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Shin’ichi didn’t want members to lapse into an easygoing, mistaken view of their faith. Nichiren Buddhism is a philosophy of human revolution, and it provides a practice for forging and polishing our lives so that we can be strong and wise, so that we may rise to every challenge that life presents and triumph over it.

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“Congratulations!” Shin’ichi declared. “I’m glad the convention came to a safe conclusion.”

“Yes, everyone is very happy,” the SGIUSA general director responded.

The SGI-USA general director said proudly, “Next year, to celebrate the bicentennial, we plan to hold conventions in three cities—Boston, New York and Philadelphia.”

Cutting him off, Shin’ichi asserted: “Conventions can be a good thing. They help increase public awareness and understanding of the Soka Gakkai, and they are a source of joy for those members who do their best based on prayer, providing opportunities to grow in faith. That said, a convention in and of itself is nothing more than what is referred to in the Lotus Sutra as a ‘phantom city,’ an expedient means to lead people to kosenrufu, world peace and enlightenment. In other words, it’s nothing more than a provisional goal.

“Clearly, our priorities are reversed if by constantly holding spectacular conventions we only end up exhausting the members’ time, energy and financial resources, making them too worn out to introduce others to Buddhism, study the Buddhist teachings and participate in discussion meetings. You need to rethink the way that you hold conventions, which are just growing bigger and more extravagant year after year, and causing an increasing drain on members. The most essential thing is our day-to-day Soka Gakkai activities, which require earnest, painstaking efforts behind the scenes. And it is in ensuring that each member experiences real joy through one’s practice, gains trust in one’s communities and workplaces, and wins in life. That’s the real purpose of our movement.”

Shin’ichi went on to say that placing too many demands on members could become a distraction that leads to accidents. “It’s actually more important to make an accurate report of negative developments, such as accidents, than of positive achievements.

“That makes it possible to take the necessary steps to improve things and prevent future accidents. Leaders must never suppress reports on missteps simply to protect themselves. That’s a very dangerous tendency.” [groups.yahoo.com]

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Shortly after the temporary Community Center opened on Park Avenue and 17th street (1979?), I went to a Young Men’s Division meeting on Saturday. The purpose of the meeting was to make our personal determinations for the future and to present them to Pres. Ikeda. We wrote down one or two line determinations in a binder-type book, one after the other. The meeting opened and, to my surprise, every determination was read. I was uplifted by the determinations. They were so lofty: US senators; judges; congressmen; doctors; lawyers; artists; musicians; and a few teachers, “for Kosen Rufu and for Sensei”. Final encouragement was given by Mr. Kasahara. The jist of what he said was to chant and do lots of activities and we would all realize our dreams without fail. At the end of the meeting, I’ll never forget, this Japanese senior leader going around and shaking hands very vigorously saying, “Ah!, future senator, future congressman, future doctor, for President Ikeda, neh?”

I’ll never forget the animated conversation I had with my best friend at the time after the meeting. I’m sorry if he reads this post and is offended but it is very instructive in terms of the truth of the SGI. He determined to become a US Senator. He told me he applied to become one of the “Who’s Who” of American Youth, and he determined to do so and was encouraged by his leaders to do so, so it would happen. It mattered nothing that he had accomplished little outside of the SGI. He even held on to his dream of becoming a US Senator for a time. He had attained the level of YMD headquarters chief, but he could barely hold on to a job for more than several months at a time, let alone finish college. He says he’s doing great, but to me, the SGI is just a fantasy land of broken dreams.

You will see replies to this post that this was an isolated example but if we delve into the history and the actuality of these young men, we will see that of the ~ 150 young men at the meeting, it would be safe to say, 120 stopped practicing with the SGI during the last 29 years. That leaves somewhere around 30 who continue to practice. Of those 30 how many have gone on to achieve a modicum of success (actual proof being touted by the SGI as the only reliable proof of a teaching)? How many have gone on to become senators, congressmen, judges, doctors, lawyers, accomplished artists or musicians, noted scientists, teachers, etc? To my knowledge, not one has gone on to become a senator, congressman or judge. Perhaps one or two has gone on to become a doctor or lawyer and there were conceivably a few who had gone on to become respected teachers, artists, scientists etc. But out of this handful of “successful” people, how many realized their determinations from that day in 1979? From what I’ve witnessed, the “actual proof” attained by these SGI practitioners was actually worse than the “actual proof” attained by those that stopped practicing or by a similar cohort who never practiced. For example, take any group of 150 highly motivated young men. One would expect that at least ten to twenty percent would go on to realize their determinations. But through the SGI faith and practice, probably less than five percent realized their dreams. However many (or few) there are, this is hardly the universal actual proof that the SGI espouses. [ichinensanzen.org]

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There were some incidents in the 1970's which should have warned us that all was not well between two organizations, but maybe I was dense and I believed the leaders and priests when they made their assurances of mutual love and fidelity. We later found out that both the priests and the leadership of NSA were trying to shield us ordinary members from the conflicts in Japan. These started with issues dating back to World War II and only escalated with time.

Phase II

In the 1970's, the organization experienced some turbulence, largely due to three things. There were a number of reasons why the organization could not generate large numbers or sustain it's high level of effort indefinately. These were:

- The unstable dynamic of "phase one." Members were practicing almost nightly. Some of the leaders, such as Ted Osaki, gave people one night a week "off," but otherwise members were encouraged to participate in nightly "street Shakubuku efforts" meetings, activities, and other behavior all aimed at creating "Kosenrufu of America". What was inspiring about these leaders was that they put out even more effort than they expected others to contribute. There was very little jawboning for contributions and one felt free to contribute as much as one could. This is probably the best way to guarantee maximum participation. Unfortunately there were enough of these kinds of activities made the organization look cultlike and "burned" out recruits. Campagins were sometimes around the clock and one sometimes felt like a door to door salesperson in doing "Street Shakubuku."

