I just don't understand the whole Ikeda-as-Mentor concept. Your mentor is someone you try to emulate, isn't that right? How exactly am I supposed to pattern my life like Daisaku Ikeda? Start my own muti-billion dollar religious empire? Dupe good people into giving me their money? I'm a 45 year old white woman, so transforming myself into an elderly Japanese Billionaire doesn't seem very likely. There is nothing about Ikeda or his life that I want to emulate.

I'm just waiting for him to start claiming he has attained Buddha-hood. Or has he already? I'm kind of out of the loop these days.

Quote
Tibbs
I just don't understand the whole Ikeda-as-Mentor concept. Your mentor is someone you try to emulate, isn't that right? How exactly am I supposed to pattern my life like Daisaku Ikeda? Start my own muti-billion dollar religious empire? Dupe good people into giving me their money? I'm a 45 year old white woman, so transforming myself into an elderly Japanese Billionaire doesn't seem very likely. There is nothing about Ikeda or his life that I want to emulate.

I'm just waiting for him to start claiming he has attained Buddha-hood. Or has he already? I'm kind of out of the loop these days.

Hello, Tibbs....you hit the nails on the head here! Also, it seems as though the SGI now is giving no choice, you must accept PI as your personal Number One All-Time Mentor. The only one you'll ever need. Talk about authoritarism! They also talk about "knowing Sensei's heart--making Sensei's heart your own" How can we know his heart? Or anyone's for that matter? Make his heart your own? We have our own hearts!

I don't recall ever seeing that he's claimed Buddhahood. For that matter, I've never heard any other members (or leaders) say that they had reached Buddhahood, either.

Hello everyone, I am a former member of SGI. I joined it because my Japanese friend was raving about how it is a great Buddhist organization in Virgina. Well I Joined and received my Gohonzon one year from today in fact. Well I went to meetings but slowly started to notice anytime I had any problems they would tell me to chant more, get involved in activities, donate(I never donated a dime) and buy PI publications. I am a military spouse (I found out majority of the SGI members in this district are from Okinawa, Japan and are married to military members). I attended all the meetings and soon after I got pregnant, the ones I could not attend were the ones far away.

When I slowly stopped going to meetings I had them host meetings at my house and let me know last minute. With my morning sickness I was barley able to sit through chanting. After I had my baby they wanted me to attend more meetings which wasn't possible. The only meeting I attended after all of this was the last one before we moved to our next duty station Upstate NY. My friend who got me into SGI asked me for my new address I thought she was going to write me a letter or something. She gave my new info to SGI and one month after we moved up here I was getting bombarded with phone calls.

I only answered one call and was told the closest district meeting is an hour away and I should attend, I told them that, that is too far for me I was interrupted and told that an hour drive is nothing. I told them to give me the information and I would get in touch when I had the time. I never called them. Thank goodness I got away from all of this mess the Ikea worship is very obvious I do not know why anyone else doesn't see it.

I went back to Falun Gong a non-profit organization that teaches you how to cultivate your chi (life energy). All of the books and information is free and no pressure to donate or anything. I am happy with this :).

You must check out Chanting Growers Group. They are always claiming that SGI members are Buddhas. Another group of videos show many SGI members declaring, "I am Myoho renge kyo, "I am Buddha" and lastly, see this video: [www.youtube.com] .....Getting along with a difficult boss and making "a lot of successful projects" is being a Buddha.

Nichijew

Another thing to add to my post I was always told if I wanted something chant for it... If I wanted a car chant for it, it was surrounded by chanting for materialistic things which is the opposite of the teachings of Buddhism.

sure it has already been mentioned, in the history of this thread and Nichijew will know for sure what the original source is. I think it was in a book dating from the 70's that it was claimed that Ikeda is a Buddha. Soka Gakkai got in a heap of trouble from Nittatsu about this.

Also like everyone else on here, If find it quite bizzare that Gakkai claimed that following the Head Priest was worthless and evil, but now you have to take Ikeda as your mentor if you want to attain anything. Utter Cult BS!!!

Anyone else read 'Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth and Death 2003 edition' If found it in a second hand shop and against my better judgement, bought and read it, firstly it's the same as all the other Gakkai books, Basics of Buddhism, Buddha in your rearveiw mirror, Buddha in Daily life etc.... How have they got away with reprinting the same books with different names, sure they are worded a bit differently but the content and explanations are all just about the same.

The reason i mention the 2003 edition is that their is a section where Ikeda mentions 9/11 and that one of the people on one of the planes was a Nichiren Buddhist who was a friend of Ikedas, and that Ikeda was a friend of the deceased persons family.

