SGI exhibition at SOAS - SGI-UK E-Bulletin and Podcast

BUILDING PEACE
GANDHI KING IKEDA
PEACE BUILDERS’ EXHIBITION
Created by Morehouse College, USA. Alma Mater of Martin Luther King Jr.
2 2 4
Lancaster
University
peace event
Monday
October 11th
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Anglican Chapel
PROGRAMME OF COMMUNITY EVENTS
Lecture
‘Daisaku Ikeda and our shared
humanity’
by Peter Morris, SGI UK
10 - 24 October 2010
9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Chaplaincy Centre at
Lancaster University
Sponsors:
Richardson Institute and SGI UK
Welcoming
Swedish
Friday
October 22nd
7:00 - 9:00 pm
visitors
Anglican Chapel
Drumming workshop
‘Drums of Peace’
by Annmarie Ryan, Tribal
Spirit Drumming
Absolute Beginners, Absolutely
Welcome. Drums provided
Inspiration
for European
Youth
Trust through friendship. Peace through trust.
3 3 4
Central
London
Trets course
Thursday
Faith Share Evening
Saturday
Painting family workshop
October 14th
‘Working for Peace Through my October 23rd
‘Painting a world of peace’
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Faith’
2:30 - 5:30 pm
by Steve Asbury, SGI UK
Anglican Chapel
by Faith in Lancaster
Quiet Room
e-bulletin
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Lecture
Anglican Chapel
‘Martin Luther King junior,
Saturday
Peace Cabaret
his life’
October 16th
with Lakeland Fiddlers, Yo Yo
by Francis Rachier, SGI UK
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Blue, SGI UK North Area Choir,
Anglican Chapel
Jazz, readings and guests Trust Through Friendship - Peace Through Trust
Sunday
‘Food for Thought’
October 24th
by Amalendu Misra, Richard-
3:00 - 6:00 pm
son Institute,
Catholic Chapel
Lancaster University
Monday
Lectures
October 18th
‘Gandhi’ by Chris Robson
7:00 - 9:00 pm
‘Gandhi in Lancashire’ by SGI UK Chaplaincy Cafe
Celebration Feast
Anglican Chapel
members
Chaplaincy Cafe
SGI-UK online news bulletin Issue No 33 6.10.2010
SGI exhibition at SOAS
The SGI anti-nuclear weapons exhibition, From a Culture
of Violence to a Culture of Peace: Transforming the
Human Spirit, is to be hosted by SOAS, the School of
Oriental and African Studies, in the Brunei Gallery Suite,
The Brunei Building (see flyer on right for details).
The exhibition complements the 5th London Conference on
a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone, hosted
on October 25 by SOAS’s Centre for International Studies &
Diplomacy, and is timed to boost efforts to secure peace at a
critical time.
The SGI exhibition is being organised and actioned by
the Youth and Student Divisions, led by members of the new
SGI-UK Youth Peace Committee. The exhibition is focused on
working to abolish nuclear weapons through a combination of
international opinion and popular will.
In the lead-up to November 18 – the 80th anniversary of
the founding of the Soka Gakkai – the Youth Peace Committee
invites you to take the opportunity to challenge to bring your
friends along to see this important exhibition. It has been
shown in 200 cities worldwide and is part of SGI’s People’s
Decade initiative launched in 2007 to build a grassroots
movement to secure an (anti-) Nuclear Weapons Convention.
There is also the opportunity to act as a guide for the
exhibition; if anyone would like to volunteer for this, please
email mailformanny@gmail.com
Working alongside an international alliance of other
campaigners, including Pugwash Conferences & World Affairs,
the People’s Decade for Action for Nuclear Abolition aims to
secure a world free from the shadow of the bomb.
Student Pugwash and SGI-UK Youth Division are hosting a
Youth Forum and Student Debate on Nuclear Disarmament and
Abolition at SOAS (see flyer for details).
The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is
an international organisation that brings together scholars and
public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed
conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. It
was founded in 1957 by Joseph Rotblat, Bertrand Russell and
others in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada.
turn to page 2
B R I T I S H
PUGWASH
G R O U P
Gloucestershire
Peace
Week
Monday 25th October
10am-5pm and
6.30pm-8.30pm
Tuesday 26th October
10am-8.30pm
Four faces of
Buddhism
in Cornwall
Download the
e-bulletin at
www.sgi-uk.info
Please send your
news and pictures to
our email address:
roystone55news@
yahoo.co.uk
The deadline for the
next issue is Sunday,
October 17
Brunei Gallery Suite,
Brunei Gallery Building,
SOAS University of London
(Russell Square tube)
Student Pugwash and SGI-UK
Youth are hosting a Youth Forum
and Student Debate on Nuclear
Disarmament and Abolition
7pm, Monday 25th October, SOAS.
