f ebr u a r y orld t rib une d iscussion m eetings: an sg

The following are excerpts fromSGI President Ikeda’s recent essayon discussion meetings.

The first inspiring discus-sion meetings of the Yearof Youth and DynamicGrowth are being held

throughout Japan. Discussionmeetings have been a great SokaGakkai tradition since the time ofour first president, TsunesaburoMakiguchi. They are forums fordeveloping friendships in thecommunity, opportunities forpeople to speak freely and sharetheir thoughts and models of de-mocratic dialogue. Such interac-tion and mutual support amongindividuals are the embodimentof ideal human fellowship.

Prominent thinkers fromaround the world have begun totake note of our discussion meet-ings. I recently completed a dia-logue for publication with theAmerican peace scholar EliseBoulding. Dr. Boulding has spo-ken of her impressions of a SokaGakkai discussion meeting she at-tended in Japan, recalling sittingin a circle with some of ourwomen and feeling their spirit ofgenuine humanity and family-likewarmth. She found our discussionmeeting to be a setting in whichpeople can regard each other asequals, become better acquaintedby hearing what each person hasto say and join their hearts towarda common purpose — an idealgathering for promoting a cultureof peace.

Bryan Wilson, the renownedOxford sociologist of religion withwhom I engaged in a dialogue pub-lished as Human Values in aChanging World, also had thehighest praises for our discussionmeetings, calling them a newmodel of humanistic communityfor our increasingly inhumanetimes. I have also held a dialoguewith Lou Marinoff, president ofthe American Philosophical Prac-titioners Association. Dr. Marinoff

remarked on the great importanceof dialogue among people sharinga common faith, identifying it asthe means to break free from anti-quated religious conventions inwhich believers are regarded assheep and the clergy as shepherds.He noted that philosophers alsoengage in an activity identical toour discussion meetings, sharingand communicating their experi-ences in order to develop a richer,more encompassing view of thehuman condition. Dr. Marinoffcalled this process a form of prac-tice to attain deeper self-knowl-edge through listening to the ex-periences of others.

President Makiguchi showedtruly remarkable foresight in insti-tuting the holding of discussionmeetings, the significance of whichonly continues to grow with time.

! ! !

Members attend discussionmeetings in the midst of their busyschedules, often weary from workor responsibilities at home. Be-cause of that, they are in need ofsincere encouragement, of havingtheir efforts warmly appreciatedand their spirits revitalized.

Discussion meetings should be

a kind of spiritual oasis, leaving allwho attend feeling glad theycame, refreshed and fulfilled. The“Encouragements of the Bodhi-sattva Universal Worthy” chapterof the Lotus Sutra states: “If yousee a person who accepts and up-holds this sutra, you should riseand greet him from afar, showinghim the same respect you would aBuddha” (The Lotus Sutra, p.324). The Lotus Sutra, Shakya-muni’s highest teaching, ends withthese words.

In The Record of the OrallyTransmitted Teachings, NichirenDaishonin identifies this passageas summing up the message of theentire sutra (p. 193) and “the fore-most point [Shakyamuni] wishedto convey to us” (p. 192). In otherwords, there is no place for arro-gance in the realm of the LotusSutra. Authoritarianism is com-pletely unacceptable. We need tointeract with and speak with ourfellow members and friends in aspirit of utmost consideration andrespect.

Whenever President Maki-guchi attended a discussion meet-ing, he began by greeting and sin-cerely thanking the family atwhose home the meeting wasbeing held. Then he wholeheart-

edly welcomed the participants,showing them the same respectone would a Buddha, just as theabove sutra passage teaches.

! ! !

Allow me to emphasize theimportance of treasuring thefamilies who host discussionmeetings and showing great carefor their homes. The Daishoninmade his own residence a centerfor the spread of his teachings.Presidents Makiguchi and Todaalso opened their homes to mem-bers as activity centers. My wife’sparents had offered their homefor holding Soka Gakkai meet-ings and activities since the timeof President Makiguchi, and weused our home as a meeting placeas well.

