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CHAPTER ONE
THE ORIGINS AND GLOBAL EXPANSION OF SOKA GAKKAI
My studies of Japanese history and politics for the past four decades has
focused on the lay Buddhist movement, the Soka Gakkai, the largest of Japan’s
New Religious Movements (NRMs) and founder of the Komeito, Japan’s third
largest political party and an active member of the country’s governing coalition
from 1999 to 2009. The Soka Gakkai permeates all areas of Japanese life: it
claims one in twelve Japanese as a member; it operates the country’s third largest
daily newspaper; its small but comprehensive school system is regarded as one of
the best in the land; its political clout has thwarted attempts by the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party to fundamentally revise Japan’s postwar constitution; and it is
an important cultural force bringing many artists from across the globe to perform
in Japan.
The Soka Gakkai, however, has not confined its activities just to Japan. It
claims between two and three million members abroad in approximately two
hundred countries and territories in addition to ten million followers in Japan.
While these figures are probably somewhat exaggerated, the Soka Gakkai is a
major religious, social and political movement in Japan and a growing religious
force in several regions of the world. Major concentrations of Soka Gakkai
members exist in Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, India and South Asia, South
America, the United States and parts of Europe, but there are also chapters in
1
2
Australia and the South Pacific, Africa and Canada. Areas without significant
Soka Gakkai representation are China, Russia, the Middle East and much of the
Islamic world.
Although many of the founders of these Soka Gakkai International
chapters were expatriate Japanese in the 1960s and 1970s, a vast majority of the
members and leaders of the chapters today are local natives. One of the things
one notices when visiting Soka Gakkai International (SGI) culture centers abroad
is the decided lack of ethnic Japanese. SGI folk in Hong Kong, Singapore and
Malaysia are almost entirely Chinese while the SGI culture centers in Cambodia,
the Philippines, Quebec and Toronto, and New Zealand visited by this writer in
the late 1990s and early 2000s represented local ethnic populations with only
small numbers of ethnic Japanese. The result is that Soka Gakkai has become a
global movement that appeals to two to three million natives from many cultural
and religious backgrounds throughout the world.
What is Soka Gakkai Buddhism?
The goal of the Soka Gakkai is to spread the doctrines of its version of
Nichiren Buddhism throughout the world. A writer in Britain states that this form
of Buddhism . . . is a belief system that focuses on the evolution of each
individual self, the evolutionary progress of the individual in the societal
framework in which he or she lives, and the evolution of all humanity in all of its
possible dimensions. Like all evolutionary processes, discovery and release of
positive potential, improvement of attitudes, positive development of socioeconomic well-being, and increase in social and global responsibilities are ones
that take place in the daily existence of each person. The Buddhism of Nichiren
Daishonin does not focus on rewards in a future life, but on the quality of life in
the present, and how that quality can pervade humanity through compassion and
responsibility for all living beings as well as the planet on which we live. It is
Soka Gakkai International -SGI- that is the means by which such goals are
articulated in Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism. . . . SGI is modern: It is not a
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religious movement that is so rooted in past tradition that it has no relation to the
age in which we live. Indeed, it is very much associated with present-day social,
economic and global problems while maintaining certain basic beliefs that stem
from its more ancient past.1
The Soka Gakkai bases its Buddhist ideology on its interpretation of the
teachings of Nichiren (1222-1282), a thirteenth century Japanese Buddhist monk
who proclaimed that the Lotus Sutra2 is the ultimate teaching of the Buddha
Shakyamuni and who founded the only native school of Japanese Buddhism.
Nichiren went further to declare that the very title of the Lotus Sutra, MyohoRenge-Kyo, very much crystallized the essence of the sutra and that chanting the
invocation Nam-myoho-renge-kyo allowed the follower to embrace the entirety of
the Buddha’s teachings and in time manifest the life-condition of Buddhahood.
Nichiren inscribed several mandala (Gohonzon) with Chinese and Sanskrit
characters which are said to represent the enlightened life of the “Buddha of the
Latter Day of the Law.”
Followers of Nichiren feel that their Buddhism must be practiced not in a
land or a mystic state, but in each person's daily life here and now, and that
Buddhahood can be attained here in this lifetime. This achievement is possible
because of continuous efforts to engage one's highest life condition, or Buddha
nature, to overcome the every day obstacles and struggles we all face. In so doing,
one is said to establish an unshakable state of happiness characterized by peace,
wisdom and compassion which with practice ultimately permeates every aspect of
one's being. In accord with the Buddhist concept of esho funi, the oneness of
person and environment, each person has the power to then positively affect the
1
Jeaneane and Merv Fowler, Chanting in the Hillsides: The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin in
Wales and the Borders (Brighton UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2008), 44-45.