For more info or to reserve
a place email:
soaspeacemeeting@gmail.com
Supporting the 5th London Conference on a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone
SOKA GAKKAI
INTERNATIONAL
UNITED KINGDOM
SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL
AND AFRICAN STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
WORDS OF THE WEEK
Now, as the golden autumn sets in, we celebrate the
80th anniversary of the Soka Gakkai’s founding. The
more we do, the more others can form a connection
to Buddhism. And the more we share this Buddhism
with others, the more benefit and good fortune we
can all accumulate. Strengthening our faith “more
than ever”, let’s courageously and joyfully achieve
even greater development and expansion!
– Daisaku Ikeda, October 4-10 2010

Pat Stone
SGI-UK online news bulletin Issue No 33 6.10.2010 Page 2
SGI exhibition at SOAS
from page 1
Lancaster University to host Gandhi-King-Ikeda event
SGI President Daisaku Ikeda issued a
peace proposal entitled Building Global
Solidarity Toward Nuclear Abolition on
September 8 last year – the anniversary of
the declaration against nuclear weapons
by second Soka Gakkai President Josei
Toda in 1957.
The SOAS exhibition is part of
SGI-UK’s efforts to respond to Sensei’s
proposal in which he said: “The real
enemy that we must confront is the ways
of thinking that justify nuclear weapons:
the readiness to annihilate others when
they are seen as a threat or a hindrance
to the realisation of our objectives.” And,
“Based on the proud determination to
make the struggle for nuclear abolition
the foundation for a world without war,
and convinced that participation in
this unprecedented undertaking is the
greatest gift we can offer the future, I
call on people of goodwill everywhere to
work together toward the realisation of
a world finally free from the menace of
nuclear weapons.”
SGI stall at Freshers Fayre
Camberwell and North Peckham
Chapter members helped with a
stall at the faith groups part of
Freshers Fayre at the Holborn site
of University of the Arts, London,
by request from the university, on
October 2. Students were able to
hear chanting, learn about the ten
worlds, and ask questions.
Festival singers at Taplow Court
As part of its autumn programme this
year, Windsor Arts Festival organised
a walking and singing tour of Taplow
village, including the local church
and Taplow Court, writes Toni-Ann
Hirayama. Quintessential Voices,
a five-man vocal group, sang in the
Norman Hall and the Desborough
Room, to an appreciative audience of
fifty or so festival-goers. The music had
been sensitively chosen to reflect the
history of the house, paying homage
in particular to the Grenfell sons and
Taeppa’s mound. It was a real joy
to hear the house resonating with
beautiful harmonies in celebration of
lives lived over the centuries in Taplow.
Gandhi, King, Ikeda: A Legacy of
Building Peace Exhibition will be
held at Lancaster University from
October 10-24.
The Richardson Institute, Lancaster
University’s Peace Studies Department, is
staging the exhibition in conjunction with
SGI-UK.
The opening ceremony will be held at
Lancaster University’s Chaplaincy Centre
on October 11.
The exhibition was created by
America’s Morehouse College, alma
mater of Martin Luther King Jr.
SGI-UK member Hazel Newman, aged
75, Treasurer and Lancaster Interfaith
UK districts welcome Swedish visitors
A warm welcome was given to visitors from Sweden at 20 district meetings in the
headquarters close to Taplow Court. The special guests were attending an SGI
Sweden leaders’ training course at Taplow Court from September 30-October 3.
Our pictures show meetings in Burnham North, Reading South, Reading West,
Langley and Colnbrook, Wycombe East, Maidenhead Riverside, High Wycombe
West, Reading North and Cox Green and White Waltham districts.
Pictures: Jo Farmer-Cope, Chloe Low Phaik Chuin, David Carpenter, Donald Smith, David Isaacs,
Jitender Narula, Caroline Gallup, Rathin Sawhney, Paul Bailey and Christopher Sayers
Kaori Ando
Liaison, said it was her daughter Rose
who first had the idea to bring the
exhibition to Lancashire. “She spoke
to me about it and we were both very
excited at the prospect of bringing a
renowned worldwide exhibition to
Lancaster,” said Hazel.
Daniela Sangiorgi, who on behalf
of SGI-UK has co-ordinated the event
with the university, said: “I am really
happy to have supported the Gandhi-
King-Ikeda exhibition, not only for what
these courageous yet compassionate
men represent, but also as it has become
such a big community event, connecting
different local organisations, faith groups
and schools in Lancashire and beyond.”
