Soka Gakkai International Research Articles

Editorial: Education for a Sustainable Future

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements Portions of this editorial appeared as a feature article in the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Quarterly (Clugston, 2004 Clugston, R. (2004) The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Quarterly, Buddhist Perspectives on Peace Culture and Education, 38 (October), p1. Available at, http://www.sgi.org/english/Features/current.htm, (accessed October 2004). [Google Scholar]).

Soka Gakkai in Australia

Japan's Soka Gakkai International (SGI) has established a small but growing chapter in Australia that in 2002 had about 2,500 members nationwide. Since its founding in the mid-1960s, SGI Australia (SGIA) has evolved into a highly heterogeneous movement dominated by ethnic Asians, of which a large number are Chinese from Southeast Asia. SGIA's appeal is both social and religious. A key factor for SGIA's growth is its emphasis on the concept of community. The fast pace of life, constant movement of people, and a sizeable growth of immigrants have created a sense of rootlessness among many Australians. SGIA's tradition of forming small chapters whose members often meet in each other's homes or community centers creates a tightly bonded group. SGIA members find their movement's form of Buddhism appealing because it is said to give them a greater sense of confidence and self-empowerment, permitting them to manage their own lives in a more creative manner.

Critical Comments on Brian Victoria's "Engaged Buddhism: Skeleton in the Closet?"

In "Engaged Buddhism: A Skeleton in the Closet?" (Vol. 2) Brian Daizen Victoria claims, among other things, that Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944), founder of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (forebear of the Soka Gakkai and Soka Gakkai International), was an active supporter of the Japanese wars of aggression. In this response, Koichi Miyata argues that Victoria's claims rest on the highly selective use of quotes, and ignore key interpretative issues associated with Japanese imperial fascism and its underlying belief structures. Miyata discusses the significance of Makiguchi's arrest and imprisonment under a law specifically aimed at opponents of the war efforts, in his analysis of critical lapses in Victoria's article.

The Earth Charter: Buddhist and Christian Approaches

Seattle, Washington, is well known as the home of the coffee renaissance that swept across America in the 1980s and 1990s. Its hometown favorite, The CoffeeBrand, first appeared in 1971 in an open-air farmers' market; the popular round, green logo now seems to appear on the streets of every city and suburb of the world. But what really impresses the visitor to the Seattle-Tacoma area is not The Coffee; it's The Mountain. When you look to the southeast, it rises there, big and craggy and snow-covered, and alone. It dominates the horizon. Even when you're not looking at it, or when it's obscured by the morning haze, you feel its presence. The Mountain . . that's what the locals call it, as if it were the only one in the world. Those of us from other parts of the country call it Mount Rainier, but it looms large just the same. And from August 5 through 12, it seemed to watch over us like an expectant teacher as we convened on the wooded campus of Pacific Lutheran University for the Sixth International Conference of the Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies (SBCS). More than 170 scholars, students, and practitioners (and scholarpractitioners and practitioner-students) joined in a week of dialogue, study, and reflection on the theme Buddhism, Christianity, and Global Healing. The conference opened with blessings from both the Buddhist and Christian traditions and with musical performances representing the traditions of the West-the passionate resonance of the pipe organ; and East-the evocative sounds of the simple bamboo shakuhachi. Boston Research Center (BRC) founder and president of Soka Gakkai International, Daisaku Ikeda, sent a congratulatory message to the gathering praising their efforts and noting the key areas in which Christianity and Buddhism can make important complementary contributions to the issues facing the world. The theme of global healing provided an excellent opportunity to focus on the Earth Charter. Under the title Spirituality and the Earth Charter: Buddhist and Christian Approaches, co-chairs Professor Jay McDaniel, of Hendrix College, and BRC Executive Director Virginia Straus assembled a rich program of presentation and dialogue, which included some of the most renowned scholars, activists, and scholar-activists of the Earth Charter movement.

Mission and Dialogue in the Soka Gakkai International

Mission and Dialogue in the Soka Gakkai International

New Forms of Lay Spirituality, Buddhist and Christian

One of the most intriguing events in the recent history of lay spirituality East and West has been the schism of the Soka Gakkai lay organization from its monastic parent, the Nichiren Shoshu.1 This break between the two religious organizations has inspired the Soka Gakkai to reform itself in a manner that is open to developing new and constructive avenues for dialogue with other religions. They claim that, because of the conservative influence of the Nichiren Shoshu leadership, they were unable to pursue the possibility of dialogue in the past. However, today in Japan, the Soka Gakkai Institute for Oriental Religions at Soka University and the Christian Nanzan Institute at Nagoya University have begun a joint series of dialogue sessions at their respective institutions. In March 1994, the president of the Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies, Jan Van Bragt of the Nanzan Institute, gave a keynote address to the tenth annual convention of the Institute for Oriental Religions.2 Here in the United States, members of our own society participated in the October 1994 conference United Nations and the World's Religions: Prospects for a Global Ethic hosted by Columbia University in collaboration with Soka Gakkai International's Boston Research Center for the 21st Century. What is especially intriguing to me in reading about this schism is the way in which the Soka Gakkai is trying to redefine itself as a purely lay organization apart from the monastic and clerical tradition of the Nichiren Shoshu. The word reformation occurs often in their literature, and it is evident that they are using Luther's reformation as a model for their own reforming efforts.3 As Luther faced the morally and spiritually compromising effects of simony and lay investiture as well as the selling of indulgences in his time, the Soka Gakkai sees itself as facing the decadent effects of the patronage system and hereditary lineage as well as the selling of toba (memorial tablets) in modern Japan. The Soka Gakkai derives inspiration for dealing with the Japanese situation from Luther's emphasis on the equality of clerics and laity as well as his notions of sola scriptura and sola fides-both of which do not depend on rites and rituals controlled by the clergy. This emphasis on scripture and faith is important to the Soka

Peace, Culture, and Education Activities: A Buddhist Response to the Global Ethic

In his preface to the Global Ethic, the initial declaration adopted at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions, Hans Kung wrote, Perhaps one day there may even be a United Nations Declaration on a Global Ethic to provide moral support for the Declaration on Human Rights, which is so often ignored and cruelly violated.' Inspired by that thought, we at the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century initiated a conference in October 1994 at Columbia University called The United Nations and the World's Religions: Prospects for a Global Ethic. Cosponsored by the School of International and Public Affairs and the Department of Religion at Columbia University, the conference brought together international relations specialists interested in human rights issues and religionists seeking to evolve a global ethic for a day of stimulating discussion. After talks that included perspectives informed by Islamic, Baha'i, Christian, Buddhist, and secular humanist traditions, small group discussions ensued during which one participant stressed the importance of giving ethical principles real life by combining documents with tangible programs of action. This sentiment was expressed also by Princeton University professor of international law Richard Falk, who said, Documents by themselves are useless without initiatives in civil society and grassroots empowerment that make the norms set out in the texts actual in the lives of people. Tangible programs of action to help make the norms set out in the Global Ethic-such as nonviolence, human solidarity, tolerance, and equal rights-actual in the lives of people happens to be an apt description of the peace, culture, and education movement of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), in which the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century, a