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1. Soka Spirit: Caring on
Many Levels |
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Danny Nagashima
SGI-USA General Director
 My
own experiences over the course of more than four decades
of Buddhist practice in the SGI have taught me the importance
of patiently listening to others with the intent to help
them open their hearts and to share their greatest joys
and deepest sufferings.
Several years ago, I met a woman from San Diego who was
introduced to Nichiren Buddhism by a Soka Gakkai member
in 1963. She practiced diligently, but in 1991, for some
reason, she joined Nichiren Shoshu. I made it a point
that whenever I was in San Diego I would meet with her.
Nichiren Shoshu is the organization of priests with which
the SGI was previously associated. In 1991, after decades
of amassing a substantial financial base -- mainly through
the support of SGI members -- Nichiren Shoshu excommunicated
all SGI members. The intent was to manipulate our membership
through fear into leaving the SGI. Instead, SGI members
around the world were galvanized into studying more deeply
the tenets of Nichiren Buddhism, which stresses the equality
and inner liberation of each individual.
Compared to our entire global membership, only a small
percentage fell sway to the priesthood’s manipulations.
Nonetheless, we view each of them as a precious individual
with whom we are fully dedicated to sharing, once again,
the supremacy of the true doctrine of Nichiren Daishonin
so that he or she can practice happily and unfettered.
It is our utmost conviction that each person can do so
as a vibrant, prospering member of the SGI-USA.
Facing the Gohonzon together with my San Diego friend,
I would chant to somehow touch her heart and do whatever
I could to support her. I prayed with my entire being
for her happiness. Also, I tried to listen very carefully
with all my heart to whatever she had to say. I would
thank her for spending time with me and return home, chanting
that she would decide to make a fresh start with the SGI.
Because of our developing friendship and the fact that
she noticed no significant growth in her life after five
years of practice with Nichiren Shoshu, she did decide
to come back to the SGI. I was elated and filled with
appreciation to the Gohonzon.
Since then, my friend has helped many of her friends in
turn to reawaken the feelings they had when, through the
efforts of an SGI member, they first encountered Nichiren
Buddhism. My friend and her friends have refreshed their
lives and their faith, and they are receiving numerous
comments on how happy they look as they renew their friendships
with fellow SGI-USA members.
Although it has found its name in recent years, our Soka
Spirit movement has always existed in the SGI within the
countless actions our members in expressing human-to-human
care and concern, encouraging one another, especially
through listening.
“What is the most important point in conducting
dialogue?” SGI President Ikeda challenges us. “It
is to be a good listener. Though seemingly simple, listening
well is actually quite difficult. The ancient Greek philosopher
Zeno said, ‘Two ears to one tongue, therefore hear
twice as much as you speak.’ It is often the case
that just being able to share one’s problems with
someone else is all it takes to put a person’s troubled
mind at ease. The Chinese character for ‘ear’
is central to the meaning of the characters for ‘wise’
and ‘sage.’ A person who listens well is wise;
and the wisest of the wise is the sage” (Faith Into
Action, p. 184).
Warmhearted dialogue, centered on really listening, has
led to expanding my own circle of friends, and it moves
me deeply that each of you have undergone your own similar
expansion. Always, it seems, we learn anew how each individual
we care for is attached to innumerable others seeking
the way to health, happiness, prosperity and confidence
in the face of all of life’s challenges.
And our concern for individuals is not only expressed
on a one-to-one scale -- indeed, in stark contrast to
the activities of Nichiren Shoshu, the SGI is truly engaged
in bringing Nichiren Buddhism’s humanism to the
world.
In recent weeks, the SGI-USA has participated in some
momentous and moving events. For instance, at the U.N.
headquarters in New York, our organization oversaw the
presentation an exhibition titled “Building a Culture
of Peace for the Children of the World.” In addition
to the exhibit, which runs through Feb. 27, there were
important surrounding events in which we joined with top-level
U.N. officials, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, leading figures
from academia and from the realm of music and culture
to present a unified message of peace and the potential
for global human harmony.
A week later, at the World Peace Ikeda Auditorium in Santa
Monica, Calif., a peace forum and panel discussion titled
“Building A Culture of Peace: From Our Hearts, To
Our Homes, To Our Neighbors” brought some of the
same dignitaries from the U.N. activities together with
SGI-USA members and guests from the community who share
a deep interest in finding solutions to the crises of
our violent world.
Once a month in the Santa Monica area, SGI-USA members
gather with the community at large for lectures and discussions
on relating the principles of Nichiren Buddhism and essential
health concerns. This is but one example of a local area
bringing the Daishonin’s teachings to a broader
audience beyond the SGI-USA membership.
In so many other ways, throughout our nation and on a
regular basis, the SGI-USA is a vital participant in our
world. This is not to mention the countless ways in which
the umbrella SGI organization is connected to global events,
continually working as a U.N. nongovernmental organization
and frequently providing aid, supplies and educational
materials to areas of the world where it is most needed
-- often nations in the throes of humanitarian crisis.
To me, all of these activities represent the wave of Soka
Spirit, surging from today into the vast future. Rather
than being caught up in the feudalistic hierarchy of the
Nichiren Shoshsu priesthood devoted merely to its own
sustainable future, SGI members, long-liberated from religious
tyranny, are making vast inroads into the real world.
They are succeeding in the fields of science, medicine,
education and the fine and popular arts. And they are
making their impact felt by bringing the humanistic and
humane principles of Nichiren Buddhism to all of society,
an ongoing current of dialogue that spans our nation and
the globe, exactly as taught by our founding presidents
and demonstrated unceasingly by SGI President Ikeda.
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(Originally published in the World
Tribune, Feb. 27, 2004.)
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