Austin SGI Culture Department

1. Integrating the knowledge we acquire from work with the insights and values of Buddhism
2. Providing encouragement to members facing obstacles in their jobs so that they can obtain victory in this world
3. Studying this Buddhism and the writings of the Soka Gakkai to obtain a deeper understanding of the links between Buddhist ideas and real life
4. Helping other members and the larger community find happiness through the application of the secular and religious insights found in both our work and our Buddhism.

The Culture Department in Austin is quite active and sponsors a large number of interesting activities. These include:

1. Culture Department In-service Seminars: Members of the Culture Department lead discussions of the implications of how the principles of their work inter-relate to Buddhism. Past Inservice Seminars have included:
• Buddhism and the Mind (from David Hovland, a psychologist)
• Buddhism and the Universe (from Somkid Clarke, a chemist)
• Buddhism and Education (from George Llewellyn, a junior high teacher)
• Buddhism and War (from a panel of people who lived and worked through WWII or the Korean War)
2. Community Outreach events: The Culture Department works to provide an interface between Buddhists and other people working to make the world a better place. These activities are generally carried out in active collaboration with the Public Relations Committee. Past Community Outreach Events include:
   • Family Problem Solving Fair, in which the SGI sponsored a fair for social assistance organizations in Austin, including the United Way, Tough Love, alternative family therapy centers, HIV awareness organizations and many other community problem solvers. There was food; there was music; the location was beautiful. A good time was had by all.
   • Two Earth Charter Consultations. The Earth Charter is an international initiative supported by the United Nations and a host of other world organizations to develop a set of principles world citizens are willing to live by that will secure the environmental survival of our planet and a maintenance of a high standard of living for all without the destruction of our ecological base. In Austin, representatives of various environmentally oriented organizations met with SGI members and the general public to help amend the Charter to insure that the principles involved would be ecologically sound and yet capable of obtaining popular support.

3. Study Activities: The Culture Department, along with the Study Department, supports several regular study activities. These include:
   • Lotus Sutra Study. A study of the Lotus Sutra, itself, the prime foundation of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. No preliminary study or knowledge is required. People walk in cold, sit down, we chant and then all read and discuss sutra together. The Lotus Sutra is a poetic and wonderful document with all sorts of riches and inspirational details.
   • Videotape studies on Ikeda’s Lectures on the Lotus Sutra. The National Culture Department of SGI has made a number of easy to understand, unusual and stimulating videotapes that are commentaries on President Ikeda’s commentaries on the Lotus Sutra. Both the Ikeda commentaries themselves and the Culture Department take on these commentaries are provocative and entertaining. These are popular, no-jargon, plain talking presentations of the real life issues associated with the Lotus Sutra.
   • President Ikeda Peace Proposal Studies. President Ikeda every year writes a lengthy Peace Proposal. This is an uncompromising and fascinating statement of the social teachings of this Buddhism. This is a forum for discussions of how we can relate our Buddhism to the gritty reality of political and international problems and the search for world peace. No preliminary study is required. People walk in, we chant, and then all read and discuss together.