The basic purpose of Rissho Kosei-kai is not only personal self-perfection by purifying one's mind through Buddhist practice, but also the achievement through it of peace and prosperity in the home, the community, the nation, and the world. The politics of a nation, however, has a great influence on the welfare of its people. We can say that in a sense the prosperity and peace of a nation's people is determined by its politics. Therefore, religious people should be actively concerned with politics and the politicians who legislate the nation's laws.

Today, as the Constitution of Japan states, sovereignty rests with the people. Every adult citizen has the right to vote and the responsibility to monitor politics and work to improve them. Rissho Kosei-kai, as a lay Buddhist organization, strongly urges the importance of political reform. We consider our political activities to be bodhisattva practice, calling them the "act of purifying politics." Our basic stance on politics is as stated below:

1) We uphold the principle of separation of religion and the state and of freedom of religion. We regard it as an unchanging principle that the government must not interfere with religion in any way and that religious representatives must not step into the political arena. Specifically, Rissho Kosei-kai will not create its own political party, and officers of the organization will not seek public office.

2) We do not permanently endorse a particular party. Rissho Kosei-kai does not permanently support any one party. Buddhism teaches the truth that all things are impermanent and interdependent. In the light of this truth, we support the parties and politicians that are right and best at any given time.

3) We seek to realize the true and correct politics through campaigns and other support activities. We focus on elections because they give us indispensable opportunities to select those politicians who understand and act in accordance with our political stance. The four political principles by which Rissho Kosei-kai decides whether it supports a candidate or not are: the implementation of pacifism; upholding the freedom of religion; the establishment of political ethics; and the promotion of administrative reform. In this way we hope to ensure that the Buddhist spirit is reflected in the political arena.

4) We endeavor to mold the right public opinion concerning politics. We continue to strive to monitor politics and lead public opinion toward the right direction so that the political world will not take the wrong direction.