Exploring Soka Gakkai SGI Buddhist International Network

By Barbara Anderson


When it comes to the history of Buddhism, the practice dates back thousands of years. While this is the case, the Soka Gakkai International sgi buddhist organization was founded at a conference on world peace in 1975. Individuals representing 51 countries were in attendance at the meeting. Sine that time, the organization has added local organizations while the national organization has grown to over 12 million individuals now holding a membership.

The U. S. Headquarters of SGI is located Chicago, Illinois. The organization started as an intentional peace movement which had hoped to take the world by storm. By choosing Guam as the place for the meeting, the area's ties to World War II and the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the group hoped to stress the need for world peace.

The original global expansion of the group began just after the end of World War II. In large part, the expansion was due to the high number of servicemen married to Soka Gakki members, whom once married left Japan. In some cases, the couples also had children whom were coming to a real home for the first time. For, the servicemen with families at that time often lived in large tents.

The SGI has also received some great honors. For example, a stamp was produced for the 25th anniversary of the organization with a stamp in 2000. When available, the first stamp was released on October 2nd in conjunction with President Ikeda's journey overseas in 1960.

The Peace Research Institute in 2015 announced that the organization had received a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. After which, the nomination was affirmed by a local Nobel Peace Laureate. While having been nominated was quite an honor, the prize actually went to a group from Tunisia who received the prize for a project to create a more pluralistic democracy in the country.

The SGI-Italy was also recognized by the Italian government for the first time in 2015. At that time, the government acknowledged the organization as an official religious organization of Italy which made the organization eligible to receive tax payer funding for social and religious activities and programs. As such, any contributions made to the organization are considered tax-free donations and are tax deductible where applicable.

SGI is comprised of an international network of affiliated organizations and groups. In 2011, studies showed that the group had over one hundred ninety active organizations with 12 million members. While headquarters for two of these organizations are located in Tokyo, each operates on an independent basis. Still, all local SGI locations are eligible to receive funding from SGI headquarters if and when the organization receives public or private grant money.

Each SGI organization operates on an autonomous basis with all business and other affairs presented in the local language. In addition, many of the national organizations are often coordinated by different groups such as men and women's groups. In most cases, each organization participates in fund raising to raise operating funds for that specific location. Although, the SGI headquarters in Tokyo has obtained grants from which funds were shared with national groups.




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