If I could share a brief story...

The first involves a fellow SGI friend of mine who happens to be a painter. She tells me that she painted a huge picture of a lotus flower for the local SGI center and had donated it hoping that it would be hung up on the wall. Of course SGI just took the painting. That's it, they just took the painting. Of course they had no regard to the fact that deep down inside she was very hurt by this, and rightfully so...

For those who haven't been a beneficiary of SGI guidance lately, it's to the tune of "Don't complain, change everything," meaning that such grievances she may have are rerouted and are addressed to people such as myself. Just a fine example of the stifled and repressed culture that SGI promotes within it's members.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2012 09:50AM by KR.

That's a shame. If they aren't going to use your friend's painting, there's no reason why they shouldn't return it. The decor in the kaikans are all the same: large, poorly shot photos of nature (complete with telephone poles and wires in the background) taken by "world-renowned photographer Daisaku Ikeda" in giant gold frames. Plus daimoku charts and banners urging you to subscribe to the World Tribune.

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KR
If I could share a brief story...

The first involves a fellow SGI friend of mine who happens to be a painter. She tells me that she painted a huge picture of a lotus flower for the local SGI center and had donated it hoping that it would be hung up on the wall. Of course SGI just took the painting. That's it, they just took the painting. Of course they had no regard to the fact that deep down inside she was very hurt by this, and rightfully so...

For those who haven't been a beneficiary of SGI guidance lately, it's to the tune of "Don't complain, change everything," meaning that such grievances she may have are rerouted and are addressed to people such as myself. Just a fine example of the stifled and repressed culture that SGI promotes within it's members.

You know, KR, while reading your post above, after the second sentence, before I even finished reading the rest, I KNEW that they wouldn't put it up. I agree, they have absolutely no regard whatsoever as to the feelings of members when it comes to certain things.

The kaikans (community centers) have rules as to what can and can't be done. In typical fascist protocol, one just isn't allowed to think independently or exercise any judgement outside of the box, for any reason. It would require an official decision, with formal permission granted from a higher up in order to deviate any amount from the set standards pre-dictated by the bureaucracy (robots can only follow the commands that they are initially programed with). Again, it's a Japanese mentality and it's all pervasive and much more frustrating in Japan. It's just how they are and how it works.

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SGBye
That's a shame. If they aren't going to use your friend's painting, there's no reason why they shouldn't return it. The decor in the kaikans are all the same: large, poorly shot photos of nature (complete with telephone poles and wires in the background) taken by "world-renowned photographer Daisaku Ikeda" in giant gold frames. Plus daimoku charts and banners urging you to subscribe to the World Tribune.

I know exactly what you are talking about, SGBye.

Less than mediocre, low-grade, amateur "dear leader" photography in gaudy frames more valuable than the giant blown up photos themselves. Japan regularly displays his works in photographic exhibitions for the public and makes all the members travel from miles around to go and see it (districts and areas have to campaign for it and report back with actual attendance numbers). They could never just announce it and risk nobody showing up (if it were all really 100% voluntary). Nothing is as it appears on the surface, with the gakkai - everything is manipulated.

For such a "humanistic" organization, how ironic that they operate in such a dehumanizing manner, starting with the very removal of your freedom and rights for self-determination and choice. Do people not see the base hypocrisy?

On that note - I know it's hard to listen to this kind of stuff once you've been in and are now out, but in this clip [www.youtube.com], there is a very telling portion if you skip to the approx. halfway portion ~ 4 min. mark, where George Williams is talking about the nature of Osaka people as being greedy:

(Paraphrased) "In Osaka, people don't say 'Good Morning' to each other like normal people, instead they say "Are you making much money?!?" "Making profit!?!" That's their greeting! And this is why the Osaka-Kansai region was so important to conquer in terms of shakubuku. The Kansai Spirt."

Ironically, it speaks volumes (I also find the forceful manner of speaking and raised voice to be annoying to my adult, 30 years later, ears).

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Hitch
When you're within the throes of the sgi (cult) mind-frame, you can easily invent ways to convince yourself that what you are seeing or hearing isn't really what you are seeing or hearing - essentially dismissing your doubts right from the outset.

It wouldn't surprise me if they are altering photos. "World Tribune" photographers (at their own admission) were instructed in the art of taking certain angle photos to make venues appear larger than they actually were in reality? Manipulating photos and deceiving the membership is certainly part of their modus operandi and photoshopping would be the logical progression of such practices in this internet age. Organizations that do this, however (like North Korea and Russia), don't realize how stupid it makes them look in the end.

If they are photoshopping, it also speaks volumes as to how they view the intelligence level of their membership and consequently treat them in such a contemptuous manner.

Those salaried cult leaders (Nagashima, Gelbaum, et al.), after all, make a living by lying to and manipulating people (especially young people) as a career. It's horrible and disgusting - the epitome of evil.

