’s various hardships and sufferings in 

general. He emphasizes that it is by fearlessly confronting 

and overcoming such challenges that we can establish 

a life of unshakeable victory. He also goes on to explain 

that the difficulties or trials that arise in our lives when 

we are earnestly persevering in our Buddhist practice are 

the workings of the three obstacles and four devils 13 that 

seek to prevent us from attaining Buddhahood. 

First of all, the Daishonin affirms how difficult it is to 

remain steadfast in faith in the evil age of the Latter Day. 

He specifically refers to the struggles faced by Tokimitsu’s 

family, deeply commending the young man’s parents 

on their strong faith. He also praises Tokimitsu, as his 

father’s heir, for his staunch commitment to faith amid 

great adversity. 

Tokimitsu’s circumstances had been far from easy 

or tranquil. In Suruga Province, where the Atsuhara 

Persecution 14 took place, Tokimitsu had striven tirelessly 

to protect his fellow practitioners and applied himself 

with unflagging devotion to his Buddhist practice. It must 

have seemed like the negative forces were intensifying 

their efforts to make Tokimitsu, a key figure among the 

Daishonin’s followers in the area, abandon his faith. The 

Daishonin writes: “Many people, both high and low, have 

admonished or threatened you.” (WND-1, p. 1109) 

What makes Tokimitsu so admirable is that despite all 

the obstacles he faced, he continued to exert himself 

bravely and vigorously for the sake of the Law, refusing to 

discard his faith. Praising his sincere faith, the Daishonin 

declares that Tokimitsu must be close to attaining 

Buddhahood. He explains that this is undoubtedly the 

reason why illness is now assailing him. In other words, 

he declares that devilish functions are seeking to 

intimidate Tokimitsu in the form of illness and prevent 

him from moving forward – it is a trial in which Tokimitsu’s 

faith will be put to the real test. 

Allow me to clarify here that falling ill is not a sign 

of weak faith or defeat. No one can escape the four 

universal sufferings of birth, ageing, sickness and death. 

If, when we fall ill, we summon up powerful faith to battle 

the devil of illness, our illness itself can become an 

opportunity for us to achieve a life imbued with eternity, 

happiness, true self and purity – the four noble virtues of 

the Buddha. It can serve as a chance for us to strengthen 

our faith even more so that we can triumph over devilish 

functions. And when we have the strong, invincible faith to 

withstand any onslaught of the three obstacles and four 

devils, nothing will be able to stop us from attaining the 

life-state of Buddhahood. 

The three obstacles and four devils descend in 

force when an ordinary person is close to attaining 

Buddhahood. The Daishonin notes that when these 

obstructing forces appear, “the wise will rejoice while the 

foolish will retreat”. (WND-1, p. 637) Do we have the faith 

of the wise, our hearts filled with a dauntless fighting 

spirit, or the faith of the foolish, our minds filled with 

alarm and doubt? 

In the case of sickness, having the spirit to fight 

through to the end against the devil of illness is vital. 

Are we determined to win over the devil of illness or 

allow ourselves to be defeated by it? When we encounter 

illness or other painful suffering, we stand at a crossroads 

of great spiritual growth and inner development. 

Founding Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo 

Makiguchi said: 

To live one’s life based on the Mystic Law is to 

“change poison into medicine”. As long as we live in 

human society, there will be times when we encounter 

accidents or natural disasters, or experience setbacks 

such as business failures. Such painful and unfortunate 

events could be described as “poison” or “karmic 

retribution”. No matter what situation we may face, 

however, if we base our lives on faith, on the Mystic Law, 

and exert ourselves in our Buddhist practice without 

doubting the power of the Gohonzon, we can definitely 

25


turn poison into medicine – transforming a negative 

situation into something positive. 

For example, if you fall ill and just spend your time 

worrying that your illness is karmic retribution, it won’t 

solve anything. The important thing is to persevere 

in faith with the strong conviction and determination 

to positively transform your illness, changing poison 

into medicine, and achieve the great good fortune and 

benefit of regaining your health. When you do so, not 

only will you overcome your illness but, when you make 

a complete recovery, you will be even healthier than you 

were before. This is the power of the Mystic Law, which 

can change poison into medicine. 15 

Crucial is the absolute confidence that you can change 

poison into medicine, no matter what daunting obstacles 

you may face. This unshakeable belief is the key to 

overcoming not only illness but all kinds of difficulties 

in life, and to opening wide the path to attaining 

Buddhahood without fail. In The Record of the Orally 

Transmitted Teachings, the Daishonin clarifies this, saying: 

“The single word ‘belief’ is the sharp sword with which 

one confronts and overcomes fundamental darkness or 

ignorance.” (OTT, pp. 119-20) 

In “The Proof of the Lotus Sutra”, the Daishonin’s 

stance on illness is very clear. He says: “Life in this world 

is limited. Never be even the least bit afraid!” (WND-1, 

p. 1109) This is his essential guidance to Tokimitsu. 

Making our limited life in this world one of 

victory 

Our life in this world is limited. Death comes to all of us 

one day. As the Daishonin says: “No one can escape 

death” (WND-1, p. 1003). That is why he urges Tokimitsu 

to devote his life unhesitatingly to the Lotus Sutra. (cf. 

WND-1, p. 1003) 16 

There is nothing to fear when one has made the 

decision to dedicate one’s limited life span in this world 

to widely propagating the Mystic Law and establishing 

the correct teaching for the peace of the land. There is 

nothing to fear when one is determined to raise high 

the banner of supreme victory and glory and achieve 

happiness that will endure throughout the three 

existences. 

Again, in a letter to the lay nun Toki, the Daishonin 

writes: “Take care of yourself, and do not burden 

your mind with grief.” (WND-1, p. 656) Because we 

are human, a serious or protracted illness may drain 

our strength or spirit, causing us, without realizing 

it, to lament our situation or succumb to feelings of 

powerlessness or doubt. But no matter what ails us, 

we should live with the resolve not to give in to grief or 

sorrow. Especially, in terms of faith, we should rouse a 

powerful spirit to battle the devil of illness and not be 

defeated by our sickness. The key to this is chanting 

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo – the daimoku of the Mystic 

Law – of which the Daishonin declares: “Only the ship 

of Myoho-renge-kyo enables one to cross the sea of 

the sufferings of birth and death.” (WND-1, p. 33) The 

beneficial power of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo even 

once is boundless and immeasurable. All that matters 

is that we keep moving forward in our hearts each day, 

even if only a fraction of an inch. All that matters is that 

we are taking a step forward in our lives by continuing to 

“strengthen our faith day by day and month after month” 

(cf. WND-1, p. 997), as the Daishonin urges. Even if 

things don’t always progress the way we’d hoped, we 

should remember that many fellow members are also 

chanting for us to get well. There is no greater source of 

strength and support than this. 

