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Nov. 29, 2005 The Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist movement with 12 million members around the world is striving to create value across global boundaries. India-based Anuradha Leema believes that her recovery from ovarian cancer happened to her through her faith in Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. “ Faith gave me the courage and the life-force to face my illness cheerfully and optimistically,” says Leema. “Thanks to the strength that I gathered from my faith I was able to withstand each of the three chemotherapy sessions without experiencing any side effects whatsoever. After the 2nd chemotherapy session, the ultra sound test showed that the tumors on the left ovary had disappeared though residual tumors remained in the right ovary. After the 3rd chemotherapy session, the CAT Scan result that I received showed complete regression of all tumors. The tumors had completely evaporated. I experienced first hand, the validity of the words that "Faith in Nichiren Buddhism can cure what is thought to be incurable". In Mumbai Shyam Kaushal, a struggling actor in dire financial straits, developed pneumonia and a severe blurring of his vision that threatened to destroy whatever little career he had carved out for himself. Suffering also from sinusitis and a weak digestive system, he took up faith in Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. That, he believes, is what has helped to see him through his worst crisis. Now having completely recovered his health Kaushal says “My faith was the ship that helped me cross the sea of suffering. I believe that I have a mission in my life – to spread peace, culture and education through my vocation which happens to be acting. As I continue on my journey through the ups and downs of life, there is one thing that remains constant- my faith.” Adil Mishra, a rich kid residing in Mumbai’s affluent locality where the filmstars live, had everything anyone could want in life. A great family, good educational qualifications, rich-kid friends and a rocking life. However that also led him to be addicted to alcohol and to soft drugs like marijuana and to a life inclined to fun without responsibility. His mother however was determined that her son’s life wouldn’t be wasted and after taking faith in Nichiren Buddhism inducted her son into the practice. Today the former drug addict is a responsible and high earning advertising executive, who has not just transformed himself into a rock-hard bodybuilder but is also spreading the message of peace, non-violence and the errors of substance-abuse. These major life transformations have occurred thanks to a Buddhist philosophy called Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. Over 12 million believers around the world are now gathered under the umbrella of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), an organization that propagates a democratic form of Buddhism that does away with priests. These lay believers believe that the fundamental resolution of individual problems lies in taking responsibility for one’s life (which implies a belief in cause and effect) and stresses the importance of living life in synchronicity with the positive rhythms of the universe. Members of the Soka Gakkai strive to achieve the most fruitful results in their jobs, in their personal lives and in their relationships based on the principle of respect for and the sanctity of all life. Ceaseless striving on a day-to-day basis for a better, higher quality of life is what exemplifies the Soka Gakkai practitioner. Founded in Japan in 1930, the Soka Gakkai was intended as a Buddhist organization for value-creation in society. Its founder Tsunesaburo Makiguchi was a school teacher who wanted to reform the Japanese system of education along humanistic lines in order that the state might produce model citizens. Citizens who live out of a sense of fundamental mission in society and in life. His successor Josei Toda advocated strongly against war and Toda’s successor, the current president of the SGI, Sensei Ikeda, now 77 years old, advocates a peaceful, terror-free world where human beings cross geographical and communal boundaries to unite in the spirit of a common humanity. Yet the essential religious practice traces to a 13th century Japanese monk called Nichiren Daishonin whose legacy lives to this day and whose wisdom in founded on the basis of Gautama Buddha’s teachings. In India over 20,000 members are affiliated to the Soka Gakkai and carry out their daily activities based on Buddhist faith and study. While worldwide celebrities affiliated to the Soka Gakkai include actress Tina Turner, musicians Herbie Hancock and the late Miles Davis as well as Italian footballer Roberto Baggio. These celebrities find that Buddhism helped them weather personal ups and downs and retain a positive and whollyu benign outlook on life. Says Indian television actor Vinay Jain “I always felt that there had to be more to life than simply earning a living and having a good time with the money one earned. Buddhism gave my life meaning and helped me move from a solely self-centred viewpoint to one that seeks good for others and aims to share other people’s sufferings.” It is apparently a source of great strength during times of crisis, since Soka Gakkai practitioners rally around each other during times of difficulty, with Buddhist faith as their centrepoint. All over the world, millions of Soka Gakkai members from diverse professional fields are looking at life through a different perspective. They comprise actors and actresses, journalists, advertising and television executives, people in the media, accountants, doctors, lawyers, seamen, college professors as well as housewives, to name but a few vocations, Members meet in small groups of 15-20 people at least once a fortnight at discussion meetings where concepts of Buddhism are discussed as are ways to approach personal issues within members’ lives from the viewpoint of Buddhism. Also these meetings serve as a focus group from where Buddhist concepts of non-violence and peace and the creation of value seek to fan out into the larger society. This is witnessed by the Soka Gakkai sponsored exhibitions and cultural events that span the globe. Says the current President of the SGI, Daisaku Ikeda: “There is nothing ‘magical’ about our practice. However it is based on certain beliefs and prime among these is that of collective good. While each person must face his unique destiny in his own way, making noble causes in one’s life leads to consequent salutary effects both within and without. And there is no better moment to start than the present.” Members attuned to this practice have achieved wonderful breakthroughs with their existential problems whether it is mending bridges with a tough mother-in-law or alcoholic husband or even problem children. Health problems are also seen to be resolved victoriously by SGI members. Recently Alka Agarwal, an SGI—India member attested to the fact that her husband who was on life support systems in the ICCU of a Mumbai hospital, recovered almost entirely due to her intense faith in the practice and members’ support. “The doctors had given up on my husband and came out to tell me the bad news. But despite their adverse prognosis, I never gave up and my faith gave me the courage to continue fighting for my husband’s life.” Today her husband is back to his former self and moving around once more, if a little under the weather currently. SGI leaders say that their movement is the “inner way” that leads to transformation of the external circumstances. “Faith and prayer are the healing sources of almost all true wisdom in the world and properly directed prayer can transform any external circumstance,” says Ikeda. He’s also a leader who believes in the most important issue for an individual is to lift his life-state (or life condition) through prayer and that the external circumstance then change accordingly and favourably. “It all starts with a determination to life one’s life state from the lower life conditions that most people live in to the higher life conditions and towards human enlightenment,” he says. Ikeda is also a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and often cites Gandhi’s life as the epitome of the enlightened life in action. “Gandhi’s life was a life based on inner transformation but it also had a strong resonance in the outer world – he lead an entire nation to freedom from the chains of oppression and tyranny. Gandhi’s philosophy of peace and non-violence is the way we, as Buddhists, would like to view the world. A philosophy that is non-violent, pacifist and aimed against injustice, for the collective good.” Yet, even as the Soka Gakkai fights for world peace through the forum of dialogue – President Ikeda has met up and had fruitful discussions on the subject with intellectuals like Mikhail Gorbachev, Arnold Toynbee, Rajiv Gandhi, John Kenneth Galbraith in the past – the crux of the movement remains at the grassroots level. “I want each and every person in this world to be happy and lead a peaceful existence,” declares Ikeda, in his writings. A grand dreamer, you might say? Well, he’s also the man who has made one of the greatest contributions to that cause in recent times. (Names of individuals have been changed to protect their privacy) ------------ Email Ashish Virmani: virmaniashish@hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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