Pedagogia da conversão: fé, educação e enraizamento comunitário no budismo de Nichiren em Teresina

Abstract

This study analyzes the processes of conversion, practice, and member retention within the Brazil Soka Gakkai International (BSGI) in Teresina. It investigates how the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism are appropriated and reinterpreted to form educational, ethical, and community practices, based on the pedagogy of value creation pioneered by Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and disseminated by Daisaku Ikeda. Through ethnographic observation and documentary analysis, this research identifies two core mechanisms for community rooting and member retention: a discourse that valorizes everyday experience, and the pursuit of holistic happiness, collectively known as "human revolution." These mechanisms are sustained by the key concepts of shakubuku — a dialogic practice of propagation based on inner transformation — and kosen rufu — the collective ideal of universal peace. Engaging with theorists like Weber, Durkheim, and Geertz, the study demonstrates that conversion in the BSGI is not merely a religious event, but an ongoing formative process that reorganizes meanings of faith, education, and belonging. It concludes that the BSGI’s pedagogical approach to conversion effectively articulates spirituality with sociability, producing distinct modes of community building and subjective transformation.