The autobiographical novel of Daisaku Ikeda, president of SGI. In this volume, which concludes The New Human Revolution, numerous highlights of the history of kosen rufu are described: from the events that took place in early 1979 when Shin'ichi Yamamoto, after resigning as president of the Soka Gakkai because of the treacherous plots hatched by the Nichiren Shoshu clergy, standing as an unshakable mountain in the face of those difficulties, initiated a grand new phase of the kosen rufu movement in the world, to his fifth visit to China in 1980 and to North America, South America and the Soviet Union the following year; from his trip to Italy in 1981, during which Shin'ichi Yamamoto devoted himself particularly to encouraging and nurturing young people, to his numerous activities in various areas of Japan. In the concluding chapter, entitled The Vow, we finally find described the events that led to the excommunication of the Soka Gakkai by the Nichiren Shoshu. November 28, 1991, the day of the excommunication, is described by Shin'ichi as "a historic date, the day of our spiritual independence." It is also the moment when the Soka Gakkai finally takes flight into the twenty-first century as a world religion. The chapter-and the entire novel-concludes with a description of the November 12, 2001, meeting of center leaders during which Shin'ichi makes a heartfelt appeal to the youth, the Bodhisattvas of the earth who live by the great vow of kosen rufu, entrusting them with the future of the Soka movement in the world.
In his heart, Shin'ichi made an appeal to the young people, "Let us go forward together! Let us fight as long as we have life. Let us advance with confidence and vigor by ringing aloft the sound of the second set of the Seven Bells." Inside, Shin'ichi had a clear vision of the young Soka people who, like majestic young eagles, were soaring in the dawning light of the third millennium. He saw them flying high in an unbroken stream to the vast skies of the world.
