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yume♥

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15 Jan 2009
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Sōka Gakkai (創価学会, Sōka Gakkai?) ("Value-Creation Society") is a Japanese new religious movement descended from Nichiren Buddhism. It was formed in 1930 and is closely associated with the New Komeito, an influential Japanese political party. However, Nichiren, Sōka Gakkai, and New Komeito are today independent organizations.

Sōka Gakkai International (SGI), the global organization subordinate to Sōka Gakkai, was founded in 1975 and characterizes its organization as a support network for practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism.

Both Sōka Gakkai and SGI have been criticized from time to time for their actions and policies. For instance in 2007 some questions were raised in the UK Parliament by two M.P.s concerning an allegation by a "member of the public" that the SGI, the New Kadampa Tradition and the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order indulged in "cultish behaviour." Although letters were received from a number of members of the public complaining about cultish behavior, no action was taken.[1] However, there is no general consensus on Sōka Gakkai policies in the religious community, and they have been praised by many independent groups and individuals. Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center says, "I am upbeat about Japan... we found good people there... like Daisaku Ikeda and the Sōka Gakkai, that support what we're doing." Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union, is quoted as saying, "President Ikeda is a philosopher, a thinker, and a poet with a grand vision and a big heart. He is working not only for Japan but for the sake of the entire world." SGI President Daisaku Ikeda has received honorary doctorates from almost 250 accredited academic institutions

History

Sōka Gakkai was founded as the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai (創価教育学会, lit. "Value-Creation Education Society") on November 18, 1930 by Japanese educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and his colleague Josei Toda. Makiguchi sought to reform Japan's militaristic education system into a more humanistic one that would support the full development and potential of Japan's youth. 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 Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, he found a religious philosophy that reflected his educational theories, which led to the establishment of the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai. Eventually, the focus of the organization began to shift, as Makiguchi came to the conclusion that the practice of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism itself could allow each individual to develop their potential within and attain Buddhahood. However, Makiguchi and Toda's thinking was in direct conflict with the goals of the state. When the Japanese government more rigorously enforced Shinto's position as the state religion (State Shinto) with the enactment of the Religious Organizations Law of 1939, a move designed to impose stricter governmental controls over religions, and began to demand that all citizens enshrine Shinto talismans in their homes Makiguchi, Toda, and 18 other Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai members resisted, refusing the talismans. For refusing to cooperate with the government by compromising their religious beliefs, the two educators were sent to prison. Makiguchi died there at age 73; Toda was later released and, after World War II, rebuilt the organization, renaming it Sōka Gakkai to reflect the extension of its membership beyond educators only. Over the years, the Sōka Gakkai experienced a period of rapid growth in Japan. An organization, Nichiren Shoshu of America (NSA, later also called Nichiren Shoshu Academy, Nichirenshoshu Sōkagakkai of America, and finally Sōka Gakkai International – USA), was formally organized in the United States on October 13, 1960. Today, Sōka Gakkai International and Nichiren Shoshu have parted ways. SGI now has a membership of somewhere between 100,000 to 300,000 practitioners in the United States. Sōka Gakkai International (SGI) was founded in 1975 as the International Buddhist League to act as the international leadership of national Sōka Gakkai organizations.

From the 13th century until the 20th century, Nichiren Buddhism was practiced almost exclusively in Japan. Sōka Gakkai emerged as the largest lay organization of Nichiren Buddhist practitioners and today, Sōka Gakkai membership accounts for nearly 10 percent of Japan's population.

When religious freedom took hold in Japan following World War II, Sōka Gakkai began to spread Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, initially across the country, then eventually across the globe, as practitioners relocated from Japan and as non-Japanese practitioners returned to their home countries, taking the practice with them. In response, Sōka Gakkai began to develop a program of international outreach. In 1960, Daisaku Ikeda, then third president of Sōka Gakkai, made a journey that took him from Japan 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 Sōka Gakkai International. In 1975, SGI was formally founded, with Daisaku Ikeda as its president.