In the Mid 1970's, President Ikeda gave guidance that that meetings should end at 8:30, and eventually that street Shakubuku should be eschewed in favor of more subtle efforts such as "freinds making campaigns." The result of this effort, dubbed "phase II" was that suddenly members began thinking for themselves and many people began living ordinary lives again. Some of them also began realizing that the organization didn't really reflect their wishes. Some felt betrayed when they realized that they had given up careers, lives, schooling, for almost no results. This led to some localized revolts, expecially as events from Japan began affecting the organization. President Ikeda's guidances were well meaning, but he really didn't understand this country and sometimes what was happening here was aggravated by his well meaning efforts to do something about problems in this country.

Mr. William's character of great enthusiasm and sometimes seeming impatience, also had an affect on things. The organization went from one campaign to another, often destroying the results of a shakubuku campaign by completely forgetting about recruits while the organization prepared for a big convention or other event. Mr. Williams seemed to be perpetually trying to please President Ikeda while putting out superhuman efforts towards Kosenrufu. Each Campaign portrayed in triumphalist fashion as a great victory. If Mr. Williams could have created World Peace by himself he would have. As it was he made massive efforts towards creating a world wide organization and was honored by Ikeda with an "honorary" Vice Presidency.

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The main cause of our difficulties however was that the central organization in Japan was always looking on. Either goading people like Mr. Williams to inhuman efforts, or subtly sabotaging independent efforts or anything that didn't meet with Japanese sensibilities. In Japan whenever the Sokagakkai made a bid for real power, members here were supposed to support it. For example in the 60's, Members in the USA held Daimoku Tosos in Los Angelos to support an election campaign. And when Ikeda sneezed, we got out the hankerchief. When the SGI began to build a Temple building to be named the "Sho Hondo" which was to symbolize "world wide Kosenrufu" with the people as sovereign, we naturally supported it. Members around the world went to extraordinary efforts to raise an extraordinary (for the time) amount of money. Mr. Williams was on hand for the completion ceremony. It was the high point for NSA.

In the seventies a number of "students" showed up in the USA, who were studying here, and some of them were also paid by the Gakkai as "leaders." I knew some of them personally. All of them were being groomed to eventually take over and "lead the way for Kosenrufu." Everyone of them later became a senior leader and reached a high position in the organization.

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The Rise and Demise of phase II

President Ikeda was constantly talking about common sense, balanced practice, and a more democratic organization. Some members took him seriously. Around 1975 something called "phase II" was instituted. The idea was a kinder gentler NSA that would be more attractive to converts and also be able to hold on to members with less "burnout" of members. Members couldn't always maintain the 6 day (or even 7 day) a week pace of "activities" and would often quit after a while. Phase II was supposed to remedy that.

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Unfortunately people took those words of Ikeda literally, in much the same way that the Communist Youth of the "Cultural Revolution" China took Mao too literally. They started clamoring for transparancy in finances and a real say in the organizations direction and efforts. All over SGI members suddenly started partying, starting businesses, or trying to lead ordinary lives. This led to a situation in which meetings became non-existent, converts disapeared, and the organization nearly vanished as well. People weren't prepared for the freedom! This led to an end to phase II. The "Youth division" was disbanded due to efforts to assert independence and "stand alone spirit."

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And a number of members were quietly removed from positions or told to mind their mouths or be kicked out. The movement was suppressed under the term "phase III." And at the same time a "friends making campaign" and a kindler gentler NSA was instituted under central direction. [webspace.webring.com]

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Mr. Williams led most of these efforts. His enthusiasm, "bonhomme" ["bonhommie"] and tirelessness impressed many people, including the author of this page. Indeed those around him in Santa Monica are still impressed by his spirit to practice and share this Buddhism. Until 1989 he was "The General Director" and at one time he was also "Honorary Vice President." He was beloved by many American members for his genuine kindness, passion, and unwavering committment to Kosenrufu of America and propagating Nichiren Buddhism.

Unfortunately he also deserves some of the credit for things going sour. There are some people who allege that he abused his position, but I don't think he did so on purpose but was simply caught between the two cultures. He understood his "host culture" some, but didn't appreciate the value of our democratic values or openess, until those things had become a liability to the Japanese leaders. Due to his massive positivity he would have created Kosenrufu of America by himself if that had been possible using a Japanese hierarchical organizational structure and Nichiren Shoshu doctrines. He was unable to appreciate the dangers of the military style structure and the authoritarian habits of Japanese patriarchy and authoritarianism. Perhaps he took Ikeda on the surface meaning of all his speeches on democracy and "bottom up" organization. All I know is that if the NSA had been an elective organization he'd probably still have at least an honorary top position. According to Norman McCormack he later apologized for not realizing this. Of course by then it was too late to have any influence on the hierarchy. Since his departure the SGI has been run with an iron hand by Japan all the while asking us for "advise" (but disregarding it each time it is offered).

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In 1989 he was publicly rebuked and he was publicly "deposed" by President Ikeda officially in 1992 and replaced with Fred Zaitsu. His replacement ends the story of NSA as Nichiren Shoshu Academy [or "of America"]. In 1989 when President Ikeda gave guidances towards a "kindler gentler" version of the Gakkai in his famous 1990 "mirror guidances" everyone involved thought that meant that American's would inherit leadership of their own organization and that there would follow democratization. Unfortunately that was not to be the case, and Mr. Zaitsu was more quietly replaced with Danny Nagashima in 1999.