Kansai Culture Festival in the Rain

Daisaku Ikeda, our mentor in life

This weekend I was at the Chicago Buddhist Center on Saturday and Sunday and saw the film of the Kansai Culture Festival in the rain in 1966 twice. I found a link on youtube for you. It's in Japanese and the quality isn't so great but you might want to see it. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lk-2bvPm0E
or:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vjQQo1PZIY

Imagine 22,000 people in the stands being a human billboard and creating countless works of art with colored boards...imagine over 1,000 young men dressed in white laying down in huge puddles of mud as part of their performance. It was really incredible to see how people can be even more galvanized and determined through the power of the mystic law. Their faces shown with the victory of determination. The young women were dressed all in white in beautiful ballet dresses, and they also had mud all over their faces, dresses, arms...

It was as if the rain came just to help these determined members prove the power of the law. 

The reverberations of the Kansai spirit continue today. Their efforts may be one of the reasons we are all practicing today. So inspiring. 

A few years ago there was a Santa Monica parade in the cold rain of February. The film of that day is also truly amazing. All the young people performing and smiling in the cold California rain...and I lived in California, I KNOW how cold it can get! But their shining faces inspired EVERYONE. 

We are so fortunate to be a part of this organization...a group of lay believers with one inspiring mentor and many devoted and committed members. 

I hope you are all part of our warm Gakkai family. If you haven't started going to meetings in your area I really encourage you to connect! The SGI link to the right will help you. If you have any challenges connecting write me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com and I will do what I can to help. 

Happy Monday  Everyone!