2
The Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus the Sublime Dharma purports to be a discourse
delivered by the Buddha toward the end of his life. The ultimate "teaching" of the sutra, however,
is implied to the reader that "full Buddhahood" is only arrived at by exposure to the truths
expressed implicitly in the Lotus Sutra via its many parables and references to a heretofore less
clearly imagined cosmological order. The Buddha promises salvation to any being that embraces
its doctrines. Nichiren later declared that one only needed to chant the title of the Sutra (nam
myoho-renge-kyo) over and over to achieve Buddhahood.
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environment around him or her. SGI practitioners call this process a “Human
Revolution” (ningen kakumei). They argue that if human beings fully embraced
these teachings, the peace they would develop within would eventually be
reflected in the environment as peace in society at large.
The basic practice of SGI members is based on faith, practice, and study.
Faith entails chanting Nam-myoho-renge kyo daily and reciting gongyo (the
Expedient Means and Life Span Chapters of the Lotus Sutra). The duration of
chanting tends to depend upon the individual member; typically it will start off
minimal (5 to 10 minutes morning and evening), but long term practitioners
frequently chant for at least half an hour or an hour morning and evening. Some
members will occasionally chant daimoku toso ("chanting struggle"), which is
extended chanting over several hours in a single day. Practice involves chanting
as described above, plus participation in the community and sharing Buddhist
practice with others. Study is the dedication of some part of ones life to the
reading of important Buddhist teachings, most important among them the study of
the collected writings of Nichiren Daishonin, called Gosho. Additional reading
materials include the Lotus Sutra, the writings of current spiritual leader Ikeda
Daisaku (1928---) and other writers and scholars of the Lotus Sutra and of
Nichiren Buddhism.
The Soka Gakkai’s Nichiren Background
The Soka Gakkai in Japan like some other Buddhist movements across
Asia is very much an engaged Buddhist organization actively concerned with
social and political issues and crises.3 To advance its vision of a new world order,
it has harnessed modern methods of education, mass communication, and political
influence and activism. The Soka Gakkai is very much dedicated to the social and
political ideals typical of other engaged Buddhist groups across Asia. It combines
3
Soka Gakkai International (SGI) chapters outside Japan never participate in politics in any way.
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a dual emphasis on inner peace and world peace including the use of a wide range
of educational, social, cultural and political means to reduce violence, injustice
and environmental degradation.
Nichiren taught that the stability of the state and the welfare and the
quality of life of its inhabitants depend on the successful propagation of the
Buddhist teachings found in the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren lived during the Kamakura
period (1185-1333) when Japan was beset by constant domestic strife, foreign
invasion, and devastating natural disasters. Like many other Buddhist scholars of
his day, he believed that peace, harmony and human security could only be
achieved if the doctrines of the Lotus Sutra became the foundation of Japanese
society.
Nichiren offered a critical diagnosis of as well as a remedial prescription
for the misery of the human condition in his 1260 tract, Rissho Ankoku Ron
(RAR; “On Securing the Peace of the Land through the Propagation of True
Buddhism”). Nichiren presented RAR to shogunal authorities in Kamakura with
the firm conviction that it is the chief responsibility of the state’s leaders to do
everything to secure the welfare of the people including the propagation of those
teachings that would bring greatest happiness to the people. The main message of
RAR is that a stable, peaceful society can only be established if the Buddhism
practiced got citizens to recognize the beauty and great value of human life.
According to the Soka Gakkai:4
In the Lotus Sutra, the scripture which is recognized in the
Nichiren tradition as the highest, most complete teaching of
Shakyamuni, the image of a massive jewel-decked treasure tower
is used to illustrate the beauty, dignity and preciousness of life. If
we truly understand that human life is the most precious of all
treasures, we will value our own lives and those of others. From
this perspective it is clear that war, as the ultimate abuse and
cruelty to human beings, is to be absolutely and totally rejected,
and peace should be our constant goal.
If society embraced this view of life’s value, preventing
violence and addressing all forms of suffering would become the
4
Soka Gakkai, “Rissho Ankoku—Securing Peace for the People.” SGI Quarterly, July 2003.