Now I think this is total BS. No names mentioned in the book about who this so called person was, how is Ikeda friends with any of those practicing in the US as he never visits there. Anyone on here know of anyone who was on any of the planes on 9/11 that was an SGI member.
This to me, is just another lie to create and emotional response to how great 'this Buddhism is' and how 'great Ikeda' is. Using 9/11 victims to get emotional responses is just f**ked up.

If only my heart and life state was like Ikedas, I would be a lying Billionaire BS talker!

http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=857&Itemid=11

Interesting reading, anyone here know where the 700page document resides?

There is no question, Daisaku Ikeda makes it clear by everything he puts out, that he is personally manifesting his deluded version of his so-called the Buddha nature. Those familiar with his so-called 'writings' could find the passages.
By the way, there is no question that Ikeda doesn't write any of that stuff.
He must dictate some of it, then it is edited, and written by his hired ghost-writers. That is a proven fact, as has been shown all over the place. Its just to create an illusion of an Ikeda superman.
Same as him getting his lackies to go a purchase hundreds of fake degrees, in exchange for a donation to some university.

Kim Jong-il also claims to have written countless books, and appears in photo's as the Dear Leader President.

Ching Hai also runs her own personality cult where she made herself the Supreme Master Ching Hai. [forum.culteducation.com]

And of course they all sell themselves as "poets".
Pretty much every cultish leader sells themselves as a poet. This is to make them seem less authoritarian and more romantic, but also to allow them to use their ghost-writers to inject all sort of persuasion tactics into artfully vague writings. That is advanced persuasion, using what appears to be poetic language. Its the latest thing in brainwashing.
Permissive persuasion.

This Mentor/Disciple, is the same as Master/slave.
Its psychological persuasion, to try to get people to connect to the Dear Leader Ikeda in an emotional way. Its a cultic technique, that SGI has learned, and is applying.


The only position Ikeda seems to take, is to be against nuclear weapons! Wow, what a hero.
You mean, someone in Japan, a country to suffer direct attacks from nuclear weapons, is against nuclear weapons?
Meanwhile, as has been shown in this thread, Ikeda and Soka Gakkai is definitely in bed and aligned in various ways with Mitsubishi Corporation. [en.wikipedia.org]
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a weapons company, as well as nuclear tech. [en.wikipedia.org]

Search google for:

mitsibushi "soka gakkai"


When you are talking possibly hundred(s) of billions in Soka Gakkai assets, washing around the world through hundreds and thousands of banks, many of them in countries without any oversight of the banks, and corrupt government systems, its not hard to connect the dots of what SGI really is on a business level.
These billions did not come from housewives, its impossible. Yes, part of it does, that is the beauty of it. The web is so complex it cannot be deconstructed.
SGI appears to be an ideal mechanism to slosh billions of dollars in assets around the world, tax-free, and with minimal to no oversight in many countries.

Jeenia:

Please don't promote another religious group on this thread, i.e. Falun Gong.

See [www.culteducation.com]

In my opinion Falun Gong is a destructive cult.

Also see [www.culteducation.com]

Quote
TheVoid
sure it has already been mentioned, in the history of this thread and Nichijew will know for sure what the original source is. I think it was in a book dating from the 70's that it was claimed that Ikeda is a Buddha. Soka Gakkai got in a heap of trouble from Nittatsu about this.

Also like everyone else on here, If find it quite bizzare that Gakkai claimed that following the Head Priest was worthless and evil, but now you have to take Ikeda as your mentor if you want to attain anything. Utter Cult BS!!!

Anyone else read 'Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth and Death 2003 edition' If found it in a second hand shop and against my better judgement, bought and read it, firstly it's the same as all the other Gakkai books, Basics of Buddhism, Buddha in your rearveiw mirror, Buddha in Daily life etc.... How have they got away with reprinting the same books with different names, sure they are worded a bit differently but the content and explanations are all just about the same.

The reason i mention the 2003 edition is that their is a section where Ikeda mentions 9/11 and that one of the people on one of the planes was a Nichiren Buddhist who was a friend of Ikedas, and that Ikeda was a friend of the deceased persons family.

Now I think this is total BS. No names mentioned in the book about who this so called person was, how is Ikeda friends with any of those practicing in the US as he never visits there. Anyone on here know of anyone who was on any of the planes on 9/11 that was an SGI member.
This to me, is just another lie to create and emotional response to how great 'this Buddhism is' and how 'great Ikeda' is. Using 9/11 victims to get emotional responses is just f**ked up.

If only my heart and life state was like Ikedas, I would be a lying Billionaire BS talker!

TheVoid, there was indeed a member, actually someone who was employed by the SGI in LA named David Aoyama. He was on American Airlines flight 11. If he was an employee, I'm sure he had the company of PI at one time or another.