“Soka Gakkai is an organization which purports to practice Nichiren Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism. It is very loosely based on Buddhist philosophy and the Lotus Sutra, but the main practice of this group is to chant “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” (known as daimoku) in order to gain whatever is desired, whether it be a new job, a new car or a better relationship—a practice which fits in well with Western materialism.
Soka Gakkai has its own political party in Japan and claims 8 million members there, as well as possibly 300,000 in the United States, and is said to have $100 billion in assets (Magee 1995). Soka Gakkai is seen in Japan “’as a very structured, organized, militarist group that wields immense political power,’ according to Takayoshi Kitagawa, a professor of sociology at Senshu University in Tokyo” (Magee 1995).
Its leader is charismatic and ambitious Japanese politician and businessman, Daisaku Ikeda, who is revered by Soka Gakkai’s followers (Dawson 2001). It seems that many of the newer American followers do not know much about Ikeda, simply seeing him as their religious leader, and have no idea of his political aspirations or corruption or the extent to which Soka Gakkai is a puppet of his political machinations. They are very aware of him in Japan, where he is of concern to many citizens because of his outspoken desire to take over the government.
Soka Gakkai is evangelical in the extreme, and “propagating Buddhism” (albeit their brand of Buddhism) is one of their key missions, which is in essence recruitment into their organization. Members are taught that this makes them good Buddhists. “Love-bombing” is a frequently-used tactic in this group. As indicated in the chart below, when group members flatter you, show great interest or respect for you, or shower you with love, you tend to “feel understood or accepted, thereby making the group very enticing” (Myers 2005, p. 275). When people pay attention to us and are kind to us or interested in us, we tend to trust them and want to be part of their group. Soka Gakkai has recruiting drives twice a year and members cater seriously to potential recruits (Pariser 1995). This is a major part of their organization.
There is much fear generated, both by reports of terrible things being done to people who speak out about abuses and corruption (Magee 1995), and as a means of recruitment. As indicated previously in this paper, fear can be used to persuade, and it is used in that manner in Soka Gakkai. When I attended a chanting meeting with a friend, I heard one woman share that she was introduced to Soka Gakkai by someone when she was in a hospital, that the hospital technician told her that she believed that someone bad was going to happen to her health, and that she should starting chanting to avoid that. She did start chanting, and nothing bad happened to her, which she then attributed to chanting. This is a good example of making the person feel powerless by attributing something positive in the person’s life to the group or practice when it could have been attributed to the person’s intention or personal power (number 2 on the coercive tactics chart). I attended a few meetings with a friend, and every time I ran into someone else in another setting who was a mutual friend of ours, that other person mysteriously knew all about my visits to other meetings. Obviously, information about new recruits was shared and strategy was discussed. One of them said to me that, pertaining to a recent event in my life, they were afraid something bad was going to happen to me, and that I had better come to meetings and chant to avoid that. Having already heard the story of the other woman, I was wise to the coercive tactic that was being applied to me, but I wonder if I would have been so wise if I hadn’t already heard that. That someone would attempt to put fear into me in order to coerce me was something that I found abusive and distasteful, but I would imagine that it works for some, just as it did for the woman who was coerced by the hospital technician.
This organization scores extremely high on all of the coercive characteristics of a cult.”
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