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highest priorities of humankind, as opposed to the accumulation of
material wealth and power. Those who nurture and care for life,—
parents, nurses, doctors and teachers—would be treated with the
greatest respect. But humanity’s common curse is an inability to
fully believe in or appreciate the value of our own lives and those
of others. And even if we do accept this in theory, to act on it on a
day to day basis is extremely difficult. When faced with a bitter
interpersonal conflict we may still experience poisonous thoughts of
jealousy and hatred, and wish to harm another person or wish that they
could somehow be “got out of the way.”5
The key, therefore, is the realization that since wars begin in the minds of men,
one must follow the Buddhist teaching that only an inner transformation of our
lives can bring an end to war. We must work to make our sense of compassion
stronger than our inherent egotistical desire to win over or use others. “Buddhism
views life as a struggle between the forces of good and evil. Good is defined as
the creative, compassionate nature inherent in people, the desire to be happy
oneself and aid others in their quest for happiness. Evil is defined as that which
divides and breaks down our sense of connection, propelling us into a fear-driven
competition to use and dominate others before they can do this to us.”6
Nichiren wrote Rissho Ankokuron in 1260, a time of civil unrest and grave
natural disasters in Japan. According to the Soka Gakkai, Nichiren felt that the
disorder in the world reflected a deeper disorder within human beings. He insisted
that only Buddhism could give the people the power to transform their
personalities for the better. Nichiren rejected the idea that the best that Buddhism
could offer was hope and comfort after death. On the contrary, he felt that
Buddhism as originally taught had something much better to offer: the possibility
of happiness and fulfillment in this present life and that it could give people the
strength to transform human society into an ideal and peaceful place. “In a sense
Nichiren’s concern can be said to be what is now defined as ‘human security.’ As
SGI President Ikeda said in a recent discussion on this treatise, ‘In the past,
‘security’ has solely implied national security…But what kind of security is it if,
5
6
Ibid.
Ibid.
7
while the state is protected, the lives and dignity of each citizen are threatened?
Currently, the prevailing view of security is steadily being altered from one that
focuses on the state to one that focuses on the human being.’”7
Like Nichiren, the Soka Gakkai argues that religion must serve as the
basis of any morally just society. The primary social and political role of any
religion is to remove the basic causes of human discontent and to lead humankind
to true happiness, harmony and prosperity in life. Religion is essential to the
philosophical, social and political betterment of society as a whole, and religion
must enter into every sphere of society including politics in order for change to
occur for the better. Thus, a society with a firm religious (read Buddhist) basis
would enjoy a higher degree of human security than one devoid of such a basis.8
The foundation of the Soka Gakkai movement is expressed through the
term “Human Revolution” which involves the transformation of individual
character through the adoption of the “true Buddhism of Nichiren.” The
widespread propagation of Nichiren Buddhism would lead people everywhere to
become more humane, compassionate, and peaceful than in the past. Such evils as
warfare and environmental pollution would recede and concerned Buddhists in
every walk of life would work diligently to redress the economic and social
imbalances of society. Thus, the goal of Soka Gakkai is to provide greater human
security by having more and more people experience its “human revolution” and
then working to improve the human condition in whatever field they choose to
enter. The Gakkai also seeks to improve human security through its activist
involvement in such fields as education and politics.9
As a means of improving communication and building bridges among
people from different backgrounds and specialties, Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai
sponsored the creation of the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning and Dialogue
7
Ibid.
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
8
8
(formerly the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century) in Cambridge,
Massachusetts adjacent to Harvard University. Since its founding in 1993, the
Center has based its guiding philosophy on the Soka Gakkai’s drive to improve
prospects for world peace by enhancing communication among people from
diverse cultures and backgrounds. To accomplish this goal the Ikeda Center has
sponsored a series of annual forums on selected topics that bring together scholars
and practitioners representing diverse disciplines, cultures and perspectives to
discuss subjects of humanistic value. Topics of previous forums include “ReAwakening East-West Connections: Walden and Beyond” (2004) and “Emerson
and the Power of Imagination” (2006).
The focus for 2009 was “Humanizing Our Lives, Humanizing Our
World.” The goal was to create an open forum to discuss such questions as:
“What are the attitudes we might hold, and what are the actions we can take, that
would make our world—and our lives—more human?” There is the realization
taken from Buddhism that the health and humanity of each person is closely
intertwined with the health and happiness of society as a whole.
Ikeda long has emphasized this connection, insisting on the potential of
inner change to radiate out to bring peace to the world. “A great human revolution
in just a single individual,” says Ikeda, “will help achieve a change in the destiny
of a nation and, further, will cause a change in the destiny of humankind.”
Building on Ikeda’s Buddhist humanism, we will look as well for inspiration to
the humanistic ideas found in two of the Center’s formative influences: the
transcendentalism of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, and the philosophical
thinking of John Dewey.
Taken together, these three schools of thought have much to tell us about
how we might be fully and compassionately alive in the twenty-first century.10
10
http://www.ikedacenter.org/focus.htm
9
The Ikeda Center has also published a wide range of books for scholars,
students and the general topics that are designed to foster greater cross-cultural
understanding and encourage dialogue between different peoples.
Brief History of Soka Gakkai
Makiguchi Tsunesaburō (1871-1944), a Japanese educator and devout lay
practitioner of Nichiren Shōshű (“True Sect of Nichiren), founded Soka Gakkai as
a support group to promote his ideas for educational reforms in Japan. However,
by the late 1930s he and his young disciple Toda Jôsei (1900-1958), had changed
the focus of their group towards religion and had transformed their organization
into a lay support group for Nichiren Shôshû. Makiguchi and Toda were
imprisoned in 1943 because they refused government demands that they fuse their
religious organization with other sects and that they incorporate elements of State
Shinto into their worship. Makiguchi died in prison in 1944, but Toda, released in
1945, rebuilt Soka Gakkai into a major religious movement in the 1950s. Toda’s
successor, Ikeda Daisuku, expanded the Soka Gakkai in Japan and played a key
role in SGI’s expansion abroad in the 1960s.
