Jan 11, Tokyo
SGI President Ikeda met with representatives of various SGI-related
bodies and institutions in the United States.
Participating in the conference were SGI-USA General Director Danny
Nagashima,Soka University of America President Daniel Habuki,
President of the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century Masao
Yokota, and Assistant Director of the Toda Institute for Global Peace
and Policy research Tomosaburo Hirano.[note that all the attending
leaders of the American institutions were Japanese]
Also attending the conference were Soka Gakkai President Minoru
Harada and SGI General Director Yoshitaka Oba.
At the conference, the SGI President shared his vision for developing
a movement of peace, culture and education rooted in the philosophy
of Soka.
"We are now in the process of creating an unshakeable foundation
meant to last for 10,000 years", he said. "For that reason, we must
not be impatient, nor is there any need to try to look impressive. It
is important that, person by person, we increase the size and scope of
our movement by developing friendships based on humanism. Making
true, genuine friends and creating a core of capable individuals
is crucial." These things take time, he said, and are by no means
easy.
But if you avoid such hard work, then however impressive or attractive
your accomplishments may appear, they will ultimately be no more
substantial than a castle built upon sand, he emphasized. Stressing that
solidarity is strength, President Ikeda also said that we should endeavor
to make new friends for the sake of peace. In this way, we create a broad
plain upon which a majestic and eternal mountain will soar skyward.
Next the SGI president referred to the qualities necessary for
leaders of a new era. "No great development can be accomplished
without painstaking effort," he said. “This we must never forget. In
America, proceed in a manner most befitting the country". He
encouraged the representatives to capture everyone's heart with warm
humor, broad ranging tolerance and reasonable explanations that
people can easily understand.
"No one will move in response to orders from on high", he said. "It is
important to honor and praise people."
He suggested advancing in a way that is natural for everyone, based
on consensus and wise, careful judgment as to what creates the
greatest value.
The human revolution of those who are leaders is fundamental,
President Ikeda emphasized. He expressed his hopes of seeing a fresh
wave of advancement in the realm of Kosen Rufu arise from the land of
America-advancement marked by lighthearted and cheerful song. Since
we have only one chance at this lifetime, and since we must live it in
any case, he said, please create and leave for posterity a wonderful
and proud history of accomplishment.
The discussion then turned to books compiled and published by the
Boston Research Center for the 21st Century that have come to be used
as textbooks by universities around the world, particularly in the
United States. To date, BRC books have been adopted for use in 388
courses at 180 Universities.
Five books on peace-related issues have been used as
textbooks. "Abolishing War"[a dialogue between peace activists Elise
Boulding and Randall Forsberg]; "Subverting Hatred: The Challenge of
Non-Violence in Religious Traditions"; "Buddhist Peacework: Creating
Cultures of Peace; "Subverting Greed: Religious Perspectives on the
Global Economy; "Educating Citizens for Global Awareness";and three
books on the Earth charter and environmental Issues: "Women's Views
on the Earth Charter";"Human Rights, Environmental Law and the Earth
Charter". Among these, "Subverting Hatred","Subverting Greed"
and "Educating Citizens for Global Awareness" contain forewords by
BRC founder Daisaku Ikeda, and "Buddhist Peacework", one of the BRC's
most popular books, contains an essay by President Ikeda.
Ethical and religious strife, the destruction of the environment, the
broadening economic divide-these are the most pressing issues for
which humanity seeks solutions.
A philosophy of peace grounded in Buddhism and the SGI President's
humanistic ideas and perspectives on solving these problems are today
gaining broad attention and understanding around the world.
I am not at all interested in criticizing or remonstrating with SGI-USA or Pres. Ikeda. I will leave that to the likes of NBAA and other fringe “holier than thou” groups. I believe in SGI and what Daisaku Ikeda is working towards, and I appreciate and support their efforts in spreading Nichiren’s Buddhism throughout the world. I AM a Gakkai member, pure and simple.
That being said, the above press-release was posted to and discussed on Zadankai last week. One of the observations that was made was that every one of the SGI-USA representatives are Japanese. If you were in NSA (Nichiren Shoshu of America) back in the 70’s you may remember something called “Phase II”. Part of Phase II was the un-Japanese-ation, or Americanization of our organization. From what I recall among other changes that took place the Butsadons in the community centers we changed from traditional Japanese Buddhist designs to a contemporary modern design. I seem to recall that leadership was shifting from purely Japanese towards a larger percentage of Non-Japanese leaders.
So what happened? SGI-USA is still largely a Japanese-run religious corporation in 2007.
