SGI-USA DENVER Culture Center

1450 North Speer Blvd, Denver, CO, 80204 Phone: 303-893-0430 Fax: 303-825-7336

Welcome to SGI-USA Denver!

Welcome to the SGI-USA Denver website. We are a Buddhist organization that practices Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. We are a part of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) that includes 193 countries and territories around the world and has more than 12 million people as of 2006.

SGI (value creation society) is dedicated to promoting peace, culture and education based on Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. In one of his earliest writings Nichiren states:

“If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured since time without beginning and to attain without fail unsurpassed enlightenment in this lifetime, you must perceive the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings. Chanting (Nam) Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth innate in all life.” WND 3)

Our basic prayer or chant is “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo”. This is the name of the Mystic Law, known as the law of cause and effect. We believe that this single law governs life eternally throughout the universe. We believe that all life is an expression or manifestation of the law. Thus, when we chant we attune our lives to be in perfect rhythm with the universe. The result is increased vital life force, wisdom, compassion and good fortune to face the challenges which confront us daily.

The heart of our global movement is monthly discussion meetings. These are neighborhood gatherings where people share experiences, encourage one another and study Buddhism together from such publications as The World Tribune and Living Buddhism. This Buddhism is a truly humane philosophy that crosses all boundaries with diversity rarely seen in other philosophical or religious teachings. As Daisaku Ikeda writes in the foreword to his book The Human Revolution: “A great revolution of character in an individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and further, will cause a change in the destiny of all humankind.”

One of the popular annual activities that SGI-USA Denver is well known for is planting cherry trees in and around the city. Please see our Cherry Tree Story. In 1996 President Daisaku Ikeda came to Denver University to receive the first ever Honorary Doctorate in Education in North America. President Ikeda, the third president of SGI, through his travels and dialogues has contributed greatly to Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism becoming a global philosophy. More in depth articles about our practice are available from the main site for American members.

SGI-USA Theme for 2008

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