Part 2: Human Revolution
Chapter 15: “Faith for Overcoming Obstacles” [15.5]
15.5 Never Stop Practicing!
In a message to the young women’s division SGI Ikeda Kayo-kai, President Ikeda stressed three points: (1) Illuminate these troubled times with the bright sun of the Kayo-kai; (2) Strive in your own way to open new creative paths to a culture of peace; and (3) With an invincible smile, never stop practicing Buddhism as long as you live. In discussing the third point, he explained that unwavering resolve is the essence of “faith for overcoming obstacles.”
I would like to say to you: With an invincible smile, never stop practicing Buddhism as long as you live!
In 1979, when the Soka Gakkai was in the midst of a harsh spate of persecutions, my wife, Kaneko, continued to strive in activities for kosen-rufu with an imperturbable smile. At one discussion meeting during that time, a member asked her to inscribe something on a decorative card, and she wrote: “Never stop practicing.”
The shared vow of mentor and disciple is to keep practicing Nichiren Buddhism together with the Soka Gakkai throughout one’s life, no matter what happens.
You are all Bodhisattvas of the Earth,1 possessing wondrous karmic bonds, who have emerged in your respective places of mission at this significant time.
Having such a great mission means that the challenges you face will also be great. But that is why you will be able to savor a truly rare and irreplaceable sense of fulfillment in your lives and accumulate indelible good fortune.
Whatever the situation, decide that you will not be defeated and keep moving forward with vigor and optimism, leading a youth of unsurpassed joy.
The Daishonin writes: “To have faith like water means to believe continuously without ever regressing” (WND-1, 899). In accord with these words, I hope you will lead vibrant and victorious lives of steadfast faith, free of regret.
From a message to an SGI Ikeda Kayo-kai general meeting, Tokyo, September 5, 2013.
The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace brings together selections from President Ikeda’s works on key themes.
- *1Bodhisattvas of the Earth: An innumerable host of bodhisattvas who emerge from beneath the earth and to whom Shakyamuni Buddha entrusts the propagation of the Mystic Law, or the essence of the Lotus Sutra, in the Latter Day of the Law.