Soka Gakkai (Japanese: 創価学会, Hepburn: Sōka Gakkai, "Value-Creation Society") is a Japanese Buddhist religious movement based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren as taught by its first three presidents Tsunesaburō Makiguchi, Jōsei Toda, and Daisaku Ikeda.It is the largest of the Japanese new religions and claims the largest …

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The Transcendental Meditation technique (abbreviated as TM) is the technique associated with the practice of Transcendental Meditation developed by the Indian spiritual figure Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.The practice involves the use of a private mantra, and is practised for 20 minutes twice per day while sitting comfortably with one's eyes closed. Unlike some other approaches …

Daisaku Ikeda (池田 大作, Ikeda Daisaku, born 2 January 1928) is a Japanese Buddhist philosopher, educator, author, and nuclear disarmament advocate. He served as the third president and then honorary president of the Soka Gakkai, the largest of Japan's new religious movements.: 5 Ikeda is the founding president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), the …

Doctrine. Shinrikyo Aum is a syncretic belief system that draws upon Asahara's idiosyncratic interpretations of elements of early Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as Hinduism, taking Shiva as the main image of worship; it also incorporates Christian millennialist ideas, the theory and practice of yoga, and the writings of Nostradamus. Its founder, Chizuo Matsumoto, …

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a state of relaxed awareness, stress relief, and access to higher states of consciousness, as well as physiological benefits …

Prior to the formation of Chinese civilisation and the spread of world religions in the region known today as East Asia (which includes the territorial boundaries of modern-day China), local tribes shared animistic, shamanic and totemic worldviews. Mediatory individuals such as shamans communicated prayers, sacrifices or offerings directly to the spiritual world, a heritage that …

Buddhism (/ ˈ b ʊ d ɪ z əm / BUU-dih-zəm, / ˈ b uː d-/ BOOD-), also known as Buddha Dharma or Dharmavinaya (transl. "doctrines and disciplines"), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on a series of original teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha. Originating in ancient India as a movement professing śramaṇa between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, it gradually …

Moksha (/ ˈ m oʊ k ʃ ə /; Sanskrit: मोक्ष, mokṣa), also called vimoksha, vimukti and mukti, is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriological and eschatological senses, it refers to freedom from saṃsāra, the cycle of death and rebirth. In its epistemological and psychological ...

Only in Japan since World War II have truly new Buddhist movements arisen. Notable among these is Soka Gakkai, the Value Creation Society, a lay movement associated with Nichiren Buddhism. It is noted for its effective organization, aggressive conversion techniques, and use of mass media, as well as for its nationalism.