They have been caught red handed. Remember when they inserted the geisha photos into the photos of the Nichiren Shoshu High Prist Nikken? They will do anything to promote themselves and defame their enemies. They also misattribute compromising photos to their enemies when they derive from another source. For example, there is a photo of the haphazard care of the Nichiren Object of Devotion that they attribute to the Kempon Hokke sect that is really found in a store on the grounds of another sect. They are an unethical group. Their members are blind because its drummed into their heads that our criticisms and admonishments are the work of the Three Powerful Enemies when in fact it is the ignoble reality of the Soka cult. I will dig up the Geisha photos and the photos of the Gohonzon shop for all to see the dirty face of the Soka Gakkai.

Mark



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2012 10:06PM by Nichijew.

[www2s.biglobe.ne.jp] Eventually the defamation case was overturned by the Supreme Court but the fact of the altered photos remained.

Here is the SGI photo of the purported Kempon Hokke Gohonzon shop which is actually on the grounds of the Minobu sect: [web.archive.org]

Mark

Hitch
tks! I know it. is beating a dead horse but I have never had or read a discussion about this subject & u r right, it does show how stupid they think the membership is & if they Have no other picture then they can't do anything else! It is more & more apparent that is what they think they can do. It made me pay attention & i quit. It may be their undoing.

Well that is bizarre. Where was the pic aken & why? Where did the gohonzons come from sgi gives out?

They won't post her painting, as all that stuff is controlled by SGI head-office. As stated, you have to post some stock-photo supposedly by Ikeda, but probably just purchased from a photographer.

But SGI has strict rules around gifts.
They will take that "art gift" and then likely pass it back upline to head-office.
As SGI has invested millions in collecting art as a financial investment.

So they will probably check out the paiting, to see if its from a known painter and has financial value, or end up in some crate somewhere.
Or maybe the local SGI person will just take it, if its off-book and no one knows about it.

You can bet that "gift" of art won't be listed as a cash donation though.
You can also be certain that SGI in their Wills and Executor department, where they try to get large gifts from people at their deaths, has received art collections, and other valuables, which they then convert to cash. They have made countless millions from that program.


Meanwhile, the person painted it out of a good feeling that they are projecting onto the SGI.

SGI does not deserve ANY donations or gifts, either of property or money. Not one cent.

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Nichijew
http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~shibuken/RINJI/gizo-chisai.htm#Eng Eventually the defamation case was overturned by the Supreme Court but the fact of the altered photos remained.

Here is the SGI photo of the purported Kempon Hokke Gohonzon shop which is actually on the grounds of the Minobu sect: [web.archive.org]

Mark

Mark, thank you for posting this link! I copied it, and am printing it here -- so that it doesn't magically disappear like other articles and videos that SGI doesn't like.


-------------------------------beginning of quote-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Religious Affairs Bureau Notice No. 3143
December 6, 1999
Nichiren Shoshu Religious Affairs Bureau

Nichiren Shoshu Wins the Forged Photo Case

Major Blow for Daisaku Ikeda and Soka Gakkai
Tokyo District Court Ends -- Daisaku Ikeda and Soka Gakkai Guilty of Defamation

The Tokyo Distrcit Court ruled on the Forged Photo Case today December 6, 1999. The Sixth Civil Division Presiding Judge Taiichi Kajimura found against defendants Daisaku Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai, ordering them to pay damages totalling 4 million yen to the plaintiffs Nichiren Shoshu and Taisekiji, a tremendous monetary award by the usual standards of Japanese judgements in defamation cases.

The Tokyo Distrcit Court found that the media articles featuring forged photographs, including the "geisha photo" published by Daisaku Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai to defame and slander the priesthood, were false publications that damaged the priesthood's good name. The Tokyo District Court's heavy judgement is highly significant. This award publically exposes the unforgivable injustices committed by Daisaku Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai.

FORGED PHOTO CASE BACKGROUND

In November 1986, High priest Nikken attended an informal banquet to celebrate the 70th birthdays of the late Rev Hoin Abe and late Rev Hosen Shiina. These two priests organised and made arrangements for the banquet, inviting couples who were their close friends. High priest Nikken Shonin accepted their invitation as someone closely acquainted with the two priests.

The Soka Gakkai obtained a photograph of the occasion from Hosho Shiina, a breakaway priest who was involved in hte preparations of the banquet. For this reason Shiina was well aware of the nature of the party. The Soka Gakkai altered the photograph, falsifying it to make it appear as if High Priest Nikken was "entertaining himself with geisha" on his own. It further produced a malicious and defamatory article with extreme and contemptuous headlines that featured the forged photograph, repeated sensationalist and defamatory publications, and resorted to injurious attacks on the priesthood. Daisaku Ikeda, the absolute leader of the Soka Gakkai, not only made no attempt to restrain the defamatory publications, but instigated and collaborated in these repeated and persisted attacks on the priesthood.

