Experience at world peace prayer meeting July 6, 2014

Thank you everyone for this opportunity to share my experience. When Shirley asked me if I could tell my experience I told her I am always ready, always eager to talk about how great the philosophy of Nichiren is, how great is our objective of kosen-rufu and how great is our mentor, Ikeda Sensei.

My experience is long and a bit strange. It is the story of the unlikely meeting of a lonely sickly boy and the greatest philosopher of our time, in the world's most beautiful city. If you've heard it before, if it does not interest you, or if you fall asleep I will not be offended.

I began my practice when I was 13 years old. My oldest brother introduced me when we lived in Los Angeles. This was the pioneering time of our movement in North America. Most of the members were young but none as young as me.

I do not remember exactly how Peter started. But he came home one night with some others and they enshrined his gohonzon. He began to tell me about chanting and about the philosophy of peace of Daisaku Ikeda. Pete told me that Ikeda had an idea that world peace could be achieved through individuals transforming their lives.

I was interested in peace, possibly because I did not know peace. My family was not happy. My parents fought constantly. It was not a home of love or trust or nurturing. In fact our friends told us that some of the worst times of their lives were when they visited us. I longed to live in a place of happiness but had no idea what that looked like.

My family moved a lot, always because of my father's career. We followed him wherever his career took him. I went to five different grade schools, two junior highs and two high schools.

Also I had no peace internally. I was sick constantly. My body was at war with itself. At the time I did not know the name but I have Crohn's disease. My body is allergic to my own digestive tract and tries to expel my intestine.

Pete and his new Buddhist friends taught me about Ikeda's ideas. And so I started my own practice. Unlike today there were no activities for children so I tried to go to the regular meetings, often hitch-hiking for hours across Los Angeles, even at night. My parents, of course, were vaguely concerned, but too preoccupied by their own troubles to pay much attention.

In those days the members would go to Japan for pilgrimage to the head temple. But when they came back they mostly talked about Ikeda. They would talk about how happy Ikeda was; they even said he glowed. I tried to learn from them more about Ikeda's ideas, but I had my doubts about the glowing bit.

I wanted to go with them to Japan and meet Ikeda, but they always said I was too young or I was too sick. Also it cost a huge amount of money and, of course, I had no money.

Now the bizarre part of the story begins. I heard that Ikeda-Sensei was coming to America. I was over-joyed. Finally I would meet him. Then my father told me he was going on sabbatical. My parents were going to the Middle East and Europe for a year and I had to go with them.

My joy was immediately crushed. I thought I must be the most unfortunate person alive. Ikeda was coming to Los Angeles and I would have to leave. Of course, most young people would be very happy at the idea of travelling around the world for one year. Today that would be a dream for me. But at that time, for me, it was my worst nightmare come true.

I phoned a guy I knew who worked at the organization's headquarters. He said Keith, you have to go to Europe. You can not live on your own in L.A. He said, next April, go to Paris. He gave me an address, 64 rue du Lycee, Sceaux, France.

So I received my own gohonzon and I graduated from high school early and I flew to meet my parents in Israel. In a tiny shop in Jerusaleum, once a Crusader's horse stall, Arabs sewed me a container to protect my Gohonzon. I travelled all over north Africa and Europe with my quarrelling parents. I was lonely and sick and scared.

Then in April 1972 I left my parents in Geneva and got on a train to Paris. I spoke no french, did not know anyone and only had my gohonzon and few American dollars. And I had this address my friend had given me. It was the headquarters of Soka Gakai in France. I went there and a man met me. He naturally asked what was I doing there. I said I have come from America to meet Ikeda-Sensei. He said, “Sensei is not coming.” I said, “that is ok, I will wait for him.”

So I found a tiny place to stay. Most every day I went to this place in Sceaux. I had very little money and the place where I stayed took most of what I had and so survived on one loaf of Baguette a day.

I was hungry, lonely and sickly. When I wasn't at Sceaux I either chanted or slept or wandered the streets of Paris. I saw many beautiful things. I loved the museums, parks, monuments, libraries, streets, everything. I am a bit odd, as you probably know, but although weak I had a passion inside. Something burned in me, despite me.

I met another man at the place in Sceaux. He was a doctor and the leader of the French organization. He spoke English very well and asked me why I was there. I told him I wanted to meet Ikeda-Sensei. Unlike the first man, the doctor said, “great, please help us!” I liked the doctor better.

And so, in my own stumbling, clumsy way, I tried to help the French members prepare for Sensei's arrival. Likely I caused more problems then help.

