| All SGI activities are based on the teachings and the individual practice of the Buddhism of Nichiren. This 13th century Japanese sage centered his philosophy on the Lotus Sutra, one of the last teachings of the first historically recorded Buddha, Shakyamuni or Siddhartha Gautama, who lived some 2,500 years ago.
Nichiren showed that the Lotus Sutra revealed a universal principle called the Buddha nature, which is inherent in all life. Thus all people are capable of attaining enlightenment.
Individual enlightenment is grasped through the profound realisation of the inseparability of the individual and his spiritual and physical environment, and his ability to powerfully influence both. In this way, every individual realises full personal responsibility for his own life. Implicit in the teachings of Nichiren is an understanding that society blossoms as the individual blossoms.
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