SGINZ News

Wellington Mayor Visits SGINZ Wellington Community Centre on Open Day

Tue, 01 May 2012 17:39:19 +1200

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade Brown was among the visitors at the SGINZ Wellington Centre's Open Day on 28 April 2012.

Mayor Celia Wade-Brown

Members presented short studies on the basics of Nichiren Buddhism and SGI's history. The Seeds of Hope exhibition and the Culture of Peace exhibition were also on display.

Wellington Centre Open Day

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:17:34 +1200

Our Wellington Centre is having an Open Day this Saturday on the 28th of April from 11am-4pm, for more info check out our event on Facebook.

SGINZ in the news: Wellington Leaders Pass Flame for Nuclear Weapons Free World

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:20:33 +1200

SGINZ in the news -

Scoop has uploaded our press release from the nuclear free event, it contains pictures and comments from the SGI youth.

Wellington Leaders Pass Flame for Nuclear Weapons Free World

Scoop.co.nz

It was held in conjunction with a public concert jointly hosted by the Wellington City Council and Buddhist group Soka Gakkai International of NZ. To read more, click on

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1204/S00429/wellington-leaders-pass-flame-for-nuclear-weapons-free-world.htm

SGINZ in the news -

Scoop has uploaded our press release from the nuclear free event, it contains pictures and comments from the SGI youth.

Wellington Leaders Pass Flame for Nuclear Weapons Free World

Scoop.co.nz

It was held in conjunction with a public concert jointly hosted by the Wellington City Council and Buddhist group Soka Gakkai International of NZ. To read more, click on

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1204/S00429/wellington-leaders-pass-flame-for-nuclear-weapons-free-world.htm

Wellington City Leaders Thank SGINZ Members, Impressed with SGINZ Youth

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:45:19 +1200

Wellington City Mayor Celia Wade Brown thanked the SGINZ members for putting together such an amazing concert to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Wellington City’s Nuclear-Weapon Free Declaration on Saturday 14 April 2012.

“Terrific!” she said. “It went well and people were both delighted to catch up with old friends and excited for young people to commit to the future”.

Councillor Helene Ritchie who initiated the public concert also sent a message of thanks “How can I thank you enough? You were [all] great. A fantastic effort and please thank all concerned. It was all just right”.

“Terrific!” she said. “It went well and people were both delighted to catch up with old friends and excited for young people to commit to the future”.

Mayor and Councillor Helene Ritchie giving a speech

Wellington Nuclear Free 30th Anniversary Celebration

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:15:17 +1200

On Saturday 14 April Wellington celebrated its 30th year of being declared a nuclear free city. The celebreation events were organsied by SGINZ and the Wellington City Council. The concert and mayoral function were both great successes.

Warren Maxwell performing at the concert.

Soka Gakkai International to Co-host Nuclear Free Wellington Celebration with City Council

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:37:52 +1200

We are delighted with the invitation from the Wellington City Council to co-host this weekend’s concert to commemorate 30 years since Wellington declared itself nuclear free.

Wellington City Nuclear Free Concert Co-Hosted By Soka Gakkai Buddhists

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:10:35 +1200

Wellington will commemorate 30 years as a nuclear free city with a free concert this weekend with performances by Anika Moa, Don McGlashan, Warren Maxwell, Bella Kulolo and the Sam Manzanza and the Afro Beat Band. The concert is hosted by the Soka Gakkai International and the Wellington City Council.

SGINZ at the International Cultural Day celebrations in Auckland

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:42:54 +1200

Members from SGINZ Student Division and Youth Division volunteered on April the 1^st to support the Auckland Peace City Stall hosted by the Peace Foundation and the UNANZ stall at the International Cultural Day celebrations in Auckland.

For a Denuclearised World

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:02:13 +1300

SGI President Ikeda’s essay For a Denuclearised Middle East featured on Scoop.co.nz

New Zealand's Kevin Clements leads international nuclear experts discussion in Tokyo

Co-hosted by the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research and the National Center for Peace & Conflict Studies (NCPACS) at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Read more...

