Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is an international
Nichiren Buddhist organisation run by two vice-presidents including Hiromasa Ikeda. It was founded in 1975 by his father,
Daisaku Ikeda, as an
umbrella organization of
Soka Gakkai. The SGI claims approximately 12 million adherents in 192 countries and territories since the 1990s,[2] more than 1.5 million of whom resided outside of Japan as of 2012.[3] However, the number is controversial and impossible to verify.
It characterizes itself as a support network for practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism and a global Buddhist movement for "peace, education, and cultural exchange."[4]
The Soka Gakkai International (SGI) was formed at a conference on January 26, 1975, on the island of
Guam.[6] Representatives from 51 countries attended the meeting and chose
Daisaku Ikeda, who served as third president of the Japanese Buddhist organization
Soka Gakkai, to become the SGI's founding president.[6] The SGI was created in part as a new international peace movement, and its founding meeting was held in Guam 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.[7]
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.[8] Expansion efforts gained a further boost in 1960 when Ikeda succeeded
Jōsei Toda as president of the Soka Gakkai.[9][10] 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.[9][11]
In 2000,
Uruguay honored the 25th anniversary of the SGI's founding with a commemorative postage stamp. The stamp was issued on October 2, the anniversary of SGI President Ikeda's first overseas journey in 1960.[12]
In January 2015, the director of the
Peace Research Institute Oslo reported that the SGI had been nominated for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize, as confirmed by a Nobel Peace Laureate.[13]
In May 2015, the SGI-USA was one of the organizing groups for the first-ever Buddhist conference at the
White House.[14]
In June 2015, the
SGI-Italy was recognized by the Italian government with a special accord under
Italian Constitution Article 8, acknowledging it as an
a religion with an official agreement with the government of Italy and eligible to receive direct taxpayer funding for its religious and social activities. It also recognizes the Soka Gakkai as a "Concordat" (It: "Intesa") that grants the religions status in "a special 'club' of denominations consulted by the government in certain occasions, allowed to appoint chaplains in the army – a concordat is not needed for appointing chaplains in hospitals and jails – and, perhaps more importantly, to be partially financed by taxpayers' money." Twelve other religious denominations share this status.[15][16]
Organization
The Soka Gakkai International comprises a global network of affiliated organizations. As of 2011, the SGI reported active national organizations in 192 countries and territories with a total of approximately 12 million members.[2] The number is the same as in the 1990s. However, this is the figure put forward by the organization itself, and is not supported by any independent account. According to the work of American academic Levi McLaughlin, membership in Japan is closer to 2-3% of the country's population, or between 2.4 and 4 million people.
The SGI is independent of the Soka Gakkai (the domestic Japanese organization), although both are headquartered in
Tokyo.[17]
National SGI organizations operate autonomously and all affairs are conducted in the local language.[17] Many national organizations are coordinated by groups such as a women's group, a men's group, and young women's and young men's groups.[18] National organizations generally raise their own operational funds, although the SGI headquarters in Tokyo has awarded funding grants to smaller national organizations for projects such as land acquisition and the construction of new buildings.[18] SGI-affiliated organizations outside Japan are forbidden to engage directly in politics.[18]
While the national organizations are run autonomously, the Tokyo headquarters of SGI disseminates doctrinal and teaching materials to all national organizations around the world.[18] The Tokyo headquarters also serves as a meeting place for national leaders to come together and exchange information and ideas.[18]
The election or nomination of leaders is typically not decided by the SGI's general membership but by a board of directors.[19] Leadership below national staff, however, has been liberalized; in the United States for instance, the nomination and approval of leaders includes both members and organizational leaders in the process.[20] Author
Karel Dobbelaere notes the election of the presidents,[21] as well as a process of "nomination, review and approval that involves both peers and leaders" in choosing other leaders.[22]
Soka Gakkai Malaysia since 2005 has held a non-competitive biennial "Run for Peace" to raise awareness of nuclear disarmament and in support of
culture of peace in the community—reportedly "the largest peace run in the country held in 28 locations nationwide and involving some 115,000 runners."[26]
In Dubai, the SGI Gulf association has hosted since 2008 an annual "Poetic Heart" symposium, partnering with other organizations and involving international and local artists as well as poets of all ages.[27]
Organizational practices in the United States have been characterized as socially inclusive Buddhism.[28] 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.[29][30]
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.[31]
In November 2019, the Soka Gakkai Peace Committee in Japan helped organize the international conference "No Justice Without Life", at which
Mario Marazziti of the Italy-based
Community of Sant'Egidio, among others, advocated for a moratorium on
the death penalty.[32] The
Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai had earlier endorsed the Community of Sant'Egidio's international appeal "Moratorium 2000", which was launched in 1998.[33][34]
Demographics
