Sōka Gakkai

Japanese
Buddhism
Schools
Founders
Sacred Texts
Glossary of
Japanese Buddhism

Sōka Gakkai (創価学会?) (literally, "Value-Creation Society") is a lay religious movement within Nichiren Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism derived from the teachings of the thirteenth-century Japanese monk, Nichiren Daishonin.[1]

Founded by educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi in 1930, the organization was suppressed during World War II for its opposition to government-supported State Shinto.[2] Makiguchi, Josei Toda, and other top Sōka Gakkai leaders were arrested in 1943 and charged as "thought criminals". In November 1944, Makiguchi died in prison of malnutrition at the age of 73. Toda was released in July 1945, just weeks before the first use of the atomic bomb. In the following years he rebuilt the Sōka Gakkai membership from less than 3,000 families in 1951 to more than 750,000 before his death in 1958.

Sōka Gakkai International (SGI) was founded in 1975, with Daisaku Ikeda as its president. SGI characterizes its organization as both a support network for practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism and as a global Buddhist movement for peace, education, and cultural exchange.

The SGI movement is based on the teachings of Nichiren Buddhism. The growth of the membership of SGI has been attributed in part to the organization’s tradition of small group, neighborhood and local community discussion meetings.[3] Buddhists do not generally proselytize, but SGI members in the United States will sometimes distribute pamphlets or literature at social and political events to encourage others to join them.

Contents

History

From its inception as an educators' group under Tsunesaburo Makiguchi’s leadership, the Sōka Gakkai transformed by the 1930s into a lay religious organization affiliated with the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood. Suppressed during World War II, the organization experienced rapid growth in the war’s aftermath under Josei Toda’s leadership. Daisaku Ikeda’s leadership marks a period of overseas expansion that led to the founding of Sōka Gakkai International (SGI) in 1975.

Inception

Sōka Gakkai was founded as the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai (創価教育学会, lit. "Value Creating Educational Society") on November 18, 1930, by Japanese educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and his colleague Josei Toda to promote reform in Japan's “highly regimented” education system that was “designed to train loyal citizens.”[4] His ideas on education, and his theory of value-creation (創価, sōka), are explored in his 1930 work Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei (創価教育学体系, The Theory of Value-Creating Pedagogy). In 1928 Makiguchi converted to Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism.[5] In the 1930s Makiguchi and Toda broadened the organization’s focus to social reform based on Makiguchi’s theory of sōka and the tenets of Nichiren Buddhism.[6]

Makiguchi and Toda challenged the militarist government and its war mobilization efforts,[7] refusing to accede to State Shinto and emperor worship. The two, along with other top leaders, were imprisoned in 1943, as “thought criminals”.[8] During interrogation, Makiguchi declared: "the Emperor is a common mortal... The Emperor himself should not be telling people to be loyal to him. This should be struck from the Imperial Rescript on Education".[9] Of the top leaders arrested, only Makiguchi and Toda did not renounce their faith and beliefs. Makiguchi died in prison of malnutrition at age 73, and Toda was released July 3, 1945.

Post-World War II growth

Toda was released from prison in 1945 and, after World War II, rebuilt the organization as a religious movement of social reform, renaming it the Sōka Gakkai. Under Toda’s leadership from 1951 until his death in 1958, Sōka Gakkai membership grew from 3,000 to 750,000 households. Among others, Aruga points out that: “The Sōka Gakkai membership rapidly increased, mainly among those who were of the downtrodden classes in large urban areas and who were excluded from the benefits of upward swing during the reconstruction period of postwar Japan.”[10]

In a bid to promote democratic representation of the disenfranchised in society, the Sōka Gakkai fielded local assembly candidates in 1955,[11] and, by 1964, the political party Kōmeitō (“Clean Government Party”) was founded. In 1970, the Sōka Gakkai clarified its relationship with Kōmeitō.[12]

From Japan's post-war years the Sōka Gakkai emerged as the largest lay organization of Nichiren Buddhist practitioners, and Sōka Gakkai today claims 8.21 million members. It is one of the more successful of new religious movements in Japan’s post-war period.[13]

International expansion

As practitioners relocated from Japan and as non-Japanese practitioners returned to their home countries, they took the practice with them. In 1960, Daisaku Ikeda, then third president of Sōka Gakkai, journeyed to the United States, Brazil, and Canada. During this trip he met practitioners in each of these countries and began laying the foundation for what would later become SGI (Sōka Gakkai International). SGI was founded on January 26 1975 on the island of Guam, with Daisaku Ikeda as its president, to provide a support organization for its practitioners. As of 2010, SGI claims membership of approximately 12 million in 192 countries and territories[14], including the countries in North America, South America, Australia and parts of Asia, Africa and Europe[15].

