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SGBye

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simplify

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Hitch
Incidentally, the recent Seikyo Shimbun has a May 3rd color photo of Daisaku & Kaneko "gracing" the front cover. Don't know if it is current, recent or legit, but it is there. Ikeda, IMO, looks pretty odd to me and definitely not "victorious."

Hitch, I see what you mean by 'odd'. Here is a link to the pic in the online SS for those who are interested
[www.seikyoonline.jp]

For someone so supposedly "victorious" he looks awfully unhappy. Kaneko's smiling up a storm though.

He looks more like the frontal view of a grouper fish that has to belch, to me. (Just sayn'.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2012 07:31AM by Hitch.

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The Anticult
I do not believe for one second that SGI Japan subsidizes anything or any other country.

First off, its probably very illegal for SGI to be funneling money between "non-profits" in different countries.
If SGI says SGI-Japan money is coming into a country, SGI has to PROVE IT with the financial documents. SGI proves nothing, so their claims carry no weight.

What SGI is doing, is trying to use guilt and shame to get more money out of each country, by saying Japan is supporting them.
There is no proof of that.
These global cults make each area support itself, and produce a profit locally. That is how they operate.

As a matter of fact, SGI makes a fortune in every country, as they do NOT PAY TAX, they have NO EXPENSES, they have almost no paid staff, members fix up their properties, and the rest of it.
SGI is full of SGI-BS when they say Japan supports the US or UK.
SGI has to prove their claims.

As a matter of fact, countried like the US and UK are the serious cash cows for these global cults.

Its just one more lie...from the SGI.

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sushigrl
Yes I think that the SGI satellite countries are subsidized by Japan, by the holdings and investments of SGI> Why not...they are worth billions. The SGI owns property here in the US and England; they have a lot of money to party with. Zaimu and special Zaimu were a bigger thing in the past. Leaders, however, are required to donate to set a good example. Fund raising is in their contract. And of course, they will build financial fortune to be millionaires (snicker).

I heard the same "sob" stories as sushigirl from the Japanese leadership in America, "sgi-usa/nsa doesn't take in enough $$$$ from its own membership to make ends meet, so soka gakkai Japan compassionately helps fill in the large financial gaps." Anti-Cult is right, too, it always had the effect of making the members feel unworthy for needing to have their hand out and their own county's organization on soka-welfare-support.

I agree, it's all bull pucky.

I don't know how many of you have ever had the chance to see the big kaikans in Japan (Makiguchi Hall and the like), but they are seriously grand, gaudy and plush palaces. We're talking major, major mulah of the kind that would make your brain spin.

This is an excellent summation of the process that took place in the "districts." I especially wanted to add a comment regarding the next to the last bolded line below.

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sushigrl
Once after I left the org, I attended a "special" womens' division meeting designed to attract people to the org. I had not been practicing for a while, but decided to give it a shot again. When I attended the meeting, I was assigned to a new member who had recently been appointed to a Jr Group Chief. She had been chanting 6 months. I instantly remembered why I left the org in the first place. I did not want to participate in tiny jr group ra ra meetings led by my new jr group chief, nor did I want home visits from her or to be badgered by phone calls. Neither did I want a person I had not even met properly delving into my personal life to see if chanting could "fix" something. This is the way of life in the Gakkai. Information gathering for the purpose of membership control and manipulation. No code of conduct crap will ever heal the "information about members" driven organization that is the SGI.

The org had and I think still has a structure dividing areas in the country in to Areas of course, and then it would be territories within those areas, then Headquarters, Chapters, Districts, Groups, Jr Groups, individuals. Each level of the org had mens' division, young mens' division, womens' division, etc. Often as a jr group "chief", you were given a list of "taiten" members in your division to chant for and recruit back to the org. I have heard lots of stories where well meaning new members would call older non practicing members because it was their "responsibility" to "help" them.

"how ARE you?" "I'd like to invite you to a meeting we're having about blah blah blah that's going to be really great. Blah Blah is going to be there...we miss you! (I've never met you)

Each level of the org would have meetings designed to encourage that level to progress in their propagation efforts. It was a well oiled machine. Often though, the districts were comprised of more leaders than membership warranted, all because certain members were able to stick to the regime long enough and were rewarded with position. This is where things got really hairy and boring. At times, certain non producing districts would be absorbed into larger districts, more leaders made, some positions lost, even to the point of telling members which meetings they could attend as residents in a certain area.