Finally Sensei and his wife were coming. The French put me in a room where I could chant. There was a big room upstairs that Sensei would have a meeting. They put me in a small room downstairs that Sensei would not go.

After the big meeting Sensei and Mrs I came into the small room where I was. He walked up to me and shook my hand. He was so happy. He glowed, just like the members said. I'd never seen anyone so happy to be where he was, in the moment. He moved with his wife with incredible grace and beauty, like a beautiful dance.

Now I will tell you why he was there. As you know Sensei has conducted dialogues with the greatest thinkers of our time. Together with dozens of great scholars and philosophers he has written many books. The dialogues are all about how to create a peaceful world. Through these dialogues Sensei and those great thinkers have identified the necessary steps out of the crises our planet faces. Over 1600 dialogues have created a kind of philosophical and practical structure for transforming humanity's destiny. Our bookstore has many of those books. If you are interested in the future of our society and our planet I heartily recommend you visit our bookstore and talk with Bokin and Sachiko and start learning.

The first of those dialogues was with the great British historian Arnold Toynbee. All the dialogues and collaborations and public work for peace that SGI engages in today grew out of that first dialogue with Toynbee. Their discussions have been translated into 28 languages. Ikeda-Sensei first met Arnold Toynbee in May of 1972 in London, england. Before going to London to meet Toynbee, Sensei and Mrs I came to Paris for one week to prepare, to celebrate May 3 and to celebrate their anniversary. It was his first May 3^rd outside Japan.

At the time I knew none of this. All I knew was he and I were together in this amazing city of light. I spent a week with Ikeda and his wife. We did gongyo together every day. In my own stumbling, clumsy way I fought with all my might for that week to help him. His secretary, a man named Harada who is now president of Soka Gakkai, assigned me various tasks. People came from all over Europe and Africa to meet him. He and Mrs I tirelessly encouraged members and non-members, children and VIPs. Mrs I put on a simple, beautiful kimono and they visited the Louvre. One morning after gongyo Sensei patiently taught two hundred people how to perform the Japanese tea ceremony. And all the while he quietly prepared for Toynbee. During that week I made a pledge. I decided that whatever else I did with my life I would try to help him in his work and protect him from his enemies. I was seventeen years old.

After that experience I returned to Los Angeles. I thought my life would soar, but actually my life declined in every respect from that time. My health deteriorated severely. Finally I had surgery and they removed a huge portion of my intestine. I was in the hospital for over six months. I lost my job and dropped out of university. I lost my girl friend. I lost my car. I started stealing things to sell. I was thrown into jail twice.

I thought I was so smart, seen so much, done so much. But just like John Snow in Game of Thrones, I knew nothing. I was a mess.

Eventually I came to Calgary and met my one true love.

Now life is long and has many twists and turns and many ups and downs. I have done many stupid things and met many wonderful, interesting people and had many amazing experiences. I have seen great beauty and witnessed tremendous ugliness.

But not for one day, no matter how low or how high I've been, not for one day have I forgotten the pledge I made that spring in Paris. And in my own stumbling, clumsy way I have tried to be true to that decision. Hemingway was absolutely right – the feast has moved with me.

And very slowly, slower perhaps than necessary, I have built peace inside me. Together with the love of my life, my dearest Yoshiko, we have built a family and a home where people can come and be refreshed, be encouraged and find hope.

Last Tuesday, we celebrated Canada Day. Yoshiko and I had guests from Saskatchewan, a wonderful family. A beautiful man, his wife and three lovely bright children stayed at our place for a holiday. They are not members, never heard of SGI. But on Tuesday, Canada day, something happened. The man's mother passed away in Saskatoon. His celebration turned to anguish. His holiday in Alberta turned to regrets for not being with his mother. So we took him to our prayer room and together chanted and prayed and grieved and found hope.

Thank you for listening.  

On practicing the Buddha's teaching

I am very happy to join Heartwood district in studying “On Practising the Buddha's Teachings.” Thank you for inviting me. It gives me a chance to deepen my understanding of this wonderful writing and remind myself of why Sensei wants us to study it.

We began studying “On Practising the Buddha's Teachings” in October last year. So we are now in our sixth month. You may be deeply inside the writing by now, every month enriching your understanding. Or you may be tired of it – why do we have to study the same thing over and over? Wherever you are at, congratulate yourself if you are seriously using this opportunity to directly connect with Nichiren's words and to grasp Sensei's vision for our movement.

