Cherry Point SGI-USA Chapter's beginnings lie in 1960 when three local people attended SGI President Ikeda's visit to Washington D.C.  By 1965, the Chapter had been officially established, making it the secondBuddhist group formed in North Carolina.  Like many historic SGI chapters in North America it owes its foundation to military wives from Japan who brought with them Soka Gakkai's vision of worldwide dissemination.

Today Cherry Point Chapter has sixty-five active members from many ethnic backgrounds who are divided between two Districts, Havelock and Cherry Point.  Each District is further divided into four Divisions: Men's Women's Young Men's, and Young Women's.  Children under the age of eleven have occasional religious instruction with songs and art; once they reach eleven they typically move into the Young Men's or Young Women's Division and practice with this group until they marry.  Each Division meets once a week for toso, extended ritual chanting of the mantra Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo ("Homage to the Lotus Sutraof the Mystic Law," called daimoku) once a month.  Once a month each Division holds a longer meeting with discussion and gongyo (daimoku and chanting of chapters from the Lotus Sutra), while all four Divisions in each District also meet together once a month.  Furthermore, the entire Chapter also participates once a month in an East Carolina Area prayer service and social gathering called Kosen Rufu Gongyo (World Peace Prayer Service) with the Coastal and East Carolina SGI-USA Chapters.

JW