More on Ikeda | Resignation | His essay about assuming the Presidency | Nittatsu35th Anniversary Speech

I Typed this in from the WT article, back a few years ago. More recently I modified the format for increased readibility and to make it flow better with other pages. It also is out there now on other websites. I feel that this article makes a good companion piece to others. It illustrates the personal way President Ikeda sees the so called "Temple Issue" thinks about things, and also the way he presents himself to others. I don't want to break the flow of the essay, so I've reproduced it in its entirety with all comments related to here or the bottom of the pages -- or to embedded links. This was one of the first webpages I created, it forms a companion peace with His essay about assuming the Presidency and the "Thirty Fifth Anniversary Speech" which he gave in 1990 and which sparked the overt phase of his conflict with the priests. I've reformated it recently. I hope that makes it easier to read.

STORMY APRIL 24

In this essay, President Ikeda remembers April 24th, 1979, the day 20 years ago when he resigned as Soka Gakkai President. A conspiracy of priests and traitors was pushing him out, and the top leaders were too weak to protect him. He was left to wonder, ‘Where was the Gakkai spirit, that they should have allowed themselves to be so overcome by circumstances?’

Recently I received a kind message of support from a well-known scholar. He said:

"With the phenomenal growth the Soka Gakkai has achieved today. I am sure you face many challenges and difficulties. It is truly impressive that the Soka Gakkai has become one of the prime movers of Japan.1"

"Knowing you suffered from a weak constitution in your youth, I worried for your health. But watching you over the decades, as you have tirelessly proceeded to complete one momentous undertaking after another, I have only the greatest respect and admiration for you."

Another very well known figure also wrote me a letter of encouragement:

"I applaud your unrivaled achievement of building a great force of peace. No one, either before or after World War II has accomplished anything of this importance"

"You have achieved what you have as an ordinary citizen, not as a political leader or a person of privileged background. Even taking into the fact that you had a great mentor like Josei Toda, what you have achieved is truly without precedent. Moreover you have endured unending criticism and insult, and you have endured unending criticism and insult, and you have repulsed the plots and attacks of your opponents."

"You have not limited yourself to the narrow confines of Japan but have made the world the stage for your activities. Your global endeavors, your broad vision and your initiatives for peace will without a doubt go down in history."

And a distinguished person whom I have been friends with for many years also wrote me:

"It can only be a miracle. The towering work of art – the great and unprecedented achievement – which you have accomplished, while enduring envy and scorn and receiving not a word of praise, would have been lauded by Napoleon and Hugo."

April 24th, 1979. That was the day I stepped down as third Soka Gakkai president, a position that I had held for 19 years, and became honorary President. When they heard the announcement, members all across Japan – indeed all around the world – were left stunned and speechless.

Behind my sudden resignation were the insidious tyranny of Nichiren Shoshu and a plethora of attacks on the Gakkai by traitorous members, who had renounced their faith and joined forces with scheming priests at the head temple. They contrived plots and persecutions for my destruction beyond the power of words to describe. These morally bankrupt individuals, who had completely abandoned all that is good and just, continue to this day to devise foul schemes against me, hoping to vent their twisted rage. I’m sure this is something all of you know.

Nichiren Daishonin often cites the Lotus Sutra passage:

"There will be many ignorant people who will curse and speak ill of us"(Lotus Sutra page 193).

Being the object of such curses because of one’s efforts for Kosen-rufu is proof that one is a true practitioner of the Lotus Sutra. In "Letter from Sado" the Daishonin writes "Wise men and sages are tested by abuse." (The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Volume 1 page 38). Refusing to be deterred by abuse, false accusations and scorn is the very mark of a person of true faith and practice.

Each time I heard of the suffering, anguish and indignation caused my dear comrades by the cruel oppression of bestial priests, my heart bled. Many nights, the pain in my heart was so intense that I could not sleep.

To protect my sincere fellow members, I sought with all my being to find a way to forge harmonious unity between the priesthood and lay believers. But all my efforts looked as if they would come to naught when a top Soka Gakkai leader -–who later quit and renounced his faith – made inappropriate remarks.2 The Gakkai’s enemies, who were waiting all along to destroy us, pounced eagerly. The priests raised an uproar and demanded that I take responsibility for this person’s words.

I agonized over the situation. I knew that I had to prevent further suffering from being inflicted on our members and to protect tem from the persecutions of the priests. Mr. Toda had said that the Soka Gakkai was more precious than his own life. The Gakkai is an organization that follows the Buddha’s intent and decree to the letter; it is dedicated to the happiness of the people, the propagation of Buddhism and World Peace.

My resolve to take all of the blame on myself and resign the presidency gradually grew firm within me. For several years, I had already been thinking that I should make way for a successor.

One day, I asked the top leaders of the Soka Gakkai,

"Do you think my resignation would settle the problem?"

