Editing Soka Gakkai (section)

=== Oneness of mentor and disciple ===

The Soka Gakkai liturgy refers to all of its first three presidents – Tsunesabura Makiguchi, Josei Toda, and Daisaku Ikeda – as "the eternal mentors of {{transliteration|ja|kosen-rufu}}".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Liturgy of the Soka Gakkai International|date=2015|publisher=SGI-USA|isbn=978-1-935523-81-9|page=18}}</ref> The organization's former leader, Ikeda, is revered by members.<ref>Chilson, Clark (2014). "Cultivating Charisma: Ikeda Daisaku's Self Presentations and Transformational Leadership". Journal of Global Buddhism, Vol. 15., p. 67</ref> The relationship between members and their mentors is referred to as "the oneness of mentor and disciple". The mentor is to lead and thereby improve the lives of his disciples. The mentor's actions are seen as giving disciples confidence in their own unrealized potential. The role of disciples is seen as supporting their mentor and realizing his vision using their unique abilities and circumstances.

Since the mid-1990s, the issue of the oneness of mentor and disciple has received more prominence in Soka Gakkai. There is a strong emphasis on "cultivating all members{{nbsp}}[...] in discipleship" through forging "affective one-to-one relationships with Ikeda".<ref name=McLaughlin2012>{{cite journal|first=Levi |last=McLaughlin |title=Did Aum Change Everything? What Soka Gakkai Before, During, and After the Aum Shinrikyo Affair Tells Us About the Persistent "Otherness" of New Religions in Japan, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=51–75 |date=2012 |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/4110 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131223213130/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/4110 |archive-date=2013-12-23}}</ref>{{rp|70}}