When we steadfastly battle the devil of illness based 

on faith, our illness in its entirety becomes an opportunity 

to transform our karma through the beneficial power 

of the Mystic Law to change poison into medicine. As 

the Daishonin confidently declares: “There is nothing 

to lament when we consider that we will surely become 

Buddhas.” (WND-1, p. 657) He is describing a state of 

absolute assurance, of absolute peace of mind. 

The noble value of life as a human being 

We practise the Daishonin’s Buddhism so that we can live 

out our lives to the fullest. The benefit of living even one 

day longer with faith in the Mystic Law is unfathomable. If 

we live even one day longer, we can spread the teachings 

of Buddhism that much more. This endows our lives with 

immeasurable good fortune and benefit. Those who battle 

the devil of illness based on faith through their example 

teach others of the noble value of life as a human being. 

As practitioners of the Daishonin’s Buddhism, no matter 

what our circumstances, we are able to bring forth 

wisdom and compassion through faith and make our own 

lives and those of others shine brightly. This is the way we 

of the SGI live our lives. 

That is why using our wisdom to stay fit and healthy 

is also important. Faith means having both the wisdom 

to prevent illness and to deal with illness appropriately 

should it arise so that we can continue creating value 

with our lives. For instance, when we have overcome a 

serious illness or are still in the early stages of recovery, 

we should take care not to overexert ourselves. This is 

also vital wisdom for regaining our health. When we fall ill, 

we shouldn’t be impatient or forget to be careful. When 

we need to rest, we should listen to our bodies and not 

overdo things. Once we have fully regained our health, 

we can devote ourselves to Gakkai activities again as 

energetically as we like. 

Learning that his disciple Sairen-bo wished to seclude 

himself in the mountains because of ill health, the 

Daishonin responds by telling him to concentrate on 

treating his illness and to then return to making tireless 

26


efforts to propagate the Mystic Law when he has 

recovered. (cf. WND-2, p. 460) 17 

We cannot defeat the devil of illness with a weak 

resolve. If we forget the fighting spirit to struggle for 

kosen-rufu in the same spirit as our mentor in faith, 

“devils will take advantage”. (WND-1, p. 997) 

Using faith to battle illness has become firmly 

established in the Soka Gakkai through the real-life 

struggles and actual proof of countless members. There 

are innumerable heroic individuals who have demonstrated 

the beneficial power of faith to change poison into 

medicine, inspiring those around them with their positive 

spirit and refusal to be defeated by the devil of illness. 

Experiences in faith of battling illness and enacting a 

joyful drama of victory, supported by the sincere daimoku 

of family and fellow members, are themselves a great 

testimony to the power of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. 

*** 

And you demons, by making this man [Nanjo 

Tokimitsu] suffer, are you trying to swallow a sword 

point first, or embrace a raging fire, or become the 

archenemy of the Buddhas of the ten directions in 

the three existences? How terrible this will be for you! 

Should you not cure this man’s illness immediately, 

act rather as his protectors, and escape from the 

grievous sufferings that are the lot of demons? If you 

fail to do so, will you not have your heads broken into 

seven pieces 18 in this life and fall into the great hell of 

incessant suffering in your next life! Consider it deeply. 

Consider it. If you ignore my words, you will certainly 

regret it later. (WND‑1, p. 1109) 

A towering state of absolute confidence 

“And you demons!” cries the Daishonin in this passage, 

which constitutes an angry rebuke of the devilish 

functions bent on taking away the life of his young 

disciple. As I mentioned earlier, it also constitutes a 

refutation by the Daishonin in his capacity as a votary 

of the Lotus Sutra, in which he seeks to denounce error 

and clarify the truth. He warns that inflicting suffering on 

Tokimitsu, a disciple of the votary of the Lotus Sutra, is 

to alienate all the Buddhas throughout the ten directions 

and three existences. 

Here, “demons” refers to the negative functions that 

seek to weaken people and rob them of their lives. 

Viewed from the perspective of traditional Buddhist 

cosmology, there are evil demons that trouble and vex the 

practitioners of Buddhism, and benevolent demons that 

protect and safeguard Buddhism. In this passage, the 

Daishonin demands the evil demons to immediately cure 

Tokimitsu’s illness and become benevolent demons that 

will protect him instead of harming him. 

“Should you not… escape from the grievous sufferings 

that are the lot of demons?” (WND-1, p. 1109), he 

asks. Demons represent beings that have fallen into the 

world of hungry spirits, a state that is filled with great 

suffering. Only the Lotus Sutra can free them from this 

realm of suffering. He urges the evil demons tormenting 

Tokimitsu to escape from their suffering by protecting this 

practitioner of the Lotus Sutra. Otherwise, he says, they 

will “have their heads broken into seven pieces in this life 

and fall into the great hell of incessant suffering in their 

next life”. (cf. WND-1, p. 1109) In this way, the Daishonin 

sternly chastises the demons. He no doubt wished to 

show Tokimitsu his fearless conviction as a votary of the 

Lotus Sutra. 

In light of this, let each of us, too, further strengthen 

our prayers as a votary of the Lotus Sutra, ready to 

courageously challenge the devil of illness head-on should 

it appear. Let us forge ahead with a firm resolve to turn 

even negative functions into positive influences that will 

support and assist us in our lives of great mission. 

It is therefore important to chant daimoku, which is like 

the roar of a lion. The Daishonin writes: 

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion. What 

sickness can therefore be an obstacle? It is written that 

those who embrace the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra will 

be protected by the Mother of Demon Children 19 and by 

the ten demon daughters. 20 (WND-1, p. 412) 

When faced with sickness, we need to summon the heart 

of a lion king from within us and fearlessly take on the 

devil of illness. This kind of courageous faith is vital. 

The Daishonin also challenged his own illness with 

the heart of a lion king. At the time of writing “The Proof 

of the Lotus Sutra”, he was suffering from prolonged ill 

health. In another letter written the previous year (1281), 

he says: “My body is worn out and my spirit suffers from 

the daily debates, monthly persecutions, and two exiles. 