Doctrine

Nichiren (日蓮) (1222–1282) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who, having studied Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings and the commentaries of the leading Japanese Buddhist scholars of the day, believed that the Lotus Sutra was the ultimate teaching of Shakyamuni and that it was the one true teaching. Nichiren declared that the Japanese title of the Lotus Sutra, Myoho-Renge-Kyo, was the essence of the sutra and that therefore the invocation Nam-myoho-renge-kyo enabled a practitioner to embrace the entirety of the teaching, in conjunction with the Lotus Sutra's injunctions to embrace the text. A key passage in the Lotus Sutra explains that every individual possesses this life-condition, albeit as a latent Buddha nature. In reciting the title, the practitioner could embrace the life-condition of Buddhahood. The essence of the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren Daishonin taught, was that all men and women, regardless of social class, are inherently endowed with this Buddha nature and could therefore attain Buddhahood. "Nichiren" is a name he chose for himself when he embarked on spreading his teaching on April 28, 1253. It literally means "Sun Lotus". The word "Daishonin" is an honorific title meaning "great holy man" as practitioners believe him to be the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law.

Nichiren taught that by chanting "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo", which means, "Devotion to the mystic law of cause and effect through sound and vibration." to the Gohonzon (御本尊), a mandala he inscribed with Chinese and Sanskrit characters representing the enlightened life of the True Buddha, anyone can bring forth their inherent Buddha nature and become enlightened. Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism taught that Buddhahood is not a static state of being, but exists in mutual possession of other states of being (referred to as the Ten Worlds). This is known as the "Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds". This principle pinpoints the fact that everyone, without exception is endowed with the life state of Buddhahood and has the potential to manifest this life state. This principle also taught that the act of discarding the other Nine Worlds does not portray the true nature of life or the true path of enlightenment. One can achieve the life condition of a Buddha in its present form. The Doctrine of "Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of life" (Ichinen Sanzen) based on the teachings of Lotus Sutra further explained in detail the Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds, the ten unchanging aspect of all phenomena known as the Ten factors and the Three Realms. Therefore, practitioners believe that Buddhism must be practiced in each person's daily life, and not in some faraway land or mystic place. This is experienced as the result of continuous effort to engage one's highest life condition, or Buddha nature, to overcome the inevitable obstacles and struggles.

In so doing, one establishes an unshakable state of happiness characterized by peace, wisdom, and compassion, and this ultimately permeates every aspect of one's life. In accord with the Buddhist concept of eshō funi, the oneness of Life and Environment, the relationship between life and its environment is intimate and inseparable and one that mutually influence each other. Nichiren taught, "if the minds of living beings are impure, their land is also impure, but if their minds are pure, so is their land. Thus, every individual has the power to then positively affect the environment around them." SGI practitioners call this process "Human Revolution". Nichiren Daishonin was convinced that if human beings fully embraced his teachings, the peace they would develop within would definitely be reflected in the environment as peace in society at large.

Practice and activities

Individual practice entails chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo daily and reciting excerpts from the [[UpayaExpedient|Means]] "方便品, Hōben pon" (2nd) and the Life Span of the Thus Come One '"如来寿量品, Nyorai Juryō hon" (16th) chapters of the Lotus Sutra; studying the life and works of Nichiren; and sharing with others a Nichiren Buddhist view of life and living. Faith refers to the motivation or commitment which gives rise to practice and study, as described in Nichiren's writings:

"Exert yourself in the two ways of practice and study. Without practice and study, there can be no Buddhism. You must not only persevere yourself; you must also teach others. Both practice and study arise from faith. Teach others to the best of your ability, even if it is only a single sentence or phrase."[16]

The majority of Nichiren's teachings have been compiled in The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, volumes I and II, and The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings. These are translations of the Japanese volume Nichiren Daishōnin Gosho Zenshū (日蓮大聖人御書全集, The complete works of Nichiren Daishonin), compiled by 59th Nichiren Shōshū High Priest Nichiko Hori and published by Sōka Gakkai in 1952. Companion study materials include the Lotus Sutra, the writings of Daisaku Ikeda, and other writers and scholars of the Lotus Sutra and of Nichiren Buddhism.

