January 2009

President Delivers First Sermon of New Year

On January 7, President Nichiko Niwano delivered his first sermon of 2009 in the Great Sacred Hall at Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters in Tokyo. Some 3,800 members gathered there to hear him speak and rededicate themselves to their religious practice throughout the year.

The service began with 16 young women members from the western Tokyo dissemination area bringing offerings to the altar before the image of the Eternal Buddha. Then President-designate Kosho Niwano led the gathering in the sutra recitation, and Rev. Yasutaka Watanabe, chair of the board of trustees, offered a New Year's greeting.

After two members then testified to their experience of the faith, President Nichiko Niwano gave his sermon and displayed two hanging scrolls--one bearing the word "gassho" (clasping the hands in prayer) and the other "renge" (lotus flower) in traditional Japanese calligraphy. He explained that the "lotus" of the Lotus Sutra symbolizes the possibility of human beings creating a beautiful life for themselves amid a world of suffering just as the lotus in a muddy pond produces a beautiful flower by absorbing nutrients from the mud. He offered members this thought as guidance for the new year.

The service was relayed by satellite TV to all Rissho Kosei-kai Dharma Centers throughout Japan, and traditional rice porridge with seven kinds of spring herbs in it was served to people for free at the entrance of the Great Sacred Hall.

January 7, 2009

[back to News Archive]