Even though SGI was initially affiliated with Nichiren Shoshu, they are becoming more and more distinct. SGI's primary purpose is to provide a supporting organization for its practitioners. On its website, SGI defines its purpose as follows.

For SGI members, Buddhism is a practical philosophy of individual empowerment and inner transformation that enables people to develop themselves and take responsibility for their lives. As lay believers and engaged Buddhists, SGI members strive in their everyday lives to develop the ability to live with confidence, to create value in any circumstances and to contribute to the well-being of friends, family and community. The promotion of peace, culture and education is central to SGI's activities.

Daisaku Ikeda has led SGI since the death of Second President Josei Toda in 1958. A disciple of President Toda, Ikeda succeeded him in 1960 as Sōka Gakkai president and became president of the larger Sōka Gakkai International upon its creation in 1975.

Ikeda is, however, a controversial figure. For example, prior to 1979, many SGI leaders implied that Ikeda was equal to or superseded Nichiren as the True Buddha and suggested that a novel authored by Ikeda, the Human Revolution, was the gosho of the present age, the gosho being Nichiren's writings. When he challenged the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood on doctrinal grounds, his challenge was considered an act of heresy, particularly by a priesthood that viewed and asserted itself as the ultimate authority in Nichiren Shoshu doctrine. In April 1979 Ikeda resigned his positions as Sōka Gakkai president as well as head of all Nichiren Shoshu lay organizations (Hokkekō Sōkōtō) to apologize for his organization's deviations from Nichiren Shoshu doctrine (which Sōka Gakkai was bound to observe by its contemporary rules of incorporation) and the ensuing turmoil.

Sōka Gakkai members suggest that Ikeda's resignation was the action of a man who did not want to be responsible for creating a rift among the practitioners. Regardless of the rationale, however, a division between the followers of Nichiren Shoshu, and those who aligned themselves with Ikeda's positions, did occur, and continues to be a source of controversy and disagreement amongst practitioners. Shortly after giving of the organization's presidency, Ikeda became honorary chairman of Sōka Gakkai in part as a response to Sōka Gakkai members' dissatisfaction with his vacating of the presidency. As of January 2008 Ikeda remains honorary chairman of Sōka Gakkai and president of SGI.

Doctrine

Nichiren (日蓮) (1222–1282) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who, having studied the entirety of Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings and the commentaries of the leading Buddhist scholars of the day, proclaimed that the Lotus Sutra was the ultimate teaching of Shakyamuni and that, in Shakyamuni's own words, it was the one true teaching. Nichiren declared that the title of the Lotus Sutra, Myoho-Renge-Kyo, crystallized the essence of the sutra and that therefore the invocation Nam-myoho-renge-kyo enabled a practitioner to embrace the entirety of the teaching and to thereby manifest the life-condition of Buddhahood. A key passage in the Lotus Sutra explains that every individual possesses this life-condition, albeit as a latent Buddha nature. 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 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 her or his 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 concept is better known as ichinen sanzen, the Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of Life. Therefore, practitioners believe that Buddhism must be practiced not in a land or a mystic state, but in each person's daily life. 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 we all face. 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 person and environment, each individual has the power to then positively affect the environment around him or her. SGI practitioners call this process a "human revolution." Nichiren Daishonin argued that when and if human beings fully embraced his teachings, the peace they would develop within would eventually be reflected in the environment as peace in society at large.

Practice

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 tōsō ("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. Many gosho have been compiled in a two volume edition in English, The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin I and II. These translations are based on a Japanese volume called Nichiren Daishōnin Gosho Zenshū (The complete works of Nichiren Daishonin), which was compiled by 59th Nichiren Shoshu High Priest Nichiko Hori and published by Sōka Gakkai in 1952. Translations are available in, or are being undertaken into, other languages. Additional reading materials include the Lotus Sutra, the writings of Daisaku Ikeda, and other writers and scholars of the Lotus Sutra and of Nichiren Buddhism. In North America, there is a weekly newspaper, the World Tribune, and a monthly Buddhist journal, Living Buddhism.