Soka Gakkai grew rapidly in the immediate post-World War II era,
because its leaders focused on Buddhist teachings that stressed the happiness of
self and others in one’s immediate environment. Happiness was understood in
very concrete terms for millions of dispirited and hungry Japanese for whom
food, health, finding a mate, and securing employment were of paramount
interest. Later in the 1960s and 1970s, when Japan became more affluent,
happiness was redefined in more philosophical terms to include “empowerment,
character formation, and socially beneficial work . . .”11
The realization that Soka Gakkai had become a highly successful lay
Buddhist movement with its own strong leadership, which had its own
11
Richard Hughes Seager, “Soka Gakkai—The Next Ten Years,” Tricycle 41 (Fall 2001), 94-95.
10
independent social and political programs, did not sit well with Nichiren Shôshû,
a conservative and traditional Buddhist sect. The fact that the sect’s priesthood
and Soka Gakkai were going in different directions caused a growing schism by
the late 1970s and a complete divorce in the early 1990s. Today Soka Gakkai is
an independent lay religious movement dedicated to the propagation of its version
of Nichiren Buddhism.
Before moving on, however, it is necessary to clarify the Soka Gakkai’s
relationship with Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Shoshu and the nationalistic
tendencies of intense Japanese nationalists such as Tanaka Chigaku (18611939)12, the infamous proponent of Nichirenism, the fiercely nationalistic blend of
Nichiren Buddhism and State Shinto. The Soka Gakkai, while nominally a lay
support group of the Nichiren Shoshu sect from its founding in the 1930s until it
broke its ties with the sect in the early 1990s, has a long history of structural and
ideological independence in the Nichiren movement. It has always adopted a
strongly internationalist interpretation of Nichiren’s Rissho Ankoku Ron; during
World War II it so strongly denounced Tanaka and Nichirenism as well as Japan’s
war effort as a whole that its leaders were imprisoned for the duration of the war.
Furthermore, since its break with Nichiren Shôshû, the Soka Gakkai has moved
sharply away from the exclusivism of the sect and has become much more
inclusivist in its approach to society. Today’s Soka Gakkai is genuinely
internationalist in its world view and this universalistic approach has effectively
divorced it from the traditional nationalism of elements of Nichiren Buddhism
and from the exclusivism of Nichiren Shôshû.
12
Tanaka Chigaku (1861 - 1939) was a Japanese Buddhist scholar and preacher of Nichiren
Buddhism, orator, writer and nationalist propagandist in the Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa
periods.. He is considered to be the father of Nichirenism, the fiercely nationalistic blend of
Nichiren Buddhism and State Shinto espoused by such figures as Inoue Nissho, Ishiwara Kanji
and Kita Ikki.
11
The Worldwide Expansion of Japanese Religions
Japan has long been the recipient of religious and philosophic traditions
from abroad. Varieties of Buddhism as well as Confucianism and Daoism have all
exerted influence on Japanese culture while Christianity has had some impact
since the Meiji era (1867-1912). Since few Japanese had ventured far from their
homeland until the end of the Edo period (1600-1867), encounters between
foreigners and Japanese religions were rare. When tens of thousands of Japanese
migrated to Hawaii and North and South America later in the Meiji period, they
brought their religious traditions with them. However, these religions remained
largely confined to Japanese overseas communities, but as the children and
grandchildren of these immigrants became assimilated into the host cultures, their
attachment to Japanese-based religions quickly waned.
By the 1960s, however, representatives of several new Japanese religious
NRMs made concerted efforts to spread their faith to non-Japanese abroad.
Japan’s rise as a major economic power combined with increased Japanese
immigration and investment abroad often acted as catalysts for NRMS to
undertake missionary activity in foreign lands. Their success was on occasion
phenomenal. Seicho-no-Ie began its explosive penetration of Brazilian society
while the Soka Gakkai had equal success.
Japan’s New Religions and the Search for Benefits
Ian reader and George J. Tanabe, Jr., in their recent book, Practically
Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan13, argue
conclusively that the “religion of practical benefits” permeates every aspect of
Japanese religion and is at the “very core” of its common religious tradition.14
Reader and Tanabe argue that one of the primary themes of Japanese religiosity is
13
Ian Reader and George J. Tanabe, Jr., Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common
Religion of Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998).
14
Ibid., 262.
