Soka Gakkai {India}

In a swank living room in a South Delhi home, the furniture is moved to one side and a white cloth spread for the gathering of two dozen every Sunday morning. Sitting with feet folded below or in the Buddha’s lotus posture, they chant in unison, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo — a prayer for peace. A calm descends on the room as each one shares her joys and worries, seeking courage from one another’s victories in the daily struggle of life

Twice every month, 18,000 to 20,000 people come together in small groups in different parts of Delhi to discuss their problems, share their experiences, “reach out” through “heart-to-heart” dialogue or study the philosophy of 13th century Japanese Buddhist sage, Nichiren Daishonin. Thousands more meet in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune and dozens of other cities across India. Among them are scientists, doctors, artists, engineers and retired government officers. About 60 per cent are less than 35 years old.

A growing number of well-educated, young and upwardly mobile men and women are seeking personal salvation through a variant of Buddhist practice that has become popular in urban middle-class India. A prominent new entrant to the “practice” is Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. She has been a Vipassana practitioner for over a decade and pursued an MA in Buddhist Studies. The philosophy behind this phenomenon is basic: the belief and the conviction that the power to change one’s life lies within oneself.
Carrying this philosophy to thousands in India is Bharat Soka Gakkai, which means “value creation society”. Registered as a peace, cultural and education organisation in January 1986, Bharat Soka Gakkai had only 1,000 members in 1992. “The number has swelled to 50,000,” says its director general, Naveena Reddi. Its parent organisation, Soka Gakkai International, which was founded in 1930 as a group of reformist educators, has over 12 million members across 190 countries.