There was a painful silence. Then someone spoke:

"You can’t go against the flow of the times."

The atmosphere of the room froze. A sharp pain tore through my heart.

Even if all the members urged me not to, I was willing to bow in apology, if it would bring an end to the turmoil. And in fact my resignation may have been unavoidable.

I also knew how exhausted everyone was, due to the long, defensive battle in which they had all fought so hard.

But "flow of the times"!? It was the attitude, the state of mind underlying that utterance that so disturbed me.3. I could detect no trace of the fighting spirit to protect the Soka Gakkai with one’s life or the willingness to fight together with me, no matter the times or circumstances.

The Priesthood put pressures on the Soka Gakkai with the secret aim of disbanding it as a religious organization. Corrupt, evil individuals, including a treacherous Gakkai attorney4, had suggested this to them. Whether the Soka Gakkai leaders knew it at the time, they had allowed themselves to be entrapped by the nefarious strategies of the priests and members who had renounced their faith and betrayed the organization.

It was pitiful. I was completely at a loss for words.

Mr. Toda had told us all: "Protect the third president! Protect him as long as you live! If you do so, you will definitely be able to achieve Kosen-rufu!" Had the top leaders of the Soka Gakkai forgotten the spirit of their beloved mentor? How pathetically they had let themselves be defeated!

Where was the Gakkai Spirit, that they should have allowed themselves to be so overcome by circumstances?

In the midst of all of this, on April 12, I met Madame Deng Yingchao, the widow of Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, at the Guesthouse in Tokyo. As we parted, I told her that I had decided to resign.

"You mustn’t!"

she said, the smiling face of this great mother of the people suddenly growing stern.

"You are too young to resign. Above all you have the support of the people. As long as you have their support, you must not resign. You must not retreat even a single step!"

Those were the resolute words of a person who had lived through death-defying challenges and danger...5

That dark day, April 24th arrived. It was a Tuesday. Representative leaders from all over Japan had joyfully gathered at the Shinjuku Culture Center.

But what should have been a momentous meeting marking a fresh departure and the end of the first Seven Bells – seven seven-year periods of the Gakkai’s development from it’s founding in 1930 – became instead the announcement of my resignation and the appointment of a new president.

This news came as a surprise to the majority of leaders. I entered the hall halfway through the meeting, and cries rose from the audience:

"Sensei, don’t resign!" "Sensei, remain as our President!" "All our members are waiting for you!"

Their faces were clouded with anxiety. Afterward, people who attended the meeting declared angrily that there had never been a darker, more cheerless Soka Gakkai meeting.

I said with firm conviction:

"I won’t change in the least..6 Do not worry! I am Mr. Toda’s direct disciple! Right will win out in the end!"

This far, far too bitter day
I will never forget
The dusk presses in
I walk alone."7

This is a poem I recorded in my diary that day, April 24.

When I got home and told my wife that I had resigned, she greeted me with a smile, just as she always did, without asking a single question. With her usual, imperturbable composure, she said: "Is that so? Thank you for all your hard work."..8

End of Article

This was transcribed from:
World Tribune May 14th 1990, speach by President Ikeda published as "thoughts on The New Human Revolution" in the Seikyo Shimbun. I got it from the World Tribune and painstakingly typed in each line. I have subsequently added formatting,html and footnotes. I haven't added many comments here as the essay is long enough.
Additional readings:
http:\\sokagakkai.or.jp\
My page on Ikeda
More on the Temple Issue
More links:
Send mail:Chris Holte | Return to Issues Index | Home page
His essay about assuming the Presidency
The Priesthoods complaints about his 35th Anniversary Speech

Footnotes and comments

World Tribune May 14th 1990, speach by President Ikeda published as "thoughts on The New Human Revolution" in the Seikyo Shimbun.

