Value creation

 

Buddha preaching the Lotus Sutra

"Soka Gakkai in Japan" is an article by Levi McLaughlin about the controversial New Religious Movement. The publication date isn´t clear from my copy. Perhaps around 2010? The piece is a good introduction to the history and activities of the Value Creation Society, as its name could perhaps be translated to English. While Soka Gakkai is usually described as a Nichiren Buddhist lay organization, the truth turns out to be more complicated. Indeed, after reading McLaughlin´s article, it´s not clear to me how Soka Gakkai is "Buddhist" at all, except in an extremely broad sense. 

Already from the start (the group was formally founded in 1930), Soka Gakkai fused Nichiren Buddhism with other commitments, which sounded more "modern" or even "Western", including an emphasis on education and upward social mobility. The group appealed to the urban poor and promised them advancement, if not in mainstream society, then at least through the alternative institutions created by Soka Gakkai itself. Under its autocratic third president, Daisaku Ikeda, the group began to increasingly espouse his private cultural tastes, including an admiration for Napoleon, Beethoven, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi (a somewhat unusual combination). There is apparently very little distinctly Buddhist or even Japanese in the meeting halls of Soka Gakkai. In 1991, the group split from the Nichiren Buddhist temple priesthood of the Nichiren Shoshu sect, to which it had previously been affiliated as a lay movement. That being said, Soka Gakkai still claims to be Nichiren Buddhist, chant its distinctive mantra and worships the "gohonzon" (a symbol associated with this particular Buddhist tradition). 

In terms of membership, Soka Gakkai may be one of the largest organizations in Japan (sic), only rivaled by the labor unions. It´s exact membership is unknown and often exaggerated by the leadership, but certainly count in millions. It has a formalized organization with a bureaucratic structure, local branches, special "divisions" for different kinds of members (young men, young women etc), a school system, a newspaper and even its own flag (a European-looking tricolor). There is also an international arm, Soka Gakkai International or SGI, active all over the world. In Japan, Soka Gakkai has also formed its own political party, Komeito, and an important activity of the group is to campaign for its candidates (at the moment, Komeito are actually the junior partners in a LDP-dominated coalition government). 

The history of Soka Gakkai has been turbulent, with periods of aggressive proselytizing and cultishness, accompanied by goals to convert all of Japan to Nichiren Buddhism and turn it into a new state religion - plans that were later (thankfully) abandoned. While the fanaticism and mass mobilizations of Soka Gakkai has a distinct "fascist" feel, especially under Ikeda the movement promoted itself as apostles for peace, nuclear disarmament and international cooperation. Soka Gakkai registered as an NGO with the United Nations, Ikeda promoted the thaw in relations between Japan and China, and the organization had a "cultural" image internationally. 

Ikeda died only recently, and the future direction of both the Society and its political wing are presumably unclear at the present moment. I wouldn´t be surprised at all if Japan starts to rearm itself in the near future, presumably still under LDP hegemony, which might create strains between the LDP and Komeito. In another article, McLaughlin also reveals that Soka Gakkai has gradually de-emphasized the "Beethoven" aspects of its activities. Who knows what kind of "values" this NRM will produce by 2030, 100 years after its foundation?