Thank you for this opportunity to refresh my practice through this important writing. In Sensei's introduction he mentions the crucial occasions that “On Practising the Buddha's Teachings” has been tapped. Mr Makiguchi used “On Practising the Buddha's Teachings” in the final section of his landmark book, “On Value Creation.” Toda-Sensei and Sensei too, used this writing often, notably at times when they were beginning something new, times of transition, times of initiation.

Nichiren wrote “On Practising the Buddha's Teachings” while in exile on Sado island. He wrote it soon after completing his monumental thesis “The True Object of Worship.” “On Practising the Buddha's Teachings” is also a thesis. It is not a letter to one follower. Letters of encouragement often have been given titles by later scholars. The original letter did not have a title, other than Letter to Nanjo, or Reply to Shijo Kingo. This is like letters we write. They normally do not have titles. Nowadays we write emails and give them subjects to distinguish one from another. So Nichiren scholars have assigned titles over the years to distinguish one letter from another.

“On Practising the Buddha's Teachings,” however is a thesis. It is written to the world. Nichiren himself gave its title. Let's spend a minute looking at the title.

“The Buddha's teachings” means the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra teaches the absolute conviction in our own Buddhahood and in the Buddhahood of everyone else. Each person possesses the inner capacity for transformation. Every person has the potentiality for wisdom, life-force, compassion. Every person is equally worthy of dignity and respect.

To practice the Lotus Sutra means to activate our own Buddhahood and to awaken others to their inner dignity and nobility.

You might think that practising means chanting and gongyo and such. You are wrong. This writing and others make it clear that practice means shakubuku. 

This writing. “On Practising the Buddha's Teachings” is about five pages in your Major Writings. Sensei wrote that he read it “countless times.” The postscript reads, “keep this writing with you at all times and read it over and over.” It clarifies that “Buddha's teaching” means only the Lotus Sutra and that “practising” means shakubuku. But it most of the thesis is concerned with another question – who is practising exactly as the Buddha taught? Whose actions are in accord with the Lotus Sutra? This question of who is at the core of this writing. Nichiren answers this question in two ways. First he identifies himself as the only one who practises exactly in accord with the Lotus Sutra.

Second he says that his followers could also be practitioners. So this second meaning is especially significant as we look to young people to inherit the mission for kosen-rufu.

Because Nichiren identifies these two practitioners – the teacher and the proteges, Ikeda-Sensei sees this writing as especially important to our understanding of the oneness of mentor and disciple.

How does Nichiren know that he is the only true practitioner of the Lotus? What is the criteria for identifying the practitioners? This is the question of this gosho and, I believe, the major question of our time. The answer can be found in the effect of the practice. The Lotus Sutra makes it clear that the practitioners will meet great and powerful enemies. Great forces will arise to block their path.

You might think that the proof of the practice is in wealth, health and benefit. You would be wrong. It is a mistake we make over and over. So and so can not tell their experience because they are having difficulties. Such and such a leader keeps their troubles hidden until the final happy ending. This kind of thinking is very pervasive. It contradicts Nichiren's words and actions.

It is something like the person with the broken leg who can not go to the doctor until his leg heals.

Makiguchi Sensei said that until we meet powerful enemies we can not call ourselves practitioners. We can only call ourselves followers.

Do we want to be Ikeda fans, Ikeda followers? Do we look to him to make us feel better, as a kind of spiritual salve for our wounds? Or do we want to be practitioners, fulfilling our mentor's great vision and living lives of depth and purpose?

Turning to this month's material, we find a discussion of shoju and shakubuku. The Daishonin states that shakubuku is the practice for this time.

Over the years a lot of words have been written and spoken about shoju and shakubuku. What actions get dropped into the shoju bucket? Which into the shakubuku bucket? Is shoju a 'softer' form of shakubuku? Sometimes we hear we should do something like shoju with shakubuku spirit. If we meet this 'kind' of person we should do one or the other.

Occasionally we may hear language like over here we do do shoju back over there they do real shakubuku. This language takes us out of our place. Or we hear something like, back in the day we sure did shakubuku, but now it is more like shoju. This language takes us out of our time.

The Daishonin's Buddhism is concerned with the issues of this time and place. And his writings make clear that shakubuku is the practice of this time and place. I, for one, am fairly easily distracted. It takes rigour and discipline for me to stay in the present moment and current place. Time and spaced shifting are traps well worth avoiding.

All these discussions about shoju and shakubuku are worthwhile, although occasionally confusing, and I am certain they will continue in the future.

