Imperial Valley Press
Thursday, May 20, 2004 2:40 PM PDT

Recently an elementary school in El Centro received a "peace garden" from a controversial Buddhist sect known as Soka Gakkai. Present at the dedication ceremony were school officials, city officials, including the mayor of El Centro, and county supervisors.

Around the garden are plaques that can be seen from the street with the names of Martin Luther King Jr., Matahma Ghandi and Daisaku Ikeda. There are three trees planted in the center of the garden representing King, Ghandi and Ikeda. Around the center circle is a path. Around the path are other plants and trees that represent the community. The symbolism, with the exception of King and Ghandi, is troubling. The community/people revolves around (but are separated from) King (deceased), Ghandi (deceased), and Ikeda (alive and well). But who is Ikeda? Did anyone research this man and his group beyond Soka's own propaganda literature before letting them onto a school campus full of children?

Besides now being an "honorary principal" at this school, Ikeda is the leader of a multi-billion dollar Japanese political/religious group, Soka Gakkai International. SGI is on almost every cult list around the world. They make no secret of their mission to create peace — at any price, by any means — through converting people to Buddhism.

"Conflict and strife on the long journey to peace" is a constant refrain in their writings. Ikeda's self-promotion as a "peace activist" is disgusting. King and Ghandi never pimped themselves around the globe handing out millions of dollars to legitimize themselves. Then again, neither King nor Ghandi had to. Neither collected millions of dollars from people nor ran on the message "Conquer the city (Tokyo)."

Both King and Ghandi struggled against injustice. They did not push/buy/bribe their way into credibility. Neither King nor Ghandi had to spend millions of dollars on public relations and propaganda. Besides linking his name with King and Ghandi to get into the schools, Ikeda has also had his name linked with convicted cocaine trafficker Manuel Noriega, when Noriega named a statue in Panama after Ikeda, and Ikeda returned the favor by presenting Noriega with a "humanist" award. Ikeda's chumminess with and admiration for Fidel Castro is also well-documented.

A German bureaucrat in an interview after World War II told his interviewer that in the beginning, as the Nazis rose to power, he and his fellow workers were skeptical and raised questions among themselves about this party that claimed to promote the good of the German people. However, rumors of false words and violent actions surrounded the Nazis. But the bureaucrats chose not to question the Nazi authority themselves, believing that, surely, someone else somewhere down the line would question the means to the end. Soon his co-workers seemed to forget their questions and pretended everything was fine. Later his country was destroyed.

It has been said that America won't be destroyed from without but from within. This policy of believing anything somebody says just because they carry a large checkbook or are "famous" is just as, if not more, dangerous than any terrorist act that has occurred in our country.

But let's return to our story in El Centro. Who was responsible for bringing SGI to this school? We have to hope that this lack of oversight was only due to incompetence. How can we have faith in our public schools if they do not protect our most vulnerable children — children of immigrants who lack the education, sophistication, knowledge and language skills to question such things? No one, to my knowledge, has risen to their duty to challenge what has happened at this school. Are they waiting for someone else to do it? Are they sticking their collective heads in the sand and pretending that this never happened? Where are the voices for the children? Are they complicit by their silence?

It takes only a light scratching of the surface to see the true character of Dr. Ikeda and Soka Gakkai. Don't wait until they come to your school.

These are excerpts from a poem by Dr. Ikeda:

The Victorious Future of Mentor and Disciple

I can see those who are like demons

Milling around what

Unbeknownst to them,

Is only an execution block

Traitors!

Having turned your backs

On the Daishonin's golden words,

Are you ready

To be burned in the fires

Of the Hell of incessant suffering?

To be imprisoned in a cavern

In the Hell of extreme cold?

To be shut off in the darkness

Of misery and strife, forever deprived of the sun's light?

"One who condones evil is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it." Martin Luther King Jr.

DALE CLIFFORD

El Centro

Source: Imperial Valley Press online