Sensei's Daily Encouragement -February 15 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
February 15, 2026
 
Life is full of unexpected suffering. Even so, as Eleanor Roosevelt says: "If you can live through that [a difficult situation] you can live through anything. You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." That's exactly right. Struggling against great difficulty enables us to develop ourselves tremendously. We can call forth and manifest those abilities lying dormant within us. Difficulty can be a source of dynamic new growth and positive progress.
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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
February 15, 2026
 
All disciples and lay supporters of Nichiren should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with the spirit of many in body but one in mind, transcending all differences among themselves to become as inseparable as fish and the water in which they swim. This spiritual bond is the basis for the universal transmission of the ultimate Law of life and death. Herein lies the true goal of Nichiren's propagation. When you are so united, even the great desire for widespread propagation can be fulfilled.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 217
The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life
Written to Sairen-bo Nichijo on February 11, 1272
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
February 15, 2026
 
Endless striving is the only way to realize peace. Negligence resulting from over-confidence and satisfaction invites peril. Peace, once achieved, does not last forever by itself. It requires vigilance throughout all the activities of daily life.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (03 January 1958) p.374
 
Played Shogi (Japanese chess) with Sensei at the Rikyo-bo. Won one and lost one. I think this will be a deeply meaningful memory. Attended an evening discussion meeting with Osaka members. Must summon my life force – for the members, for my juniors – and earnestly dedicate myself for their sake. If I fail to do so, there is no reason for me to be with my mentor.
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -February 14 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

February 14, 2026
 
Strength is happiness. Strength is itself victory. In weakness and cowardice there is no happiness. When you wage a struggle, you might win or you might lose. But regardless of the short-term outcome, the very fact of your continuing to struggle is proof of your victory as a human being. A strong spirit, strong faith and strong prayer-developing these is victory and the world of Buddhahood.
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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
February 14, 2026
 
Whether you chant the Buddha's name, recite the sutra, or merely offer flowers and incense, all your virtuous acts will implant benefits and roots of goodness in your life. With this conviction you should strive in faith.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin,
On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime
Written to Toki Jonin in 1255
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
February 14, 2026
 
A shallow person will have only shallow relationships. Real love is not one person clinging to another , it can only be fostered between two strong people secure in their individuality. Antoine de Saint- Exupery, author of The Little Prince wrote in a work called Wind, Sand and Stars, "Love is not two people gazing at each other, but two people looking ahead together in the same direction."
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (01 January 1958) p.373
 
Woke up, 7:00. Physically and spiritually exhausted. Yet, I am throbbing with the awareness and determination that I am about to embark upon my thirties.
…
At 9:00, greeted Sensei at his home in Meguro. Nothing could be greater than the youth division leaders' pride and joy upon welcoming the New Year with their mentor.
 
Sensei seemed in high spirits. Want to develop such faith that I will never leave him throughout my life. There is no other life for me.
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -February 13 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
February 13, 2026
 
Remembering things about a person is an expression of compassion and concern. Forgetfulness shows a lack of compassion, a lack of responsibility.
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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
February 13, 2026
 
Because I chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with my own mouth, I have been reviled, struck, exiled, and had my life threatened. However, in spite of all this, I have continued to exhort others to do likewise. Am I not then a votary of the Lotus Sutra?"
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 892
No Safety in the Threefold World
Written to Matsuno Rokuro Saemon on February 13, 1278
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 Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
February 13, 2026
 
Henry David Thoreau, a renowned American Renaissance thinker, wrote in his journal: "Nothing must be postponed. Take time by the forelock. Now or never! You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment." We shouldn't put anything off but seize the moment, living with all our being in the present. If we do that, he says, each moment will become eternity.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (31 December 1957) p.370
 
An eternal goodbye to my twenty-ninth year. May I live gloriously in my thirties. It has been a difficult year. It may have been a losing battle. This coming year, I will definitely win and make a fresh start toward a splendid life. Farewell, 1957! Mount Fuji stands undaunted, as always, against the bitter wind. 
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -February 12 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
February 12, 2026
 
The important thing is to hold firm to your beliefs without being influenced or swayed by what others do or say. Those who live this way are strong and free of regret. What matters most is how you lead your life - not what those around you are doing.
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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
February 12, 2026
 
Thus faith is the basic requirement for entering the way of the Buddha. In the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice, the first ten stages, dealing with faith are basic, and the first of these ten stages is that of arousing pure faith. Though lacking in knowledge of Buddhism, a person of faith, even if dull-witted, is to be reckoned as a person of correct views. But even though one has some knowledge of Buddhism, if one is without faith, then one is to be considered a slanderer and an icchantika, or person of incorrigible disbelief.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 141
The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra
Recipient unknown; written on January 6, 1266
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
February 12, 2026
 
You may have fundamental questions about yourself and your identity: Who am I? What should I do with my life? It is quite natural to feel unsure about the best way to proceed. If you haven't yet decided on your future course, I feel the best thing is just to concentrate your energies on what you need to do right now, and gradually your full potential will emerge.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (28 December 1957) p. 369
 
I will only be twenty-nine for a few more days. Soon I will be thirty. I can no longer go on being a spoiled child. Must study. Must develop my true ability. Must fight.
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With each year's passage, I feel my responsibility deepen. Another year of Sensei's lectures and of advancing my own study has ended. As I look back, I keenly sense my growth this year. Deeply, powerfully, toward revealing the actual proof of the inconspicuous benefit of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism.
 
