We commemorate JULY 3rd as the MENTOR & DISCIPLE DAY.

On July 3rd 1945, President Toda was released from the prison and on July
3rd, 1957, Sensei Ikeda entered the prison on false charges of violation of
election law. President Ikeda was arrested at 7o'clock in the evening.
By strange coincidence, it had also been 7o'clock in the evening when Toda
sensei was released from the prison exactly 12 years before.

July 3rd came to be known as the day of mentor and disciple, signifying the
mystic bond of mentor and disciple.

The mentor-disciple relationship has always been a key to Buddhist practice.

But the aim of the mentor-disciple relationship in Buddhism is not that the
mentor exacts obedience from the disciple, but that the mentor seeks to train
the disciple to achieve an even greater state of development than that of the
mentor. It is the transmission of the mentor's spirit, a burning desire to help
people achieve happiness. Because learning takes place through human
interaction, through the lived example of the mentor, the relationship
between mentor and disciple is the noblest means of inheriting the spirit of
Buddhism.
This represents the best action to fulfill the mentor’s wish, and see the
establishment of kosen-rufu across the world.

The disciple is a person who is in the process of becoming awakened to the

Law. The mentor teaches that the disciple may become equal to the mentor
in understanding and experience and even go on to surpass him in his or her
achievements in society. Both mentor and disciple are therefore equal before
the Law and they are united in their approach to the Law, seeking to become
enlightened to it. Disciples should share the same responsibility and
commitment to the Law as the mentor.

President Ikeda said, “Those who have a mentor in life are truly fortunate.
The path of mentor and disciple is one that leads to personal development
and growth. Those without a mentor may appear free and unbeholden to
anyone, but without a solid standard or model on which to base themselves,
their lives become aimless and wandering.”

The mentor wishes the disciple to achieve more than the mentor ever did. It
is therefore important that we understand the motivation of the mentor, and
make determinations to exceed his achievements.
Commemoration dates:
 July 3: Day of Mentor and Disciple
 July 3, 1945: President Toda is released from prison
 July 3, 1957: Daisaku Ikeda arrested in Osaka on false charges
 July 11, 1951: Formation of Soka Gakkai Young Men's Division
 July 16, 1260: Nichiren Daishonin submits his treatise 'On
Establishing the Correct Teaching for Peace of the Land'
 July 19, 1951: Formation of Soka Gakkai Young Women's Division