Diversity within the tradition

Soka Gakkai regards itself as the sole and true inheritor of Nichiren’s dharma, which has often placed it squarely in opposition not only to other Buddhists, but to other Nichiren-based sub-schools (McLaughlin 2015: 4). This tendency to schism had an early precedent when the Nichiren Shoshu sub-school emerged in the late thirteenth century through the establishment of its head temple at Taiseki-ji. After Soka Gakkai broke with Nichiren Shoshu in the 1990s, however, there appeared to be an upsurge in diversity amongst SGI organisations in different countries.

The different SGI organisations also have their own approaches to inclusion and diversity. For example, SGI-UK highlights the testimonies of members who come from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community or who are of ethnic minority backgrounds (SGI-UK 2017: 27–29, 32–33).