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July 21, 2000
Editorial: 'Soka' Means Victory
For All
By Jeff Farr
Associate Editor
The aim of the SGI-USA?s current focuses—Soka University,
Soka Spirit and Soka Caring—is the happiness of
each of us. All three come from soka, the main point being,
through these kosen-rufu efforts, to create value for
every member.
SGI-USA activities help us to create value, but ultimately
it is up to us. The answer to SGI-USA General Director
Danny Nagashima?s favorite question—“Are you
happy?”— can only be answered by us.
In other words, the spirit of soka applies directly to
our lives. While we define soka generally as value creation,
it also means the victory creation in our lives that we
alone can accomplish.
Our biggest obstacle to becoming happy is usually internal—it
lies in our own minds. There are plenty of reasons we
can come up with for letting go of the dreams that we
intended to cherish. Maybe we tell ourselves that we don?t
know how to reach them; maybe we know how, but we fret
over how hard it will be; maybe we doubt if we are ready
to win. If we can handle it. If we deserve it.
This is why the Daishonin places so much emphasis on mastering
our minds and warns against letting our minds master us
(see The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 390). To keep
telling ourselves that we will win, to keep praying and
taking action with that confidence—this is fundamental
to practicing the Daishonin?s Buddhism correctly.
The Daishonin often encouraged his followers to have this
feeling in their hearts. And he set the example for them
by living confidently when all the world seemed against
him. To his disciple Shijo Kingo, the Daishonin joyfully
stated, “Already I have the feeling that I have
achieved victory” (WND, 685). At that time, 1276,
opposition in Japanese society to the Daishonin?s movement
was at its peak; his confidence that he had already won
deeply impressed his followers, who were being heavily
persecuted for supporting him.His meaning to Shijo Kingo
was more than just “Don?t worry, be happy.”
It was “Know that you are guaranteed to win! Live
with complete confidence in this!”
SGI President Ikeda shared a similar message with Dr.
Allen Lee Sessoms, president of Queens College of the
City University of New York, when they talked on May 31
in Tokyo. “Life is a battle,” President Ikeda
said. “Whether we have won or lost in life—this
is something that we must decide for ourselves. It is
not something that someone else can decide for us. The
important thing is not to be defeated. It is to have the
powerful determination and spiritual fortitude to vow,
?No matter what happens, I will not be defeated! ? Those
who resolutely maintain this conviction will ultimately
be victorious.” The world is in need of this victorious
mind of soka today; the decay of humanity?s confidence
in itself underlies all the disturbing things that we
see in society, from the Chechen war to the persistence
of world poverty.
Historian Jacques Barzun suggests in From Dawn to Decadence
that the creative mind—the mind that believes it
can always find new solutions—has in our time been
replaced by blankness. Barzun goes so far as to say that
humanity can think of “no clear lines of advance.”
But Buddhism teaches that a clear line of advance can
begin with any one of us. “A great human revolution
in just a single individual will help achieve a change
in the destiny of a nation,” as President Ikeda
has taught us, “and further, will enable a change
in the destiny of all humankind.”
We each have a decision to make—to become happy
or not. From our total resolve to become happy, others
will be led to happiness, too. Livin? la vida soka is
the direct line to el mundo soka.
Toward May 3, 2001, as we involve ourselves in a variety
of challenging SGI-USA activities, their purpose is important
to keep in mind: to help us become happy and share our
happiness widely. If we remember this, the nine months
leading up to May 3 will be an unforgettable time of soka,
of victory creation, for every one of us.
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