That is why for the last seven or eight years illnesses of 

ageing have assailed me yearly, though none has led to a 

crisis.” (WND-2, p. 949) 

But no matter what his circumstances, the Daishonin 

continued to offer encouragement to his followers and 

carry on his tireless struggle to propagate the correct 

teaching. We see a clear instance of this in this letter, 

“The Proof of the Lotus Sutra”, which the Daishonin wrote 

despite debilitating illness for the sake of a youth to 

whom he wished to entrust the future. 

In another letter towards the end of his life, expressing 

his appreciation for a disciple’s visit and sincere offerings 

that had benefited his health, the Daishonin writes 

exuberantly that he felt as though he were fit enough to 

catch a tiger or even ride a lion. (cf. WND-2, p. 991) 21 

To encourage his followers, the Daishonin gave vivid 

accounts of how he successfully repulsed the attacks of 

the three obstacles and four devils. In doing so, he left 

behind an inspiring example of a life undefeated by the 

innate sufferings of birth, ageing, sickness and death. 

27


Life itself is a joy 

Mr Makiguchi asserted: “The main requirement for 

happiness is good health. And to enjoy good health, we 

must put Gakkai activities first.” Good health means having 

a challenging spirit. There was no better way to stay fit 

and healthy, Mr Makiguchi taught, than by actively exerting 

ourselves in Gakkai activities for the sake of kosen-rufu. 

At the same time, Mr Makiguchi always warmly 

embraced those who were struggling with illness. In 

1942, during the Second World War, he travelled all 

the way to the home of a family of members living in 

the village of Shimotsuma in Ibaraki Prefecture to offer 

encouragement to their sick 7-year-old child. This was 

the year before he was imprisoned for his beliefs by the 

Japanese militarist authorities. 

My mentor, second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda, 

gave the following encouragement: 

As a result of embracing the Gohonzon, even those who 

are worried or anxious about illness or other problems 

will be able to gain complete peace of mind. As they 

come to savour a deep inner confidence and assurance, 

life itself will be a source of joy. 

Nevertheless, because we are living beings of the 

nine worlds, we will still encounter problems at times. 

We may also find that the nature of our problems 

may change. For instance, whereas before we were 

preoccupied with our own concerns, we are able to 

turn our attention to the problems and sufferings of 

others instead. Don’t you think that finding life itself an 

absolute joy is what it means to be a Buddha? 

He also said: 

Outwardly at times we might look like a “Bodhisattva 

Poverty” or “Bodhisattva Sickness”, but that is merely 

a role we’re playing in the drama of life. We are in 

fact bona fide Bodhisattvas of the Earth! Since life 

is a grand drama, we should thoroughly enjoy playing 

the role we have undertaken and demonstrate the 

greatness of the Mystic Law… 

The sharp sword that sets us free from a life 

shackled in such suffering [as illness or financial 

hardship] is the Mystic Law. Freeing all people 

throughout the land from such shackles is the mission 

and spirit of the Soka Gakkai. 

What is true health? It is not simply the absence of 

illness. It comes down to whether we vibrantly continue 

our endeavours to create value based on faith. Those 

who transform the karma of illness into mission and 

constantly strive for self-renewal have already triumphed 

over the devil of illness. True health in both body and mind 

is found in the midst of struggle. This is the teaching of 

Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. 

In another letter to the ailing lay priest Ota, the Daishonin 

writes: “On the one hand, knowing that you are in agony 

[because of your illness] grieves me, but on the other, I am 

delighted.” (WND-1, p. 631) He says this because, viewed 

from the perspective of Buddhism, illness serves as a 

means for us to deepen our faith, while also indicating 

that we are on the path to attaining Buddhahood. In this 

respect, illness can be viewed as fortuitous. 

The fact that struggling against illness can enrich 

and deepen a person’s life is something that many 

leading thinkers recognize. The Swiss philosopher Carl 

Hilty (1833–1909), for instance, writes: “Every illness 

leaves its mark, like the floodwaters of our rivers. One 

who correctly apprehends and endures illness becomes 

deeper, stronger, bigger; he gains insights and convictions 

that would previously never have occurred to him.” 22 

In our case, we base our lives on the Mystic Law. 

When we do so, there is no suffering that we cannot 

transform into happiness. Those who are battling illness 

are climbing the lofty mountain of Buddhahood. When 

they reach the summit, they will be able to enjoy a 

vast and magnificent view. All of their present hardship 

and suffering thus become a precious treasure for the 

purpose of constructing eternal happiness. 

In this letter, the Daishonin teaches the young Tokimitsu 

of this great beneficial power of Buddhism. 

A person who is never defeated, never daunted, and 

who never gives up, no matter what happens, is a victor 

in life and a true champion of health and longevity. 

My wife and I will continue to pray wholeheartedly for all 

of our members to enjoy long, healthy, fulfilling lives. For 

by living such lives, our members will show brilliant actual 

proof of the power of faith in the Daishonin’s Buddhism, 

thereby winning wide support and understanding for our 

movement around the world and serving as a guiding light 

for a century of life. 

I pray fervently 

for our resounding victory, 

and for all our members 

to enjoy good health 

and lead long, fulfilling lives. 

(Translated from the September 2010 issue of the Daibyakurenge, 

the Soka Gakkai monthly study journal.) 

28


Footnotes for President Ikeda’s lecture: 

1. A passage in the “Life Span” (16th) chapter of the 

Lotus Sutra reads: “We beg you to cure us and let us 

live out our lives!” (LSOC16, p. 269 [LS16, p. 228]) It 

appears in the parable of the outstanding physician, 

who imparts “good medicine” (a metaphor for Myohorenge-kyo) 

to his children who have “drunk poison” 

(succumbed to delusion) and implore him to cure 

their illness. This passage sets forth the principle of 

prolonging one’s life through faith in the Mystic Law. 

2. Nanjo Tokimitsu (1259–1332): A staunch follower 

of the Daishonin and the steward of Ueno Village in 

Fuji District of Suruga Province (part of present-day 

Shizuoka Prefecture). 