Dynamo dancers!
Members and guests of the
Dedicated Dynamo group who clean
SGI-UK’s centres gathered eagerly at
Taplow Court for our fourth training
seminar, writes Gina Langton. The
theme was Opening Our Hearts
Together with Sensei. Sachiyo
Wilson, Dynamo national leader, told
us she had written to tell Sensei
that a solid foundation of dedicated
members has been established.
Coordinators and team leaders
expressed the gratitude and joy they
felt as a result of committing to this
activity. We ended the day by dancing
the Zumba, a fitness exercise.

Chris Durkin
Christopher Sayers
SGI-UK online news bulletin Issue No 33 6.10.2010 Page 3
European Youth
Division course
12 SGI-UK Youth bounded joyfully
towards the European Youth Division
Trets course from August 18-23 to
meet participants from 24 different
countries and create profound and
wonderful friendships together,
writes Amanda Brend.
From the opening ceremony it was
clear Sensei’s heart was very much
with us. Mr Takahashi sent him a
message about the course and he replied
conveying his best wishes and asking the
European leaders to take the very best
care of us, and give us cakes, drinks and
ice cream at every opportunity!
We were also each given a copy of
President Ikeda In Europe vol 3 as a
Future Victory is Determined Now: Celebrating A life of Continual Improvement
Summer Courses
Thames Valley Men’s Summer Course
featured an awesome rendition of the
Monty Python classic Always Look
on the Bright Side of Life, led by Dai
Pritchard and Paul Fawcus, with the
words modified for Buddhist purposes,
writes Phil Becque. Exhalted and
uplifted by the entertainment, we
entered a World Cafe, where views
were expressed on diverse topics. We
left better informed, more enlightened
and greater men than when we arrived.
gift from Sensei. Men’s and Women’s
Division members gave experiences of
meeting Sensei in Europe and moving
video footage was shown of Sensei with
members.
It Starts With Me! It Starts From
Now! was the theme for South
& East Kent HQ’s first Women’s
Summer Course, attended by 58
women in Wingham village hall, Kent,
on September 12, writes Catherine
McTurk. Lively cafe style group
meetings were a good way to connect
with members. The children’s song
and collage added to the joyful
atmosphere. We left with beautiful,
hand-made gifts, happy hearts, and
a renewed determination to share
treasures of the heart with our
families, friends and communities.
Shirley Harold
This gave us a vibrant impression of
his great vision for Europe. We felt his
great trust in us young leaders of Europe
who will create the future together with
our mentor.
On September 25, 143 Buddhists –
including 40 new members – arrived
for the second Central London Trets
course, writes Clea Myers.
The sunny sky was constant azure
blue and all our lectures took place in
the Ikeda Hall, framed by the glorious
Saint Victoire mountain.
A wide range of experiences were
shared, including overcoming drug
addiction, poverty and breaking sales
records at Selfridges! Comments
included:
Naomi Cotter: “Very moving, especially
leaders giving lectures. Whatever they
say can be seen in their lives.”
Madhur Dhawan: “Awesome! Changing
karma comes naturally here.”
Li Li Long: “I am re-charging my vow!”
The men’s Summer Course season
thundered to a life-affirming
conclusion on the South East Area
course from September 18-19 at
the Village Hotel, Maidstone, Kent,
with the themes Treasures of the
Heart and Courage, writes Paul
Marchant. Under the skies of local
70-year remembrances of the Battle
of Britain, 50-plus good men and true
took up the sword of the Lotus Sutra,
decided to rewrite the scripts of
our own lives and won a resounding
victory together.
Paul Marchant

SGI-UK online news bulletin
News round-up
Issue No 33 6.10.2010 Page 4
SGI-UK members staged three events
during Gloucestershire’s Peace Week,
writes Lin Kear. Seven women artists
– Emily Jones, Yoko Moon, Charlotte
Cobbold, Plum Neasmith, Nok Lusty,
Sue Holpin and Jane Bushell – hosted
an exhibition of paintings, Celebrating
The Richness of Life. Visitors
remarked on the wonderful feeling in
the room. The public in Gloucester
were invited to take a break from
shopping to drop into the Peace
Picturedrome and have a cup of tea
while watching three films: Conflict
Recovery which shows the work of
the Mines Advisory Group who clear
landmines, extracts from Testimonies
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Women
Speak out for Peace and Our Shared
Humanity which shows SGI’s work for
peace. Over 80 people watched the
films and many more were involved in
dialogue. There was also an exhibition
created by Lin Kear which introduced
Daisaku Ikeda to the public and
gave details of his Peace Proposals.
