What is Sōka Gakkai?

Bright on Buddhism Episode 66 - What is Sōka Gakkai? What is their history? What are some of their teachings? References: Sōka Gakkai in America: Accommodation and Conversion By Phillip E. Hammond and David W. Machacek. London: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-829389-5; "The Sōka Gakkai: Buddhism and the Creation of a Harmonious and Peaceful Society" by Daniel A. Metraux in Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia. Christopher S. Queen and Sallie B. King, eds. SUNY Press, 1996.; The New Believers: A survey of sects, cults and alternative religions. David V Barrett. Octopus Publishing Group, 2003; The Lotus and the Maple Leaf: The Sōka Gakkai in Canada by Daniel A. Metraux (University Press of America, 1996); Fundamentals of Buddhism (second edition) by Yasuji Kirimura (Nichiren Shōshū International Center [now SGI], 1984). ISBN 4-88872-016-9; Sōka Gakkai kaibō ("Dissecting Sōka Gakkai") by the editors of Aera (Asahi Shimbun, 2000). ISBN 4-02-261286-X (Japanese); A Public Betrayed: An Inside Look at Japanese Media Atrocities and Their Warnings to the West. Adam Gamble & Takesato Watanabe. Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2004. ISBN 0-89526-046-8; (SERA) Southeast Review of Asian Studies 29 (2007). "Religion, Politics, and Constitutional Reform in Japan," by Daniel Metraux, 157–72.; Westward Dharma: Buddhism beyond Asia. Charles S. Prebish and Martin Baumann, eds. 2002.; Igami, Minobu. 1995. Tonari no Sōka Gakkai [The Sōka Gakkai Next Door], Tokyo: Takarajima.; Proselytizing and the Limits of Religious Pluralism in Contemporary Asia. By Juliana Finucane, R. Michael Feener, pages 103 122.; Neo Yeow Ann Aaron "Studying Soka: Buddhist Conversionn And Religious Change In Singapore" (PDF).; Cooke, Gerald. “Traditional Buddhist Sects and Modernization in Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1, no. 4 (1974): 267–330. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30234421.; Colpe, Carsten. “Syncretism and Secularization: Complementary and Antithetical Trends in New Religious Movements?” History of Religions 17, no. 2 (1977): 158–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062359.; Helton, William. “Political Prospects of Soka Gakkai.” Pacific Affairs 38, no. 3/4 (1965): 231–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/2754029.; McLaughlin, Levi. “Did Aum Change Everything? What Soka Gakkai Before, During, and After the Aum Shinrikyō Affair Tells Us About the Persistent ‘Otherness’ of New Religions in Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 39, no. 1 (2012): 51–75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41495889.; McLaughlin, Levi. “From Intellectual Collective to Religion: A History of Soka Gakkai.” In Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution: The Rise of a Mimetic Nation in Modern Japan, 35–67. University of Hawai’i Press, 2019. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvvn1w4.6. Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at [email protected], or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host