"All these things I have done solely to repay the debt I owe to my parents, the debt I owe to my teacher, the debt I owe to the three treasures of Buddhism, and the debt I owe to my country. Fo their sake I have been willing to destroy my body and to give up my life, though as it turns out, I have not been put to death after all." (WND, 728)I'll also never forget my third anniversary of practice, August 24, 1950. That night, it was suddenly announced that Mr. Toda would resign as general director of the Soka Gakkai. I was stunned. I later went to Mr. Toda and asked: "If you resign as general director, who will be my mentor?" He replied with a smile: "Though I cause you nothing but hardship, I am your mentor."
At the time, Mr. Toda's businesses were facing their greatest crisis. Some people cursed him, and many of his employees deserted him. But for me, he was my one and only mentor. No matter what the circumstances, a mentor remains a mentor. To me, Mr. Toda's greatness could never be diminished, and I fought tirelessly based on that firm conviction."
(SGI President Ikeda's speech at the fifth session of the Nationwide Executive Conference, held on August 8, 2007, attended by regional leaders as well as national divisional representatives)
No comments:
Post a Comment