3. Changing poison into medicine: The principle that 

earthly desires and suffering can be transformed 

into benefit and enlightenment by virtue of the 

power of the Law. This phrase is found in a passage 

from Nagarjuna’s Treatise on the Great Perfection 

of Wisdom, which mentions “a great physician who 

can change poison into medicine”. In this passage, 

Nagarjuna compares the Lotus Sutra to a “great 

physician” because the sutra opens the possibility of 

attaining Buddhahood to persons of the two vehicles 

– voice-hearers and cause-awakened ones – who in 

other teachings were condemned as having scorched 

the seeds of Buddhahood. The Great Teacher T’ient’ai 

says in Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: 

“That persons of the two vehicles were given the 

prophecy of their enlightenment in this [Lotus] sutra 

means that it can change poison into medicine.” 

This phrase is often cited to show that any problem 

or suffering can be transformed eventually into the 

greatest happiness and fulfilment in life. 

4. This is mentioned in the “Teacher of the Law” (10th) 

chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The passage reads: 

“These people have already offered alms to a 

hundred thousand million Buddhas and in the place 

of the Buddhas have fulfilled their great vow, and 

because they take pity on living beings they have 

been born in this human world.” (LSOC10, p. 200 

[LS10, p. 161]) 

5. Miao-lo’s Annotations on “The Words and Phrases of 

the Lotus Sutra”. 

6. The longer quote reads: “It is like the case of a 

person who falls to the ground, but who then pushes 

himself up from the ground and rises to his feet 

again. Thus, even though one may slander the correct 

teaching, one will eventually be saved [by it] from the 

evil paths.” (cf. WND-1, p. 632) 

7. Poison-drum relationship: A reverse relationship, or a 

relationship formed through rejection. A bond formed 

with the Lotus Sutra by opposing or slandering it. One 

who opposes the Lotus Sutra when it is preached will 

still form a relationship with it by virtue of opposition, 

and will thereby attain Buddhahood eventually. A 

“poison drum” is a mythical drum daubed with 

poison; this is a reference to a statement in the 

Nirvana Sutra that once the poison drum is beaten, 

all those who hear it will die, even if they are not of 

the mind to listen to it. Similarly, when the correct 

teaching is preached, both those who embrace it and 

those who oppose it will equally receive the seeds of 

Buddhahood, and even those who oppose it will attain 

Buddhahood eventually. In this analogy, the “death” 

that results from hearing the correct teaching is the 

death of illusion or earthly desires. This metaphor 

is used to illustrate the benefit of even a reverse 

relationship with Buddhism. 

8. Lessening karmic retribution: This term, which 

literally means, “transforming the heavy and receiving 

it lightly”, appears in the Nirvana Sutra. “Heavy” 

indicates negative karma accumulated over countless 

lifetimes in the past. As a benefit of protecting the 

correct teaching of Buddhism, we can experience 

relatively light karmic retribution in this lifetime, 

thereby expiating heavy karma that ordinarily would 

adversely affect us not only in this lifetime, but over 

many lifetimes to come. 

9. Fixed karma: Also, immutable karma. The opposite 

of unfixed karma. Karma that inevitably produces 

a fixed or set result, whether negative or positive. 

Fixed karma may also be interpreted as karma whose 

effects are destined to appear at a fixed time. It was 

held that one’s life span was fixed as retribution for 

karma. 

10. The Daishonin says this because the work of a warrior 

involves killing. 

11. Heavenly devil: Also, devil king of the sixth heaven. 

The king of devils, who dwells in the highest or the 

sixth heaven of the world of desire. He is also named 

Freely Enjoying Things Conjured by Others, the king 

who makes free use of the fruits of others’ efforts for 

his own pleasure. Served by innumerable minions, he 

obstructs Buddhist practice and delights in sapping 

the life force of other beings. The devil king is a 

personification of the negative tendency to force 

others to one’s will at any cost. 

12. The word for “evil spirits” in the original Japanese 

passage is gedo, which literally means “out of 

the way” and usually indicates heretics and non- 

Buddhists. Here, the word means something or 

someone that brings about disasters. Hence the 

expression “evil spirits.” 

29


13. Three obstacles and four devils: Various obstacles 

and hindrances to the practice of Buddhism. The 

three obstacles are (1) the obstacle of earthly 

desires, (2) the obstacle of karma, and (3) the 

obstacle of retribution. The four devils are (1) the 

hindrance of the earthly desires, (2) the hindrance of 

the five components, (3) the hindrance of death, and 

(4) the hindrance of the devil king. 

14. Atsuhara Persecution: A series of threats and acts 

of violence against followers of Nichiren Daishonin in 

Atsuhara Village, in Fuji District of Suruga Province, 

starting around in 1275 and continuing until around 

1283. In 1279, 20 farmers, all believers, were 

arrested on false charges. They were interrogated 

by Hei no Saemon, the deputy chief of the Office 

of Military and Police Affairs, who demanded that 

they renounce their faith. However, not one of them 

yielded. Hei no Saemon eventually had three of them 

executed. Nanjo Tokimitsu used his influence to 

protect other believers during this time, sheltering 

some in his home. The Daishonin honoured him for 

his courage and tireless efforts by calling him “Ueno 

the Worthy”. 

15. Translated from Japanese. Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, 

Makiguchi Tsunesaburo Shingenshu (Selected Quotes 

of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi), edited by Takehisa Tsuji 

(Tokyo: Daisanbunmei- sha, 1979), pp. 196-97. 

16. The Daishonin writes: “Since death is the same in 

either case, you should be willing to offer your life for 

the Lotus Sutra.” (WND-1, p. 1003) 

17. The Daishonin writes to Sairen-bo: “You speak of 

your desire to retire to the mountains… But if you 

should for a time retire to a dwelling in the mountain 

valleys, once your illness is mended and conditions 

are favourable again, you should set aside thoughts 

of personal well-being and devote yourself to the 

propagation of the teachings.” (WND-2, p. 460) 

18. Heads broken into seven pieces: This is punishment 

befalling those who slander the votary of the Lotus 

Sutra. In the “Dharani” (26th) chapter of the Lotus 

Sutra, the ten demon daughters, in vowing to protect 

those who uphold the Lotus Sutra, state: “If there 

are those who fail to heed our spells / and trouble 

and disrupt the preachers of the Law, / their heads 

will split into seven pieces / like the branches of the 

arjaka tree.” (LSOC26, p. 351 [LS26, p. 310]) 

19. Mother of Demon Children: A demoness said to have 

been a daughter of a yaksha demoness in Rajagriha. 

She is said to have fed the babies of others to her 

own children. In the “Dharani” (26th) chapter of the 

Lotus Sutra, however, she pledges before the Buddha 

to safeguard the votaries of the Lotus Sutra. 