Friendships got ripped apart in the name of organization and efficiency, especially in the early 80s with the grand organizational reorganization brooha.

I could never go back.

One thing I remembered while reading this, was how groups would be separated, even when they didn't want to be, and "rearranged", sometimes leaving some people to the point of tears.

Certain "districts" would want certain stronger, well performing members in their own districts. There was also always an unwritten code and constant "competition" going on between the "districts" in each "chapter" to outdo each other - in terms of meeting attendance numbers, subscription numbers, shakubuku numbers, guest numbers, zaimu numbers, daimoku toso hour numbers --> numbers, numbers, numbers, always a numbers game.

If one district "lost" to another, there would be renewed determination and fervor to "win" the numbers game the next time around. If you "won", then you had to maintain your "district pride" and surpass your current winning numbers with even higher numbers next time, or risk "backsliding" in your "district practice."

Up all of this another dimension and you have the same scenario and strategy playing out on the" chapter" and "headquarters" level, and so on.

Eventually, when big convention time came around, it would be official "RAH! RAH!" time to demonstrate which HQ/Area/Territory could have the best numbers and enthusiasm on display and outdo the other "groups" - with everyone maneuvering to receive the coveted praise of the next level of gakkai leadership, all the way up the ladder. Once the self-laudatory and congratulatory speeches were all completed (militaristic, yelling, and vacuous speeches that always left me wanting to bang my head on the nearest wall, same theme/type of talks over and over again), everyone could then go back to their respective areas/districts, breath a collective sigh of relief and then start prepping for repeating the process from step one again.

Of course, it was all for your own welfare and fortune, not for the cult. What an enormous waste of time and energy it all was.

It was shown previously, how the supposed big gift by SGI to SGI-UK, was a big sham.
You announce this big fake gift of $40 million, but all the money is totally controlled by HQ in Japan.

Soka Gakkai International -- SGI-UK Charity Number 1104491
[forum.culteducation.com]

Its like someone saying, ok Hitch, here is a gift of 40 million bucks! Alert the media.

So...we'll keep the 40 million in our own investment accounts, and collect the interest from the investments. If you ever need some of the gift we gave you (see fine print), you can contact HQ and have a consultation.
If you want to spend your(our) money on purchasing some of our products...books, DVD's...then we might approve it. So we are "giving" you money, but we control it and collect the interest, and may only allow you to access it to purchase products from us, so we get maximum tax advantage.
Or we may allow you to purchase some of our real estate at wildly inflated prices, as due to the capital gains tax exemptions.
Keep chanting and stop thinking!

Its a ludicrous sham.
Pure classic SGI financial shenanigans.

By the way MANY other sects use the exact same techniques, like Byron Katie. They announce a big fake charity gift of money, most of it donated from followers, which goes to their own Foundation, which then buys their OWN products, and pays for their daughter, etc, to fly around the country, etc.
So they take tax free charity money, and buy back their own crap at inflated prices.
Non-profit income to for-profit.
All laundry done in house.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2012 12:20PM by The Anticult.

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Nichijew

(Moderator: Could these files be kept somewhere on this site, maybe?)

The links are blocked.

Mark

Can you send them to me? I will distribute them far and wide.

mark

Mark, I sent you some new links via PM on this site. You should find these in your Private Messages section. Simp

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Nichijew
"Try it anywhere else, and there is a good chance SGI-USA will try to get it shut-down with their internet monitoring." -- Anticult

SGI finally shut down my Nichiren Buddhist and anti-SGI blog. The owner of the blog site is Nancy Thomsen, an SGI Chapter Leader. I had 1.3 million views over the last several years. Fortunately, I managed to save much of my work but lost at least a third. She was a liberal SGI member but I suspect SGI indoctrination eventually soured her to my "terse" criticism of her personality cult.

Nichijew

Nichijew, I'm guessing that most of the "Byrd's Eye View," on the Fraught With Peril blog site was deleted too. ( Wendy Byrd Ehlmann was a blogger and SGI member who wrote blog entries that criticized and questioned SGI. She died, apparently of a pre-existing heart condition, in the summer of 2008. The timing has always seemed suspicious to me, as she was in the midst of a battle with SGI. SGI leaders were telling her that she couldn't come to meetings anymore, and they wanted her to submit her writing to leaders to approve before she posted it online. After her death, SGI members continued to post insulting things about her. This is all on pages 109-111 and 115-116 of this thread.)