How individuals can apply Buddhism to the challenges of daily life and society is the central focus of religious gatherings most often held at the local community level. Members of Sōka Gakkai and SGI claim that chanting energizes and refreshes the practitioner both spiritually and mentally, making him or her happier, wiser, more compassionate, more productive and more prosperous.[17] Scholarly interviews with SGI members form the basis of the conclusion that "SGI members in Cambodia and elsewhere feel a strong sense of empowerment – that all members must assume responsibility for their lives and have the power to change their destinies through their own actions."[18]

Split with the priesthood

SGI members often describe their group as Buddhism's first Protestant movement, since its excommunication by Nichiren Shōshū in 1991.[19]

The Hokkekō, the traditional lay group associated with Nichiren Shōshū, experienced a spurt of fast growth in the early to mid 1990s following a split between the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood and Sōka Gakkai over doctrinal and practical differences. Friction between the two surfaced as 1990 drew to a close, sparking an inflow of Sōka Gakkai members into Hokkekō that accelerated for a while after Nichiren Shōshū stripped Sōka Gakkai of its status as a lay organization on November 28, 1991.[20] Though Nichiren Shōshū still considered individual Sōka Gakkai members as lay followers until a rule change in 1997,[21] most mistakenly believed that they had been excommunicated along with the Sōka Gakkai organization.[22]

The fundamental practice of Sōka Gakkai and SGI members is derived from of Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism.[23] However, due to a number of ongoing issues and doctrinal disputes between the priesthood and the leadership of Sōka Gakkai, Nichiren Shōshū withdrew Sōka Gakkai's and SGI's statuses as lay organizations in November 1991.[24] SGI President Daisaku Ikeda was excommunicated in 1992. Until 1991, Sōka Gakkai had been a lay organization closely affiliated with Nichiren Shōshū, and members retained their temple membership as individuals. On November 30, 1997, these Sōka Gakkai and SGI members lost their standing as temple members unless they renounced their affiliation with Sōka Gakkai and SGI, as per a change to the Nichiren Shōshū bylaws decided two months earlier.[22]

Conferral of the Gohonzon — the basis of the faith and practice of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism — was regarded by the priesthood as the high priest’s prerogative, and lay believers had been long taught to support that view. After the excommunication in November 1991, many SGI members had been forced to practice without the Gohonzon. Because of these circumstances — and based on its sense of responsibility as a harmoniously united order (sangha) of the Daishonin’s Buddhism — the SGI decided to make Gohonzon available to its worldwide membership.[25]

SGI charter

Sōka Gakkai's official charter reads:

Purposes and Principles[26]

  1. SGI shall contribute to peace, culture and education for the happiness and welfare of all humanity based on Buddhist respect for the sanctity of life.
  2. SGI, based on the ideal of world citizenship, shall safeguard fundamental human rights and not discriminate against any individual on any grounds.
  3. SGI shall respect and protect the freedom of religion and religious expression.
  4. SGI shall promote an understanding of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism through grass-roots exchange, thereby contributing to individual happiness.
  5. SGI shall, through its constituent organizations, encourage its members to contribute toward the prosperity of their respective societies as good citizens.
  6. SGI shall respect the independence and autonomy of its constituent organizations in accordance with the conditions prevailing in each country.
  7. SGI shall, based on the Buddhist spirit of tolerance, respect other religions, engage in dialogue and work together with them toward the resolution of fundamental issues concerning humanity.
  8. SGI shall respect cultural diversity and promote cultural exchange, thereby creating an international society of mutual understanding and harmony.
  9. SGI shall promote, based on the Buddhist ideal of symbiosis, the protection of nature and the environment.
  10. SGI shall contribute to the promotion of education, in pursuit of truth as well as the development of scholarship, to enable all people to cultivate their individual character and enjoy fulfilling and happy lives.