Will climb the coming year's new slope.
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -February 11 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
February 11, 2026
 
The moment we resolve "I will become healthy!" "I will become strong!" "I will work cheerfully for kosen-rufu!" our lives begin to move in that direction. We have to make up our minds.
Events
1900 Josei Toda, the Soka Gakkai's second president, is born.
1996 Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research founded by SGI President Ikeda in Tokyo; offices opened in Hawaii in 1997.
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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
February 11, 2026
 
Shakyamuni Buddha who attained enlightenment countless kalpas ago, the Lotus Sutra that leads all people to Buddhahood, and we ordinary human beings are in no way different or separate from one another. To chant Myoho-renge-kyo with this realization is to inherit the ultimate Law of life and death. This is a matter of the utmost importance for Nichiren's disciples and lay supporters, and this is what it means to embrace the Lotus Sutra.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 216
The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life
Written to Sairen-bo Nichijo on February 11, 1272
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
February 11, 2026
 
There was a word that second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda often stressed with the fervent wish to impart its importance to his successors. That word was courage. He once gave this clear-cut guidance: " The essence of Buddhism is compassion. We, too, need to have compassion but, being ordinary mortals, the reality is that it is quite difficult for us. Courage substitutes for compassion. I am speaking of the courage to save others from suffering. To practice Buddhism with courage translates into compassion."
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (27 December 1957) p.368/369
 
In the afternoon, a Daibyakurenge panel discussion in the conference room at the headquarters. The topic. "Remembering High Priest Nichiko Hori." My voice was weak, perhaps due to fatigue. Had difficulty speaking.
Our voices reflect the state of our bodies and minds. Our speech reveals the power of our lives. The voice is important. Ancient texts speak of demons and evil spirits that devour people's voices. I believe such (vocal) problems cannot be solved by medicine alone. I think they are problems of our entire being.
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -February 10 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
February 10, 2026
 
Kosen-rufu is a supreme, golden path extending throughout the Latter Day of the Law into the eternal future. Let us continue to advance boldly and intrepidly along this path as Nichiren Daishonin teaches. This is the way world peace will be accomplished. If we do not widely spread the principles and ideals of the Daishonin's Buddhism, there will be no hope for the peace and happiness of humankind.
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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
February 10, 2026
 
If even Shariputra, the foremost in wisdom among the disciples of the Buddha, failed to understand people's capacity, then how much more difficult must it be for ordinary teachers today, in the Latter Day of the Law, to have such an understanding! Ordinary teachers who lack an understanding of people's capacity should teach only the Lotus Sutra to those who are under their instruction.
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 49
The Teaching, Capacity, Time, and Country
Recipient unknown; written on February 10, 1262
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
February 10, 2026
 
Nichiren explains that to know oneself is to know all things in the universe. When you change, your environment changes, too. When your inner resolve changes, everything is transformed. This principle is summed up by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's maxim,
 "Nothing's outside that's not within."
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (26 December 1957) p.368
 
It has been seven years since Sensei assumed the presidency, and his goal of 750,000 member households had been fulfilled. What should be the youth division goal? As a first step, it is our destiny to gather 100,000 young men, as Sensei stated in his essay, "Youth, Be Patriotic." It's up to me. Until then, I will resolutely battle the devil of illness. Can only pray for Sensei's recovery.
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Sensei's Daily Encouragement -February 9 2026- Year of Vibrant Growth for a Youthful Soka Gakkai Worldwide

  

Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda
February 9, 2026
 
There is no place in the SGI for cowards or for egoists who are given to arbitrary or self-serving views. Our movement has no need for the fainthearted, filled with doubt, who readily succumb to negative influences. Let us strive for the Law and live with dignity as proud members of the SGI! The 21st century shall be the essential phase of our movement. Bathed in the brilliant light of dawn, let us take our places on that golden stage and lead truly magnificent lives!
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From The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
February 9, 2026
 
What good karma must you have formed in the past, then, to have been born a person able to recite even so much as a verse or a phrase of the Lotus Sutra!"
 
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 69
The Recitation of the "Expedient Means" and "Life Span" Chapters
Written to Hiki Daigaku Saburo Yoshimoto's wife on April 17, 1264
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Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda
February 9, 2026
 
You must never slacken in your efforts to build new lives for yourselves. Creativeness means pushing open the heavy door to life. This is not an easy struggle. Indeed, it may be the hardest task in the world. For opening the door to your own life is more difficult than opening the doors to the mysteries of the universe.
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Excerpt from Daisaku Ikeda - A Youthful Diary (26 December 1957) p.368
 
Took a taxi from home. Think of the cab fare as a medical expense for maintaining my health.
Sensei is profoundly ill. I, too, am ill. Regrettable.
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