SGI claims millions of members worldwide -- between 10 and 12 million -- including hundreds of thousands in the U.S. In May 2002, SGI-USA's spokesperson told Congress dead link that SGI-USA has a membership of 300,000. In November 2003, SGI claimed 350,000 members in North America.

Some academic dead link surveys and other sources estimate that there are somewhere between one and two million Buddhists in the U.S. That includes practitioners of Zen, Tibetan traditions, etc., as well as Nichiren Buddhists. And, judging from the 65,000 people who showed up in Central Park dead link to hear the Dalai Lama, millions of Americans have at least some interest in Buddhism.

But I'm not the only one who thinks that SGI-USA overstates its membership numbers, and SGI-USA has yet to provide an explanation for how it arrives at its membership stats. Personally, I think the SGI sounds a lot like Scientology in claiming a membership of millions dead link . Is this the company dead link SGI members want to keep?

Last year on BuddhaJones, I cited several instances unavailable of SGI-USA's fibbing, including membership stat fibs. In response, I received many letters and other communications that, in sum, advised me: "If you don't like it, change it." I replied to one person: "Gee, if you work really hard in your district, maybe SGI corporate will stop lying."

Members who feel that they cannot wholeheartedly support the policies of the SGI corporate entity are often told that they need to redouble their efforts to change the SGI for the better. Presumably, this change must come about through some magical rather than democratic means, considering that SGI members have no voting rights in their own organization, have no formal grievance procedure, have no formal means for assuring that their voices are heeded by those who make corporate decisions.

Members don't even have the right to manage their local center. Members in one large U.S. city joke that the chief SGI administrator of their Culture Center will "die in his chair," and, until then, he will "run" the local organization as he sees fit. SGI members are not even allowed to know how much money SGI-USA has, where it comes from or how it is allocated.

Now, many SGI members will read what I just wrote and accuse me of whining. "Never give up!" they will say. "You must try harder! To change the world, you must first start by changing SGI!" Other SGI members will advise me: "Chant to change yourself so these petty organizational things don't bother you. Chant to elevate your life."

Either way, the reasoning goes, individual members are entirely responsible for everything that is broken in the organization. And they must fix it, if they are serious about fixing it, through sincere and dedicated Buddhist practice. To me, this sounds a lot like an alcoholic holding his or her co-dependent spouse responsible for the circumstances in which they find themselves and smugly saying, "Chant about it."

Is it any wonder why people stay in SGI, trying ever more desperately to convince themselves and others that staying is the best -- the only! -- thing to do? And is it any wonder why people drift or stomp away from SGI?

To me, there are bigger fish to fry, more urgent problems to address through Buddhist practice than the deliberate, incorrigible mismanagement of a religious corporation. Yet the very deliberateness of this mismanagement fascinates me -- it's the subject of the novel I'm writing. So I keep my eye on SGI.

Anyway, my whole point in writing this missive is to reply to a letter that an SGI member sent to BuddhaJones unavailable about inflated membership stats. He wrote: "This has knocked me right out of my comfort zone. Please help me -- I want to be a believer."

My response is that belief in and allegiance to SGI are not necessary for one to be an exemplary practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism. I think the important thing is to stick with one's Buddhist practice and study the writings of Nichiren. No matter what organization we join, one way or another we all need to develop a spirit of independence in the sense that we are confident about our own practice and heart, and can trust our own life/wisdom for "guidance."

Many people think that the only way to change or find security in the world is through collective action, so they cleave to organizations and groups -- and perhaps gravitate toward the ones that claim to be the "fastest growing" or "most influential." But Nichiren Buddhism teaches that all the power in the universe exists within a single moment of one's life. It's more important to discover what Nichiren actually meant by this than to believe in the power, influence or righteousness of any group.

Take care,
Lisa J.