Followers of Sōka Gakkai and SGI believe that chanting energizes and refreshes the practitioner both spiritually and mentally, leaving him or her happier, wiser, more compassionate, more productive, and more prosperous in all areas of their lives. Chanting is also believed to have a positive impact on the world at large.

Sōka Gakkai and SGI's other constituent organizations hold regular grassroots gatherings known as discussion meetings. Available on a monthly basis, they are usually held in members' homes. Important events, monthly World Peace Prayers (Kosen Rufu Gongyo), commemorative meetings, and monthly study meetings are usually held in SGI community centers (larger centers are usually called culture centers). SGI claims 13 million members worldwide ―10 million in Japan and 3 million elsewhere―especially in the United States, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.


"I got all this info from Wiki
I am apart of SGI and its a very different out look on Buddhism and i would be glad to tell anyone who needs help learning about it. I have been a happy member of SGI from Nov 2 2008 and the people that are apart of it are caring people that try to make you feel very welcome and help you with anything you may need help with. Also i have learned that SGI does a lot to help those in need and does things to be supporting of those with less. Also if u find japanese groups most of the japanese people are willing to help non japanese speaking people learn japanese. And thank u again for those who read this sorry again for the cut in paste but its good info for those who want to learn."

Yume♥
 
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sorry about it being soooooo long but this is for anyone who wants to learn about SGI
Sooooo i hope those who find this info useful will enjoy this
thanks
Yume♥
 
Wiki is public domain, so there is no problem doing a cut-n-paste as far as that goes. But it would have been more in keeping with the spirit of JREF if you had provided a link to that pre-existing material and then shared your own thoughts about your topic instead.
 
Hi Yume,

I am a proud youth division member of SGI from the Philippines..



_______________________________________________________
"Religion exist to serve people. People do not exist to serve religion"
-- Dr. Daisaku Ikeda--
_______________________________________________________
 
Thats cool I am happy to meet you. I hope you liked the info i put on here. I know its cut and paste but going into detail of the 10 worlds and the gohonzon and all that stuff would take me forever because i would have to tell everything and then forget stuff and have to re-add stuff and then the history would take me forever too and so i hope the info was good enough for a outline of it all lol well may your day be great and sunny...thank u for the comment

Yume♥
 
Thats cool I am happy to meet you. I hope you liked the info i put on here. I know its cut and paste but going into detail of the 10 worlds and the gohonzon and all that stuff would take me forever because i would have to tell everything and then forget stuff and have to re-add stuff and then the history would take me forever too and so i hope the info was good enough for a outline of it all lol well may your day be great and sunny...thank u for the comment
Yume♥

It was a brief and concise information.A very nice introduction.

I found a new link for SGI forum.

Sgibuddhism.org
 
yeah thats a great site too i have been there before. Thanks for adding the link :)
 
I am wondering if Sokkai Gakkai members also meditate on Sunyata? Do they also study the works of Asanga and teachings based on the Yogacara school of thought? Or do they study Chandrakirti's Madhyamika school of thought?
 
Do they also study the works of Asanga and teachings based on the Yogacara school of thought? Or do they study Chandrakirti's Madhyamika school of thought?

Soka Gakkai basis its practise on the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin. His Buddhism traces its doctrines on Tientai school of Mahayana tradition. The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai, developed the definitive standard known as "the five periods and eight teachings." Based on his own enlightenment, T'ien-t'ai's system classified the sutras chronologically as well as from the standpoint of profundity. He determined that the Lotus Sutra, the penultimate teaching of Shakyamuni expounded toward the end of his life, contained the ultimate truth. T'ien-t'ai formulated this truth as the principle of "three thousand realms in a single moment of life." It employs a phenomenological approach, describing all the kaleidoscopic emotions and mental states that human beings are subject to at any given moment. The theory of three thousand realms in a single moment of life holds that all the innumerable phenomena of the universe are encompassed in a single moment of a common mortal's life. Thus the macrocosm is contained within the microcosm. This teaching is also called the unity of 3 Truths(temporary existence, emptiness, middle way).

