The noble voyage of life
Dedicated to my respected and esteemed friends in the SGI men’s division
He was an elementary school principal,
lacking any particular renown,
and he was a geographer of vision.
He was further a hero of kosen-rufu
practicing precisely as the Buddha taught.
He was founder of the Soka Gakkai
and its tradition of refuting erroneous teachings,
the practice of the Lotus Sutra.
He became a towering practitioner
of the ultimate principle of life
—the Mystic Law expounded by Nichiren—
and died a martyr to his beliefs.
At the age of fifty-seven, in 1928,
Makiguchi Sensei
—my mentor’s mentor—
initiated the struggle to spread the teachings
without regard to personal well-being.
Later, he declared to his disciples:
With a joy that is beyond the power of words to express,
I completely renewed the basis of
the life I had led for almost sixty years!
At the age of fifty-nine,
on the eve of his sixtieth birthday
—highly significant in East Asian tradition
as the completion of one cycle of life—
Makiguchi Sensei
founded the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai—
Society for Value-creating Education.
Battling treacherous political authorities
and corrupt priests filled with
contempt for ordinary people,
he stood as firm as a sheer cliff.
Overcoming countless onslaughts,
he forged on with powerful conviction,
offering his crimson lifeblood to the struggle.
There were times
when family and followers
looked at him beseechingly,
fearful for their noble father.
There were times when the sight
of their stern father clad in the armor
of indescribable suffering
drained the color from their faces.
Ahead of him lay the harassments
of unbridled authority;
in his path loomed persecutions
at the hands of militarists.
Without thought of retreat he strode on,
bold as a lion—forward, ever forward.
When his disciples
were laid prostrate and confounded
in a desert wasteland of oppression,
he alone, a lion of lofty ideals,
traversed the deep ravines,
continuing his ceaseless quest,
his clear gaze trained always on the future.
Having sustained the fight for justice
until the final moment of his life,
with the banner of peace in view,
Makiguchi Sensei died in prison,
martyred to his convictions
at the age of seventy-three,
thus engraving the mark
of his struggle indelibly in history.
The membership of three thousand
who had followed him
were brutally suppressed and scattered
by the relentless persecutions
of the government.
But there was one disciple, Josei Toda,
who fully shared his sense of purpose—
a disciple determined to serve
his true and eternal mentor.
Toda shook with rage and wept bitter tears
in his own dark, cramped cell,
driven to paroxysms of grief
at the news of his mentor’s death.
Moved by sorrow, outrage and pain
and a burning thirst for vengeance,
his heart began its pilgrimage—
he would triumph over the dark powers
that had made his just, beloved teacher
end his days in prison.
Josei Toda emerged
from the prison gates,
bearing within him a heart and spirit
of massive proportion.
A movement to rebuke and rectify
for all eternity
the insidious, violent abuses of power
had begun.
This was the bold, new start
of a battle against falsehood
and arrogance.
His intense efforts ignited a flame
of continuous struggle
that leapt from heart to heart.
He forged on
with unstoppable energy,
living each moment
of this never-to-be-repeated life
as if it were his last,
entrusting everything
to his disciples
as his will and testament.
It is now more than forty years
since the great Josei Toda passed away
like the tide withdrawing
and returning to the ocean.
Sensing the reality
of his eternal presence among us
we resolved to carry on his work
as his disciples, as comrades of like mind.
Determined to act as a direct disciple,
I stood in the vanguard
amid the gathering storm,
and many other disciples stood with me.
Makiguchi Sensei and Toda Sensei
were both active at ages
that would have made them members
of today’s proud men’s division.
They had no crown, no fame…
Enduring criticism and abuse,
they pressed on from one struggle
for the sake of the Law to the next,
in perfect accord
with the teachings of Nichiren.
My mentor, Toda Sensei, often said:
Let cowards depart!
Those who will leave should go!
Let critics say what they will!
The impassioned core of our beings
connects directly to the Daishonin
and to the spirit of kosen-rufu.
We have tears of compassion
and the strength of the noonday sun.
In dark times of hardship
we maintain beautiful, noble hearts.
More than anything
we are surrounded by the most precious
jewel in the entire universe—
the treasure of our faith.
Both Makiguchi Sensei and Toda Sensei
raised their voices to call forth
heroic youth, youth who will
advance bravely into the teeth of the storm!
Disciples who will not weep
at approaching persecution,
but will fight on
brimming with calm confidence!
Youth who will pursue
this glorious advance
to the ends of the Earth
and into the endless future!
No one can help but pause for thought
when faced with the solemn
life-to-life bond
of mentor and disciple,
this most sublime of human ties.
Traitors will inevitably
be defeated and disappear;
cowards will unquestionably
incur karmic retribution.
With resounding music,
the heavenly deities
of future, present and past
aid this noble progress
of mentor and disciple.
Those who, out of envy,
criticize and attack this procession
of kosen-rufu, of mentor and disciple,
are nothing, devoid of all
substance or significance.
How joyous are our poems of glory,
how exuberant our melodious lives!
How magnificent to stroll
the gardens of our eternal destiny!
Above us, the celebratory skies
that encompass all things:
stars, moon, forests, clouds…
This path is true!
It is the path to realizing
our self’s authentic purpose,
a path without regret!
Victor Hugo, poet and fighter,
proclaimed that life is a voyage.
Declaring himself an invincible lion,
he advanced fiercely,
turning aside the angry surge!
He lived a regal drama,
surmounting persecution,
plots and exile:
Thunder, roar as you will!
For I will roar back even louder!
