18)
“TACL January 1992”
Another political analysis,
this one published right after Nikken excommunicated the SGI, but evidently
written a few months earlier since it predicts that excommunication. It
does confirm that no matter how he and his followers deny it, Nikken initiated
all the actions leading to the split in order to “separate sincere believers
in their doctrine from Ikeda loyalists”.
It also predicts that the Komeito will be the “first casualty” of the split.
It then lists a number of incidents, mostly involving the Komeito. The Komeito is indeed a political party and sometimes its members act like your typical politician. That the most egregious wrongdoers are immediately expelled should be a clear indication of the intent of the Komeito to be a “clean government” party. It might be hoped — and is — that its members would all be saints; sadly, this is not the case.
But this does not represent “another side” of the Gakkai — hidden beneath an aura of humanism, as TACL implies. And some of the things on its list are misleading, if not downright wrong:
President Ikeda was not “found comforting Manuel Noriega when America sanctioned Panama.” Messrs. Ikeda and Noriega had been meeting together for some time, and Noriega had indeed shown interest in Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. No doubt the people who put together SG-eye have had people turn bad whom they had tried to introduce; this does not mean they should be condemned for trying, or for showing compassion to those on the fringes of decency. It is, in fact, the Bodhisattva Imperative to show such compassion and to make such efforts. To condemn President Ikeda because someone he held dialogues with turned out to be a criminal shows nothing but Nichiren Shoshu’s willingness to trade off Buddhist principles for political points.
The two Frenchmen who “owned” the Renoir paintings have not “disappeared.” They went to jail for defrauding the Soka Gakkai and Mitsubishi.
There has never been any link between the Komeito and the Parrot True Reason Cult Aum Shinrikyo, the subway gassers.
TACL also mentions the previously-discussed safe-in-dump incident, and pretty much accused the SGI of being in the business of stealing French nuclear secrets.
Yes — stealing French nuclear secrets!
19)
“Public Records Reveal SGI is Pirating Name of Former Religion”
This is one of Mr. Bratcher’s
favorites on ARBN, and is based entirely on documents generated during
the time of the split with Nichiren Shoshu and its immediate aftermath
— when the SGI had not yet updated public records to reflect the name change
of its member organizations. There are no Gakkai-related organizations
using the name “Nichiren Shoshu”. Nor would any want to use it.
20)
“Problems With Komeito and Soka Gakkai”
The Naito article (again).
21)
“Buddhism American Style” “How a controversial Japanese religious group
wins friends”
Both articles are from an
October 1989 Boston Globe. And indeed, the articles make some valid
points about the American SGI organization — in 1989. It did wish to be
thought of as mainstream, it did pursue this goal by attaching itself to
American symbols, it was often apologetic about its Buddhist nature.
The modern SGI-USA is past “Americanization through symbols.” With an increase in American membership, the character of “Americans” is now integral to the composition and character of the organization; its involvement in societal issues is deep and genuine — not a “campaign”, not a means to get mentioned in the media, but an effort to use its Buddhist principles for the betterment of society.
An example of this involvement is the aid routinely sent to areas of the world wracked by natural disasters — such as the 2001 earthquakes in India and El Salvador. Perhaps even more representative is the SGI-USA’s Youth Division’s “Victory Over Violence” program, initiated in response to the Columbine shootings and the growing youth-on-youth violence that represented. VOV is a program of education about the causes and forms of violence, including verbal and even attitudinal violence. VOV has sponsored talks by Arum Gandhi and other peace advocates; and within two weeks of the shootings there, was invited to Santana High School in suburban San Diego.
Recently (February 2001), the Washington DC SGI cosponsored a Women’s Peace Conference in conjunction with the World Bank, the UN, and the Center for Visionary Leadership. The SGI is now pursued by mainstream groups to join coalitions for peace-related activities. That is a big difference between 1989 and today: SGI-USA is invited.
More rebuttal of SG-eye: