August 24 commemorates the day in 1947 when Daisaku Ikeda joined the Soka Gakkai, and this year marks the 75th anniversary. On August 14, 1947, having been invited by a friend, Ikeda attended his first Soka Gakkai discussion meeting. It was at this meeting that he first encountered second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda and heard him speak on the philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism. Toda would become his lifelong mentor. This encounter with Toda dramatically changed Ikeda’s life. He spent ten years