Here are my thoughts: Shakubuku is compassionate action to awaken and activate others' great inner trans-formative power. This compassionate action is based on absolute conviction that both we and others are Buddhas. Shakubuku is behaviour that helps others elevate their own lives. This is what is means to practice.

Shakubuku is not informing another person about the existence of Nam myoho renge kyo. Nor is it bringing them to a meeting, or getting them to join a group, or having beads.

To practice as the Buddha teaches is assist others to awaken their inner nobility and dignity.

Too often the debate contains false choices between “hard” and “soft,” between “you can't push people” and “they will come to you,” between absolutism and tolerance. Shakubuku is compassionate action, based on absolute respect for others great potentiality to help them raise themselves.

Unfortunately chanting is not enough. We practice the mystic law, not the magic law. There are people in the world today who chant Nam myoho renge kyo and are actively engaged in trying to destroy the Buddha's teachings.

The gosho and sensei's lecture refer to provisional teachings. Provisional teachings are not in some distant place or ancient time. Provisional teachings are any philosophy that does not enhance life, that does not respect the equal potentiality of every person. Provisional teachings can include consumerism, authoritarianism, militarism and all manner of thinking that pervade our culture. Provisional teachings are here and now, within us and around us.

Gary Snyder on Aghan Buddhas

Impulses

The neighborhood called Watts is in the ghetto, the most distressed, depressed and underdeveloped area of south-central Los Angeles. Along with poverty, misery, and violent crime, Watts is the home of seventeen beautiful hand-made structures and towers. An Italian immigrant built the Watts Towers in his spare time over thirty years between the 1920s and 50s.

The towers have survived vandalism, abandonment, accusations of being communications relays for a Japanese invasion, neglect, demolition orders and the 1965 Watts riots.

In 1968 I was in Junior High. I joined a special class that was bussed for half the day to schools in different parts of town. The class was part of some experimental program in cross cultural sixties something-or-other. A bus picked up kids from three schools and deposited us all for classes at a fourth.
Each of the three was tougher than the last and the fourth school was toughest of all.

None of the schools were in areas as tough as Watts. I don't know if Watts even has schools. When you drive its streets children and school-aged kids wander about and play freely during the day.

I joined the program for several reasons – I'd get credits for traveling instead of sitting in a boring, mindless class. The class had the appeal of being alternative. And the magnetic Evie Paine was signed up. Evie was smart, lovely and had an innocent, intelligent curiosity. As I struggled with the end of childhood and the doubts of adolescence she offered the aspiration to something greater, something higher. Ahh, Evie Paine. I had to let her know I existed.

One day the class went on a field trip to visit the Watts Towers. Fun. Field trip.

The Towers were great. The hard material of urban decay - broken glass, scrap steel and mortar - spire into the sky. Hope and beauty rise out of waste. Thirty years of volunteer labour, using materials at hand and scavenged; they soar out of the ghetto and offer us life's eternal challenge: Can we do the right thing today with what we have today? The towers stand as proof that our answer matters.

Kids attract kids and the toughs of the neighbourhood hung around. A bit of jostling, attempts to touch the girls. I wandered a bit, away from the towers to a cross street. A couple of kids started hassling me.

Someone older got between us, someone with a name tag, telling me to go back to the group, not to fight. In fact, fighting those boys was furthest from my mind.

Things got worse and we were sent to the bus. I went to my usual spot in the very back. There sat Evie. The neighbour kids started pelting the bus with rocks. Glass was flying from broken windows. I threw Evie to the floor. Rocks were coming in.

Just as I threw myself over her I saw my mates leaping from their seats, yelling for battle, charging to the door. Every single boy, but me. The driver stumbled up the stairs, blood flowing from his face and head and just closed the door before our boys went out.

In my adrenalin rush I managed several conflicting feelings. Fear. Joy at being the protector. And amazement. I was stunned by how the other boys reacted – so instinctual, so immediate and so opposite from me. How could I be so different? Thinking back, decades passed, I am still amazed. We each reacted by programming. Is mine so different?

The driver got the bus to the Watts police station and the long process of dealing with the incident began. Evie and I untangled and climbed up to our seat. She was still shaking. I held her. We eventually got back to our school and were met by officials and the principal and more police and reporters. I held her hand til the end.

official trailer of the film "I Build the Tower" the Watts Towers by Sim...

