Sydney Daily Telegraph,
Sept 26 2001

COURT JESTER'S SCAM NO LAUGHING MATTER

An American Buddhist claiming to be the world's only official
court jester has sparked a political row in the Kingdom of Tonga
over millions of missing dollars.

The row centers on the disappearance of money that the Pacific
Island nation made selling citizenship to Chinese.

The nation's tiny legislative assembly launched moves this week
to impeach minister implicated in the scandal, which goes right
up to King Taufa'ahau Topou IV and his son, Crown Prince
Tupuoto'a.

About $40 million is missing - a huge amount in a kingdom which
has an annual government budget of 86 million paanga ($78
million).

The saga centers on Jesse Bogdonoff, from North Carolina, a
businessman who also sells magnets to cure back pain, who
invested the money on behalf of Tonga.

So impressed was the King, he issued a royal decree proclaiming
Mr. Bogdonoff court jester. ***In turn, Mr. Bogdonoff, a member
of Japan's richest lay Buddhist organization, the Soka Gakkai
International, *** had the group give the King a humanitarian
award and an honorary doctorate.***

But now the kingdom cannot find the millions, apparently
moved by Mr. Bogdonoff from the US bank in which it was held.

"It looks like the money has all gone, it looks like we are the
laughing stock of the world again," said member of parliament
Teisina Fuko, who is spearheading moves to get to the bottom
of the scandal.

The money was made in the late 1980s when Hong Kong
businessman George Chen won royal approval to sell Tongan
citizenship and special passports to mainly Asians, particularly
Hong Kong Chinese then worried about the handover to China.
Among the first to get them were then exiled Filipino president
Ferdinand Marcos, his wife Imelda and their daughters.
<<<<<<

These kinds of threads can really help people think about what's really going on, and to look at all sides of the issue from the privacy of their home computer, without any peer pressure or brow-beating from sect members at a meeting.
They can look at the mountain of facts, look at the evidence, and make up their own minds about what is really going on, then decide for themselves.

Hitch thanks for responding and thanks to the others and their input as well

Here's a doctrinal question to anyone cares to respond.

Using the well-worn NSA/SGI "rules of engagement", i.e. what is considered right and wrong behavior for "a lay member" - if a member were to take money that was given in an offering to the Gohonzon and instead misappropriated it and spent it on himself, would that be considered HouBou (Slander)? If that same member conspired with other members to 'spread the wealth around' - would that not be the same thing levied on anyone who accepted it?

So how does Ikea justify his use of donations that aren't intended for him? I'm wondering why the Buddhist Gods aren't 'breaking his head in five directions'.

Only if the practice/religion had no real basis or power (was heretical or unfounded or slanderous or erroneous, you name it) that a person or persons could get away with that without getting "GO SEIBATSU or BATCHI" (The BIG punishment). Remember the "practice" is based on the law of cause and effect and ALL are subject to the power of the Gohonzon (or so they say). It doesn't look like they are very afeared of repercussions, does it?

So just remember that when you are wondering if you did the right or wrong thing to turn away from the "practice" - it might just be that you were trading your space with "bad friends" to find a place with "saints".

In a sutra it is stated "the lion is known by his paw print", I'd say that same rule also applies to foxes and weasels.

Wakatta1

@wakatta 1.....great query...This may not be a direct answer/thought, but it makes me think of how I 've been regularly "slandering" P.I. for almost a year, and yet, I've received tremendous love, benefits and "protection from the universe", which by rights of the SGI's Cause and Effect, should not have happened...The opposite should have happened..."breaking my head in five directions", as it were.

Which makes me venture into "slander P.I." territory again. If he has a Narcissist Complex, then he would have no qualms about putting his hands on millions of dollars' donations. Narcissist/Power-Hungry/Sociopathic....then the Universal Law of Cause and Effect would not apply to him, and if it did, what would it matter? He wouldn't care one iota. Because his needs are being met in spades, and all others be damned.

And what constitutes slander to the SGI? You are not allowed to have critical thinking, or observations that are in any way "bad", malicious, yadda yadda. So if I have a gut reaction to things I've been seeing that are pretty much "If if walks like a duck, talks like a...", I have no right to express them. Noone in SGI does.

Happy Valentine's to all!

Quote
Nichijew
Sydney Daily Telegraph,
Sept 26 2001

COURT JESTER'S SCAM NO LAUGHING MATTER

An American Buddhist claiming to be the world's only official
court jester has sparked a political row in the Kingdom of Tonga
over millions of missing dollars.

The row centers on the disappearance of money that the Pacific
Island nation made selling citizenship to Chinese.

...

The saga centers on Jesse Bogdonoff, from North Carolina, a
businessman who also sells magnets to cure back pain, who
invested the money on behalf of Tonga.

So impressed was the King, he issued a royal decree proclaiming
Mr. Bogdonoff court jester. ***In turn, Mr. Bogdonoff, a member
of Japan's richest lay Buddhist organization, the Soka Gakkai
International, *** had the group give the King a humanitarian
award and an honorary doctorate.*** "

<<<<<<

Happy Valentine's Day everyone and welcome Hitch!