Hosting a discussion meetingin one’s home can involve con-siderable effort and inconve-nience. Leaders should be deeplyaware of this and never take it forgranted, thanking the host familypolitely and sincerely. When themeeting is over, please offer toclean up, taking the initiative tobe as considerate and helpful aspossible. Members should becareful not to make a mess. It

goes without saying that those at-tending should refrain fromsmoking; like our culture andcommunity centers, these privatemeeting places should be re-garded as no-smoking zones.

Meeting times should bestrictly observed and lingeringafterward with drawn-out dis-cussions avoided. Participantsshould remind each other to beconsiderate with regard to park-ing in the neighborhood and keeptheir voices down outside so asnot to disturb the neighbors.Please make every effort to en-sure that the host family is trulyglad to have opened their home.

This is the Soka Gakkai tradi-tion. It is important to keep thesewords of the Daishonin firmly inmind at all times: “The purpose ofthe appearance in this world ofShakyamuni Buddha, the lord ofteachings, lies in his behavior as ahuman being” (The Writings ofNichiren Daishonin, p. 852). Letus show the highest considerationand respect to all those who offertheir homes for meetings. Theyprovide an indispensable servicefor our movement.

! ! !

I met my mentor in life, the sec-ond Soka Gakkai president, JoseiToda, at a discussion meeting onthe evening of Aug. 14, 1947; Iwas 19 and Mr. Toda was 47. Thefollowing day was the second an-niversary of the end of World WarII. Against the backdrop of a dev-astated Japan, my young heart wassearching for a sound paththrough life, and Mr. Toda’s in-tense resolve as he gave his lectureon the Daishonin’s treatise “OnEstablishing the Correct Teachingfor the Peace of the Land” struckto the very core of my being. I wasoverpowered by his personality,and at the same time, deeply im-pressed by the optimism and pro-found philosophical focus of thisgathering of ordinary citizens.Like so many others, a discussionmeeting was my introduction tothe Soka Gakkai.

! ! !

Mr. Toda placed supreme im-portance on discussion meet-ings, and he engaged in detailed

2 FEBRUARY 17, 2006 • WORLD TRIBUNE

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Sharing experiencesin faith and holdingheartfelt dialogue —this is how Buddhismhas spread.

AN ESSAY BY SGI PRESIDENT IKEDA

Discussion Meetings: An SGI Tradition

preparations, carefully consid-ering the choice of the modera-tor and the program. He wouldnever overlook the smallest de-tail, outlining what he and theother participants should say tomake the most effective presen-tation. He saw no need to beoverly formal. “We have to makesure that even those attendingtheir f irst discussion meetingwill enjoy themselves and feelthat they have learned some-thing about Buddhism,” he em-phasized. “Otherwise, it will notbe worth their time.”

One of the charges madeagainst President Makiguchi bythe Japanese militarist authoritieswas that he had held more than240 discussion meetings in a two-year period. Three members ofthe military regime’s SpecialHigher Police attended and sus-piciously observed a discussionmeeting that President Maki-guchi attended at my wife’s par-ents’ home. Discussion meetingswere truly centers of the strugglefor freedom of speech andthought, places where membersfought for Buddhism in the spiritof not begrudging their lives andof selfless devotion to propagat-ing the Law.

! ! !

Jutta Unkart-Seifert, formerundersecretary of Austria’s Fed-eral Ministry of Education,spent time speaking with smallgroups of Soka Gakkai mem-bers throughout Japan. Herconclusion after those encoun-ters was that the secret to theSoka Gakkai’s growth and de-velopment is the freedom andequality that exists within ourorganization. I couldn’t agreemore. Soka Gakkai discussionmeetings brim with dialogue,openness, equality, philosophyand hope.

