As we gear up for "March madness"--Not the basketball tournament but 
our youth-sponsored March16th Introductory Meetings-- 
we are discussing how to do shakubuku and make these meetings a success.
Specifically, how can we as Student Division support our local areas by 
participating in the planning and introducing our friends and family to
the 
practice? Our National Youth Division leader, James Herrmann, shared 
this encouragement in a recent message: "Central to our success will be 
our ability to create a warm, joyful and embracing atmosphere at our 
introductory meetings. When I say joyful, this doesn't necessarily mean 
we need to spend a lot of money on colorful balloons and cheap party
favors. 
Rather, our challenge leading up to these meetings will be how much we are 
able to truly experience joy ourselves--joy in our relationships, joy at 
school, joy at work, joy in practicing this faith and our determination to 
share it with others."All of us are wracking our brains on how we can do 
shakubuku in a way befitting America, keeping in mind James' point about 
living our lives with joy. 
Shakubuku with joy! Study with joy! Let's amaze the world!

Boston, Daisaku, Maggie and Wendy.

Experience by Serena Williams, Oregon Area

In June of last year I finally graduated from the University of Oregon
with 
my biology degree. This was the culmination of years of dreams and hard 
work, and after 13 years of attending school off and on, I was ready to be 
finished. I sent out invitations, bought the cap and gown, went through
both 
ceremonies and had a party. However, when it was all over, I felt somehow
let down. I was overwhelmed by everyone asking me, "So now what?" I had 
not been accepted to medical school as I had originally planned and I had
no 
idea what to do next. I thought about joining the Peace Corps, working for 
Planned Parenthood, moving to Seattle and all sorts of things, but I
couldn’t 
seem to get anything really started for myself. I wanted something to come 
along that would give me a sense of purpose and some direction, but I
didn’t 
know where to begin.  I had received my Gohonzon April 18, and I thought I 
was practicing very well.  I chanted morning and evening gongyo, and I was 
trying to chant at least an hour of daimoku each day. I was chanting that
my 
situation would change, and that I would find some kind of work that was 
meaningful to me.
Somehow, nothing was helping. I worked as a courier for a local medical
group, 
but it was only half-time, and my financial situation was growing
desperate.  I 
was unable to pay my rent or any of my bills, and the money I received for 
graduation didn’t last long. I became very deeply depressed. I was
sleeping 12-14
hours each night and was ill several different times, and I truly was
stuck in feeling 
sorry for myself. I believed that I had worked very hard, and that I
deserved to 
have some success, and that it should come to me.
This went on until August, when I attended the Oregon Area Women’s Retreat
at 
the coast. I was one of the very few YWD there, and I felt very out of
place when 
I first arrived. It ended up being the best place I could be.  Listening
to the other 
members’ experiences and guidance was amazing and it seemed to bring me
out of 
my fog.  Kathy MacDougall spoke and left me with an image that
dramatically 
improved my practice. She spoke of how our Buddha nature lies at the core
of our 
being, beneath all of the layers of our conscience, unconscience, and so
on.  She 
described chanting to the Gohonzon as reaching down through all of those
layers to 
draw out our Buddha nature, like a fountain. The last speaker of the
weekend was 
Mrs. Magee, who had overcome breast cancer in six months by her faith in
this 
practice. This was the most amazing story to me, and I left the retreat
thinking that if 
she had found the power within herself by chanting to overcome adversity
like that , 
I could begin to look inside myself to get out of my depression.
When I returned to Eugene, I started actually job hunting. I wrote up a
resume, started
 reading the classifieds, visited the employment office, and so on. I was
able to find a 
job filling for Sacred Heart, but I was still miserable. I began
visualizing myself 
helping people as I was chanting, and tried to really chant from my heart,
envisioning 
the Buddha nature coming up through all those layers. I stopped trying to
chant for so 
long at one time, since I wasn’t being able to concentrate the whole time
anyway, but 
really tried to chant while connecting with the Buddha nature within me
and the Gohonzon
 in front of me. Some amazing things began to happen. I received a phone
call from 
Planned Parenthood that they were hiring and wanted me to apply, since
they had heard 
such good things from one of the doctors I worked with. I wrote the cover
letter of my 
life, and was actually called for an interview.  I have never been so
nervous about an 
interview in my life, but I did well and actually got the job. I have been
working there 
for two months now as a clinic assistant, and it is fantastic.  They spent
a whole month 
training me to do the job, and I am able to actually help people every
day. Some of the 
clients are in very high-risk situations, but I try to ive them a positive
experience that 
will hopefully someday help them get out of these. The most important
message I have 
for them is what I’ve finally started to learn—they are responsible for
their own lives, 
and can make their lives as wonderful as they decide them to be.

Recently, students of the SGI have been meeting at college campuses and
discussing 
how best to establish new student clubs.  UCLA, Claremont-McKenna, and
Stanford, 
to name a few, have recently met to get to know each other and plan
activities. If you 
would like to know how to establish a campus club in your area, please
e-mail us at 
studentdiv@sgi-usa.org. Let's create a new wave of shakubuku and
contribute to our 
campus communities as scholars of the SGI!

>From "Tips on How to Sneak Buddhism Into a Conversation" by Lisa Crummett
1) When at a party of social gathering, you can say, "Sorry I am late, I
had to go to a 
meeting first." Then your friends will ask, "What kind of meeting?" And
whalla! The 
rest is up to you! You can also try this when it's late at night, "I
really need to go soon 
because I have to wake up kind of early for a meeting tomorrow." Then your
friends 
will ask, "What kind of meeting?" And wham bam, it's shakubuku time!
2) When your friends says, "So what have you been up to lately?" You go
through your 
normal list of things that you are involved in ; school, work, etc. and
then you say, "Oh 
and I have been getting more involved in my SGI activities." Then your
friend will say, 
"What is the SGI?" Now you jump right in by saying what a cool
organization SGI is and 
this will of course lead to a discussion on Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism!
Another shakubuku tip: Carry around Living Buddhism magazines wherever you
nother shakubuku tip: Carry around Living Buddhism magazines wherever you
go and 
when you have nothing to do and you are reading them, people around you
will say, "What 
kind of magazine is that?" Then you can start right in and tell them about
SGI and 
Buddhism.