Reception

In Japan, Sōka Gakkai as a voting constituency endorses and tends to support the political party New Kōmeitō Party in elections.[27] The two organizations are legally independent of each other.[28] While some critics have alleged that Sōka Gakkai in effect controls New Kōmeitō,[29] researchers find that arguments on policy issues and good governance lead Sōka Gakkai members to support New Kōmeitō and “that political mobilization stems from insistence that members learn about contemporary political problems, not from declarations of solidarity”.[30]

In the Lotus Sutra, regarded by Nichiren Buddhists as the most important of all of Shakyamuni’s teachings, the oneness of mentor and disciple is an important aspect of practicing and spreading Buddhism. Outside observers have looked upon SGI’s version of the mentor and disciple relationship as a cult of personality for its focus on SGI President Ikeda,[31] as well as the two preceding presidents (and founders) Josei Toda and Tsunesaburo Makiguchi.

SGI members describe the mentor-disciple relationship as central to individual practice and the development of the organization. Makiguchi took Nichiren as a mentor in his life, while Toda took Makiguchi as his. Ikeda continued the tradition with Toda as his mentor, and now members throughout the world have chosen Ikeda. It is believed by Sokka Gakkai members that the concept of mentor exemplifies the compassionate spirit of supporting others to excel in their own individual mission, while sharing the same "vow" of the Bodhisattva, exemplified by a stanza of the 16th Chapter of the Lotus Sutra that states: "This is my constant thought; at all times I think, how can I cause all living beings, to achieve the body of a buddha, without distinction".

SGI members view Ikeda and his life as an example of how to use the practice in their own lives. He is viewed as an inspiration and an example of the power of the individual to positively influence the world. For many members, Ikeda (as well as Shakyamuni, Nichiren, Makiguchi, Toda, and a host of other like-minded philosophers, and thinkers around the world) is a model of how to live a contributive life promoting the values of peace, culture, and education and at levels of interaction with family, work, friends, and society at large. There are a noteworthy number of SGI members who behave in such a way as the very authoritarian controlled people for whom this practice was created to help.

There has been controversy about the degree of religious tolerance practiced by Sōka Gakkai members. However official materials state all other religions, including other Buddhist denominations, should be viewed as valuable inasmuch as they are able to support the happiness, empowerment, and development of all people. SGI states that religious tolerance and a deep respect for cultures are strongly emphasized in the organization, citing the Preamble and Purposes and Principles of its charter[32] as both its fundamental stance and guideline for engaging social issues. Some individuals claim that they have been pressured to dismiss their past religions and cultures by fellow members, while “some within the group have also attributed its newfound religious tolerance to the fact that they are free of the monks’ control and thus able to abandon an outdated exclusivism”. Many of Nichiren's writings are about how other forms of Buddhism are incorrect.[33][34]

Gains in SGI membership among native populations in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, parts of Southeast Asia, the Americas, South Africa and Europe have been characterized as “significant”[35] and “one of the numerically strongest”[36] among Buddhist communities in these regions.

Presidents

Sōka Gakkai

  1. Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (18 November 1930 – 2 May 1944)
  2. Josei Toda (3 May 1951 – 2 May 1960)
  3. Daisaku Ikeda (3 May 1960 – 24 April 1979) (Honorary President 24 April 1979 - present)
  4. Hiroshi Hojo (北条浩) (24 April 1979 - 18 July 1981)
  5. Einosuke Akiya (18 July 1981 - 9 November 2006)
  6. Minoru Harada (9 November 2006 - Present)

Sōka Gakkai International (SGI)

