NMC-Tinian receives donation of books

The Northern Marianas College Tinian Campus recently received from the Soka Gakkai International a donation of books written mostly by the organization’s president, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda.

The books were presented by the group’s vice president and Oceania chief, Richard Sasaki, on behalf of Ikeda.

Dignitaries, public and college officials were on hand to receive the generous donation.

In turn, they presented Sasaki with certificates of appreciation for all that the organization has done in contributing to the island of Tinian.

The organization is also behind the construction of the Ghandi, King, Ikeda Peace Monument, located on Tinian.

The books, described by Tinian officials as a “welcome addition” to the college’s library, cover a variety of subjects from ethics to the environment, with some of the material touching on the subject of Buddhism and the idealism of attaining peace through non-violent means.

“Along with the more advanced and scholarly materials donated were a set of children’s books, which are both entertaining and inspiring, and of which the children of Tinian will come to enjoy,” said Tinian Mayor’s Office’s Joey Charfaurus.

Sasaki said that the intention of the organization is to promote education and how solutions to problems in the future can only be attained through education of the future generation. Sasaki further said that, through the consistent donation of books, Dr. Ikeda is sending a message of how to create peace, how to create a better world, “for human beings are the center of everything and to develop human beings is through education.”

Dr. Ikeda has become known for the vast number of books, which he has authored through the years, not to mention the photographic artistry of many of the pictures he has taken. He also has presented lectures around the world on the subject of The Lotus Sutra, the core of Mahayana Buddhism, which states that the purpose of existence, of the eternal cycles of life and death, is to be “happy and at ease.”

“It further teaches that sustained faith and practice enable us to know a deep and abiding joy in death as well as in life, to be equally ‘happy and at ease’ with both,” Sasaki said.
Sasaki will be visiting other islands in the Pacific to both introduce the Soka Gakkai organization and to make similar donations. The organization has branches in 190 countries and 13 million members.