Both of my parents know that I left the organization, quit practicing, and ceased having any religious beliefs. Yet, I can’t shake the feeling that in the back of their minds they are convinced that I will return to the SGI someday. I’ve heard many SGI leaders say that people who have left the organization will always come back because “a seed has been planted in them.” How arrogant is that? Not to mention creepy!

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SGBye
Both of my parents know that I left the organization, quit practicing, and ceased having any religious beliefs. Yet, I can’t shake the feeling that in the back of their minds they are convinced that I will return to the SGI someday. I’ve heard many SGI leaders say that people who have left the organization will always come back because “a seed has been planted in them.” How arrogant is that? Not to mention creepy!

And the organization as a whole is protected from accountability regarding your reason for leaving when each of the members in your district share this focus on you somehow "seeing the light" and returning. Ikeda has claimed he will shoulder the responsibility of problems but that just reinforces his grandiosity while the issue gets lost in the murky waters of rhetoric, obfuscation and positive thinking at the local level.

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corboy
The other day, I was leaning over to get a newspaper. Someone came right up behind me and I got spooked. Definite invasion of space.

The poor lady was doing outreach for a church. I was so spooked that I screamed "NO!"
--and then felt awful when I saw they were a group and a four year old girl was with them.

What does it do to little kids (and older kids?) when they are forced to go along on these outreach missions and hear people saying no to their parents - politely and not so politely?

It has to hurt a little kid to see this happening. And reinforces that its a Big Bad World outside the group.

I was perceiving that Big Bad World outside the org, but was responding to frustrations of losing my soul and beingness to the SGI and in turn the rest of society. In daily life I would snap at people who seemed to be stealing my basic human rights or seemed to squash my opinion. There was a misdirected lashing out because it was easier to do outside of the no negativity facade of SGI meetings. I think I developed symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (like the Dear Leader!.... A study of the details of NPD and shame is too lengthy to go into). Much of this has subsided since leaving.

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SGBye
Both of my parents know that I left the organization, quit practicing, and ceased having any religious beliefs. Yet, I can’t shake the feeling that in the back of their minds they are convinced that I will return to the SGI someday. I’ve heard many SGI leaders say that people who have left the organization will always come back because “a seed has been planted in them.” How arrogant is that? Not to mention creepy!

Reminds me of the scene in Alien where the horrific baby creature pops out through the man's chest.

Nichijew

Daisaku Ikeda's Relics: "Presented With a Piece of Mentor's Necktie"...

"After the dinner, Mineo-san presented every men attended the dinner
with a piece of Sensei’s necktie. This necktie, which either Sensei
used before, or being with Sensei before, had a deep significant to
me. The moment I received it from Mineo-san hand, I pledge in my
heart, I will give my life for the sake the Law, Gakkai and Sensei.

When I returned, I chanted an hour daimoku to thank Sensei for his
great care and impartial love for a disciple like me." -- [onenessofmentoranddisciple.blogspot.com]


Mentor Stopped Smoking [a satire based on the above real life
experience of an SGI Singapore member]

"How happy I was when I found out mentor had stopped smoking. When I
went to Japan for the International Headquarters Meeting of
Brainwashed Youth, I got the chance to congratulate Mentor. Mentor
told me he stopped smoking completely but now he dips [chews tobacco].
Mentor said I was a true disciple and that he had a little present for
me. He gave me a gift wrapped box and told me to open it when I got to
my room. It was something to remember him for all eternity. After the
meeting I rushed back to the room to open Mentor's present. I was so
excited. Very carefully I undid the wrapping so I could preserve the
wrapping for posterity. The small velvet jewelry box inside was as
blue as a late afternoon sky. I opened it in anticipation and there it
was, a well chewed wad of Mentor's chaw. How joyful I was, the
pungent aroma of the chaw filling the room. When I returned home I
carefully placed the well masticated chaw in a transparent glass water
cup and presented it to the Gohonzon as a token of my deepest
gratitude for Mentor."


Other Relics of the Mentor [more satire]

Pieces of the Mentors necktie are a favorite with the members but the
most highly prized relics are those containing the mentors body
fluids, secretions, and excretions. It is a well known fact that
Mentor's high salaried senior leaders like David Kasahara, Guy
McCloskey, Ian McIlraith, and Danny Nagashima, often receive New Years
gifts of Mentor's unwashed underwear. I have heard that Gerry Hall and
Bill Aiken are jealous, having only received pieces of Mentor's
unwashed socks. Guy McCloskey once gave guidance to the leaders that,
his mid six figure salary for being one of SGI's pit bull lawyers,
paled in significance to receiving President Ikeda's unwashed
underwear. David Kasahara burns small pieces of Mentor's excrement
laden underwear as an offering to the Nichikan Gohonzon, calling it,
"the finest Sandalwood in Jambudvipa". We of the Kempon Hokke call it
"dung."

"It is hard not to write Satire. For who is so tolerant of the unjust SGI, so steeled, that he can restrain himself..."--
Modified from Juvenal

Nichijew



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2012 02:23AM by Nichijew.

@Nichijew....I just had to click on the link for 'oneness of mentor blah blah' log. Good Grief. Unbelievable. Good grief and unbelievable that people subjugate themselves to somebody else to this extent.

The satires? Spot on, as always! And the sad thing is at this point is, it isn't hard to imagine Nagashima, Hall, McCloskey, etc. (not to mention Hassan, Johnson, Gauer and Shaw) being honored to handle Sensei's undies.

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Miss66
SGI leaders are brainwashed to feel superior over other members and anyone who doesn't practice,almost like they're more knowledgable, and able to handle life's problems better than others in life.They act like superior therapists sometimes. It's annoying!