20. Ten demon daughters: The ten female protective 

deities who appear in the “Dharani” (26th) chapter 

of the Lotus Sutra as the “daughters of rakshasa 

demons” or the “ten rakshasa daughters”. They 

vow to the Buddha to guard and protect the sutra’s 

votaries, saying that they will inflict punishment on 

any who trouble these votaries. 

21. The Daishonin writes: “Your visit… was a great 

comfort to me. The illness that had made me so thin 

seemed to go away and I felt fit enough to go tiger 

hunting. And thanks to your gift of wakame [edible 

seaweed], I think I could even ride a lion.” (WND-2, 

p. 991) 

22. Translated from German. C. Hilty, Neue Briefe (New 

Letters) (Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, 

1906), p. 49. 

30

SECTION D • STUDY MATERIAL • SGI-UK grade one study course 2012 

SECTION D: THE HISTORY OF SGI 

Material for Question D1: 

The priesthood issue 

Introduction – The struggle against delusion 

What would cause the relatively small Nichiren Shoshu 

clergy of a few thousand priests to call for the dissolution 

of the Soka Gakkai International lay organisation of more 

than ten million members? Why would a clergy with a 

negligible presence outside Japan cut itself off from a 

laity that is growing in more than 190 countries? 

One answer might be the influence of what sociology 

calls ‘institutionalisation’. It means that once a 

bureaucracy of ritual and formality is created – in this 

case, around Nichiren Buddhism – ‘There is the possibility 

of substantial deviation in values,’ according to sociologist 

B Guy Peters. 

When a bureaucratic infrastructure grows up around 

a religion, powerful forces within human nature come 

into play that can work against the original intent of the 

founder’s teaching. Ultimately, the power, prosperity and 

survival of the infrastructure can take priority over the 

very teaching it was supposed to protect and propagate. 

This can lead to adapting or distorting the teachings 

to support the continued existence of the religious 

bureaucracy and those in authority. But there is a deeper 

view of the priesthood’s opposition to the SGI found in 

Buddhist scripture. 

The Lotus Sutra tells us that those propagating 

its revolutionary teachings will encounter opposition 

because, ‘This Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe 

and the most difficult to understand’. (The Lotus Sutra, 

trans. Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993) 

p. 164) One reason for this difficulty is its revelation that 

all people without exception are fundamentally worthy 

of respect because they possess the Buddha nature. 

Another reason is that it provides the foundation for a 

people-centred religion, something unprecedented in 

history. The history of the Soka Gakkai International 

attests to the validity of encountering opposition as the 

foremost proponent of the sutra’s principles embodied in 

Nichiren Buddhism. 

When the Soka Gakkai was founded in 1930 by 

first and second presidents Tsunesaburo Makiguchi 

and Josei Toda, they embraced the lineage of the Fuji 

school founded by Nichiren Daishonin’s successor, 

Nikko, and represented by Nichiren Shoshu, a small and 

impoverished school of Nichiren Buddhism. For the next 

sixty years, the progressive lay movement of the Soka 

Gakkai struggled to maintain a harmonious relationship 

with the priesthood. From the beginning, it was clear that 

the two had conflicting priorities. The priests of Nichiren 

Shoshu, with a nearly 700-year history, were focused on 

maintaining their order. The Soka Gakkai, inspired by its 

founders, was focused on Nichiren Daishonin’s mandate 

to accomplish kosen-rufu, the widespread propagation of 

his teachings. 

It was President Makiguchi who first proposed the 

creation of a format for reciting the Lotus Sutra as part 

of the daily practice of lay believers. The appearance 

of a proactive laity that embraced the mission to 

accomplish kosen-rufu was a huge departure from the 

approach of previous followers of the Nichiren Shoshu 

priesthood. 

By the 1970s and 1980s, Nichiren Shoshu had 

become very wealthy through the support of the Soka 

Gakkai lay believers. Eventually, it became clear to the 

priesthood that the self-empowering practice of Nichiren 

Buddhism precluded the laity and its resources ever 

being controlled by priests, and they made a desperate 

attempt to seize control. 

In November 1991, the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood, 

under the leadership of its high priest, Nikken Abe, 

excommunicated all of the more than ten million SGI 

members. Their hope was to pull a large percentage of 

Soka Gakkai members into their temples. That didn’t 

happen. 

On one level, the crux of the conflict was the clergy’s 

insistence that priests are necessary intermediaries 

between lay believers and the power and teachings of 

Nichiren Buddhism. Emphasising ritual and formality 

not found in Nichiren Daishonin’s teachings, the priests 

sought to make veneration and obedience to themselves 

and their high priest in particular the most important 

aspect of a practitioner’s faith. 

They stressed, for example, that funeral services must be 

officiated by priests in order for the deceased to become 

enlightened, and they demanded increasing donations 

from ordinary believers for those simple services. They 

upheld the view that, without venerating the high priest, 

practitioners could not attain enlightenment. 

Nichiren Daishonin clearly denounced such views in 

his writings, emphasising the empowerment of ordinary 

believers to attain enlightenment. ‘Never seek this 

Gohonzon [Buddhahood] outside yourself,’ Nichiren 

instructs a lay believer. ‘The Gohonzon exists only within 

the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the 

Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.’ (WND-1, 

p. 832) 

The priesthood claimed that faith was infused with 

power and validated only through the authority of the high 

31


priest. The SGI stressed a faith based on the inherent 

power of the individual. This is the difference between 

dependency and self-reliance, between deference and 

empowerment. 

All people are equally endowed with the power 

of the Law 

On another level, this issue originates in the spiritual 

struggle between opposing forces within the human heart. 

SGI President Daisaku Ikeda states: ‘Chanting in terms 

of faith refers to the spiritual aspect of our practice. 

This essentially consists of the struggle we wage in our 

hearts against our inner delusion or darkness – a battle 

against the negative and destructive forces within us. It 

means that through the power of faith – in other words, 

through strengthening our conviction that we possess 

the Buddha nature – we can break through the darkness 

obscuring this awareness, thus revealing the life state of 

Buddhahood.’ (Living Buddhism, September 2006, p. 79) 

‘Correct faith is grounded in the realisation that 

“Shakyamuni Buddha who attained enlightenment 

countless kalpas ago, the Lotus Sutra that leads all 

people to Buddhahood, and we ordinary human beings are 

in no way different or separate from one another.” (WND-1, 

p. 216) This is a crucial point concerning the substance 

of faith in the Mystic Law. In this writing, Nichiren 

Daishonin states that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with 

this belief is “a matter of the utmost importance” for 

his disciples. (WND-1, p. 216) The core message of this 

statement is to believe that our present self is an entity 

of Myoho-renge-kyo and that we can attain Buddhahood in 

our present form in this lifetime.’ (Living Buddhism, May- 

June 2008, p. 46) All people are equally endowed with the 

power of the Law – clergy and laity alike. 