12
that “direct, immediate, and often material benefits flow from religious faith,
practice, and adherence to their tenets.” These “immediate benefits,” which are
known as genze riyaku or “this worldly practical benefits” are generally
“understood to involve primarily material or physical gains such as good health,
success” and significant advancement in one’s career or life path. They also
promote other critically important but less tangible benefits such as “personal
well-being” and a general sense of satisfaction and happiness in life.15
Reader and Tanabe stress that although the worldview epitomized by the
seeking and selling of practical benefits in a religious context relies on spirit-oriented
explanations and interpretations of events, it might appear to be antithetical to the
scientific-rationalist worldview that underlies the modern educational and political
systems of modern Japan as a modern secular state. Yet praying for benefits . . . as much
in common with the motivations and basic values expressed in secular societies. Indeed,
it is striking . . . how closely these things sought through genze riyaku are aligned with
the prevailing ethos of modern secular societies in what they seek for their citizens:
happiness, assurances about the future, success, solace, and lives that can be lived as
much as possible free from unforeseen problems and dangers.16
These religious practices and values are closely aligned with the postwar
generations of Japanese who worked hard and made considerable sacrifices to
bring prosperity not only to themselves, but to the nation as well. The popular
search for benefits was backed by a set of ethical constraints and values that emphasized
hard work, duty, and diligence—values that recognized the obligations as well as the
desires of the individual and therefore affirmed his or her social responsibility. Such
ethics, rather than being out of touch with modern societies, are very much at their center:
nothing is gained without commitment and striving; there is a place for everything;
rewards follow from correct behavior. The pragmatic economic values and work ethics
associated with Japan’s postwar development are embedded in, rather than distant from,
the normative values of Japanese religion as expressed in the concept and practice of thisworldly benefits.17
15
Ibid., 2.
Ibid., 257.
17
Ibid., 257-58.
16
13
Modernity, despite considerable stress on the scientific and rational, is an
ample breeding ground for spirituality and religious faith because of the added
stress, competition, and the sense of frustration coupled with failure. Japanese
from all educational and economic backgrounds—students, businessmen,
housewives, and even top graduates of Tokyo university – engage in the pursuit of
worldly benefits through “religious settings.”18
Millions of Japanese during the postwar period have turned to a variety of
NRMs precisely because they best address the traditions of genze riyaku. By
contrast, many older religious organizations have lost touch with the public, and
are viewed as stuffy museums staffed with officials who do little more than
perform funerals and other rites for the dead. Lay NRMS such as the Soka Gakkai
removed themselves from this milieu and went directly into the follower’s living
room.
The NRM’s emphasis on practical benefits “here and now” reflects the
common ethos in modern capitalist societies for realizable gains in the immediate
future. Although these new religious movements reflect their Japanese origins in
some aspects of their ideology and organizational structure, they also reflect
universal questions asked by people in industrializing and post-industrializing
societies worldwide. These issues include peace and war, a declining
environment, conditions at work, family relations, matters of individual health,
psychological well-being, and prosperity.19
The Soka Gakkai’s Global Expansion
One of the most interesting developments in Japanese studies has been the
widespread diaspora of several of Japan’s NRMs throughout the world since the
1960s.20 They have achieved their greatest successes in Korea, Taiwan, Hong
18
Ibid., 258.
Peter B. Clarke and Jeffrey Somers, “Japanese New and New, New Religions: An Introduction,”
in Clarke and Somers (eds.) Japanese New Religions in the West (Sandgate, Folkstone, Kent:
Japan Library/Curzon Press, 1994), 1.
20
Notably Tenrikyo and Sekai Kyuseikyo.
19
14
Kong, Southeast Asia, Brazil, Peru, and the United States, but they also have a
presence in Canada, Britain, mainland Europe, parts of Africa and Oceania. Their
followings have grown, but none has done as well as SGI. Initially SGI and other
Japanese NRMs attracted expatriate Japanese and their family members as
followers, but over time the bulk of their followers have become local natives.
Professor Shimazono Susumu of Tokyo University has suggested several
reasons for the success of Japanese NRMs abroad:
One of the common characteristics of the New Religions is their
response to strongly felt needs of individuals in their daily lives,
their solutions to discord in interpersonal relations, their practical
teachings that offer concrete solutions for carrying on a stable
social life, and their provision, to individuals who have been cut
off from traditional communities, of a place where congenial
company and a spirit of mutual support may be found. As
capitalistic industrialization and urbanization advance, large
numbers of individuals are thrown into new living environments,
thus providing conditions that require spiritual support for the
individual. . . . Japanese religions are abundantly equipped with
cultural resources that answer the needs of just these people in
treading the path towards the urban middle class.21
Peter Clark suggests several reasons SGI has been especially successful.
SGI in particular has succeeded in developing a strong following in many
countries because “though a very Japanese form of Buddhism, it appears capable
of universal application; no one is obliged to abandon their native culture or
nationality in order to fully participate in the spiritual and cultural life of the
movement.”22 Soka Gakkai leaders, while maintaining the essential elements of
their faith, have released their form of Buddhism from its inherently Japanese
roots by skillfully adapting their religious practices to each culture that they seek
to penetrate. They recruit local leaders who direct the foreign chapter free of any
direct control from Tokyo, conduct all religious exercises and publish all
Susumu Shimazono, “Expansion of Japan’s New Religions,” Japanese Journal of Religious
Studies, 18/2-3 (1991), 1163.