Thanks for sharing the Tonga article, Nichijew.

Not only does it seem that SGI member Mr Bogdanoff was a snake oil salesman and world class embezzler, but he had ambitions as a sculptor as well. I found the article pasted below which was released to the news wires before they discovered the "court jester's" fraud. The King of Tonga, or should I say the Clown of Tonga sounds like he got on famously with President Ikea, as the article says "The Tongan king has proved something of a willing recipient of awards and monuments". He also had a bogus world peace prize on his resume You just couldn't make is stuff up. I'm torn between weeping at the gullibility of us humans and laughing uncontrollably at the sheer absurdity of these characters' antics, (including those of Mr Moon and his cronies). But in the end I'm genuinely shocked at the suffering this must surely have brought to the Tongan population.

From
Worldwide Religious News
Unification Church
Moonies give Tonga patrol boats, Buddhists give king award
(AFP, July 3, 2001)

AUCKLAND, July 3 (AFP) - Tonga's King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV has accepted two naval patrol boats from a Korean cult leader and an award from Japan's biggest lay Buddhist organisation, reports said.

The independent Times of Tonga weekly reported that Korea's Sun Myung Moon, head of the Unification Church -- also known as the Moonies, had given the Tongan defence forces two patrol boats.

And the monthly Eva magazine said Japan's biggest and richest lay Buddhist organisation, the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), had given the king a humanitarian award and an honorary doctorate.

The organisation also presented Queen Halaevalu Mata'aho with the "Soka Women's College Award of Highest Honour," the report said.

In return the king named SGI president Daisaku Ikeda the first honorary professor of education at the "Tongan Institute of Education and the Tonga Institute of Science and Technology" -- institutions not previously known to exist.

King Taufa'ahau is also head of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga which has always taken a hostile view of non-Christian groups. There are no Buddhist or Moonie facilities in Tonga.

Times of Tonga said Moon had also paid for a Tongan delegation led by former prime minister Baron Vaea to attend a conference on peace held late last year.

SGI has erected a five-metre (16-foot) high concrete sundial type structure in front of the Tonga royal palace that will be unveiled on Wednesday, Eva said.

It features messages from the king and Ikeda in English, Japanese and Tongan.

Designer Jesse Dean Bogdonoff told Eva the structure was a monument to world peace and marked the meeting last November between Taufa'ahau and Ikeda.

"These two men are both dedicated to world peace," Bogdonoff said.

"Thousands of members of the SGI from all over the world will come to Tonga to visit and meditate for world peace by the peace monument," he said.

The Soka Gakkai Buddhist group is well known in Japan and has built pagodas and stupas around the world.

It plays a major political role, producing around eight million voters for which ever party it chooses to back. However, the fund-raising measures and the personal style of Ikeda have caused debate in Japan.

The Tongan king has proved something of a willing recipient of awards and monuments.

Two years ago when, on the influence of his daughter Princess Pilolevu Tuita, he broke off ties with Taiwan, Beijing marked the event by giving the king a statue of himself "25 percent larger than life size".

At the time Pilolevu justified the switch from Taiwan to China saying it would give Tongan evangelists a chance in China.

In 1997 a Korean group bestowed the "World Peace Prize-Harvestor's Prize" on the king. A national holiday was proclaimed and a group of Koreans marched down the main street in honour of the event.

The group also claimed that, because of the king's greatness, Tonga was to receive the world's first plant that would turn sea water into natural gas. It turned out to be an elaborate hoax that may have been linked to Korean attempts to move nuclear waste to Tonga.

Although the government has admitted it had been duped, the "World Peace Prize" was listed in a recent official publication on the kings resume.

Thank you for your kind welcome "simplify."

I'd like to reply to some random posts that I came across while working my way thru this long Gakkai thread:

Quote
tsukimoto
Shortly after that, in the early 90's, the Soka Gakkai had a bitter feud with the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood, and broke off from them entirely. Again this was a complete 180 degree shift...before 1991, or so, we'd always been told to respect and support the priests. Now, they were totally corrupt, and we were to have nothing to do with them. AND, apparently, the senior leadership of SGI had known how bad the priests were for years. So why didn't they tell us that? Well, they didn't think we were ready. Of course, it was all part of a plan that the inner circle must have had for years; why did we not see that?

Another revealing 180 shift was how the Nikken gohonzons were initially fawned over for their beauty, power and bold calligraphy, etc., only to later be vilified as corrupt, unusable and mandating compulsory return (in some cases, even against the receiver's own wishes). No incongruence, no cognitive dissonance, no hesitation in actions, just an abrupt turnabout on command.

Quote
The Anticult
I hope you find this as amusing as I do.

Years ago, I too was into "Buddhism" in the sense of chanting, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and the whole nine yards. I don't recall exactly how I was approached, but I do recall her saying that Nichiren Daishonin was the only form of Buddhism not involved in wars, or something like that. So anyway, I tried it for a while, but frankly felt like an idiot chanting those syllables and got tired of her asking me to weekly chanting meetings and paying dues, so I just started avoiding her office!