The Soka Gakkai International is notable among Buddhist organizations for the racial and ethnic diversity of its members.[17] It has been characterized as the world's largest and most ethnically diverse Buddhist group.[8][10][17][35] Professor Susumu Shimazono suggested several reasons for this: the strongly felt needs of individuals in their daily lives, its solutions to discord in interpersonal relations, its practical teachings that offer concrete solutions for carrying on a stable social life, and its provision of a place where congenial company and a spirit of mutual support may be found.[36] Peter Clarke wrote that the SGI appeals to non-Japanese in part because "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."[37]
In 2015, Italian newspaper
la Repubblica reported that half of all Buddhists in Italy are SGI members.[38]
Initiatives promoting peace, culture and education
According to Yoichi Kawada, director of the Tokyo-based Institute of Oriental Philosophy, 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."[39] SGI engagement as a religious organization affiliated with the United Nations in policy discussions on issues including human rights, sustainable development and peace building is similarly described, in the phrasing of its Charter, as contributing to peace, culture and education.[40]: 15, 16, 30 [41]
Nuclear disarmament
Since 2007, the SGI has collaborated closely with the
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) to develop educational programs and raise awareness on nuclear disarmament, particularly among young people. The SGI also partnered with ICAN to promote the
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted at the
United Nations in July 2017, and for which ICAN was awarded the 2017
Nobel Peace Prize. Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN, stated in a July 2017 interview that the "SGI has been one of our greatest partners in the fight to abolish nuclear weapons."[42]
To further increase public awareness of the
anti-nuclear movement, the SGI also created "The People's Decade" campaign, which since 2007 has developed a global grassroots network of people dedicated to abolishing nuclear weapons.[43][44] In 2014, an SGI youth delegation met with the
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) regarding coordination of the SGI's efforts and the
UN efforts to increase grassroots movements for nuclear abolition.
In 2008, then-High Representative for Disarmament Affairs
Sergio Duarte characterized SGI's work toward nuclear disarmament as linking
human security with the fundamental goal of eliminating nuclear weapons.[45]
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.[46] More than 20 religious leaders affirmed through the joint statement their shared "aspirations for peace and for a world where people live without fear," praising world leaders in attendance for "the courage to begin these negotiations" and calling on States not in attendance to join the June–July session of the conference.[47][48]
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.[49] The center is engaged in reforestation, the creation of a regional seed bank, and experiments in sustainable agroforestry.[50]
One scholar cites
Daisaku Ikeda, SGI's president, describing such initiatives as a Buddhist-based impetus for direct public engagement in parallel with legal efforts to address environmental concerns.[51]
In India, the Bharat Soka Gakkai (the SGI of India) debuted the traveling exhibit "Seeds of Hope," a joint initiative of the SGI and
Earth Charter International. At the exhibit's opening in
Panaji, the state capital of
Goa, regional planning head Edgar Ribeiro spoke of lagging efforts to implement environmental laws and stated that "Only a people's movement can take sustainability forward."[52] In Malaysia,
Tunku Abdul Rahman University College President Datuk Dr Tan Chik Heok said that this exhibition helped "to create the awareness of the power of a single individual in bringing about waves of positive change to the environment, as well as the society."[53]
In November 2015, the SGI signed on to the Buddhist Climate Change Statement representing "over a billion Buddhists worldwide" in a call to action submitted to world leaders at the
21st session of UN climate change talks held in Paris.[54] The statement affirms that Buddhist spirituality compels environmental protection and expresses solidarity with Catholic and Muslim leaders who have taken a similar stance. Described as "one of the most unified calls by a religion's leadership,"[55] the statement draws on the 2009 pan-Buddhist statement, "The Time to Act is Now: A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change," to which SGI-USA among others became a signatory in early 2015.[56]
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.[57][58]
In 2014, SGI-Chile members collected supplies to deliver to emergency services and refugee centers after that country's devastating
Iquique earthquake.[59]
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.[60]
Notable members
Notable members of the Soka Gakkai International include:
^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.
^Marshall, Katherine. Global Institutions of Religion: Ancient Movers, Modern Shakers. Routledge.
ISBN9781136673580.
^
abLaderman, 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.
^
abStrand, Clark (Winter 2008).
"Faith in Revolution". Tricycle. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
^
abcdMétraux, Daniel (2013). "Soka Gakkai International: The Global Expansion of a Japanese Buddhist Movement". Religion Compass. 7 (10): 423–432.
doi:
10.1111/rec3.12070.
^
abcdeMétraux, Daniel (2013). "Soka Gakkai International: Japanese Buddhism on a Global Scale". Virginia Review of Asian Studies.
^Dobbelaere, Karel. Soka Gakkai. p. 9. "H. Hojo. . . was elected president. Ikeda became honorary president. . . At the death of Hojo in 1981, E. Akiya was elected president. . ." . .
^Chappell, David (2000). "Chapter 11: Socially Inclusive Buddhists in America". In Machacek, David; Wilson, Bryan (eds.). Global Citizens: The Soka Gakkai Buddhist Movement in the World. Oxford University Press. pp. 299–325.
ISBN978-0-19-924039-5.
^Clarke, Peter B. (2000). "'Success' and 'Failure': Japanese New Religions Abroad". Japanese New Religions in Global Perspective. Curzon Press.
ISBN978-0700711857.
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