The japanese leaders always give you that INSINCERE ,poor pathetic you look! They're so ignorant ,and programmed!!!JOKES ON THEM!!!

Must say, I agree with this and the higher up you go on the ladder, the more applicable and true it is. The chutzpah of some of these people can be jaw dropping at times, if you are not familiar with it. I've walked away from many a "conversation" just shaking my head and laughing inside at the abject intolerant, narrow-minded, dogmatic and willfully ignorant statements that can sometimes fly out of their mouths. (Ironically, exactly the opposite from what you'd expect from a genuine "buddhist" practitioner.)

I view it as very telling, more so than annoying. They really are so deluded that they honestly have no idea or insight into their own behavior and way of thinking - it's completely natural to them and they are perfectly comfortable in their certainty about everything. There is absolutely no humility to these people, unless it is being feigned to somebody higher up than themselves or can benefit them in some way. It's a silly (and sad, IMO) way to live, but it appears to float their boats and work for them.

Joke is indeed, on them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2012 05:48AM by Hitch.

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Rothaus
Well I am not sure myself if it was okay to mention the people's names, but they were official high ranking leaders I guess, so their tragic deaths must have been known already.

I remember that a few years back (and, no, I will not mention the name) a quite high leader here got tragically killed in a car accident. As I recall he came back from an activity late at night. People were quick to spread the news that he did not stand a chance as it was not his fault.
What this incident just brings to my mind though is the high level of stress some members and especially leaders some times bring on to themselves by sometimes attending meetings up to seven times a week (sometimes more than one meeting per day)– while at the same time keeping a day job. I have absolutely no idea if the poor guy was exhausted or not, but so many times I met people who were absolutely worn out by attending all those meetings, keeping up with the demands of their respective jobs and sometimes having even a family. At the time I did not find this very encouraging at all but down to earth stupid. Yet again this sort of behaviour was seen as an example on how to promote Kosen-Rufu, the more worn out one would get it would be obvious just how much they are doing to “support” their fellow members.

This post reminded me of some things, especially the bolded above. (This may sound harsh to some, but it is the truth.)

I've noticed the tendency that when long time (in some cases, pioneering) Japanese-American members have tragic events occur in their lives (as we all sometimes do), suffer a severe debilitating health issue, they or someone in their family gets a terminal illness diagnosis, or otherwise meet with some great "misfortune" that cannot be altered by magical thinking (i.e., chanting), one of the first requests that they make from other members (ESPECIALLY FELLOW JAPANESE MEMBERS), is that they don't come around. Why? Because they don't want to be gossiped about the same way they always did about everything when it was somebody else (this was actually the stated reason in two cases that I've known). I've seen this kind of thing, repeatedly. Again, very telling. When it comes to the rubber meeting the road, some of these people know exactly the nitty-gritty and what it's all about.

********

Being utterly exhausted for Cousin Rufus was viewed as a badge of honor and respect worthy by fellow brainwashed zealot members. I knew many members who had accidents going to and returning from meetings, especially ones that were 2-3 hours out-of-town. Whenever they had accidents, they just viewed it as encountering sansho-shima (devilish functions conspiring to prevent the spread of true buddhism) and as an opportunity to change and cut their karma. Some even gave "experiences" about it, viewing it as a "sign" that they were on the "right path" and making "progress" in their efforts and practice. The brainwashing and self-delusion can run very deep at times.

Re: SGI-Buzz Words

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sgIwonder
On the subject of what I call "SGI-speak", there are a lot of code or buzz words we use, that I did not recognize as such until I had taken an extended "sabatical" from the practice. One of my favs is saying that person is really "sincere" -- sometimes meaning "they try very hard, but have no common sense." There are dozens, maybe hundreds of others, that crept into our vocabulary. On the other hand, even though many of these phrases are shorthand, or sound like they mean one thing, but actually mean another, in most cases the original intent was to encourage or criticize gently. However, like anything overused they can end up as cliche, phony, or double-speak (hmm, language intended to brainwash?)

I heard the ol' "this person is a very sincere member" phrase used all the time. Translation = Not very bright, strong faith, will do anything, therefore use them appropriately.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was "this person has weak faith." Translation = They think too much for themselves, ask too many questions, therefore be very strict with them and give them more training. A related follow-up version to this would also be, "have you been missing gongyo?" or "how much daimoku are you doing recently?" Translation = you're starting to be a real prick and had better "go back to the gohonzon" to fix yourself.

How about, "make a cause." Translation = just do it, even though you don't want to, and get it over with.

Or, "you need to go get guidance." Translation = you're a bad influence on the members and need to go get an attitude adjustment.

Another, "don't erase your good fortune." Translation = don't complain or criticize. Thinking it is OK, but don't let it come out of your mouth, lest you want all your hard efforts to be for naught.

And another, "your creating golden memories." Translation = you are suffering and we are abusing now, but you will look back on it someday and realize it was for your own good and created fortune (good luck) for you.

One more, "do your own human revolution." Translation = you got a bad attitude and had better work hard on changing it.

Yup, there are a ton that I can recall. Anybody else got any?

A lot of the ones that I heard and remember were negative. Hmmm, I wonder why.

HAHA!

MORE SGI CLICHES, TRANSLATED:


"Maintain a high life condition." " Act as if you are delighted with everything SGI, even if you're not."

"Be the change you wish to see (in SGI): " Don't ask us to change -- if you don't love SGI, you have a bad attitude and you need to do something about it."

Or, more succinctly: "Just shut up already."