In the wake of these media attacks, the priesthood filed suit with Tokyo District Court seeking payment of damages and other remedies. The priesthood's purpose was twofold: first, to make known the truth about the allegations made by the publications described above; and second, to publically pursue and have condemned the behaviour of of Daisaku Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai, who persistently and heatedly attacked the priesthood, and to reveal their true, egregious nature to society at large.

The priesthood engaged in painstaking litigation over seven long years. During this action, the breakaway priest Hosho Shiina, Soka Gakkai vice president Isao Nozaki, and Seikyo Shimbun staff members took the witness stand, making desperate excuses to evade the responsibility of of Daisaku Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai. Indeed, the defendant attempted to justify its defamtory publications by producing expert analysis of the publications by a so-called academic media expert.

In today's ruling, Presiding Judge Kajimura strongly condemned the publications and rejected the excuses given by Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai: "The publications' passages at issue are tantamount to groundless slander of a person . . . and amount to nothing more than a litany of ridicule, abuse, slander, and defamation against the plaintiffs . . . In light of the language of the passages at issue and the circumstantial facts under which the photograph was taken, the injurious nature of the publications is unacceptable by the standards of social convention." The ruling further clearly outlined the defendant Soka Gakkai's responsibility: "Members of the religious community must obviously conform to the same rules as the rest of society at large."

Judge Kajimura also found that Daisaku Ikeda had a reasonable duty to prevent the Soka Gakkai from acting in the injurious way it did, as he is the "absolute, supreme leader of the defendant Soka Gakkai, then and now," and was therefore personally liable for the publication of the forged photograph.

The ruling further concludes that Daisaku Ikeda was aware of defendant Soka Gakkai's plan to carry out the injurious acts and that it is wholly tenable to infer that he actively condoned the practise, as he is the de facto absolute supreme leader of the defendant Soka Gakkai.

Today's ruling is a revealing exposure by a court of law and public institution of the true nature of the attacks on the priesthood by Daisaku Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai: falsehood and fabrication. Next, the preisthood intends to take appropriate steps to deal vigorously with the Soka Gakkai's malignant actions both in Japan and abroad.

1999/12/31 0:30

--------------------------------------------------end of quote---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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jlynneda63
Well that is bizarre. Where was the pic aken & why? Where did the gohonzons come from sgi gives out?

The SGI gohonzons are massed produced and if my information is correct, even the act of doing such is grave slander to the Nichiren tradition. Gohonzons are suppose to be inscribed by priest and from what I hear the ceremony is quite special. My linage of High Priest of the Nichiren Shoshu is quite shaky but I believe the SGI gohonzons are inscribed by the High Priest that preceeded Nittatsu (spelling is wrong sorry) SGI had a pretty complicated relationship with Nittatsu and when Nikken Abe became the High Priest the relationship with SGI tanked. Most of SGI's real relationship with Nichiren Shoshu and Nikken Abe is primarily based on heresy so no one will ever know the truth.

Believe me, even I tried looking for the painting and couldn't find it. It's quite funny how SGI claims to foster the youth creative ambitions but don't want to hang it in the halls. The whereabouts of the painting is beyond me...

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The Anticult
They won't post her painting, as all that stuff is controlled by SGI head-office. As stated, you have to post some stock-photo supposedly by Ikeda, but probably just purchased from a photographer.

But SGI has strict rules around gifts.
They will take that "art gift" and then likely pass it back upline to head-office.
As SGI has invested millions in collecting art as a financial investment.

So they will probably check out the paiting, to see if its from a known painter and has financial value, or end up in some crate somewhere.
Or maybe the local SGI person will just take it, if its off-book and no one knows about it.

You can bet that "gift" of art won't be listed as a cash donation though.
You can also be certain that SGI in their Wills and Executor department, where they try to get large gifts from people at their deaths, has received art collections, and other valuables, which they then convert to cash. They have made countless millions from that program.


Meanwhile, the person painted it out of a good feeling that they are projecting onto the SGI.

SGI does not deserve ANY donations or gifts, either of property or money. Not one cent.

If people knew what was good for them, they shouldn't even lend such a frivolous organization like SGI an ear.

SGI wants to be so much like Sensei that it reflects in the poor writing such as Diasaku Ikeda's wikipedia profile. I even took the liberty to read the wiki profile of Dr. King and Gandhi and Sensei comes off as that scrub in high school who goes through leaps and bounds for the chance of hanging out with the cool kids...

Further thinking about my friends situation, this is probably what happened. But as stated. Don't give SGI any donations or gifts and if they call you just give them the telemarketer treatment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2012 06:51AM by KR.