As of 2021, and for the past 30 years, the SGI claims approximately 12 million adherents in 192 countries and territories,[1] more than 1.5 million of whom resided outside of Japan as of 2012.[2] But those numbers are controversial and impossible to verify. Recent scholarship estimate Soka Gakkai believers around 2.5 million people in Japan.[3]
It also remains a controversial organization, due to the ambiguous reputation of the Japanese Soka Gakkai. Some countries consider it as a cult.
History
The Soka Gakkai International (SGI) was formed at a conference on January 26, 1975, on the island of
Guam.[5] Representatives from 51 countries attended the meeting and chose
Daisaku Ikeda to become the SGI's founding president.[5] The SGI was created in a symbolic gesture referencing Guam's history as the site of some of World War II's bloodiest battles, and proximity to
Tinian Island, launching place of the
atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.[6]
The Soka Gakkai's initial global expansion began after
World War II, when some Soka Gakkai members married mostly American servicemen and moved away from Japan.[7] Expansion efforts gained a further boost in 1960 when Ikeda succeeded
Jōsei Toda as president of the Soka Gakkai.[8][9] In the first year of his presidency, Ikeda visited the
United States,
Canada, and
Brazil, and the Soka Gakkai's first American headquarters officially opened in
Los Angeles in 1963.[8][10]
The SGI is closely linked to the Soka Gakkai (the domestic Japanese organization), although both are headquartered in
Tokyo.[13] "National branches enjoy some autonomy in certain matters. However, control over SG rests in Japan and the leadership of the movement is almost exclusively Japanese", according to scholar Karel Dobbelaere[14]. The Tokyo headquarters also disseminate doctrinal and teaching materials to national organizations.[15]
The election or nomination of leaders is not decided by the SGI's general membership but by a board of directors.[16] Leadership below national staff, however, has been liberalized.
Beliefs and social engagement
SGI says its members incorporate social interaction and engagement into their Buddhist practice.[17] Monthly neighborhood
discussion meetings are generally held at the homes of SGI members.[18]
In 2008, the SGI-USA, which is headquartered in California, publicly opposed that state's
Proposition 8 (which sought to prevent same-sex marriage), and coordinated with other progressive religious groups to support same-sex couples' right to legally marry.[19][20]
In 2012, then-President of the Republic of China
Ma Ying-jeou remarked that the Taiwan Soka Association had been recognized for its involvement the past 16 years in the general welfare of society, education and religious teaching, highlighting its disaster rescue and relief efforts in the wake of
Typhoon Morakot in 2009.[21]
Initiatives promoting peace, culture and education
The SGI defines itself as a "movement for contributing to peace, culture and education" based on its "interpretation and practical application of the ideas in the
Lotus Sutra."[22] SGI promotes its engagement on issues including human rights, sustainable development and peace building[23].
According to
Pax Christi International, on March 28, 2017, a joint statement of Faith Communities Concerned about Nuclear Weapons, initiated by the SGI, was delivered by Pax Christi Philippines during the first UN negotiating conference for the
treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons.[25].
Environmental awareness
The SGI also promotes environmental initiatives through educational activities such as exhibitions, lectures and conferences, and more direct activities such as tree planting projects and the SGI's Amazon Ecological Conservation Center, which is administered by SGI-Brazil.[26] The center is engaged in reforestation, the creation of a regional seed bank, and experiments in sustainable agroforestry.[27]
Aid work
The SGI conducts humanitarian aid projects in disaster-stricken regions. After the
2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, local Soka Gakkai facilities became refugee shelters and distribution centers for relief supplies. Efforts also included worldwide fundraising for the victims, youth groups, and spiritual support.[28][29]
In 2014, SGI-Chile members collected supplies to deliver to emergency services and refugee centers after that country's devastating
Iquique earthquake.[30]
Interfaith dialogue
In 2015, SGI-USA was part of the organizing committee that convened a day-long conference in Washington, DC of 125 Buddhist leaders to discuss Buddhism and civic activism in the United States. The conference identified climate change and the environment, education and peace and disarmament as popular priorities.[31]
Notable members
Notable members of the Soka Gakkai International include:
^Gebert, Andrew.
"Soka Gakkai". Oxford Bibliographies. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
^McLaughlin, Levi (2012). Prohl, Inken; Nelson, John (eds.).
Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions.
Brill. p. 269.
ISBN978-90-04-23436-9. Today, the group has a self-declared membership of 8.27 million households in Japan and more than 1.5 million adherents in 192 countries abroad under its overseas umbrella organization Soka Gakkai International, or SGI. Recent scholarship challenges theses figures and points to a figure in the neighborhood of two percent of the Japanese population.
^McLaughlin, Levi (2012).
"Soka Gakkai in Japan". In Prohl, Inken; Nelson, John (eds.). Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions.
Brill. pp. 269–308.
ISBN978-90-04-23436-9. Today, the group has a self-declared membership of 8.27 million households in Japan and more than 1.5 million adherents in 192 countries abroad under its overseas umbrella organization Soka Gakkai International, or SGI. Recent scholarship challenges theses figures and points to a figure in the neighborhood of two percent of the Japanese population.
^Laderman, Gary (2003). Religion and American Cultures: An Encyclopedia of Traditions, Diversity, and Popular Expressions. ABC CLIO.
ISBN9781576072387.
^
abRonan Alves Pereira (2008). "The transplantation of Soka Gakkai to Brazil: building "the closest organization to the heart of Ikeda-Sensei"". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies.
^Strand, Clark (Winter 2008).
"Faith in Revolution". Tricycle. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
^Métraux, Daniel (2013). "Soka Gakkai International: The Global Expansion of a Japanese Buddhist Movement". Religion Compass. 7 (10): 423–432.
doi:
10.1111/rec3.12070.
Dobbelaere, Karel: Soka Gakkai: From Lay Movement to Religion. Signature Books, 2001;
ISBN978-1560851530
Seager, Richard: Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism. University of California Press, 2006;
ISBN978-0520245778
Strand, Clark: Waking the Buddha: How the Most Dynamic and Empowering Buddhist Movement in History Is Changing Our Concept of Religion. Middleway Press, 2014;
ISBN978-0977924561