  1. We have no idea who the "well known scholar was". President Ikeda may indeed know such a person. He puts these comments in there to build the case for the righteousness of his positions. But they also show the loneliness of his leadership person. For advice he goes to Chou Enlai's wife? He constantly refers to these people in his speeches as paragons of virtue and sages about statecraft and wisdom. For people in the west these statements only seem worse than odd. continue?
  2. The leader who made the remarks was Genjiro Fukushima, who was then one of President Ikeda's Vice Presidents. However, he doesn't tell us that the remarks that got him into hot water with the priests were things that had been set down long before 1979. Ikeda doesn't mention that aside from Fukushima, Harashima, Yamazaki and countless other disciples who took the fall for what his religion was teaching, Nittatsu was angry for good reason and not simply hatching plots to make his life miserable or obstruct Kosenrufu. At the time of these problems Yamazaki was a Youth leader and had been directly trained by Ikeda. When Ikeda resigned, he was taking credit for remarks that tried to paint him as a Buddha and the master/disciple relationship and Kechimyaku Relationships as being the righteous property of the Sokagakkai to the exclusion of the parent religion which the Sokagakkai ostensibly was a member of. Ikeda is deceiving himself if he thinks that Genjiro Fukishima or Yamazaki were the only one who was at fault here. Those excesses were genuine. He should not have faulted "traitors" for tattling on him, but his own disciples for building him up so. The remarks refering to Ikeda as a Buddha were also into a booklet titled "Hi No Kuni" or "Land of Fire" back in 1963, which Nittatsu Shonin remarked on in one of his speeches. The remarks equating the Gakkai with the Kechimyaku were in a booklet titled the "Shoji Ichidaiji Kechimyaku sho" which I have a copy of and were Ikeda's own words. There were overt enemies of the SGI during that time and later, but Ikedas worst enemies were and are his synchophantic followers and, like all of us, himself. Among whom included the entire LDP party, the future Kenshokai, and the future Shoshinkai.continue?
  3. The leader who made the remarks about it being the "Times" to President Ikeda refers to was more than likely President Hojo (Fourth President of the Soka Gakkai). I was around at the time, and it seems to me that President Hojo was just speaking the truth about the times. Ikeda criticizes him here and also in the remarks recorded by the Priests in their complaint about his 35th anniversary speech. He is also the one who wrote a letter that said that eventually the Gakkai might have to break with Nichiren Shoshu on similar grounds as those of the Protestant Reformation. While it is true that President Ikeda had to take responsibility for the syncophantic and devious behavior of his disciples such as Fukushima and Yamazaki, it was partly his fault if he had such people following him. He hand picked each of them and doesn't seem to encourage much legitimate dissent. This comment proves that. It is hardly Hojo's fault for calling a spade a spade. President Ikeda was operating in the Japanese style and seeking consensus and backing. In that style of operation the guys at the top usually give suggestions to their subordinates, and the subordinates are expected to follow them. To him it might have seemed that his own disciples were no longer willing to back him, that they were somehow treacherous. However it could mean that just maybe the priests had a point and that Hojo Saw that point. That idea occured to us out in the rank and file, but not to him it seems. We bought his official apologies(at least I did). If he had really been interested in refuting "wrong doctrines" all he had to do was to take up the pen after resigning. To me this "consensus approach" is itself a dishonest one. But I see things from a very Western viewpoint. To me the escuse that an open break would hurt members is balanced by what lying does to people. He claims in his own writing that he figured he needed time to build a "ground" for establishing Buddhism on a firmer foundation. Japan is the place where the "Ronin" warriors took almost 20 years to hatch a plot to get vengeance over their wrongfully murdered lord. Relatively speaking President Ikeda is a forthright man. He eventually built the consensus to stand up to the priests -- but it took almost 13 years.continue?
  4. The treacherous attourney is named "Yamazaki". continue?
  5. President Ikeda's fascination with communists and words with Zou En Lai's wife scare me. That he should feel closer to her and to intellectuals and not have any living mentors says a lot about the structure of the Gakkai, then and now. The fact that if you compare organizations you see that the Communists are more democratic than the Gakkai is, scares me even more. They at least pretend to elect leaders. We put him on a pedestal and that creates a lonely man. We give him absolute power and what is the aphorism about absolute power?continue
  6. This comment about "not changing in the least" and that he is Toda's "direct disciple" bothered me when I first saw it, because at the time I felt that President Ikeda was making some real changes. His apology seemed genuine and I felt that it was needed in order to correct authoritarian and person centered abuses that were then occuring. Our organization had indeed become too centered on his person. I feel that he has his heart in the right place, but by encouraging people to follow him, he sometimes seems to be encouraging hero worship and syncophancy rather than true discipleship. But of course what he was referring to was his fighting spirit. Any other leader would have become part of the "window watching clan" and gradually died a spiritual death and gone into social oblivion. In Japan those who are hammered down rarely emerge again. But President Ikeda did well following his resignation and did an end run around the priest that created SGI international and enabled almost 8 million people to follow his example rather than follow the High Priest.continue
  7. This poem shows that he had a grudge against the injustices he had received. I'd like it better if he expressed a sense of gratitude towards the behavior of these people, because without their negative efforts certain incorrect teachings about the meaning of lineage and other matters might never have been challenged. Nichiren called both Hei No Saemon (who nearly had him executed) and Shofu-bo (who hit him in the face with a scroll of the sutra) his best friends and expressed gratitude towards them. While "never forgetting" is a good motto when it comes to struggling against evil influences, what he is really talking about here is something called "Uchi iri" which is not a Buddhist idea but is very typical of insular societies.. continue?
  8. I love the way that President Ikeda talks about his wife. She made similar comments when he became President in the first place. What a lovely woman! behind every great man is an even greater wife.
  9. I had a dialogue with Roy Boyce on ARBN that I have saved and made a web page about this subject. You can read it at this link: "boyce.html".

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