Restoring the Human Connection: The First Step to ... - SGI-USA

unexpected. Many wondered why Toda, as a Buddhist, was focusing hisconcern so strongly on the prohibition of nuclear weapons and why heshould consider this his most important message to the young people whowould bear the burden of the future. Many had not grasped the idea that areligious sense of purpose cannot be fulfilled in isolation but must becomplemented and completed by a larger social and human mission. This,however, is the profound essence of Buddhism as expressed by Nichiren(1222–82) in his treatise “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for thePeace of the Land.”Today, when humanity’s survival continues to be threatened by nuclearweapons, one can feel as a palpable reality the significance, farsightednessand gravity of Toda’s decision to speak out at that time.In the years since this declaration was made, the SGI has developed aprogram of grassroots activities to embody and implement its spirit. In1974, for example, the youth membership of the Soka Gakkai in Japancollected ten million signatures calling for nuclear abolition, which Ipresented to the United Nations at its headquarters in New York thefollowing year.In 1982, the Soka Gakkai cosponsored, with the cities of Hiroshima andNagasaki and the United Nations Department of Public Information, theexhibition “Nuclear Arms: Threat to Our World” which opened at UNHeadquarters. In 1996, an updated version of this exhibition, “NuclearArms: Threat to Humanity,” was launched. Between them, theseexhibitions have been shown in thirty-nine cities in twenty-four countries,including communist countries such as the Soviet Union and China, andbeen visited by more than 1.7 million people.In addition to seeking to make people aware of the horror and cruelty ofnuclear weapons through these exhibitions, we have organized and3