Introduction - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 17

the course of history (Crehan 2002: 72). Culture, as pointed out by Crehan, is
understood as thought in action, the way people are able to understand their
place within the reality they live. As with other phenomena, it is impossible to
take Soka Gakkai as a distinct and bounded

. Yet, while being an
organic movement, it at the same time has a clear philosophy, is highly
organised and has chosen to engage in collective political action in Japan.
Many people in the organisation see themselves as trying to

' culture '

' think well '

through a discourse of Buddhist humanism, so as to ' act well ' , to paraphrase

Gramsci (quoted in Crehan 2002: 73).

For cultural change to take place, in the same quote, Gramsci stresses the
importance of organisation. Organisation for collective action is a contra-
dictory and complex thing by any standards. This is much more the case
when people organise to achieve ideals of a humanitarian nature. Ideals
are high but reality will always di

' s ' Socratic idea of culture '

er. Organisation is vital to facilitate col-
lective action to achieve wider social objectives, but it inevitably invites
restrictions on those very objectives as the movement grows. Organisation and
collective action can give rise to wider social achievements but also to some
people being placed in positions of authority. Yet organisation and collective
action, and arguably political involvement, cannot be avoided if Soka Gakkai,
like Gramsci as a Marxist, wants not merely to understand and cope with the
world but to change it.
The extent to which people who want to further progressive ideas are able
to challenge stakes becomes the extent to which the organisation becomes a
progressive force. To draw on Gramsci,

' …

Culture is organization, discipline

of one is own personality; it is the

attainment of a higher awareness, with the aid of which one succeeds in
understanding one

' is inner self, a coming to terms with one '

' s own historical value, one ' s own function in life, one ' s

rights and obligations (quoted in Crehan 2002: 74). While I have come across

plenty of members and leaders in Soka Gakkai who live in this way, such a
life is

'

filled with contentious issues because it works against the dominant
status quo. Just like Gramsci, culture, or the practice of a speci c philosophy

in the case of Soka Gakkai, is de ned as self-knowledge, a critical form for

self-knowledge that focuses on one ection

is part of the daily Buddhist practice of many Soka Gakkai members, aiming
to understand their own motivation, trying to take action that is other-
focused without losing sight of their own rights and obligations and place in
history. While such a philosophy is in place, in the last instance it is up to the
individual.
Having said that, Ikeda

' s relations with others. Such self-re

is philosophy is clearly a discourse
that embraces an ethos of progress towards self-empowerment and mutuality,
one of which I am personally aware, as I shall discuss below. The philosophy
pulsates within many of the young Soka Gakkai members I met in the way
they approach their daily life. At the same time, there are also more con-
servative practices where position and following rules appear to be more
important and the extent to which concepts of equality, human rights or

' s/Soka Gakkai '