Bus 67

Perhaps there was a strike somewhere, or perhaps it was the normal Sunday schedule. Bus number 67 was full that September afternoon. In the front row sat a lovely couple of the generation and upbringing who, you could just tell, always dressed properly for going out. Both in tan overcoats, he wore a fedora and plaid scarf. She, a wool knit beret, black gloves and proper brown ankle boots. They sat contentedly, chatting quietly, apparently immune to the fatigue and alienation that afflicts bus passengers around the world.

We climbed aboard the 67 at the Nation stop, fighting through our bags and carry-ons to swipe our tourist transit passes on the ticket scanners. The couple looked up at us with simultaneous bright smiles. He started to get up and point to his seat, but we shook our heads, no, thank-you. I threw our carry-ons onto a small rack. They couple shuffled closer against the window trying to make room for one of us.

The phrase book would be a waste, so with body language, hand signals and a few mispronounced words we tried to explain that we wanted to stand. We chose to take the bus, not the faster metro, so we could see everything, not miss a moment, a street scene or, if lucky, an encounter.

Their smiles brightened and warmed. They spoke to us and occasionally pointed out the window. We did not understand.

Later we talked about the lovely elderly couple and invented stories about where they were going. Visiting grandchildren? Were a few sweets in her handbag? They would not be going shopping as most stores closed Sundays. To or from church?

My inventions grew more elaborate. They were visiting his widowed elder sister in the 13th. His wife would make tea and clean the apartment while he'd attempt again to convince her to move somewhere she'd not be alone. “But I am alone, cher frère,” the sister always replied.

They got off the 67 just before Place d'Italie. He scampered down the stairs first, then offered his arm to help her down. We turned to look through the window. We watched, hoping to wave goodbye. A folded umbrella was in one arm; his love in the other. His chest was out, his chin was up. His step was light as he led her from the curb into the Autumn afternoon. This is how to take your girl out on a Sunday afternoon. This is how I've always taken my girl out.

Talk at World Peace Prayer, November 6, 2011

Good morning. It is a very long time since I spoke here. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to transform my destiny and develop good fortune by speaking about the priesthood issue and the spirit of the Soka Gakkai. I am very happy to hear that the Tuesday morning daimoku crew have been studying about these issues.

Talking about the priesthood issue is not some boring history lesson. Rather, it is about today and it is about tomorrow. It goes to the heart of our individual practice and it goes to the question of whether our movement will endure.

In your districts, for several months you've been studying Sensei's lecture on the gosho, Letter to the Brothers. The Ikegami brothers were faced with an intricate and extraordinarily cunning manifestation of fundamental darkness. What is fundamental darkness? It is the belief that one person is better then another person. It is the belief that one group is better than another group. That you are better than or worse than, others.

Fundamental darkness divides us, makes us feel unworthy, alienated, arrogant or diminished. In today's terms it is something like the Occupy Wall Street's 1% versus 99%.

By contrast, the Lotus Sutra teaches us that we all equally have the great inner potentiality of Buddhahood. We all equally have a tremendous energy within. That is the energy of transformation, of revolution and liberation.

Fundamental illusion says, no, you don't have that energy. You aren't good enough. The spirit of Soka is the spirit to fight that fundamental darkness, to believe in and stand up for ourselves and our communities and our world.

In “Letter to the Brothers,” Nichiren writes, “The great demon of fundamental darkness can even enter the bodies of bodhisattvas who have reached near-perfect enlightenment.” Sensei explains that this possession takes place, not from the outside but from within. His lecture reads, “They are defeated by the darkness that is innate to life itself....this devilish nature gives rise to the desire to control others, or even take others lives, and causes destruction and war.”

So Sensei identifies fundamental darkness with the desire to control or manipulate others. Fundamental illusion is the belief that your will, your needs, are more important than, the needs of others.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine met with some top youth leaders of SGI USA. He asked them the following question. “After Sensei's passing, how will you be certain that our movement continues to follow the path of kosen-rufu? How will you make sure we do not fall into corruption and lose our way? How will you know our members are being led correctly?”

Good questions, aren't they? Serious questions, worthy of serious consideration. In fact, I believe these are the only questions worth asking today. As Sensei comes to the end of his life, we need to be engaged in a earnest dialogue on this topic. I am sure those young people thought carefully about my friend's questions. One of the young leaders answered, “I believe in cause and effect. I will find the person who shows the most actual proof and follow that person.” Another answered, “I believe in unity. I will find the person who has the most followers and follow them.” A third answered. “I trust the organization. I will follow whomever is the president.”