I always feel a rising excite-ment in my heart when the weekfor discussion meetings comesaround each month. I envision thewarm light glowing in the win-dows of meeting places through-out Japan. I hear the happy voicesof members singing Soka Gakkaisongs and their joyous laughter. Iimagine the topics being dis-cussed and the determinationseveryone is conveying. I wish thatI could sit inconspicuously in theback of each room, wholeheart-edly applauding and cheering onevery speaker. I love discussionmeetings.

! ! !

When I was a youth divisionmember, I held discussion meet-ings in my small apartment inOmori, Ota Ward, Tokyo. I invitedmy neighbors, and several of thembecame members.

I have attended innumerable dis-

cussion meetings in Japan andaround the world. Conductingmeetings in the early days of ourmovement, in particular, was nevereasy or smooth. Wherever I went Ifaced a real struggle; it was like cul-tivating an unplowed field. Therewere even times when I had to dealwith intruders who tried to disruptthe proceedings.

Each meeting brimmed withthe vibrant Soka Gakkai spirit that“the Lotus Sutra is the teaching ofshakubuku, the refutation of theprovisional doctrines” (WND,392). Without the importantBuddhist training I receivedthrough our discussion meetings,I would not be who I am today.

! ! !

On the evening of March 15,1979, in the midst of the troublesassociated with the first priest-hood issue and just a month beforeI stepped down as the third SokaGakkai president, I attended ablock — the equivalent of today’sdistrict — discussion meeting inFuchu, Tokyo.Having de-cided that thefocus of mystruggle thenwould be thed i s c u s s i o nmeeting, I hadalso attendeda block plan-ning meeting in To k yo ’sN a k a n oWa r d threedays earlier.

At the time,several under-handed indi-viduals whoha d t u r ne dtheir backs onthe Soka Gakkai had joined forceswith the Nichiren Shoshu priest-hood and together were plotting todrive a wedge between the mem-bers and me and destroy our or-ganization. That’s why I decidedto participate in local discussionmeetings, where I could speak di-rectly with members fighting onthe front lines and forge strongpersonal ties with them.

When I reached the home inFuchu where the discussionmeeting was taking place, Iwent upstairs to the meetingroom on the second floor andcalled out, “Good evening!” Myappearance was greeted withcries of surprise and enthusias-tic applause. There were about30 people in the room. I spoketo each of them and encouragedthem with all my heart, wishingto engrave our encounter thatevening in the depths of mybeing.

The women’s leader, at whosehome the meeting was held, hadinvited a neighborhood friend,whom I welcomed warmly and

From this essay:

One-on-one dialogue, small groups and inconspicuous, front-line gatherings are the keys to victory. Indeed, the discussionmeeting is crucial.

1) Why are small groups so effective in sharing Buddhism?

2) Share something from your first discussion meeting.

For Discussion

www.sgi-usa.org FEBRUARY 17, 2006 • WORLD TRIBUNE 3

This essay was publishedin the “Light of the Centuryof Humanity” series in theJan. 19 and 20 SeikyoSh imbun , t he SokaGakkai’s daily newspaper.

meetings. Their goal was tosomeday have gatherings filledwith warm, smiling faces.

Eventually, a well-known TVactor joined these “two-persondiscussion meetings,” and hewas followed by numerous otherpeople, including respectedcommunity figures. The grouphas now grown into the vibrantlyactive Eagle Peak Chapter, withmore than 100 members.

Meanwhile, in Interlaken,Switzerland, set high in the Alps,one woman has raised a toweringmountain range of capable peo-ple through holding countlessdiscussion meetings. Across theglobe, women are opening thegateway of kosen-rufu.

! ! !

The Daishonin instructs inone of his writings, “Those re-solved to seek the way shouldgather and listen to the contentsof this letter” (WND, 206). Inother words, the correct practiceof Nichiren Buddhism is formembers to gather, study theDaishonin’s writings together,encourage each other and helpone another gain a deeper un-derstanding of faith.