Premier Zhou Enlai,
who dedicated his life to revolution
and to the construction of a new China,
declared:
Victory cannot be achieved
by sitting and waiting for it to happen;
it must be won through struggle.
His heart remained ever youthful
even as he advanced in years.
Always standing at the forefront,
he propelled the drive for success.
We who champion kosen-rufu,
the noblest of humanity’s endeavors,
must never be afraid,
must never be defeated!
If we cease in our efforts,
the Daishonin will grieve,
humanity will sink into barbarism,
falling under a dark and endless pall,
adrift in interminable suffering
and unbroken cycles of misery.
The Daishonin proclaimed:
Now when Nichiren and his followers chant
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo,
they are like the blowing of a great wind.
And:
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion.
Such serenely confident words!
It may be that
the fainthearted will despair
and the weak-willed will flee.
But we will inscribe a magnificent
history in the depths of our being
day after day, year after year.
In the Latter Day of the Law
—an age ruled by dark destiny—
our hearts burn ever brighter
as we journey across eternity,
laughing off the world’s frenzied criticisms,
seeing, appreciating and extolling
all that is beautiful in this world.
Enjoying heart-to-heart ties
with so many treasured friends—
our lives will continue,
joyful and vigorous, beyond death,
across the full spectrum of time!
What an exquisite achievement
and indestructible honor
to share this voyage of life with comrades,
celebrating victory together,
bathed in the moon’s beautiful light!
How sad and vain are the lives
of those who choose to stay behind!
The Daishonin rebukes those who,
refusing to think seriously about life,
abandon their humanity.
Never allow yourself to become alienated
from the harmonious community
of believers dedicated to kosen-rufu
and descend into the pit of isolation!
To choose solitude
may seem free of constraint,
but it is like a spirit
that has lost its weighted center
and flown into fragments.
Buddhism is win or lose,
the Daishonin declared.
The most intense persecutions
that he endured for the sake of Buddhism
all arose from false accusations.
The human heart can be frightening,
sinister and dark.
The persecutions that befell
followers like Shijo Kingo
were likewise the result
of base betrayal.
Why did the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood decline?
Because of arrogance and envy!
Because of their laziness and negligence!
Because of their idleness and chatter!
Because of smugness and conceit!
Because of greed and ignorance!
Because of their slander and lies!
Because they sought to destroy
the harmonious unity of believers!
Why has the Gakkai flourished?
Because of our selfless dedication!
Because of our unceasing devotion!
Because we treasure the Law even above our lives!
Because of brave and diligent exertion!
Because of perseverance and fortitude!
Because of the spirit of oneness of mentor and disciple!
Because we enjoy the unity
of many in body, one in mind!
My friends in the men’s division,
it is crucial that you win in society
and in the workplace,
that you form bonds
of trust and friendship with many others,
that you be a citadel serving as
a happy haven to your family,
and that, in vigorous health,
you triumph over the
demanding challenges of daily life!
Your life, your being,
is yours for all time.
Thus everything depends on
how you forge yourself,
how you improve yourself,
how you develop a happy life—
this is the aim of human revolution.
Buddhism teaches reason,
the universal law of causality
by which we can realize
the eternity of our lives.
Buddhism elucidates
the essence of life’s causal law.
This law is strict. It teaches:
the three thousand realms
—the entirety of being—
are ultimately a reflection
of our innermost life.
Buddhism surpasses
other philosophies
in keenly clarifying
this reality.
The truth does not exist
apart from our lives.
The law of cause and effect
is the reality of all phenomena.
Cause and effect exist simultaneously.
Causes and effects shape each moment
in the inexorable flow of time
as it carries us forward.
There is a profound continuity
of good and evil,
happiness and unhappiness,
hellish suffering and enlightenment.
My dear friends, my comrades!
Please enjoy good health and longevity!
For that is the first, essential step
toward happiness and victory.
Be big-hearted!
Be deep-hearted!
Be warm-hearted!
Be strong-hearted!
For this is the mark
of a victorious Buddhist practice!
Wherever you go,
be a pillar of strength
who brings peace of mind to all!
Be a person of expansive,
magnanimous character
who enables all to harbor hope!
Be a monarch of humanity
shining like the Treasure Tower
where you are in this moment!
March 26, 1999
Written for the members of the Soka Gakkai men’s division.
“With a joy that is beyond”: trans. from Makiguchi, Soka kyoikugaku taikei kogai (Overview of the System of Value-Creating Pedagogy) in Makiguchi Tsunesaburo zenshu, vol. 8, p. 406.
Soka Kyoiku Gakkai: forerunner of the Soka Gakkai, founded in 1930. Makiguchi formed this group of educators to promote the teachings of Nichiren based on his original theory of value-creating education.
“Thunder, roar as you will!” trans. from Hugo, “Ibo” in Les Contemplations, vol. 2, p. 177.
Victory cannot be achieved: see Zhou Enlai, Shuonrai senshu, vol. 2, p. 390 (in Japanese).
“Now when Nichiren”: Nichiren, The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, p. 96.
“Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like”: Nichiren, The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 412.
the Latter Day of the Law: a Buddhist term indicating the last of the three periods following Shakyamuni’s death, when Buddhism is predicted to fall into confusion and his teachings lose the power to lead people to happiness.
Shijo Kingo (c. 1230–1300): a samurai and devoted follower of Nichiren.
Nichiren Shoshu (Orthodox Nichiren sect): a sect of Buddhism which regards Nichiren as its founder. It parted company with the Soka Gakkai, its lay organization, in 1991.