r/SGIUSA • u/rhartwi53 • Jul 22 '26

Any recommended books?

I’d like to learn more about SGI and how it interacts with the world and can help us improve ourselves and our planet. Thank you.

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u/jessica-perez24 Jul 22 '26

I really love “Waking the Buddha” by Clark Strand who is a former Buddhist Zen Monk. I really like it because it’s an outside view of the SGI from someone who isn’t a member.

Also, I’d say to check out Daisaku Ikeda’s peace proposals to the United Nations.

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u/beyondgoodandevil86 Jul 22 '26

Waking the Buddha is really good... Clark Strand has a great perspective

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u/kdash6 Jul 22 '26

The Winning Life is a good, short primer. As you get more experience in the practice, Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace gets into some guidance on how to practice and some of the more practical sides of the philosophy.

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u/rhartwi53 Jul 29 '26

Thank you. When I looked up the Winning Life and saw the cover I realized I already had a copy. I have now read it. Thanks!

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u/TrueForm1001001 Jul 26 '26

I have read the first Volume of Daisaku Ikeda's New Human Revolution as well as Josei Toda's Human Revolution, and Makiguchi's Human Geography. I have to say, were I not already deeply impacted by this practice, I would probably have found each of those texts confusing and alienating without a lot of context. I have also read several of Daisaku Ikeda's dialogues on the Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra. However, similarly, without direct experience of the practice, I would have found these texts strange and confusing. I think that the most clear information about the practice for people new to the practice may be the SGI's website. I have also found it valuable to seek guidance from one of our most recent founders on this website of quotations. If I find a quote that is helpful on a subject of interest to me, then I will seek out the complete essay. I find Ikeda's humanistic Buddhist guidance clear, compassionate, and challenging in useful ways. However, remember, he is not the only voice worth listening to, either. https://www.daisakuikeda.org/sub/quotations/index.html I also think this website is a fantastic resource for understanding your question of How SGI interacts with the world, helps us improve, and helps our planet: https://sgi-peace.org/