Quotes from Daisaku Ikeda

There are some among the so-called elite who are overbearing and arrogant. I want to foster leaders, not elitists.

Present effects are due to karmic causes from the past. However, future effects arise from the causes we make in the present. It is always the present that counts.

If you become deadlocked,return to the prime point.

Buhhdism is wisdom. As long as we have wisdom, we can put all things to the best use, we can turn everything in the direction of happiness.

Hope is life's greatest treasure. If you have no hope, create some!

Love that would] break open the hard shell of my lesser self.

One cannot, without reflection, make some into bearers of goodness and others into miscreants, judging them by relative positive or negative criteria. These, like everything else, change according to historical circumstances, the character of a society, the time and subjective points of view.

Human wisdom has advanced to the point where man can construct satellites. And yet man in his wisdom cannot find a way to rescue and old woman in Vietnam from her tragic plight. We can't wait to find out what the pockmarked face of the far side of the moon loks like, but we have no time to consider what meaning those wrinkles of sorrow etched deep into tha face of an old woman may have for us

The willingness to challenge hardships taps the power within human beings to transform even a place of tragedy into a stage for fulfilling one's mission.

In most cases,our so-called limitations are nothing more than our own decision to limit ourselves.

In other words, that works of history are mere collections of facts. It is fiction alone that can show us the true nature of human beings

changing the destiny of one individual in the word today, it becomes possible to change the destiny of all mankind

Also, times when you are suffering intensely, when you don't know what to do or which way to turn, can become important opportunities for making great strides in your human revolution. If you tend to be easily discouraged, just refresh your determination each time that happens.

Only human beings have the ability to seek growth and self-improvement. We have the capacity to consciously change the direction of our lives, to enrich and deepen our lives instead of just allowing them to flow on aimlessly.

Without a solid sense of self, individuals will remain spiritually enslaved to the group, even if the social system changes.

A religion that cannot help people become happy and lead fulfilling lives cannot possibly realize world peace and free the world's people from suffering.

I therefore hope you will pray about your problems in front of the Gohonzon. When we take our problems to the Gohonzon and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, courage wells forth and hope begins to shine in our hearts. "Faith for overcoming obstacles" is the same as "prayer for overcoming obstacles" and "chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for overcoming obstacles.

It is senseless to blame others or your environment for your miseries. Change begins from the moment you muster the courage to act. When you change, the environment will change. The power to change the world is found nowhere but within our own life.

True leaders are those who can offer appropriate advice based on their own rich experience, not people who just give orders and are all words and no substance. Leaders are first people of action who lead by personal example. They are not people who merely occupy some status or position. Leaders are people of hard work, not people of tactics and maneuvering. Above all, they are not authoritarians.

When facing adversity, we may think we've reached our limit, but actually the more trying the circumstances, the closer we are to making a breakthrough. The darker the night, the nearer the dawn. Victory in life is decided by that last concentrated burst of energy filled with the resolve to win.

The name Soka Gakkai (literally "Value Creation Society") means an organization whose members are committed to creating supreme value and attaining the greatest happiness.

1. Become people who seek the truth, create value and possess wisdom and enthusiasm. 2. Do not cause trouble to others, and always take responsibility for your own actions. 3. Be considerate and polite, reject violence and value trustworthiness and cooperation. 4. Boldly speak out for your beliefs and act courageously for the sake of truth and justice. 5. Cultivate an enterprising spirit and become respectable leaders of Japan and the world.

Hardships make us strong. Problems give birth to wisdom. Sorrows cultivate compassion. Those who have suffered the most will become the happiest.

From ancient times, those systems of thought that merit the name 'philosophy' or 'religion' have developed an all-embracing worldview with at least two dimensions. The first is a theory of value, or ethics, that relates to how human life should be lived. The second is a theory of being, or ontology, which posits the structure of existence, or of the world.