Been saving your pennies so you can give generously to the Soka Gakkai annual campaign? Your organization doesn't ever tell you how much money they rake in each May. They don't consult you on how to spend it. But they're so needy! And so worthy! Here's "actual proof":

Soka Gakkai International - USA acquired the Beber Silverstein office building at 3361 SW 3rd Ave. in Miami, FL from the Beber Silverstein Group for $3.5 million, or $175 per square foot.

Pony up for Kosen Rufu. Here's a shocker: Soka actually spent some of its unaccounted billions on something pertaining to Buddhism! According to the BBC:

A rare Buddhist manuscript, discovered by cattle grazers in 1931, has been released in book form in India.The Lotus Sutra was found in Gilgit region, now in Pakistan.

The document, which dates back to 5th century, is perhaps the only Buddhist manuscript discovered in India.

...The book -- a facsimile edition which is an exact replica of the manuscripts -- will be launched by the National Archives jointly with the Institute of Oriental Philosophy and Soka Gakkai, a Japan-based non-governmental organisation recognised by the UN.

They're a "religion" when it suits them, a "peace organization" when they want school boards in the U.S. to approve Soka-based charter schools, and a "non-governmental organization recognized by the UN" when they pretend at neutrality and honest scholarship. Gotta love it.

Soka is working to gain recognition for "Dharmic Americans" at the White House. Isn't it about time that we were recognized as our own subset of marginalized people?

Eric Erlandson of the band Hole and associate of famed chanter Courtney Love wrote a book.

You have practiced Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism for 20 years. How did your faith influence your writing?Buddhist concepts worked their way into the letters, consciously and unconsciously. It's natural that these letters would contain snippets of my philosophy of life and what I've explored and learned over the years. My daily Buddhist practice helped me continue when it got tough and I wanted to give up, and also gave me incredible insights. Sometimes lines in the book would appear out of nowhere while I was chanting.

Traveling to Japan? Check out Honmonji Temple, "one of Japan's seminal Nichiren sites." From Japan Times:

A revolutionary monk, Nichiren (1222-82) was repeatedly exiled and persecuted for his staunch opposition to the dominant Buddhist doctrines of his day, and at age 61 his health was failing.En route to hot springs in present-day Ibaraki Prefecture for relief, he stopped to visit a disciple, the feudal lord Munenaka Ikegami, for whom this area was named. While there, however, Nichiren died - but not before sanctioning the establishment of a temple on Ikegami's land.

Ikegami duly fulfilled Nichiren's wish, and built the temple on a 69,384-tsubo plot (about 230,000 sq. meters) - one tsubo for each Chinese character in the "Lotus Sutra" the monk considered the core of Buddhist instruction.

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