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Zhinichi llamamoto
Indeed, while at the ymd FNCC confrence I sat through one of Steve Sapersteins "choose faith over family speaches". My head was spinning, did he just...oh ya he did say "so we were in the hospital room and this guy was getting really close(lung cancer), he could hardly breath but all he wanted to do was chant" then after this guy being alienated from his family for a year due to "the practice", his family walks in during the dimoku. His daughters were so moved the one even began to chant right there in the hospital room till her fauthers last breath. So there you have it, if you stick to your guns the SGI will not only steal years of your life(or even the final year(s) but extract peciouse faith all the way down to your last breath.
Maybe someone finds this relevant
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SGBye
I just came across an experience in the 10/23/09 issue of the World Tribune that is so ridiculous that I have to post about it. It's by a woman in California talking about how she and her daughter, named Destiny, overcame their problems through chanting and reading Ikeda's guidance. Towards the end of the article it reads:
"I wish that I could hug President Ikeda and thank him for the difficulties he endured so that people like me can transform their lives and find happiness amid darkness. Destiny, now 4, chants with me every morning and evening, and asks to attend meetings every day. She has me start out the morning by reading out loud her favorite piece of President Ikeda's guidance. She asked me to frame it and put it on the wall next to our altar, which I did. He writes: 'Prayer is the courage to persevere. It is the struggle to overcome our own weakness and lack of confidence in ourselves. It is the act of impressing in the very depths of our being the conviction that we can change the situation without fail. Prayer is the way to destroy all fear. It is the way to banish sorrow, the way to light a torch of hope. It is the revolution that rewrites the scenario of our destiny.'"
Did you catch that her daughter is 4 years old? Four! Asking me to believe that your four-year-old wants to go to an SGI meeting every day is one thing, but asking me to believe that she even remotely understands that bit of guidance is insulting to my intelligence.
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Rothaus
This story is actually quite sad – me thinks. I wonder what our “fortune babies” have to say about that. Was it not you Evergreen, you had to donate money as a child for the Shohondo?
Reading this I actually question the mothers capabilities as a parent. If the child would say I want to got the beach every day, to the playground, to the park, to cover herself every day with mud from head to toe and fall off trees – the I would say “yeap, four year olds”. But this is utterly insane – and then even publish it !!! ????
The more I learn here the more I believe some parts of SGI seem to go completely bunkers these days.
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evergreen
I have a four year old and she can't read words that are more complicated than things like "cat" or "dog". Maybe Destiny's child is a genious? I tried to impress my parents (and get some attention which was sorely lacking due to nightly meetings) by learning gongyo at age 7. Regarding the guidance, in the end, I can't say that I have been personally transformed or moved by Ikeda's guidance. Sounds a lot like "once I accepted Jesus as my personal saviour" to me.
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Rothaus
Well okay, even in my active days in SGI, if would have heard that story on a meeting I would have thought to myself "poor child her mum is a bit a fruitcake". But then even going out an publishing it? Are they all out of touch with the real world now? Has it become that bad?
If "Ikeda Sensei" would say lets all jump over the cliff ... there would be a drastic shortage of members. Mad thats waht it is. Sorry, but thinking of it I really feel for the poor child.
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evergreen
I think I've written before on this forum about fortune babies, about being told we were special. I think this was manipulastive. Some people actually thought we were special. Almost like we had a gift or had super powers. However, it alienated members who were not born into the practice. It gave some fortune babies the idea that they were special and they then became truly arrogant. I still have friends that are fortune babies. Some pratice and some don't. I chanted and did gongyo myself in order to make my parents happy. Once all of us grew up it got ugly. We now had our own independent thinking that our parents couldn't control. And we were bitter that our childhoods had been robbed from us, for the sake of what. Nothing in our minds warranted the negligence from our parents.
As for me? I didn't feel I was fortunate period. What a misnomer!
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corboy
However, once you've gotten free from this, you will have an insider's perspective on the dangers of celebrity culture.
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SGBye
If I could go back and re-do everything with my current knowledge, I'd send some YMD leaders off a cliff. I can’t believe I spent the first 30+ years of my life in a cult, but then again, I'm glad I realized it and got out as soon as I did, which can’t be said of some people.
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SGBye
Several pages back Shavoy mentioned the proverbial carrot of prosperity and happiness that is dangled in front of the members. I remember Ikeda giving guidance about how if you practice correctly and work hard for Kosen Rufu, you will reap tremendous benefit and enjoy your golden years. My parents have been members since the ‘60’s. They were respected leaders in their area who attended meeting after meeting, did home visitations, gave a lot of time and money to the organization, etc. They are now in their 70’s and my mother has numerous physical ailments which inhibits her speech and ability to walk. My father can’t enjoy his golden years because he’s completely worn out from being her caretaker. So where is their payoff? Where are their “glorious golden years”? Yet, they continue to practice this “Buddhism” (even though they‘re not really engaged with the organization so much). My theory for their continuation is that they’re just in it too deep - that to just stop now would be like throwing away the last 40+ years of their lives. Also, they’re at an age when change doesn’t come easy, if at all. I’ve watched them sit down to do Gongyo as though they were robots on auto-pilot. It’s sad really.