22
Peter B. Clarke, “’Success’ and ’Failure’: Japanese New Religions Abroad” in Peter B. Clarke,
ed., Japanese New Religions in Global Perspective (Richmond, Surrey UK: Curzon Press, 2000),
281.
21
15
documents in the native languages, and emphasize those traits that are important
to the host culture. Clarke, for example, notes that SGI practices in the United
States that appeal to many American members are “the absence of moralizing, the
stress on individual choice, and the need to take responsibility for one’s own
actions.”23
Cultural adaptation of a non-indigenous religion in an alien culture is a
very complex but necessary step if that religion is to survive in a new habitat.
Much of the Soka Gakkai’s success in foreign cultures is due to its ability to find
a balanced method of adaptation. SGI chapters throughout the world pay strict
attention to the teachings of the Soka Gakkai in Japan. Religious doctrines
espoused by the faithful in Tokyo and Osaka are identical to those pursued in
Hong Kong or Manila. Religious tracts produced in and transmitted from Tokyo
are read and studied by followers everywhere. Spiritual leader Ikeda Daisaku is
revered and studied in every Gakkai chapter I have visited from Staunton Virginia
to Singapore. This dramatic respect and loyalty to Ikeda plays an important role in
uniting the Soka Gakkai worldwide.
National SGI chapters, however, are autonomous on an organizational
level. They are run and manned by local nationals and all business is conducted in
the local language. Meetings in Singapore, for example, are always either in
English or Chinese. National Chapters make their own decisions, generally raise
their own funds, and choose their own leaders. Links with Tokyo are generally
informational. Strong efforts are made to show the community that the SGI
follows the culture and customs of its host nation. Its international success also
stems from the fact that it does not promote itself or its doctrines as being
inherently Japanese, emphasizing instead a form of Buddhism that, though
founded in Japan, is applicable to everyone everywhere.
My research on SGI members in Canada, the United States, and
throughout SE Asia and Australia indicates that Soka Gakkai attracts followers
outside of Japan because it offers a strong message of peace, happiness, success,
23
Ibid., 285.
16
and self-empowerment. Adherents perceive that the Buddhism espoused by Soka
Gakkai gives them some degree of influence over their personal environments,
that through their hard work and devout practice they can overcome their
suffering and find happiness here and now. They also find great satisfaction and a
sense of community by joining with other people who follow the same faith. The
practices of small groups of members meeting regularly to chant, discuss personal
and mutual concerns, and socialize as close friends are important social reasons
for the success of Soka Gakkai not only in Japan but abroad as well.24
Many of the younger SGI members in these countries are also very well
educated. There seems to exist a strong affinity between a religious dogma that
emphasizes “mental work” (attitudes and individual focus) who have to work very
hard to attain their educational credentials. This phenomenon may explain why
this form of Buddhism is attractive to this particular social stratum and also helps
to address why Soka Gakkai’s Japanese origin does not seem to matter much to
these non-Japanese converts. As Wilson and Dobbelaere and Hammond and
Machacek found in their research in Britain and the United States, and as I
discovered among a largely Chinese ethnic SGI following in Southeast Asia, the
ethic of individual success and self-determination has a certain affinity with the
experiences of white-collar professionals.
SGI’s international success also stems from the fact that it does not
promote itself or its doctrines as being inherently Japanese, emphasizing instead a
form of Buddhism, though founded in Japan, which they believe is applicable to
everyone everywhere. There are elements, however, which unite the faith.
Spiritual leader Ikeda Daisaku is revered by members everywhere. This dramatic
respect and loyalty to the aging Ikeda plays a vital role in uniting the Soka Gakkai
worldwide.
24
This interpretation is bolstered by the work of Hammond and Machacek in the United States and
Wilson and Dobbelaere in Britain. Their studies related the growth of SGI in these countries to
value shifts associated with growing economic well-being. In short, the idea, drawn from other
cross-national studies of value-change in advanced industrial societies, is that as economic
security rises, so does the population’s desire for tangible rewards such as happiness, selffulfillment, and aesthetic pleasure.
17
SGI has garnered a large following of well over one hundred thousand
followers across Southeast Asia since the first chapters were created nearly fifty
years ago in the early 1960s. The growth of SGI in the region started in ethnic
Chinese communities in Hong Kong and rapidly spread to Chinese communities
in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and elsewhere by the mid 1960s. Today
ethnic Chinese constitute an overwhelming majority of SGI members in Malaysia,
Singapore and Hong Kong. There is also a minority ethnic Indian membership
and a scattering of other Asian and Western members.
