World Peace Commemorative Gongyo Meeting (August 5, 2007)
Yasunori Takimoto
(SGI Vice President)
I would like to express my wholehearted thanks to all of you for participating
in the August World Peace Gongyo Meeting coming early in the morning and
traveling from long distances to attend, thank you very much!
Now, I would like to share good news. That is about Soka High School has won in the Western Tokyo Division and got a berth to the All-Japan High School Baseball Championship – the greatest summer event in Japan. As such, they will be able to enter the summer dream stage of Koshien Stadium. Congratulations again for this!
Sensei was also very delighted with this and composed a Waka poem:
“It is indeed joyful,
for the Soka High School to have won.
The fathers and mothers of the students,
Even friends the world over are joyful
And are greatly cheering with jubilation.”
This August, the baseball players of Soka High School who have triumphed in its division will be proceeding to the heated competition in Koshien Stadium. Let us support them so they may fully display their talents fairly and squarely and so that they can all fight burning with their youthful passion.
Now, changing the topic a little, on August 1, the new age 9th Headquarters Leaders Meeting in conjunction with the 3rd Nationwide Youth Division Leaders Meeting was grandly held together with Sensei on Tokyo Makiguchi Memorial Hall.
At that time, Sensei called unto us: “Cheerfully advance with courage with the heart of a champion!” and gave the following guidance:
1. The noblest act as a human being is to propagate the Mystic Law that is the supreme philosophy of happiness for the sake of the people and for the sake of peace.
2. Exerting your utmost effort and applying all your experiences in the face of hardships will become the cause for you to become an invincible ever-victorious general.
3. Please broaden further the tide of peace and humanism to the world with dignity and courage and with the character of a champion together with our comrades throughout the world.
4. The fighting spirit for the sake of kosen-rufu is itself the heart of the Buddha; it is the spirit of Soka. Please shed light upon the darkness of the age with the heart of the sun that is most beautiful and most powerful of all and brightly light the great path of humanity’s peace and culture.
5. Courage itself is the motive power that opens up the age.
6. Soka’s castle of the people has perfectly been built in the world because of the great strenuous effort of all the members.
7. Let us cheerfully advance with the character of a champion!
Let us put into practice these seven (7) points as our foundation at SGI Philippines and achieve great victory in the second half of this year.
Lastly, I would like to read a passage from the long poem of Sensei entitled, “Song of the Unity of Mentor and Disciple” (SGI Newsletter No. 7119):
“We will always,
in every existence
and every age,
be born together with our mentor,
strive together with our mentor,
triumph together with our mentor,
as we forever advance
along the great and noble path
of kosen-rufu.”
Aiming for the great victory of Philippine kosen-rufu as SGI Philippines members, let us take pride and cheerfully advance in high spirit together with General Director Roger Cabauatan and Women’s Division Chief, Mrs. Shibata.
Photo on the top: Flowers in Nagano (Photo by Daisaku Ikeda)
Copyright (c) 2006-2007, Soka Gakkai International of the Philippines,
All rights reserved.