From the early days of the Soka Gakkai, under founding 

president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and second president 

Josei Toda, the priesthood benefited enormously in 

material gain and prestige. 

In spite of those gains, as the laity grew into a 

worldwide force of millions of believers, the priesthood 

continued to demonstrate authoritarianism. 

Whenever Soka Gakkai members challenged these 

attitudes and irresponsible behaviour by priests, calling 

for reform, the priesthood only became more adamant in 

enforcing the subordination of Soka Gakkai members. The 

more the Soka Gakkai grew, the more authoritarian the 

priesthood became. 

Finally, in 1990, after having amassed a huge financial 

foundation from the donations of Soka Gakkai members, 

Nikken formulated a plan called ‘Operation C’ designed 

to ‘Cut’ the Soka Gakkai members off from their mentor, 

President Ikeda, and disband the organisation. 

He implemented that plan by taking a series of 

unilateral actions against President Ikeda and the Soka 

Gakkai. Ultimately, Operation C sprang from Nikken’s 

incorrect understanding and distortion of Nichiren 

Daishonin’s teachings. 

The priesthood excommunicated the entire 

organisation in 1991, under the assumption that 

members would then be compelled to leave the SGI 

and become directly affiliated with a local temple if they 

wished to receive Gohonzon. 

The opposite occurred: The vast majority of members 

continued to practise within the SGI, under the 

leadership of President Ikeda. In short, the priesthood 

excommunicated itself from the body of practitioners 

sincerely devoted to achieving kosen-rufu. 

In the decades since, President Ikeda has led the 

propagation of Nichiren Buddhism into 192 countries and 

territories; more than twelve million SGI members chant 

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in places as diverse as the United 

States, Brazil, Denmark, Russia, India and South Africa. 

One of the reasons the SGI is so diverse is that it 

refuses to tolerate structures that value one human being 

more than others. These can be institutional structures 

like the priesthood over the laity, or they can be racist 

structures. Separation from the priesthood was a valuable 

process for sensitising SGI members to issues of 

structural injustice and institutional inequality. 

(Extracts from Spiritual Independence: An Introduction to Soka Spirit, 

SGI-USA, 2008.) 

32



The three presidents 

SGI is the organisation that has inherited Nichiren 

Daishonin’s spirit and has been earnestly taking action for 

the sake of the Law based on a deep sense of mission to 

achieve worldwide kosen‑rufu. The three presidents (first 

president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, second president Josei 

Toda and third president Daisaku Ikeda) have established 

this sense of mission and taken action to achieve it. In this 

section we will learn the history of SGI through studying 

the three presidents and the spirit of the oneness of 

mentor and disciple. 

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi 

The Soka Gakkai originated in the spirit of oneness of 

mentor and disciple between Mr Makiguchi and Mr Toda. 

Both men were educators. Tsunesaburo Makiguchi was 

born on 6 June 1871, in Niigata Prefecture. His childhood 

was not easy and he started working at an early age 

but didn’t give up studying. Despite his hardships, he 

attended teacher training college in Sapporo, Hokkaido 

and became a teacher. He spent a few years as a teacher 

in Hokkaido and then moved to Tokyo. 

Mr Makiguchi published his first book The Geography 

of Human Life in 1903 and later became head teacher of 

several primary schools in Tokyo. He made great efforts 

to establish a teaching method that would enable children 

to become independent individuals, happy with their 

own efforts. He developed a unique teaching method 

but continued to search for a spiritual philosophy to 

underpin it. He eventually encountered Nichiren Buddhism 

and started practising in 1928. He later described this 

experience, saying that in starting to practise, “With 

indescribable joy, I transformed the way I had lived my 

life for almost sixty years.” (SGI Newsletter 3354, 19 

September 1997) Mr Makiguchi took Nichiren Daishonin’s 

teaching as a “way of life” and he believed that Nichiren 

Daishonin’s Buddhism had the power to create value in 

society. Explaining why he took faith, he said, “I could find 

no contradiction between science, philosophy, which is the 

base of our modern society, and the teaching of the Lotus 

Sutra.” (Daibyaku Renge, October 2010) 

Mr Makiguchi published the first volume of Soka 

Kyoikugaku Taikei (The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy) 

on 18 November 1930. It was published by the Soka 

Kyoiku Gakkai (Value Creation Education Society), the 

forerunner of the Soka Gakkai. This, therefore marks the 

founding of the Soka Gakkai by Mr Makiguchi and Josei 

Toda. In other words, the spirit of oneness of mentor and 

disciple was the founding spirit of Soka Gakkai. 

The word soka means ‘value creation’ in Japanese. 

It expresses the essence of Mr Makiguchi’s ideology. 

He believed that the purpose of life is the pursuit of 

happiness and that this creates value. The term soka was 

also created through dialogue between Mr Makiguchi and 

Mr Toda. 

Soka Kyoiku Gakkai began as a group of teachers who 

followed Nichiren Buddhism, but it grew steadily and as 

non-educators also started to join, it naturally became a 

group focused primarily on Buddhism. Soka Kyoiku Gakkai 

was a unique Buddhist group from the beginning. It was 

not just following the formality of traditional Buddhist 

practice, but was seeking to change the daily lives of each 

member and transform society though establishing the 

happiness of individuals. Furthermore, it believed that 

Nichiren Buddhism could contribute to world peace and 

enable human society to flourish. 

The organisation grew through many discussion 

meetings and the efforts of its members to reach out 

to others and introduce them to Buddhism. At its peak, 

membership stood at 3000, before the Second World War. 

However, the military government tightened its control 

on religion and ideology. It promoted the display of the 

national Shinto religion’s talisman for Buddhist orders. In 

June 1943, unable to resist pressure from the authorities, 

the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood asked that Soka Kyoiku 

Gakkai members display the Shinto talisman, as the 

government had ordered. Mr Makiguchi refused to do 

so, on religious grounds. The government had started to 

monitor the discussion meetings and activities of Soka 

Kyoiku Gakkai, and as a consequence of his refusal, Mr 

Makiguchi was arrested during a Buddhist activity in July. 