National SGI chapters, moreover, are autonomous on an organizational
level. They are manned by local nationals and all business is conducted in local
languages. Local chapters make most if not all of their basic decisions, generally
raise their own funds, and choose their own leaders. Links with Tokyo are
generally informational. Strong efforts are made to show the local community that
SGI follows the culture and customs of its host nation.
The Soka Gakkai and Human Security
The Soka Gakkai stresses that human security starts with the basic needs
of all the people. “We need shelter, air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat.”
People need to be safe. “We need to work, to earn, to care for our health, to be
protected from violence.” People cannot live in isolation. “We need community,
friends, family.” People need to be respected—“to have self-respect and to respect
others. We need access to love, culture, faith.” Man must have a sense of
contribution and purpose. “We need the chance to reach our highest potential.”25
The Soka Gakkai says that human security can only be achieved through
the transformation of the world from a culture of violence and greed to a culture
of peace, compassion and respect. The essence of Buddhist faith is the
interconnectedness of all things and all matter. Thus, even the activities of just
Soka Gakkai 2003 leaflet, “Transforming the Human Spirit from a Culture of Violence to a
Culture of Peace.”
25
18
one person, community or nation can have a direct effect on everything else. The
only real way to root out violence, greed, and intolerance is decidedly not through
the destruction or subjugation of any one person or community of persons (“one
cannot achieve peace through violence, but rather through understanding”), but
rather through the transformation of the human spirit.26
The Soka Gakkai claims to be advancing human security through its
programs that promote peace education and culture and through individual
“human revolutions” of its members. Personal change comes through Buddhist
faith and practice, but the Soka Gakkai combines this individual practice with a
variety of broader educational and practical activities including peace education,
intercultural exchange, an enhanced educational system and the creation of a
strong political party, the Komeito. The Komeito is supposedly responsible for
enhancing the public welfare of the Japanese people, promoting peaceful relations
abroad, especially with China, and protecting Japan’s current “peace
constitution.”27
The Soka Gakkai feels that it is advancing the human security of the
Japanese people with its highly publicized peace education campaigns. Komeito
Diet man Endo Otohiko states that “over 60 years have passed since World War II
ended with Japan’s total defeat. Young Japanese who have no memories of the
horrors of war must be reminded of what happened then and what could happen
again if they allow our country to adopt a warlike stance against its neighbors.”28
Komeito Deputy Chairperson and House of Councillors member Hamayotsu
Toshiko suggests that her party and the Soka Gakkai are preserving the security
and promoting the welfare of Japanese through peace education.29
The peace education campaign began in 1957 when the Soka Gakkai’s
second leader, Toda Josei, made a very public speech in front of a large crowd of
26
Interview with Terasaki Hirotsugu, Executive Director of the Soka Gakkai Office of Public
Information in Tokyo, 10 March 2009.
27
Ibid.
28
Interview with Endo Otohiko, then Senior Vice-Minister of Finance at the Finance Ministry,
Tokyo, 2 May 2008.
29
Interview with Hamayotsu Toshiko at her Diet office, 22 March 2006.
19
Soka Gakkai members calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Since then the
Soka Gakkai has inundated its followers with endless speeches and publications
on the danger of war and has staged many public exhibitions across Japan and
throughout the world including several at the United Nations in New York. These
exhibitions through pictures, testimonies of survivors, and graphic videos show
the horror and suffering that often accompanies war. There are also exhibits on
what can happen if we continue to destroy our environment. The message here
was that if the Japanese can understand the horrible experiences of the 1930s and
1940s, they will be less likely to seek military solutions to problems in the future.
The Soka Gakkai maintains its campaign for the abolition of nuclear
weapons to this day. Writing on the topic of “Human Security and Nuclear
Abolition” in 2009, the Soka Gakkai’s spiritual leader Ikeda Daisaku noted:
When we address the issue of nuclear abolition, I think that it
would be useful to make an approach from the perspective of
Human Security. Such an approach will enable us to explain to
people how nuclear abolition has multifaceted effects on various
issues directly linked to human survival and human life. In this
way, I believe that this approach has a great potentiality of
bringing the nuclear abolition issue to a great many people and
thus expanding the circles of people who address the issue of
nuclear abolition. Moreover, I trust that it would enable us to have
people’s moral common sense of abhorrence toward nuclear
weapons be clearly reflected in international discussions.30
The Soka Gakkai notes that a culture of peace “consists of values,
attitudes, behaviors and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by
tackling their root causes” and solving problems “through dialogue and
negotiation among individuals, groups and nations.”31 Thus, one must firmly
establish the awareness that no society can base its security and well-being upon
the terror and misery of another; we must create a new set of global ethics. “The
theory of nuclear deterrence, in seeking to ensure the security of one state by
Unpublished 2009 Soka Gakkai document, “The Rationale Behind the ‘People’s Decade of
Action for Nuclear Abolition.’”