In the spirit of amusing, I offer this [www.youtube.com] (please watch the first 30 seconds of the clip) to sum up how I feel about it all now. As an unthinking kid, I had no problem with it, but as I slowly got older, I too, began to feel like an utter idiot. To each their own, for sure, but it is definitely not for me. In retrospect, and speaking only for myself, I view it as a form of inadvertent, ignorant child abuse to force one's own religious beliefs onto one's children. Once they reach an age where they can make an informed decision for themselves, it is fine to have them join in voluntarily, but it should never be forced. Their ultimate decision should also be respected and tolerated if it happens to fall against parental beliefs. On that theme, here is another clip (this time not so amusing) [www.youtube.com] and I feel for this poor kid and hope he gets out of it with his sanity intact. It takes an immense amount of self-courage and slow hard acquired knowledge to fight back against this kind of fanaticism (all the more unfortunate to be coming from a parent in this case), especially at a young and impressionable age.

Quote
cyclops
WOW back in the day I do remember the white blazer with the NSA badge on the left breast pocket and white paints – dude what up with that – surely cultish with all of the YMD looking like an army of the SG.

I've literally walked in your shoes (in this case, I remember, black dress shoes). I remember those white suits (and cheap official red "nsa" neckties). Depending on where I was, I either felt like an extra in a Saturday Night Live movie (and I don't dance) or (slipping on some sunglasses) like a wanna-be jr. yakuza member. In my defense, I was a minor and not yet of legal age when I donned that clown outfit and we (fellow Youth Div. members) tried to keep our sense of humor by laughing at each other every chance we got. ;-)

Quote
wakatta
At one time I was very flattered when a Japanese leader told me (in Japanese) that I was a "wakaru hito" - now, looking back on it, I think he basically meant that I had not only mastered the gaijin member mind set, but that I was increasingly becoming more like the Japanese leaders <shudder>. Japanese was their 'secret language' which they used when they needed to say something they didn't want the gaijin members to hear. When word circulated that I had "skills" it was remarkable how little japanese I got to hear openly.

Wakaru hitos are very dangerous. The proverbial stealth "fly on the wall" position. I learned early to never let on that you speak their language. Some of the things you will hear (in both the U.S. and Japan organizations, as well as Japanese society in general) will often leave you breathless and sometimes even curl your hair.

Edit (to previous post): I meant to type "Saturday Night Fever" above (kinda ruins the joke, but . . . .)

Quote
wakatta1
Only if the practice/religion had no real basis or power (was heretical or unfounded or slanderous or erroneous, you name it) that a person or persons could get away with that without getting "GO SEIBATSU or BATCHI" (The BIG punishment). Remember the "practice" is based on the law of cause and effect and ALL are subject to the power of the Gohonzon (or so they say). It doesn't look like they are very afeared of repercussions, does it?

Yes, and it is a typical false appeal to adverse consequences to keep the ignorant fearfully in line. It's a common manipulative ploy. Of course in this case, Ikeda says that none of it is for him, it's all for the members (actual proof of the law, etc.).

Quote
evergreen
I have to say that I married an Amerasian or Asian-American. One other distinction the Japanese make is against the Okinawan people. I have even had Japanese members, who are supposedly more enlightened than others in Japan by virtue of Ikeda's worldliness and dialogue, tell me that my husband's mother isn't really Japanese.

It makes me laugh. Did Nichiren retire to Mount Minobu and map out who in his land was really Japanese?

I am curious about this issue for a number of reasons. Ikeda has dialogue with almost every conceivable minority. His followers read all of his stuff. Do they incorporate an understanding of oppressed people into their hearts?

Wakkata's original reply to this post was, as usual, right on the money. This is also what I was alluding to earlier about understanding the language. Ironically, a lot of the people I heard it from where also married to caucasians themselves. It's just an unfortunate example of somebody who was once discriminated against, turning around and discriminating against others. I even heard some of the same kinds of bile about interracial (black with white) relationships, while some of their fellow "best friend" members where in fact married to African-Americans. They saw absolutely nothing wrong with these kinds of remarks, either; stunning examples of abject narrow-minded ignorance. In fact, some of the most bigoted (and two-faced) people I have ever had the misfortune of meeting in my entire life, were (I hate to say it) fellow Japanese gakkai members.

I'm sorry for your experiences evergreen. Their ignorant intolerance isn't isolated to one subject area (in this case relationships) either, but extends to many different things as well (social classes, other religions, etc.). What the gakkai preaches is very rarely what I saw in actual real life practice, applied to their own lives.

The Tonga business, frankly smells of money-laundering and serious corruption.
If a large pool of dirty money can get hooked up with a small corrupt State, they can do pretty much anything they want, as there are no checks and balances.


"Tonga was named the sixth most corrupt country in the world by Forbes magazine in 2008" [en.wikipedia.org]

Tongan Attorney-General resigns amid corruption scandal
[www.abc.net.au]