Sowing Seeds of Hope

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:06:54 +1300

Sowing Seeds of Hope

Making its debut show at a school in New Zealand, the SGI - Earth Charter joint exhibition, Seeds of Hope, was on display at Wellington High School in the Social Sciences department.

Seeds of Hope Exhibition on display

The exhibition was received really well by students and staff according to Head of Social Sciences Faculty, Henry Hollis who had seen the exhibition on display at the Ruth Gottlieb library in Kilbirnie, Wellington.

“We’ve had a huge number

March 16: Youth taking the lead!

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:55:32 +1300

March 16, the day in 1958 that 2^nd Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda passed on the responsibility for achieving kosen-rufu specifically to Daisaku Ikeda, who became the 3^rd president in 1960, and generally to all the youth. Today is a fresh start, a day of renewed determination to take responsibility to advance kosen-rufu.

Courage, strength and wisdom well up in those who consciously take on everything as the protagonist and person responsible for achieving their goals. Unlimited wisdom and ardent resolve arise from a sense of responsibility. Daisaku Ikeda http://www.ikedaquotes.org/courage

6th Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:34:41 +1300

Hi, my name is Astrid and I have been a member of the SGI since June 2010.

I have had the opportunity to attend the 6th Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue in Samarang, Central Java, Indonesia. I was one of the nine New Zealand delegates accompanied by three NZ Government officials. I’m representing New Zealand interfaith youth.

Supporting International Womens Day

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:19:51 +1300

On a cold blustery Thursday SGI women in Wellington supported the cities 8 March International Womens Day Walk for Peace “to raise awareness of our interconnectedness and interdependence in our hope and work towards the attainment of peace. Women from all walks of life, from different religions and diverse beliefs, from different ethnicities and cultures join the Walk ~ walk to support the protest against violence on women and children ~ walk to support protest against wars ~ walk to support empowerment of women”.

North Shore beech clean up

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:04:24 +1300

In conjunction with the Auckland, New Zealand EcoFest 2012, a month-long community celebration of the environment and sustainable living, Northern General Chapter members organised a sunday morning beach cleanup. A total of 64 participants, young and old, family and friends gathered together on the morning of February 26 to clean up BrownsBay beach. A total of 26 rubbish bags and a bag of bottles and cans were collected by the end of the morning.

Cleaning up Browns Bay beach

New Wellington Centre Opens

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:26:08 +1300

A new SGI centre opened in Wellington on the ground floor of 8 Gilmer Terrace in early February. The beautiful new centre is more spacious than the previous centre at Morrison Kent House and was filled up for the opening ceremony on 5 Feb. The building is also A grade earthquake strength.

Entrance to the new centre

Entrance looking the other way

The main room

Full House for Peace Festival

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:34:38 +1300

Performers in the Summoning Hope Oceania Peace Festival at the Wellington Opera House combined art, dance and theatre into a emotional experience described by show director Anna Marbrook as "incredibly moving."

Hosted by Soka Gakkai International of New Zealand, the festival attracted a full house of 1100 people on Sunday, 20 November with 250 performers, professionals and amateurs alike, from all over New Zealand volunteering their time for the show.

Absurdist Comedy

“I have never worked with such a diverse range of performers in terms of age, ethnicity and experience. Top artists rubbed shoulders with relative newcomers, said Marbrook

"Being backstage during the show was like a cross between a Fellini film and a meeting of the United Nations. It was an incredible collaboration of 250 performers unified joyfully through dance song and theatre. One person in the audience commented that the show was incredibly moving, they felt no division between the show and the audience. This was a great achievement.”

The Oceania Peace Festival featured diverse performances ranging from the traditional Japanese Taiko drumming to urban bucket drumming, a mass choir led by Bert van Dijk to original song compositions by duo Sally Stockwell and Sarah Maccombee, hula to butoh, comedy sketches and acrobatics . The show was a celebration of life and the human spirit triumphing over adversity.