Until the end, Mr Makiguchi made no compromises. He 

died on 18 November 1944 in Tokyo’s Sugamo prison. He 

was 73 years old. 

Josei Toda 

Josei Toda was born on 11 February 1900, in Ishikawa 

Prefecture. His family moved to Hokkaido when he was 2 

years old. He started to work at an early age but did not 

give up his studies. He passed the teaching test without a 

formal education and qualified as a primary school teacher. 

Mr Toda moved to Tokyo when he was 19 years old and 

met Mr Makiguchi, when the latter was 48 years old. Mr 

Toda decided to take Mr Makiguchi as his mentor, and 

continued to support him in various ways throughout Mr 

Makiguchi’s life. He started practising Nichiren Buddhism 

in 1928 together with Mr Makiguchi. 

As well as being a teacher, Mr Toda was a successful 

businessman and had become famous as the writer of 

Suirishiki-Shido-Sanjutsu (A Deductive Guide to Arithmetic), 

which was one of the most popular maths textbooks in 

Japan before the Second World War. 

He supported Mr Makiguchi in publishing Soka 

Kyoikugaku Taikei (The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy) 

– not only by financing it but also by gathering Mr 

Makiguchi’s notes and editing them. This book was created 

from the mentor and disciple relationship between Mr 

33


Makiguchi and Mr Toda. Mr Toda’s name was given as the 

publisher and the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai was given as the 

publishing office. It was published on 18 November 1930, 

and this is the origin of the SGI movement. 

Mr Toda’s mentor, Mr Makiguchi, was arrested on 6 July 

1943 because he refused to follow the religious policy of 

the Japanese military government. Mr Toda was arrested 

at his own house on the same day. Twenty-one people 

were arrested in total. They were treated severely, and it 

was only Mr Makiguchi and Mr Toda who did not give up 

their faith. 

Mr Toda continued chanting in prison and he started to 

exert himself to chant ten thousand daimoku every day 

and read the Lotus Sutra in 1944. Through these efforts 

he had the realisation: “Buddha is life itself.” 

He continued chanting and realised that he was none 

other than one of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth who 

attended the Ceremony in the Air, which is described in 

the Lotus Sutra. This was in November 1944. He was 

firmly convinced of his mission to carry out kosen-rufu 

through these realisations, and this is the root of the 

great development of Soka Gakkai after the war. 

On 3 July 1945, after two years of prison life, Mr 

Toda was released from prison. He started to build the 

kosen-rufu movement from that day on his own. The 

organisation and his life had been totally destroyed 

by the authorities, but his determination was firm and 

unshakeable. He changed the name of the organisation 

from “Soka Kyoiku Gakkai” to “Soka Gakkai” and started 

activities immediately. 

Mr Toda realised many great achievements in the 

years from his release from prison to his death in 1958. 

Examples of his major achievements are: 

July 1949: Daibyakurenge (monthly Buddhist magazine) 

launched. 

20 April: Seikyo Shimbun (Buddhist newspaper) 

launched with the first instalment of Mr Toda’s novel The 

Human Revolution within it. 

3 May 1951: Inaugurated as second president of Soka 

Gakkai. 

April 1952: Soka Gakkai published Gosho Zenshu (The 

major writings of Nichiren Daishonin) 

September 1952: Soka Gakkai was registered as an 

official religious organisation. 

8 September 1957: Mr Toda’s Declaration for the 

Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. 

December 1957: Soka Gakkai achieved a membership 

of 750,000 households. 

March 1958: Soka Gakkai donated the Great Lecture 

Hall (Daikodo) to Taisekiji temple. 

Mr Toda held a ceremony on 16 March 1958 in order to 

transmit the responsibility for the kosen-rufu movement 

to his young disciple Daisaku Ikeda, together with 6,000 

youth division members. 16 March is now celebrated as 

Kosen-rufu Day. Mr Toda passed away on 2 April 1958. He 

fulfilled his mission and established the firm foundation of 

the kosen-rufu movement. 

Daisaku Ikeda 

Daisaku Ikeda was born on 2 January 1928, in Tokyo. The 

Second World War started when he was thirteen years 

old and his four elder brothers were all drafted and sent 

to the front line. Young Daisaku Ikeda worked hard to 

support his family, while suffering from tuberculosis. It 

was a terminal illness at that time so he thought deeply 

about life and death. He and his family lost their house 

in an air raid and they also suffered the eldest brother’s 

death. Through his own experience in his youth, Daisaku 

Ikeda came to the view that war is evil. 

Seeking a profound philosophy, on 14 August 1947 

Daisaku Ikeda attended a Soka Gakkai discussion 

meeting and encountered his lifetime mentor, Josei 

Toda. On this day Mr Toda was giving a lecture on “On 

Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the 

Land”. After the lecture Daisaku Ikeda asked him a 

number of questions, including, “What is the correct way 

of life?”, “What is a true patriot?” “What is Nam-myohorenge-kyo?” 

He asked many questions, and Mr Toda 

answered them all clearly and with great conviction. Young 

Daisaku Ikeda was deeply inspired by him and he felt that 

he could trust Mr Toda. 

Ten days later, on 24 August, he joined the Soka Gakkai. 

He was nineteen years old and Mr Toda was forty years 

old. He started working for Mr Toda’s publishing company 

as a boys’ magazine editor. 

His achievements and events as a youth division leader 

include: 

Osaka campaign: He lead a propagation campaign in 

Osaka and the Osaka chapter achieved 11,111 new 

member households in one month under his leadership. 

Yubari coal miners’ union incident: the Yubari coal 

miners’ union violated Soka Gakkai members’ right to 

freedom of religion, removing Gakkai members from the 

union because of their membership of the Soka Gakkai. 

In June 1957, Daisaku Ikeda visited Yubari and rebuked 

the union’s violation, protecting members from this 

persecution. 

Osaka Incident: He was arrested by the Osaka Police 

under suspicion of violating election laws but it was 

a rootless accusation. He led an election campaign 

in Osaka and achieved a miraculous victory. The 

establishment was shocked by this victory and they 

tried to threaten the Soka Gakkai by arresting him. A 

court judgment proved his innocence in 1962. 