My friend found these answers unsatisfactory. He could easily imagine a future where a charismatic leader, with a lot of fortune, becomes president and leads us all to ruin. So my friend went to the writings of Nichiren to find its answer. The gosho was very clear. It says that to identify the votary of the Lotus Sutra you must find the person, or persons, who fight against fundamental darkness at the risk of their own lives. The true practitioner is the one who challenges great enemies for the sake of the happiness and the equality of all.

The gosho reads, “if I do not call forth these three enemies of the Lotus Sutra, then I will not be the votary of the Lotus Sutra. Only by making them appear can I be the votary. And yet if I do so, I am almost certain to lose my life.” WNDI Pg 53

This is what the writings of Nichiren teach us about identifying the practitioners of the Lotus and this is the spirit of Soka, the spirit to defeat fundamental darkness, to fight unyielding for your own happiness and the happiness of others. It is to believe in others' potentiality for enlightenment even when they've lost that belief themselves. As a side note, you may find it difficult from time to time to maintain that belief. You may occasionally doubt your own dignity and potentiality, or you may come to doubt it in your boss, your partner or your district coordinator. When those times come, I suggest you plunge into activities with your fellow SGI members. Because together we are taking action based on the Soka spirit, even when as individuals we falter. Your happiness, your families happiness and the future of our movement, depend on this struggle.

I will share a tiny bit of my experience with you, not because I have a particular attachment to the past; I don't; but because I am concerned for the future.

When I was young I had a remarkable experience. I wanted to meet our great mentor more than anything. I wanted to meet him more than I wanted to live. I was a sickly, sad and lonely boy. Not much different than the man who stands before you. Amazingly I was even more obnoxious, more self-righteous and more pompous then, than now.

It is a long and bizarre story how I came to meet Ikeda Sensei. And I don't have time to tell it here. But at the age of seventeen, just out of high-school, I spent a week with the greatest philosopher of our age. It was in a suburb of Paris in May of 1972. Ikeda Sensei was there to prepare for his dialogues with the English historian, Arnold Toynbee. He and Mrs. Ikeda also celebrated their wedding anniversary and for the first time outside Japan he celebrated his inauguration as Soka Gakkai President on May 3. I was there looking for him and with all the passion and clumsiness and arrogance of my youth I tried to help him for that week. I witnessed how, with his every step and every breath, he worked to encourage others.

From that one week with our great mentor I decided that my life was worth living. And I made a determination and decided that I would try to support him and try to protect the great work he was engaged in.

Life is long and has many ups and downs and unexpected twists and turns. I came to Calgary. Here the organization was led by a charismatic man who had great mental powers and influence. Unfortunately he lacked the mentor-disciple relationship and subsequently did not understand the spirit of Nichiren's writings and the Soka Gakkai. He sought division between people instead of equality and ultimately he fell into ruin, wounding many people in the process.

For some reason, in those days, whenever the priests came to Calgary, I was tasked with taking care of them and making arrangements for their ceremonies and events. So I got to know quite a few of them over the years. And when the high priest Nikken came to visit Vancouver I went there to assist in that movement. I witnessed a few small incidents that revealed the true nature of the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood. For example, there was a labour dispute in the hotel that the priest was staying. We had to make a change in their schedule as a result. It was very minor, as I recall, like what door the high priest would exit from or something else quite trivial. We met the high priest at the elevator and someone explained the change to him. His response was a stream of expletives. Now, I understand a wee bit of Japanese but I was unsure of it meant. But I remembered what I heard and later asked Yoshiko. She said she'd only heard such language in grade B Japanese gangster movies.

Finally in 1990 and 1991, fundamental darkness manifest as the priests tried to destroy our precious organization and destroy our precious teacher. I fought with all my heart and all my energy and time to protect our organization in my own small way. I did everything I could to visit every member and communicate with people in the community and university to explain what was going on. I started to write to six people via the new technology of Internet. The six became more and more, until finally I was writing to over 2,000 people around the world.

Of course, together with Ikeda Sensei, the members of SGI won the battle with the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood. Our victory was so decisive that many people today are only vaguely aware of the 'priesthood issue' and what I speak of may sound like ancient history.

But I believe that our struggle with the Nichiren Shoshu priests was only a warm-up for far more difficult battles ahead. Fundamental darkness, the belief in power and control and division, has not been defeated. It is alive in our society and in our lives. As a community of great Bodhisattvas we must experience and confront these dark functions both inside and out. It will manifest again. And we must prepare with the Gosho and with a serious internal struggle. Thank you very much for listening to me.