A representative member from each
of SGI-UK’s four divisions spoke
from the heart of their experience of
practising Nichiren Buddhism at an
event organised by Three Rivers District
in Cornwall on September 23, writes
Tom Henderson Smith. This was the
third such event to be hosted by Truro
Cathedral in their chapter house and
was supported by members from all
over the county. 45 people attended
including about 20 guests. Pictured are
Colin Andrew (Young Men’s Division),
who spoke of overcoming a culture of
slander, Amanda Brend (Young Women’s
Division), who described her journey
towards self respect and confidence,
North West London HQ kicked off its
study meeting for the SGI-UK Study
Exams to be held in November by
visiting the Victoria & Albert Museum,
led by Sylvie Courtay, Jayne Gould and
Angela Bolger, writes Pratibha Sahgal.
It was an inspiring afternoon. The
idea was to visit Buddhist exhibits and
connect them to the study of Nichiren
Buddhism. Angela was an amazing guide
and took us through each exhibit giving
us such a knowledgeable commentary.
Women from York district organised
an SGI stall at Rowntree Park Peace
Festival on September 5. Lorna
Welsh, Eni Neo, Alison Jones and
Miriam Bianco talked to members of
the public about SGI and gave out
booklets, AoL magazines and
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo cards, which
quickly disappeared during the day.
Steve Kear
Tom Henderson Smith
Pratibha Sahgal
Children were taught how to make
origami cranes, a symbol of peace,
and Odile Rault sang an upbeat set of
songs. Shoppers danced in the street
and there were smiles all round.
Members of Tewkesbury Valley district
held an event entitled Buddhism – a
Path to Peace at Bishops Cleeve
Community Centre, with Jim Cowan
as guest speaker. Jim’s day started
with an interview on BBC Radio
Gloucestershire, answering questions
about Buddhism and chanting on air.
The afternoon event started with a
showing of Our Shared Humanity to an
audience of 40 people. Jim explained
core principles of Buddhism. A lively
question and answer session followed.
Discussion continued over tea and
cake and new friendships were made.
Dottie Lapham (Women’s Division), who
explained how her faith has supported
her through challenging work and
family events and John Mullin (Men’s
Division), who told of changing religious
conflict. Many searching questions
attested to the fact that guests had been
moved and inspired by what they heard
and contact details for every district in
Cornwall were readily available. Great
causes for growth had been made!
The event was attended by members
from Queens Park and Kilburn Chapter
as well as Brent East. Surrounded by
the spectacular architecture of the V&A
we were given a wonderful acount of
Nichiren’s life by Jayne.
World News
Aliso Viejo, USA: The Kaplan/
Newsweek College Guide ranked Soka
University of America in the nation’s top
25 in four categories, including 12th in
the Top 25 Most Diverse Schools and
24th in the Top 25 Most Desirable Small
Schools. The guide was released in
September and may be viewed here:
http://education.newsweek.
com/2010/09/12/the-25-most-desirablesmall-schools/soka-university-of-america.
html
Mar del Plata, Argentina: The SGI
exhibition Seeds of Change: the Earth
Charter and Human Potential was held
in Mar del Plata, from September 8 to 17.
From a Culture of Violence to a Culture
of Peace: Transforming the Human
Spirit was held in Puerto Madryn from
September 16 to 25.
New Delhi, India: The Indira Gandhi
National Centre for the Arts and Bharat
Soka Gakkai co-organised a seminar on
President Ikeda’s 2010 Peace Proposal on
September 8, with some 350 participants.
Tokyo, Japan: The exhibition The
Culture of Peace and Children, organised
by the Soka Gakkai’s Women’s Peace
Committee, opened in Minato Ward on
September 20.
Human Rights
A Buddhist magazine
October 2010
Price £3
Issue no. 112
October
Art of
Living:
Human
Rights
In the month in which we mark
United Nations Day, October 24, Art
of Living focuses on Human Rights.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “Where,
after all, do universal human rights
begin? In small places, close to home…
Unless these rights have meaning there,
they have little meaning anywhere.”*
AoL looks at how Buddhist practice
leads to changes “in small places close
to home” and how these influence the
bigger picture.
* Quoted from the biography of Eleanor Roosevelt
on the UDHR website:
www.udhr.org/history/Biographies/bioer.htm
Working party dates
An invitation is extended to all members
to help maintain the grounds at Taplow
Court. Daimoku starts at 10am. Evening
gongyo at 5pm. For daimoku venue
please ask at Seven Seas room in Ikeda
New Century Hall. The next dates are
October 9 and 23. Call the estate office
on 01628 591 219. The nature of the work
makes it unsafe for children. We look
forward to seeing you.