(RNS) — Each year, thousands of members of an influential Buddhist group journey to a retreat center tucked away in the Florida wetlands seeking tranquility and spiritual enrichment.
Established in 1996 by Soka Gakkai International-USA, the Florida Nature & Culture Center sits on 118 acres sparsely populated with red-roofed buildings, where adherents pray and attend sessions on Buddhist study surrounded by the property’s 40-acre wetland conservation area.
But the center and Soka Gakkai have sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in federal court, saying a planned Corps of Engineers conservation project will dwarf the center in violation of the 1996 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, arguing that a peaceful natural environment is vital to their Buddhist practice.
The project would include an above-ground reservoir that would cover over 1,000 acres and a seven-story pump station near their property, according to the retreat center.
“The recitation of mantras (prayers) aiming to harmonize oneself with one’s environment (including the natural environment) and awaken to the inseparability of life and the environment are core tenets of Nichiren Buddhism,” reads the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court Monday (Dec. 30). “Naturally, such tenets and practices make a peaceful natural environment a priority for SGI and a goal of the religious practices of Nichiren Buddhist members.”
The Army’s C-11 Impoundment Project is part of a larger initiative called the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, authorized by Congress in 2000 to reduce water loss from the Everglades. A fact sheet about the initiative says it will support hundreds of thousands of acres in the Everglades and “benefit federally listed threatened and endangered species and many wading birds.”
The lawsuit, which also names Colonel Brandon Bowman, district commander of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville Office, claims the construction project, set to begin this month, will damage retreat center property and related ecosystem and disrupt their protected religious activity.
The Buddhist group maintains that the project has gone ahead without properly accounting for its effects on surrounding inhabitants of the area.
In a statement from the Buddhist group, Renu Debozi, vice president of public relations for SGI-USA, said the Corps of Engineers has largely ignored their concerns since they first raised them in 2007. “Left with no other choice, we decided to file a lawsuit to force the Corps to do what the law requires it to do: publicly and transparently evaluate and consider the consequences of the C-11 Impoundment Project on adjacent properties like the FNCC, including consideration of alternatives that mitigate the impacts of the Project,” the statement said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville District said it is aware of the lawsuit but can’t comment on active litigation.
Popularized by celebrity adherents like Tina Turner and Orlando Bloom, Soka Gakkai International, founded nearly a century ago in Japan, follows the teachings of a 13th -century Buddhist monk. Known for its relative racial and ethnic diversity and for attracting converts, the group began gaining traction in the U.S. in the 1960s, in part due to what critics call a “prosperity dharma,” which teaches that certain chants will generate wealth and material benefits.
Today, the U.S. chapter touts more than 100,000 members. The global group’s website stresses their commitment to dialogue and nonviolence and the link between individual happiness and peace.
In recent years, the center hired its own engineers to assess the impact of the project and, based on these findings, argue that the construction and the pump station will create noise, vibration and dust, as well as emit noxious odors and decrease air quality. Changes to groundwater levels, it says, could threaten the stability of the center’s buildings and the surrounding wetland, and the construction could cause wild animals to relocate to their land.
“(T)he construction and subsequent operation of the C- 11 Impoundment Project will (cause) damage to buildings in which Plaintiffs and their members practice their religion, damage the artifacts and symbols they revere, substantially burden their ability to use the carefully landscaped outdoor areas for religious practices, and disrupt the serenity and harmony with nature central to their religious practices,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit claims the defendants failed to include the retreat center and related ecosystem in their environmental impact analysis and did not take the religious group’s input into account, violating both the National Environmental Policy Act and Administrative Procedure Act. They are requesting that the court order a halt to construction until a supplemental environmental impact statement is created.