The vast dimension of life to which Shakyamuni awoke under the Bodhi tree was beyond the reach of ordinary human consciousness. T'ien-t'ai described this ultimate truth as three thousand realms in a single moment of life, recognizing that the Lotus Sutra was the only sutra to assert that all people - men and women, good and evil, intellectuals and common laborers - had the potential to attain Buddhahood within their lifetimes.

A crucial question remained: How could common people apply this to their lives? Toward that end, T'ien-t'ai advocated a rigorous practice of observing the mind through meditation, delving deeper and deeper until the ultimate truth of three thousand realms in a single moment of life was grasped. Unfortunately, this type of practice was feasible only for monks, who could spend indefinite periods of time contemplating the message implicit in the Lotus Sutra. It was almost impossible for people who worked for a living and had other things on their minds. The full flowering of Buddhism was not to be accomplished until it migrated along trading routes to Japan. It would not be widely practiced and revered today without the incredible courage and insight of a thirteenth-century Japanese monk named Nichiren, who brought the Lotus Sutra into sharp focus in a way that had a direct impact on people and their daily lives.

His achievement was akin to translating a complex scientific theory into a practical technique. Just as Benjamin Franklin's discovery of electricity was not harnessed for practical use until many years later when Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, Shakyamuni's enlightenment was inaccessible until Nichiren taught the fundamental practice by which all people could call forth the law of life from within themselves. His realization of this principle had the power to directly affect and move the people who encountered it, heralding a new epoch in the history of Buddhism.

He had revealed the ultimate Mahayana teaching - the greater vehicle - by which all people could journey to Buddhahood. In Nichiren's own words, "A blue fly, if it clings to the tail of a thoroughbred horse, can travel ten thousand miles, and the green ivy that twines around the tall pine can grow to a thousand feet." For the first time, ordinary people could take a journey previously possible only for saints and sages.

Nichiren's Buddhism has proved itself to be of profound value to millions of people. It was Nichiren who expressed the essence of the Lotus Sutra in a way that enables all people, regardless of their level of knowledge, to enter the gateway to enlightenment. This was a revolutionary development in the history of religion.


I am wondering if Sokkai Gakkai members also meditate on Sunyata?


Nichiren Daishonin teaches: "A mind now clouded by the illusions of the innate darkness of life is like a tarnished mirror, but when polished, it is sure to become like a clear mirror, reflecting the essential nature of phenomena and the true aspect of reality. Arouse deep faith, and diligently polish your mirror day and night. How should you polish it? Only by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 4).

This passage expresses the main difference between chanting and meditation or positive thinking. Although meditation and positive thinking are valuable for many people, these practices are centered on the mind — calming it and training it — and cannot express the fundamental element of our lives, the highest condition of our lives.

Nichiren Buddhism posits that the Buddhahood inside us far transcends the power of our minds. It is the power of life itself that we tap into to transform our entire lives.

Our thinking does become more positive as a result of chanting, but this is because chanting draws out Buddhahood from the depths of our lives, which naturally changes our ways of thinking. The emergence of Buddhahood becomes the positive basis of every aspect of our lives, including mental and physical.

Chanting is neither traditional meditation, nor positive thinking, though it reaps the benefits of both these practices and much more. The essence of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is that in the very act of doing so we are expressing our Buddha nature.

Many people associate Buddhist religious practice with silent, interior meditation. But the practice of vocalizing, reciting and chanting various teachings has played a vitally important role in the history of Buddhism. Nichiren's practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo encompasses both. Rather than simply exploring and withdrawing into the private realms of the inner life, our religious practice is focused on bringing forth our highest inner potential in relation to and for the benefit of our fellow humans and human society. Nichiren often quotes the words of an earlier Buddhist philosopher that "The voice does the Buddha's work."

The essence of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is expressing our Buddha nature. It is the essential way to reveal our Buddhahood.

www.sgi.org
 
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