I did go to the wayback machine. I was able to copy six of her posts regarding her problems with SGI. I could not find the ones she wrote closest to her death, where SGI is really harassing her. Maybe they were there somewhere and I missed them....or gee, could it be that someone made them disappear!? Fortunately, we have some of that on our pages 109-116.

Byrd's Eye View, from www.fraughtwithperil.com, April 6, 2008, written by Wendy Byrd Ehlmann (She also posts as "Byrd," and "Wazoh.")

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April 06, 2008

Apology to the Members...?

Well, according to the staff member who wrote to me last week, with copies to various other staff and area leaders, I owe an apology:

To all SGI members for characterizing them as lacking understanding of Buddhism and being mindless followers. Etc, etc, etc,...

I don't think I have characterized the membership as being mindless followers. If I have, please point this out to me, and I will address it. I genuinely do not want to be offensive, but I also wish to be as clear as possible. I'm glad we have an open marketplace of ideas in which to do this, aren't you?
I think my general perspective on the SGI-USA membership is that they are strong, capable, and mature adults, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto. We operate in this country on the assumption that other adults are adults, and I think that's where I've been operating from. For example:

1. I think the SGI-USA membership is capable of managing their own local finances, and I have said so.

2. I think the SGI-USA members are smart enough and mature enough that they do not need to be "protected" from exposure to the ministers of other denominations, or from doctrinal discussions on the worldwide web. I think they are more than capable of handling that kind of stuff. The fact that people of good faith may differ with each other may take a little getting used to, but I think the members can manage it. I don't think they're dopes at all.

3. I think that the SGI's members are capable of engaging in the kind of nuanced reasoning about the Gakkai's history which I discussed in my last blog. Perfectly capable. I don't think they need to be given a watered-down version of history. I think they can handle differing perspectives, and I think they can handle the truth. I think they are capable of standing up and taking the lead in establishing a truly Western Buddhism which will be readily accessible to people in our country. I think the members are more than capable of doing that. Of course, they might have to apologize to the ancestors if they try, but that's another matter.

4. I think they are capable of choosing their own leaders, as well as those leaders' terms of office and powers over the general membership population. I think they are fully capable of that - I have said so on many occasions.

For those people who are happy with the status quo, that is fine. I am hardly forcing anyone to read this blog, nor am I forcing anyone to agree with me on anything. No one is duty-bound to examine the differences between Japanese and Western culture and how they impact the organization. No duty at all. But if someone is interested in doing it, I for one think it's a heck of a fascinating arena for discussion. I'm sure those who wish to do it are capable of doing it. In other words, the SGI-USA membership is....
Not mindless at all.

As far as the issue of whether or not I have characterized the SGI general membership as "lacking an understanding of Buddhism"...
That, I will admit, is true, I have made that characterization, but it is not necessarily an insult. A well-trained Catholic or Lutheran doesn't necessarily have a broad understanding of Christianity. A sincere Hassid doesn't necessarily have a broad understanding of Judaism. In fact, their denominations may actively discourage a broad understanding of history or of context. Unorthodox views may not be tolerated. That may be how the sect survives. I hardly insult them if I observe that. Their understanding of faith issues is sectarian, and developing that sectarian mind of faith is well within their rights and the rights of their denomination. I don't quibble with that, or expect anything else from the SGI as a denomination.

The difficulties for SGI members arise when we try to interact with other Buddhist or with people who have some passing knowledge of Buddhism in general. I am embarassed by the fact that most SGI members I have spoken with cannot articulately place Nichiren Buddhism in a context other than to say, in some way, "we are better". Perhaps taking too strong a cue from our founder's combativeness, we are too often driven to prove our practice's superiority to others', and in the process, we lose whatever insight we can gain from others' perspectives. I have seen Gakkai members, time and time again, move to refute or rebuke other practices of which they have little or no understanding at all other than that which was framed in the 13th century. This has earned us a reputation among many other Buddhists as being closed-minded, and not the 'world citizens" which President Ikeda encourages us to be.