Daisaku Ikeda was inaugurated as the third president 

of the Soka Gakkai on 3 May 1960. In same year on 

2 October, he took the first step towards worldwide 

34


kosen-rufu. He visited the North and South American 

continents. In the following year, 1961, he visited Hong 

Kong, India and other Asian countries in January. On 

5 October 1961, he arrived in Europe for the first time, 

beginning his visit in Denmark. He visited the UK on 

13 October on this trip. 

Examples of his major achievements are: 

He began writing the historical novel The Human 

Revolution (12 volumes) in 1965. He continued the 

novel as The New Human Revolution publishing 23 

volumes so far. 

He developed the Education Division, Academic Division, 

Arts Division, Writers Division, International Division and 

the Medical Science Division. 

He established the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Min- 

On and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. 

He established the Komei Party in 1964. 

He established the Soka education system from primary 

education through to university level. 

He announced the “Japan-China national relations 

normalisation proposal” in 1968. 

He started to have dialogues with world academics 

and leaders in the seventies. The first dialogue was 

with Dr Toynbee in 1972. Since then he has held many 

historical dialogues with leaders in various fields. 

Soka Gakkai International was founded on 26 January 

1975 and Daisaku Ikeda was inaugurated as SGI 

President. 

The SGI worldwide network has expanded into 192 

countries and territories. President Ikeda has published 

a “Peace Proposal” on 26 January every year since 

1983, gaining considerable attention from various 

academic institutes and world leaders. The SGI 

movement is gaining trust and recognition from many 

organisations under his leadership and is growing from 

strength to strength as a great movement of the people 

for happiness and world peace. 


Extracts from SGI President Ikeda in 

Europe, Volume 1 

Rissho Ankoku 30 

… Shin’ichi Yamamoto spent most of the month of 

September 1961 in Tokyo, except for a visit to the head 

temple on the 15th, followed by a trip to the Kansai 

Region to encourage Osaka members affected by Typhoon 

No. 18 (also known as the second Muroto Typhoon). 

He needed the time to prepare for a twenty-day visit to 

Europe, with his scheduled departure date on 4 October. 

His main destinations were Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, 

West Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Madrid, Zurich, 

Vienna and Rome. The main purposes of the trip were to 

offer guidance to local members, purchase construction 

materials and fixtures for the Grand Reception Hall, and 

observe the state of religion in Europe. 

It was the people of Germany Shin’ichi was most 

concerned for at this time. In the predawn hours of 

13 August 1961, the communist government of East 

Germany had built a more than forty-kilometre, barbed-wire 

wall along the border between East and West Berlin. Ever 

since the partition of the German state, the city of Berlin 

had existed as a forlorn and sundered atoll in the vast sea 

of the East German state. For it, too, had been divided into 

East and West. Yet despite this, until the wall appeared, 

people had been free to pass between the two sides. 

An endless stream of refugees fleeing from communist 

East Germany to the West via West Berlin, however, had 

prompted the East German government to physically divide 

the city with a wall, thereby sealing off all access to the 

West. Most of the roads linking East and West Berlin were 

closed off with tanks and armoured cars. Checkpoints 

were set up at those roads that remained open, and free 

passage between the two sides was no longer permitted. 

The underground trains, too, now ran only to the boarder. 

From 13 August onwards, the barbed-wire wall grew 

longer and more fortified day by day until finally a cruel 

and unyielding barrier of concrete and brick was in firmly 

place. The sudden closing of passage between East and 

West Berlin split families, relatives and lovers. It was 

small-scale model of the Cold War itself, in which people 

were oppressed and cast asunder by opposing ideologies. 

With his visit to Europe imminent, Shin’ichi vowed that 

now was the time for a humanistic philosophy that would 

foster bonds among people to spread widely and take 

root in the human heart. He would blaze way to secure 

peace in the world by establishing the right principles of 

Buddhism – the way of rissho ankoku. 

Shin’ichi was about to take flight into the clear blue 

skies of the twenty-first century on a monumental journey 

for peace. 

35


Great Light 1 

The ageless sun rises anew, calmly sending forth its 

golden rays. 

As an organisation committed to the great Law of 

Buddhism, the Soka Gakkai is the sun for the entire world. 

The sun’s primordial brilliance dispels the darkness 

of mistrust and hatred, casting the bright light of peace 

upon the earth. Even into the darkest valleys of misery 

and despair, it sheds the light of hope, transforming the 

human realm that surges with suffering into a beautiful 

flower garden of joy. Nothing can stop the progress of the 

sun, which advances majestically on its own orbit, high 

above the black clouds of envy and jealousy. 

From the window of the Europe-bound plane, Shin’ichi 

Yamamoto watched as the sun began to make its ascent 

into the sky. 

Five hours earlier, at 10:30 in the evening of 4 October, 

1961, Shin’ichi and his party had left Tokyo’s Haneda 

Airport. Now their plane was on its way to Anchorage, 

Alaska, where it would stop briefly for refuelling. 

As the brilliant red sun made its appearance, the sea 

of clouds that spread out far below was dyed a soft 

pink while the sky began to turn violet. As the sun rose 

higher, the entire sky looked like molten gold, solemn and 

majestic. From this great source, countless brilliant shafts 

of light ran in all directions. The sky became bluer by the 

second and the clouds, like pure white puffs of cotton, 

began to glimmer brightly in the sunshine. 

As he took in this scene, Shin’ichi thought: “One sun 

illuminates the entire world. It is the same in the realm 

of kosen-rufu. A resolute stand by just one person can 

protect all others and break through the darkness of 

society, heralding a new dawn of justice. What matters 

is the presence of one earnest person, of one fervently 

committed individual. 

“Moreover, there is a sun in everyone’s heart. Those who 

embrace the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin become suns 

that illuminate the way to happiness for their family and 

friends. The success of my visit to Europe hinges on how 

many sun-like people I can find and nurture.” 

The plane landed in Anchorage for refueling at 

10:00 am local time and, after an hour, took off for 

Copenhagen, Denmark, the first destination on the group’s 

itinerary. As they flew close to the North Pole, darkness 

had fallen outside the plane window. A shimmering moon 

illuminated the night sky with its beautiful brilliance. 

Shin’ichi put his thoughts and feelings into a poem: 

At the North Pole, 

The Great Heavenly Moon 

Shines brightly, 

Yearning for kosen-rufu 

On the distant Earth. 

36

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