31
Soka Gakkai 2003 pamphlet, op. cit.
30
20
threatening others with overwhelming destructive power, is diametrically opposed
to the global ethics the new era demands.”32
The Soka Gakkai promotes “humanistic education” through its own school
system in Japan that extends from kindergarten to graduate school.33 The Gakkai
claims that its schools differ from other entities in Japan in that “Soka education”
places far less emphasis on rote learning and testing and more on developing the
character, values, and writer in 2008 that “unlike other schools in Japan, we put
the welfare of the individual child first.”34
The Soka Gakkai also endeavors to advance international understanding
through its Min-On culture programs, its strong support for the United Nations,
and frequent published dialogues between SGI leaders and other major world
figures. Environmental awareness (“There is no greater danger facing human
security today than global warming and the on-going destruction of our
environment.”35) is a constant theme in numerous Gakkai exhibitions, talks and
publications.
Despite these many active campaigns to promote peace education and the
like, the Soka Gakkai clearly states that its main goal is not to bring actual change
itself, but rather to foster quality people who through their own actions will bring
about positive social change. “We are the catalyst which can help people
transform their character and develop a deep concern for human security, but it is
up to these people themselves to become socially active in society to bring about
positive change.”36 Meaningful social transformation can only occur when enough
“reformed citizens’ obtain enough influential positions in society to be able to
persuade other citizens to adopt their proposals.
The Soka Gakkai, however, does employ direct action to promote its
32
Ibid.
The Soka Gakkai runs primary and secondary schools in Tokyo and Osaka, Soka University in
Hachioji near Tokyo, Soka University of America near Los Angeles, and kindergartens in
Sapporo, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.
34
Interview with school principal, 30 April 2008.
35
Terasaki interview in Tokyo, March 2007.
36
Terasaki interview, 2009.
33
21
social agenda through the Komeito. The Soka Gakkai realizes that its growth
potential is limited and that the way to bring meaningful reform is to elect enough
candidates to national, prefectural and local office. These elected officials will
work with other sympathetic politicians to bring about positive change. Gakkai
leaders stress that while their movement’s main goal is the religious and spiritual
needs of its members, politics is the arena where on how to run the country are
made.
How large is Soka Gakkai?
SGI estimated in 2009 that there were about 12-13 million SGI members
in 192 countries and territories including Japan. This figure includes those
countries where there is no organization but rather individuals practicing Nichiren
Buddhism. The membership of Soka Gakkai in Japan is estimated at 8.27 million
households. Since households are tabulated as family units, SGI suggests that this
translates into about ten million individual members in Japan. Soka Gakkai has
traditionally conducted statistical surveys of its membership by household, as
generally speaking, each household would only have one “Gohonzon” scroll, and
this has continued to the present. This does not mean that every member of a
family is an actively practicing member. The above statistic, dated 2005, is
updated every five years.
The estimated size of each national / provincial / territorial SGI unit
mentioned in this work in 2009 in terms of individual membership was:
Australia
4,000
Cambodia
1,600
Canada
6,800
Quebec
Taiwan (1998)
1,000+
200,000
Hong Kong
24,000
Malaysia
60,000
New Zealand
1,600
22
Philippines
15,500
Singapore
40,000
South Korea
700,000-1 million
USA
150,000-300,000
Source: Individual SGI bureaus. The numbers vary partly because of how one
defines members—some are very active, and others are part-time passive
members at best. SGI leaders in each of the countries in this work in 2009 were:
Australia: Greg Johns
Cambodia: KozoYamaya
Canada: Tony Meers
Hong Kong: Ng Chor Yuk
Malaysia: Choo Kong Fei
The Philippines: Roger Cabauatan
New Zealand: Jimi Wallace
Singapore: B.C. Ong
South Korea: Yeo Sang Rak
USA: Daniel Nagashima
Sampling Soka Gakkai in Four Distinct Regions
Since it is not possible to examine Soka Gakkai in every corner of the
globe, looking in depth at Soka Gakkai International in four distinct regions
hopefully will provide an opportunity to get an overall picture of the movement.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s this writer did extensive studies of the Soka
Gakkai in Quebec and Canada (1995-96 and 2002), Southeast Asia (Malaysia,
Singapore, the Philippines) and Hong Kong (1998-1999), Australia (2000, 2002
and 2003), and Cambodia (2006). Each of these four regions is examined in
considerable detail in chapters in this work. I also include a chapter surveying the
Soka Gakkai’s strong success in South Korea and its strong relationship with the
23
government of the People’s Republic of China. There are a few comments on the
SGI movement in New Zealand as well as in the United States.
Many other scholars have written about individual chapters of SGI, but
this work is a pioneering effort to look at the SGI movement as a whole. SGI is
very much a world community and this work is an attempt to show the many links
that show how SGI has a consistent constituency in many different parts of the
world.