The above observation on my part is not intended as an insult, and I don't have to apologize for it. Nichiren Buddhism is a noble and a valid tradition. We should be able to dialogue intelligently and confidently with other Buddhists. I think our failure to develop this skill is a detriment to the overall goal of worldwide propagation. I think that SGI members in general are more than intelligent enough to develop this kind of broad understanding. Again, that is my opinion, and I don' t have to apologize for it.

I am genuinely interested in how my readers here feel I have injured the general membership. Feel free to write in and let me know.


Byrd in LA

P.S. I'm sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings by saying that they were capable, intelligent grown-ups.

Posted by wahzoh at April 6, 2008 01:08 PM

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So, at this point, SGI was saying that Byrd insulted the general membership. I think that the opposite is true. I think that she made the same mistake that I did, in thinking about SGI. In 2008, I also believed that SGI was really all about Buddhism, and we just had some clueless leaders who didn't quite understand how to introduce Buddhism into American culture. I didn't see, at the time, that Buddhism was just the bait to get people into a billion-dollar, multinational scheme. The LAST thing that SGI leaders want is for members to have more power, or to be seriously studying and practicing Buddhism. Byrd was a thinker, and because of that, was a threat to SGI. By April 2008, she had a target on her back. SGI was going to make an example of her.

And for what? Having an opinion that SGI didn't like. From what I can tell, Byrd never was an employee of SGI, and never claimed to be a representative of SGI. She made it clear that these were HER opinions and ideas -- and do we NOT have freedom of speech and freedom of religion in the United States? Did I miss that memo?

What is clear is, if you are an SGI-USA member -- you DON'T have the same freedom of speech that other Americans enjoy.

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SGBye

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Hitch
IMO, I think monies are paid (donations to foundations, causes important to the person being met supported) and/or lavish trips to Japan financed (airfare, hotels, etc.) in exchange for "meetings" with the dear leader. Agreements also extracted (when possible) for the "dialogue" to be published and used.

If the SGI is paying for those meetings they sure do get their money's worth. In the latest Seikyo Shinbun, there's (yet again) another photo of Ikeda meeting with Linus Pauling back in 1993. Talk about milking something for all it's worth.

Most recent Seikyo Shimbun is milking the Toynbee "connection" again.

Back in the late 90's (I believe), soka gakkai sponsored a traveling museum of Pauling's artifacts & legacy, all the while playing *up* the "Ikeda connection." Under the guise of "educating" the public, the gakkai essentially attempts to reframe or create an alternative history by forging an imaginary yet important association with the dignitary in the mind of its membership and the general public.

The Gandhi-King fiasco is a sign as to just how far off the deep end the delusion has progressed and the tricks have been carried.

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tsukimoto
Byrd's Eye View, from www.fraughtwithperil.com, April 6, 2008, written by Wendy Byrd Ehlmann (She also posts as "Byrd," and "Wazoh.")

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April 06, 2008

Apology to the Members...?


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This is so typical of the cult.

First, they tell you "don't think too much and substitute faith for wisdom."

If you don't, they then attempt to psychologically pressure you to change your way of thinking via "guidance" and other pressures (like being squeezed socially by other members within the cult).

If you still persist in making waves, they then start to turn it around on you by framing you as a "bad/negative influence" on the other sincere and pure-faith members - which is the pretense to "officially" start excluding you if you don't change your behavior patterns.

You either revert back to being and unthinking sheep follower or get pushed out completely (sometimes borderline violently if you happen to be the kind of person who tries or wants to take things that far).

It's a waste of breath and energy to argue with the cult leaders (especially the higher up salaried ones). You will essentially be ostracized, dumped and forgotten entirely. Now, with the advent of the internet, they have just taken things a step further by indefatigably attempting to erase it all - you, your arguments, the issues, and your entire history.

They must be having daimoku tosos about the Rick Ross Cult Education Forum.

If this was already reported in this thread then my apologies but the SGI now has a new Youtube channel called SGIUSAmedia. They only have 2 videos up, one being the "We Are 2030" video that Nichijew had a link to earlier. The other one's a promo video for an Ikeda Youth Ensemble National Competition at Soka University happening in June. It's the usual SGI stuff but what's interesting is an Ikeda quote that appears early in the video that pertains to a recent topic of discussion here:


"For now is the time for me to put the finishing touches on my work and leave everything to you." - Daisaku Ikeda, World Tribune, June 25th, 2010


It's another hint from the SGI as they prepare the members for the inevitable. Here's a link to the video: [www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2012 09:08AM by SGBye.