On October 10 and 11, 2019, SGI study department vice-leader Hideyuki Takano conducted study lectures at SGM Culture Centre for the second time. For two days, the lectures were live-broadcasted to 60 venues around the nation and were attended by some 6,500 people.
In his congratulatory message, SGI President Ikeda said that “each and every one of you are the legitimate successors of Nichiren Daishonin ‘who have fulfilled the Buddha's words in the entire land of Jambudvipa.’” He further urged the participants to “continue advancing with hearts brimming with the courage of a lion king, conquer all devilish functions by chanting daimoku with the power of the lion’s roar, carry out your human revolution, which directly advances kosen-rufu and win!”
In the first lecture, Mr Takano used passages from “The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace”, currently serialised in FLOW, which contains Gosho passages and President Ikeda’s guidance, as study material to speak about the significance of strengthening Buddhist study. He encouraged the participants to uphold the spirit of “strengthening faith” instead of “increasing knowledge” when studying Buddhism. To be able to see through devilish functions is also one of the significances of studying Buddhism.
On the second day, Mr Takano conducted a study based on President Ikeda’s lecture on the Gosho “The Dragon Gate,” which is found in the The Hope-filled Writings of Nichiren Daishonin series. In the Gosho, Nichiren Daishonin used the examples of carps trying to scale the Dragon Gate waterfalls to become a dragon to illustrate the difficulty of attaining Buddhahood. Though the path of genuine Buddhist practice can be difficult, but as long as one makes a great vow for kosen-rufu and dedicates one’s life to achieving it, one can transform all challenges and difficulties into causes for Buddhahood and absolute happiness.
After attending the lectures, women’s division member Chow Siew Lian said that she learnt that devilish functions can be detected through strong faith. Young men’s division member Lim Ming Jeh said that he will not only strengthen his faith through study and practice, but also to let more people know about Nichiren Buddhism so that they too can achieve happiness.