The reality of this ongoing Nihon status quo is based on how we perceive faith. Leaders are chosen based on the judgment or measurement of faith. It’s true. It’s been true always. SGI is a faith organization . The problem with this approach lies in how we perceive of one another’s faith, and how we judge it to be strong, or not. In the final analysis we only have each other’s outward behaviors from which to judge.
This seems to me to be a somewhat brutal statement, mostly because I believe we all harbor deep feelings of extrasensory perceptive abilities, to one degree or another. It doesn’t take a career in intelligence to be able to “read” other people. As the senior leaders in SGI grew in our practice from the early 70’s they had nothing from which to judge future leaders than the perception of faith.
Faith. That is our product. If we were a computer corporation our product would be software, or hardware or even service. We’re not. The Soka Gakkai is a faith-based religious corporation pure and simple. We do not have performance reviews for managers, we have nothing to go on but the appearance of faith. Brutally stated, this is fraught with peril.
Simply put, in the SGI “faith” is a measurement of behavior. The specific behavior is nothing more than the appearance of obedience and so it follows that obedience and compliance is the mark of one who has strong faith. These behavioral features are in fact the hallmark of the archetypal Japanese person.
Buddhism and the Japanese
Having been to Japan many times I have witnessed firsthand just how confused Buddhism really is there. The Soka Gakkai along with the Soto Zen sect are two of very few Buddhist lay bodies which strive to understand the teachings of the Buddha in an accurate albeit sectarian context. Elsewhere Buddhism, Shinto, Confucianism is intermixed and cross-assimilated with ancient Animism, Monism and the primordial superstition that is ubiquitous and free-ranging in all the World’s religions.
Very simply, where people do not actively strive to understand their chosen religious path, basic primeval beliefs and fears take over. Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or the belief in Morg, God of Fire - unless we practice and work at our belief, we succumb to the basic religious outlook of our ancient ancestors.
Japan is no worse, no better. Shinto is so intertwined with Buddhism that it’s difficult to tell where one stops and another starts. The Japanese barely even understand the basic belief structure of Shinto, their indigenous religion.
This is one launching point for the Critical Buddhism movement of Hakamaya and Matsumoto, understanding and defining what the teachings of the Buddha are, and identifying what has crept into the institution of Buddhism and caused it’s true intention to become obscured and diluted, or worse, to become the source of discrimination, nationalism and imperialism.
How this applies to the current state of the Soka Gakkai, I believe, is that without truly understanding how Buddhism exists as A CRITICAL VOICE means that we ALL have mistaken Buddhism for Japanese racially oriented behavior.
Critical Buddhism and the Japanese Soka Gakkai.
Without a clear understanding of Shakyamuni’s original enlightenment as the critical voice to the established religions of his time, we have committed the age-old mistake of mistaking the uniquely Japanese cultural norms for faith in Buddhism.
It’s an accusation not accurately leveled against the Soka Gakkai, rather it is a fundamental error of the human psyche. We have only what we see and experience from each other with which to make many decisions. Leadership in the Soka Gakkai, I believe, operates no differently.
Bluntly stated, the Japanese appear and act - Buddhist. The SGI, a Japanese organization, trusts it’s own culture, and we non-Japanese only understand and identify Buddhist faith with the Japanese.
We All Do the Same Things, for Completely Different Reasons
It is natural that so many Japanese thrive in the Soka Gakkai. While for many beginning a practice of Nichiren’s Buddhism is a ginormous step towards human revolution and self-discovery, for many Japanese the Soka Gakkai is a cultural safe-haven, a place where their natural culturally approved behavior and outlook is both welcomed and rewarded.
This phenomena, I believe, transcends good and bad, wrong or right. Rather it is just a natural intercultural interaction, one for which all players are equally responsible.
How does a faithful Buddhist non-Japanese behave anyway? I personally wouldn’t know. I have only my trusted leaders to look towards for an example, but not a complete cultural model from which to model my own outlook. I too am personally lost in a sea of Japanese culture.
From a Critical Buddhism perspective, true Buddhism does not equal obedience. Itai Doshin (many in body, one in mind), for which the Soka Gakkai praises itself, is not based on the surrendering of one’s opinion or voice for the greater good. Rather Buddhism must have a critical voice, an individual voice, while at the same time working towards a united goal.
It’s a tricky thing, a work in progress, hopefully a labor of love. One thing is certainly true in my opinion, anyone on the payroll of a Buddhism sect, or anyone who has surrendered their voice to a confidentiality agreement, cannot truly be practicing true Buddhism.
In the final analysis, lest the reader mistake me for a critic, the Soka Gakkai continues to do the one important thing - we all struggle together while chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. While we are not evolving as quickly as some wish, we are evolving nonetheless.
Rev. Greg, Critical Nichiren Buddhist Ninja