In a 1935 pamphlet summarizing his educational theories, Makiguchi wrote: "As my research into The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy advanced and I was preparing to publish the first volume, I was moved by chance to research the Lotus Sutra, and my attitude to religion underwent a profound transformation. ... I was astonished to discover that [the Lotus Sutra] in no way contradicted the scientific and philosophical principles which form the basis for our daily lives, and that it differed fundamentally from all religious and moral practices which I had studied to date. And just as I found myself moved by this discovery, I experienced a number of inexplicable phenomena in my daily life, which accorded precisely with the teachings of the Lotus Sutra... With a joy that is beyond the power of words to express, I completely renewed the basis of the life I had led for almost sixty years."

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