May 2011

President-designate Appeals on Annual Youth Day for Donations for Earthquake Victims

President-designate Kosho Niwano participated in Rissho Kosei-kai's Youth Day 2011 on May 14 by joining 20 youth members of the Hachioji Dharma Center in Hachioji City in western Tokyo. Rev. Niwano appealed to passers-by in front of the Hachioji railway station in the center of the city, calling for donations for the relief of the victims of the March 11 earthquake that devastated northeastern Japan. The president-designate and young members also publicized the importance of long-term support for the victims.

At the end of the day's fundraising campaign, Rev. Niwano addressed the participants, emphasizing the importance of long-term, sustainable support for the victims. She said that extending warm concern for the victims and remembering them at all times is the ideal and most effective way to support them. She expressed her wish that all members would grow spiritually in ways that would deepen their compassion for the disaster victims as well as for all others in the world who suffer.

Each year on Rissho Kosei-kai's annual Youth Day, the organization's young members have performed bodhisattva practice through various activities for the betterment of society and the building of world peace. This year, starting on March 18, a week after the earthquake, young members of the Hachioji Dharma Center held a fundraising campaign for a relief project promoted by the Japanese Committee of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. Every day since then in front of the Hachioji railway station they have appealed for donations.

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