Founder's Message — Welcome to the Undergraduate Class of 2026 and the Ninth Class of the Master’s Program in Educational Leadership and Societal Change
August 9, 2022
What is needed now more than ever is to forge the kind of solidarity that transcends every difference, from nation-states and ethnicities to thought and religion, and to create a sustainable global society in which the dignity of all people is secured.
To the Undergraduate Class of 2026, who bear the light of hope for all, and to the Ninth Class of the Master of Arts in Educational Leadership and Societal Change Program, who are proudly moving on to the next great challenge in your scholarship: I would like to offer each of you my warmest congratulations!
I extend my heartfelt gratitude and felicitations to each of your families as well, for sending you off to study at Soka University of America.
I remain equally indebted to our SUA faculty who, together with our university staff and associates, have welcomed our two new Classes by so diligently preparing for this day in the face of the ongoing pandemic and the manifold difficulties it has imposed on all of you. My appreciation is no less profound to our student body for your role in these preparations.
Our SUA campus is nestled among the rolling hills of Aliso Viejo, where we welcome newly enrolled students of the highest caliber every August—a month that I hold very dear as it was when I first encountered Josei Toda, a man that I, as a 19-year-old, chose to follow as my mentor in life, a truly historic leader of the people for peace. This August marks the 75th anniversary of that fateful meeting.
Mr. Toda was imprisoned for his pacifist beliefs in World War II, a struggle of conscience and conviction over which he would ultimately prevail. And in a society so thoroughly devastated in the years following the war’s end, he persisted in advocating this: Found in the depths of human life are potentialities that are as absolute as they are infinite. Each and every person has deep within a wellspring from which boundless hope, courage and wisdom may be drawn. And when summoned forth and manifest, we not only can realize our own happiness as individuals without fail but also achieve peace and prosperity for society itself. Such was his lifelong belief.
Dr. Wangari Maathai, the renowned environmentalist whose work gave birth to a pan-African movement, is a cherished friend and someone to whom SUA feels a deep connection. She also affirmed: “Hope is like a flower, which, when it blooms, does so no matter what mood it’s in or who is watching. It always gives its best. We can, too.”
What is needed now more than ever is to forge the kind of solidarity that transcends every difference, from nation-states and ethnicities to thought and religion, and to create a sustainable global society in which the dignity of all people is secured.
The campus of SUA, where students of diverse backgrounds gather from every part of the world, is itself a mighty citadel of wisdom to nurture global citizens. It represents a cradle to spawn worldwide peace, for which all humanity eagerly yearns.
I ask you to be ever mindful that boundless potential as vast as the very cosmos lies within you and that the unfolding of an era of hope for all begins by persisting day after day in the challenge of advancing step by step. Do so with confidence, good cheer, and unshakeable optimism.
Allow me to conclude my congratulatory message to you, my most respected friends, with this prayer: May your future be blessed with excellent health, glory and victory!
Daisaku Ikeda
Founder, Soka University of America
August 9, 2022