Origin from 1938
Rissho Kosei Kai is a Japanese lay Buddhist movement founded on March 5, 1938, by Niwano Nikkyo and Naganuma Myoko as a break from Reiyukai, the Nichiren-descended lay organization both had belonged to. Where Reiyukai treated formal study of the Lotus Sutra as unnecessary, Rissho Kosei Kai built its practice around shared lay study and discussion of the sutra alongside devotional and ritual life, organized around small discussion circles called hoza in addition to its temples. It grew rapidly in postwar Japan into one of the country's largest lay Buddhist new religious movements, and it has been notably active in interfaith dialogue and international peace work, including sustained engagement with the Unitarian Universalist movement, well beyond most Japanese new religions of comparable origin.
Facts
Giving
Standing Giving ExpectationRissho Kosei-kai describes itself as a self-supporting nonprofit funded by its members. Its United Kingdom affiliate states a basic monthly membership contribution of five pounds sterling, explicitly framed as a personal expression of one own vow to practise the bodhisattva way and support the Sangha rather than a charge for attending activities or receiving services; any amount above the base is stated as entirely voluntary, and membership can be cancelled at any time. Its North American affiliate similarly states all funding comes from members donations, suggesting rather than mandating specific amounts. 2 Standard Rate ExpectedNot percentage-based; a small flat suggested monthly contribution (five pounds sterling in the UK affiliate), with anything above stated as voluntary. 2 How the Expectation Is EnforcedPreached Expectation, Not Enforced 2 Described by two national affiliates, in the UK and North America, as a suggested amount only; membership can be cancelled at any time with no stated consequence for paying less than the suggested amount. Position Profile
Key TextThe Lotus Sutra, studied collectively by lay members as the movement's central textual practice. 1 Humanitarian Aid Operated
Welfare and Humanitarian Aid OperationsRissho Kosei-kai own Donate-a-Meal Movement reports cumulative contributions from 1985 through 2016 totaling 141,588,764 US dollars, spent across reduction of poverty and hunger, education and human resource development, emergency relief and reconstruction, health, medical and welfare, refugee assistance, disarmament and environmental protection. In 2011 the movement spent 500 million Japanese yen on relief for victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami; in 2016 its contributions paid for about 304,000 daily school meals for 19,000 children at 176 schools in Bhutan. 3 Humanitarian Aid Figure As Of Basis of the Humanitarian Aid FigureThe Body's Own Published Statistics 3 Origins
Origin Period FounderNiwano Nikkyo and Naganuma Myoko. 1 Status
Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 1 Trajectory
Membership Over TimeSourced to the subject's own accountBy 1953 the movement counted 158,587 member households, twelve years after its 1938 founding. 4 Membership Over TimeSourced to the subject's own accountBy 31 December 2004 membership had grown to some 1.81 million households, most in Japan with a small number of churches and centers abroad. 4 Membership Figure As OfSourced to the subject's own account Membership Figure As OfSourced to the subject's own account Basis of the Membership FigureSourced to the subject's own account In Other Languages (8 names)
- Risshō Kōseikai
- Rissho Kosei-Kai
- Risshō Kōsei Kai
- 立正佼成会
- 입정교성회
- Risho Kossei-kai
- රිෂ්ෂෝ කෝසේයි ඛායි
- 立正佼成會
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Rissho Kosei Kai directly: "Rissho Kosei-kai of the UK's own membership page, based in West London, stating a basic monthly membership contribution of 5 pounds described as a personal expression of the vow to practise the..."
This source names Rissho Kosei Kai directly: "The English Wikipedia article on Rissho Kosei Kai, community edited, carrying the Japanese Buddhist lay movement's own dated household-membership counts, from 158,587 households in 1953 to 1.81..."
This source names Rissho Kosei Kai directly: "A Rissho Kosei-kai of the UK-hosted activity report on the Donate-a-Meal Movement, a giving practice of the lay Buddhist organization Rissho Kosei-kai (founded 1938) in which members forgo meals on..."
Belongs to Tradition
Branch Of
Founded By
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.