Guidance from Sensei Toda

Guidance from Sensei Toda

"A Soka Gakkai women's division leader once asked second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda what was most important when talking to others and trying to communicate the greatness of the Mystic Law to them. He replied with a question of his own: 'What is the most important thing in life and faith?'

"Uncertain as to how to respond, the leader remained silent.

"'It is conviction,' replied Mr. Toda. 'When you read newspaper stories about people who have been defeated in life, it's because they have lost conviction. As practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism, therefore, we must always prize and value above all the absolute conviction demonstrated by the Daishonin.'

"On another occasion, Mr. Toda also said: 'You truly are a person of strong faith if you have the deep-seated conviction that everything will be fine because you have the Gohonzon, that you will be okay because you chant to the Gohonzon. You know you don't need to worry about having to do this or that, or how things are going to turn out. You uphold the Gohonzon. You chanted before it this morning, you are upholding it now. If you have the conviction that your life will be all right, then it will. From today, adopt that attitude. There isn't the slightest doubt that you will become happy.'

"In this way, Mr. Toda stressed the importance of having absolute conviction in faith.

"Nichiren Daishonin provided a powerful example of this kind of unshakable conviction -the belief that we can overcome any suffering and transform it into something positive through faith in the Mystic Law. He taught a path of boundless hope. And we of the SGI are following the Daishonin's lead." 

President Ikeda - 

Learning from the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin: The Teachings for Victory , [48] 'Reply to the Lay Priest Takahashi,'