  1. Daisaku Ikeda (26 January 1975 - present)

See also

References

  1. ^ Alan Aldridge's (2000) Religion in the Contemporary World: A Sociological Introduction (Oxford: Polity Press), p. 192:
  2. ^ Dayle M. Bethel (1994), Makiguchi the Value Creator (Weatherhill), p. 98
  3. ^ Metraux, SERA 2007, p. 157-72
  4. ^ Seager, Richard. 1999. Buddhism in America. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 72.
  5. ^ Murata, Kiyoaki. 1969. Japan’s New Buddhism: An Objective Account of Sōka Gakkai.Weather: New York and Tokyo. p. 76
  6. ^ BBC article on Nichiren Buddhism
  7. ^ “In 1940, the government had enacted the Religious Organizations Law, which gave the state control over religions and enabled it to make use of all religions in the war effort.” —Miyata, 81.
  8. ^ tmakiguchi.org war resister
  9. ^ tmakiguchi.org thoughtcriminal
  10. ^ Aruga, Hiroshi. “Sōka Gakkai and Japanese Politics,” in Machacek, David and Bryan Wilson, eds, Global Citizens: The Sōka Gakkai Buddhist Movement in the World, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 103-104.
  11. ^ Aruga, pp. 113-114
  12. ^ ”1. Sōka Gakkai aims at kosen-rufu. It is a Buddhist cultural movement; political advance in and of itself is not its purpose. 2. Sōka Gakkai has long opposed the Nichiren Shōshū demand that Nichiren Buddhism become the state religion and will continue to oppose it. 3. The Kōmeitō exists for the welfare of the public. It has no part in Sōka Gakkai’s religious activities or efforts to win people to the faith. Sōka Gakkai is, however, one of Kōmeitō’s supporting organizations and will uphold it in elections. 4. In order to make clear the difference between the two organizations, Kōmeitō members of national and local assemblies will be removed from Sōka Gakkai administrative posts.” — Nakano, Tsuyoshi. “Religion and State.” In: Tamura, Noriyoshi and David Reed, eds. 1996. Religion in Japanese Culture: Where Living Traditions Meet a Changing World. Tokyo: Kodansha International, p. 127.
  13. ^ Seager, p. 74; “Sōka Gakkai” in Daschke, Dereck and Michael Ashcraft, eds. 2005. New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader. New York: New York University Press; Reader, Ian, Andreasen, Esben and Stefansson, Finn. 1993. Japanese Religions: Past and Present. Kent: Japan Library, p. 125; Earhart, H. Byron. 1982. Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. p. 178; among others
  14. ^ SGI Directory
  15. ^ [1]
  16. ^ The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (WND), vol. 1, p. 386
  17. ^ See, for example: Dockett, Kathleen, G. Rita Dudley Grant and C. Peter Bankart, eds. 2003. Psychology and Buddhism: From Individual to Global Community. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
  18. ^ Metraux 2007. SERA, p. 236
  19. ^ "Al Albergate is an SGI leader who has a reputation of discussing the priesthood A Sect's Political Rise Creates Uneasiness in Japan
  20. ^ Nichiren Shōshū nyumon, p. 239–240
  21. ^ Nichiren Shōshū nyumon, p. 240
  22. ^ a b Sōka Gakkai-in e no shakubuku kyōhon, Taisekiji, p. 84
  23. ^ Sōka Kyoiku Gakkai articles of association (創価教育学会規約要綱), as quoted in Yamada, 2004, p. 36; Aera, 2000, p. 4 and elsewhere; Kirimura, 1984, p. 155
  24. ^ Yamada, 2004, p. 113
  25. ^ The Untold History of the Fuji School (World Tribune Press), p. 172/173
  26. ^ SGI Charter
  27. ^ Matsutani, Minoru, "Soka Gakkai keeps religious, political machine humming", Japan Times, 2 December 2008, p. 3.
  28. ^ Kōmeitō website
  29. ^ Time, BBC News, San Francisco Chronicle, AERA, Fulford, Furukawa, Yamada, Shimada 2004 & 2006, Taisekiji, and Yano 2008 and 2009, among others.
  30. ^ Ehrhardt, “Rethinking the Kōmeitō Voter”; Igami, Tonari no Sōka Gakkai
  31. ^ Multiple sources, including Yano 2009
  32. ^ SGI Charter
  33. ^ The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, SGI, 1999
  34. ^ Kisala in Controversial New Religions, 150
  35. ^ Metraux 2007 SERA
  36. ^ Prebish and Baumann, eds 2002, 92

Notes

Books

News media (websites)

Excommunication

External links

Official websites

Websites of SGI practitioners

Book reviews of scientific research on SGI