A young man once told Pres-ident Makiguchi that he thoughtit would be better to hold large-scale lectures than discussionmeetings. “No, it wouldn’t,” Mr.Makiguchi replied without hesi-tation. “Dialogue is the only wayto communicate with anotherabout life’s problems. At a lec-ture, listeners inevitably feel un-involved. Even the Daishonin’streatise ‘On Establishing theCorrect Teaching for the Peace ofthe Land’was written in the formof a dialogue, you know.”

Mr. Makiguchi traveled greatdistances to speak with even oneindividual. He would conduct adiscussion meeting for just oneperson. And his conviction didnot falter even when he was im-prisoned. There, he challengedhis interrogators, saying, “Isthere any difference in the resultthat ensues from failing to dosomething good and that whichensues from doing somethingbad?” He refuted their mistakenbeliefs through his logical and

reasonable arguments about cor-rect and erroneous religiousteachings.

Josei Toda, at his 1951 inau-guration as second president, de-clared, “Kosen-rufu begins withheart-to-heart dialogue.” Thenhigh priest Nichiko Hori, a greatBuddhist scholar who had highpraise for the Soka Gakkai, alsoasserted, “The strength of theSoka Gakkai lies in its unprece-dented method of propagatingthe teachings — the discussionmeeting.”

In one of his writings, theDaishonin quotes the proverb,“One is the mother of ten thou-sand” (WND, 131). With thisspirit, the f irst three SokaGakkai presidents have actedwith the resolve to share Nichi-ren Buddhism with every indi-vidual they encountered. Thisfirm determination has led to thepresent development of thekosen-rufu movement.

! ! !

Champion of Indian indepen-dence Mahatma Gandhi wouldtravel anywhere to meet withpeople, placing great importanceon small gatherings. Americancivil rights leader Martin LutherKing Jr. also made small meet-ings the foundation for the vic-tory of his movement.

A certain shogi (Japanesechess) master once said: “Victorydoes not begin from the center. Itstarts from the inconspicuousedges of the board.”

One-on-one dialogue, smallgroups and inconspicuous, front-line gatherings are the keys to vic-tory. Indeed, the discussion meet-ing is crucial.

From today, let us initiate freshdramas of hope-filled, vibrantand inspiring dialogue and fur-ther expand our network of truthand victory!

engaged in pleasant conversa-tion. After the meeting ended, Itook a group photo with theleader and her husband as an ex-pression of my gratitude to themboth for opening their home toeveryone.

My goal was to make the dis-cussion meeting as enjoyable,worthwhile and meaningful aspossible. I wanted the membersto leave feeling energized, hope-ful and revitalized, and I gavemy all to achieving this. On thatoccasion, I said: “The discus-sion meeting is the most demo-cratic forum of free and opendialogue where people cancome into contact with correctfaith. It is a powerful spring-board for establishing a life ofhope and conviction.”

! ! !

Discussion meetings aretaking place in communitiesa r o u n d t h e world. On thebeautiful Mediterranean islandof Majorca, discussion meetings

are held withthe participa-tion of mem-b e r s o f 2 0different na-tionalities. Iam told thattheir gather-i n g s b r i mw i t h l ive lyconversationsin Spanish ,English, Ger-man, French,I t a l i an andmany o t h e rl a n guages .And in Belfast,N o r t h e r nIreland, SGId i s c u s s i o n

meetings are alive with the con-versations of members who, asgood ci t izens of their com-munities, are seeking to expandthe circle of peace and friendshipand wishing for the happiness oftheir land, which has sufferedfrom terrible conflict for manyyears.

Ashland, Ore., a city locatedon the west coast of the UnitedStates and known for hosting theOregon Shakespeare Festival, hasa fascinating history of SGI dis-cussion meetings. In the late1980s, two young women movedto Ashland from Southern Cali-fornia. At that time, there was nolocal SGI organization there, sothey started holding discussionmeetings with just the two ofthem in attendance.

One of the young womenwould act as the host of themeeting and the other as theguest. They would place SGIpublications in a circle and pre-tend these were other partici-pants. In this fashion, they car-ried out their discussion

RIKA HAGIYAMA