The Grand Finale

For New Zealand General Director, Jimi Wallace, the festival was a great way to bring people together to promote a culture of peace. “We need to come together in difficult times. Culture opens the heart and creates understanding between people. So, the festival is a way of promoting peace and understanding among people. This is very much needed in the current time.”

‘It starts with one’ theme for sustainable living exhibition

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:46:47 +1300

A vision for sustainable living and the power of individuals to initiate positive change is the theme of an international exhibition launched by Wellington Mayor Celia Wade Brown at Parliament on Saturday, 19 November.

Inspired by the Earth Charter, the “Seeds of Hope: Visions of Sustainability, Steps Toward Change,” it has been seen by more than 1.5 million people from 27 countries since first going on display at Johannesburg nine years ago.

For the Wellington Mayor, the exhibition stresses the connection between people and the environment. “I love the way the exhibition embraces a great variety of cultures and issues, whether it is water or reconciliation between peoples. It ties in with the interconnectedness between human beings and the natural world”.

Produced by Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and Earth Charter International, the New Zealand launch of the exhibition has been organised by SGI in New Zealand with the support of UNICEF and the NZ National Commission for UNESCO.

SGI New Zealand Director Jimi Wallace says the exhibition carries the message, “It starts with one,” slogan of a 2010 Earth Charter International campaign.

“A positive vision for sustainable living expressed in the Earth Charter and examples of eight individuals and groups from the Arctic through to Eastern Europe who have successfully taken action for change, are included in the exhibition.”

Charles Chauvel MP, who co-sponsored the launch at Parliament, said “Having the exhibition here in Wellington as a result of SGI sponsorship reminds us that SGI President Daisaku Ikeda was one of the proponents of the UN Decade for Sustainable Development”. With the UN Decade expiring in three years, the exhibition “reminds us that there is so much more work to do until we can say that we have truly taken up the challenge of ensuring that all policy is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.”

SGI New Zealand is part of a world-wide grass roots Buddhist lay organisation which promotes peace, culture and education based on humanism.

What: Seeds of Hope: Visions of Sustainability, Steps Toward Change Exhibition

When/Where: Kilbirnie Library, Wellington, 2 December 2011 –12 January 2012

War Memorial Library, Lower Hutt, 14 – 27 January 2012

Petone Library, 28 January – 10 February 2012

Entry is free.

ENDS

SGI New Zealand Director Jimi Wallace says the exhibition carries the message, “It starts with one,” slogan of a 2010 Earth Charter International campaign.

SGI New Zealand is part of a world-wide grass roots Buddhist lay organisation which promotes peace, culture and education based on humanism.

What: Seeds of Hope: Visions of Sustainability, Steps Toward Change Exhibition

When/Where:

Kilbirnie Library, Wellington, 2 December 2011 –12 January 2012
War Memorial Library, Lower Hutt, 14 – 27 January 2012
Petone Library, 28 January – 10 February 2012

Entry is free.

New SGI NZ website launched

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:24:26 +1300

A complete overhaul of SGINZ.org was launched today. The website has a new design with improved features such as printer friendly styles and optimisation for mobile phones and other handheld devices with small screens. Mobile devices will be automatically redirected to http://m.sginz.org .

More content and an online shop are coming soon.

9th Annual Joint Brass Band Concert

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:44:32 +1200

Coming soon at the SGINZ centre Auckland: the 9th Annual Joint Brass Band concert. Admission is free. Refreshments are provided.

"Music could perhaps be called the most truly human form of dialogue we are capable of. Though people may differ in the color of their skin, the language they speak, their customs and ways, or the material culture which surrounds them, the power of music makes it possible for them to instantly communicate and respond to each other's innermost feelings."

Daisaku Ikeda

Oceania Peace Conference (OPC) 2011 announced

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:44:02 +1200

The Oceania Peace Conference 2011 for the Oceania region has been announced under the theme "Writing our own chapter in the history of Human Revolution".

The conference will be held in Wellington from 17 to 20 November 2011. More information will be available soon.