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wakatta1
@Anticult

I wonder. Given the size of SGI's cash holdings and the returns it enjoys from the financial advantages they provide (i.e. interest, turnover of "community centers", etc.) is it reasonable to assume that there will come a day when collecting the money from the membership will simply represent gathering "chump change"?

I suppose that is the reason why they want to get people to donate through automatic deductions, and likely why they want to be sitting there at the members death-bed waiting with pen in hand for their final "ACK....." scrawl.

I'd be interested in seeing what the "official" membership numbers look like from over the past 10 years. I'm certain the US organization has been contracting significantly. SGI of course will either refuse to provide an actual number, or provide one that is inflated since they would want to continue the illusion that the organization is growing. If shrinking then you'd wonder if there is a point of diminishing returns (yes, I know the Japanese WD beats the bushes for free but those gals gotta be getting pretty old these days...)

Anyone want to comment on the growth aspect? Out here in the boondocks I haven't encountered even a single SGI person although I suppose there are some aging hippies hiding outsome where that can account for at least one or two.

Wakatta1

Hi, Wakatta. I'm sure in SGI's eyes we are all still members. Every one of us......every person who posts here continues to be counted as a member of SGI!!!

@Quiet One

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Hi, Wakatta. I'm sure in SGI's eyes we are all still members. Every one of us......every person who posts here continues to be counted as a member of SGI!!!

Hmmm, so THAT'S why every May I feel like I need to shower repeatedly. Virtual Zaimu created from past Karma BUX.

<shudder> :)

Wakatta1

Simplify, You're so right on! I thought cults were only dangerous groups were you were held hostage etc... I didn't get it because I was encouraged to live my own life and even as I was waking up within the last year would come to these boards and get mad.LOL I would think NO,They're not a cult,it's a beautiful pure oraganization" LOL It's kind of heart breaking because it's like a betrayal! You couldn't have told e anything about this SGI being a cult a couple years ago!

[www.buddhajones.com]

Nichijew

Hi, everyone. I need to ask a question. Did any of you have a problem with getting scatterbrained after leaving SGI? I've been having problems with misplacing things like car keys, etc. I also left the lights on to my car twice. I've been meditating to try and calm myself, but I still occasionally misplace important stuff. Last Friday, I couldn't find my car keys and out of depiration, started chanting to my Gohonzon (still enshrined). Lo and behold, I found them in the bottom of my purse - even though I had looked at least three times in there. Thanks for your insight.

I came across a very interesting theory by Mr. Jerry Marcheso, a Nichiren priest in training. The Soka Gakkai Nichiren Shoshu split was not really a split, it was a corporate spin-off. It was a business decision. Unfortunately the anticipated results of an increase in membership and revenues of the two corporate entities never materialized and they will soon again merge.

Here are some of my thoughts on the Soka side of the business:

SGI is all about money. Because it is difficult to practice exactly as the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren teach, the authentic teachings of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin would limit their customer base. For this reason, they compromise and alter the teachings. They also lie that SGI is all about openness and flexibility. It is a sales pitch. They make it sound as if they allow one to believe in almost anything [and they do as long as one is useful to the Soka Gakkai]. They will allow Tina Turner to have a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha on the altar but not Joe General member. They will allow some criticism of this or that but if one is donating lots of money, then even the concept of Eternal mentor, is a wink and a nod. “Disrupting the unity of believers”, questioning SGI mentor, is a no no, not because they really care if you accept the mentor but because it is bad for business. Likewise, persecutions are bad for business. For example, were the Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia to persecute the Soka Gakkai, it would be bad for business, so they compromise the teaching and promote interfaith, rather than taking the Muslims to task as would Nichiren Daishonin.

Nichijew



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2011 08:22AM by Nichijew.

@Jackie_flash

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Hi, everyone. I need to ask a question. Did any of you have a problem with getting scatterbrained after leaving SGI?

Hi Jackie,

Actually, when I made my decision to return my Gohonzon and to sever all contacts with the NSA (SGI) organization things began to get much, much better. My reasoning then was that I had removed a long-standing cause for suffering in my life that was flying in under the radar so to speak in the form of blindly following an organization that had become poisoned. Especially since it was then becoming very clear as to how important the "great heartfelt guidance" that Ikea provided about the "three great treasures" really didn't mean anything when factored against money and power.

I decided that at that point I couldn't tolerate having myself linked into such an organization. (This was during the Temple/NSA schism before they finally settled on how they were going to begin Xeroxing gohonzons.) Like the sutra says, in times of evil a wise man uses his blood for ink and his bones for a pen. That was in the early 90's and nothing bad has happened to me, in fact my career took off, I found an excellent wife, my standard of living is double what it was then. I do occasionally write myself reminders to do this or that, but I think that is the mystic law of "just getting old" working on me.

Hope that helps...

Wakatta1

If a person was doing a certain "ritual" for a long period of time, when they stop doing it, one assumes there could be some effects.
For example, lets say someone has very mild OCD, and does "checking" to relieve anxiety. When they stop checking, they are going to feel anxious for a while.

So if a person is in a sect or group for a long time, that does regular praying or chanting, when you stop doing that, it could trigger some anxiety for a while, one would assume.
As if someone developed a pattern of chanting each time they had a problem, then stopping chanting could trigger anxiety.

Why not create a new pattern, like writing in a journal, or whatever.
Or controlled breathing.
In fact, chanting is a form of controlled breathing, so that will trigger some relaxation just doing that, nothing to do with the words, just the slow breathing.
Relaxation can clear the mind a bit.

So each person needs to figure out new behaviors that work for them.

But certainly quitting chanting or praying, could trigger some anxiety, which is similar to confusion.

Anxiety symptoms
[www.webmd.com]

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Jackie_Flash
Hi, everyone. I need to ask a question. Did any of you have a problem with getting scatterbrained after leaving SGI? I've been having problems with misplacing things like car keys, etc. I also left the lights on to my car twice. I've been meditating to try and calm myself, but I still occasionally misplace important stuff. Last Friday, I couldn't find my car keys and out of depiration, started chanting to my Gohonzon (still enshrined). Lo and behold, I found them in the bottom of my purse - even though I had looked at least three times in there. Thanks for your insight.

Hi, Jackie. It's just a coincidence. When a person is with SGI, events are re-framed to become benefits or obstacles. But there are always ups and downs in life. There are going to be lost keys, and then found ones, regardless of if you chanted for it or not.

Actually, I feel like I was in a fog when I was a member of SGI. There was so much stress in my life that I did things like loose keys much more often than I do now. And get upset about it. I feel much better organized now that I'm not so overwhelmed with all of the nonsensical meetings and activities that I was always compelled to attend. Do any of you others feel like that??

There is no difference between the fundamentalist Christian belief that those who don't accept Jesus Christ will go to hell, and SGI saying ex-members will be damned to their own hell of Incessant Suffering.

Superstition is a powerful thing, yes. As Wakatta1 and other great people here have testified, their lives have not gone to Hell in the Handbasket. Quite the opposite!

If you can't comment about the Master, that is authoritarism, plain and simple.

Well, come to think of it, as Nichijew pointed out, it is very hard to adhere strictly to the teachings of Nichiren. People who have practiced Nichiren as opposed to SGI, if they decide it's no longer their cup of tea, do they suffer their heads being split open in seven pieces? I have not heard of that happening either.