There have been some cases, in where a SGI member is losing their grip on reality from mental illness...and they start to chant extremely obsessively almost constantly all day. It becomes this kind of crazy talisman to them, where they think they can make any problem or issue go away, by chanting under their breath or openly.

And they can start to chant faster and faster, perhaps thinking that fast chanting gets faster results.
Some people have gone off the deep end with the SGI chanting, and have ended up in a psychiatric hospital.

Of course, just general "chanting" is probably not going to cause a psychotic break, but when a person who is vulnerable becomes totally obsessed with the irrational chanting, and thinks its going to fix their life, and is encouraged by SGI to chant longer, harder and faster, that is a setup for a mental breakdown.

No one from SGI is telling them to stop chanting, and to seek psychiatric or psychological help with their obsessive personality or whatever. They tell them to chant harder and faster, and it will magically cure all their problems.
Of course it won't, in fact it will make them worse, as they are not doing anything about their problems.

This is not a rare event, for a SGI member having a mental breakdown, and SGI-chanting is always a part of it. If you look around the former SGI peer group, you may also recall examples of these SGI-chanting related mental breakdowns or psychotic breaks.

Definitely not rare (sg cult members with mental & physical breakdowns). Have seen it more than a few times. It's called the "faith like a raging fire" burnout in the cult. The standard remedy is the ol' you gotta have "faith like flowing water" spiel.

If you don't believe, it's because you don't have enough faith. If you believe too much, you don't have the right kind of faith. If you have just the right amount and right kind of faith (whatever that's supposed to mean), then the world is your oyster. So says the cult.

I'm of the general opinion that "faith" is not a virtue, but when it comes specifically to the gakkai, faith = 1.5 liter bottle of bright red, heavily extra-sugared, kool-aid. For some, "Bon Appétit!"

On the topic of "Gandhi, King, Ikeda" -

[www.youtube.com]

When I first heard about this "exhibit", I literally laughed out loud. Lawrence Carter (in the video clip) is not succeeding in impressing anyone or justifying the concept. A pseudo-intellectual, IMO.

Some protest video clips were posted earlier in this thread. Here's an interesting related clip:

[www.youtube.com]

Some of those same protestors, on another day, are being tailed through the streets by an earpiece wearing undercover soka (MIB=Men In Black, but in this case light brown) James Bond wanna-be stalker. He appears at the beginning of the clip (~20 sec. mark) and is confronted toward the end of the clip (~2:00 min. mark).

Take a look at his face at the beginning of the clip --> psycho eyes. At the end of the clip, when confronted, he is reaching for his communication piece in the back of his waist.

For those that don't think this is a cult, you'd better wake up and open your own eyes. Educate and inform yourself.

Take into account they highly emphasized the narrative to "overcome a struggle" they foster an environment where the average member are encouraged to hyper-dramatize the most minute situation in life and personify it as a "struggle." That's what the SGI "experience" is for. It's really nothing more but a game of "keeping up with the Joneses" in which have achieved the most material gain under the hospices of the Gakkai. Many will jump up and boast of their good fortune unbeknownst to them they simply volunteered to engage in an SGI pissing contest.

Sadly with the "experience," the typical member (or prospect) is hoodwinked into believing that they too could achieve good fortune by chanting. When it doesn't achieve the same results, they become disenfranchised and given the repressive nature of the organization, it only bottles up the discontent and frustration until they find themselves running the SGI vicious circle.

Henceforth mental breakdown and it happens more than even the a typical ex-SGI member cares to admit. Depending on the kool-AID intake SGI members as a whole are not well. In my opinion that would be the main source of the problem with SGI and mental illness.

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The Anticult
There have been some cases, in where a SGI member is losing their grip on reality from mental illness...and they start to chant extremely obsessively almost constantly all day. It becomes this kind of crazy talisman to them, where they think they can make any problem or issue go away, by chanting under their breath or openly.

And they can start to chant faster and faster, perhaps thinking that fast chanting gets faster results.
Some people have gone off the deep end with the SGI chanting, and have ended up in a psychiatric hospital.

Of course, just general "chanting" is probably not going to cause a psychotic break, but when a person who is vulnerable becomes totally obsessed with the irrational chanting, and thinks its going to fix their life, and is encouraged by SGI to chant longer, harder and faster, that is a setup for a mental breakdown.

No one from SGI is telling them to stop chanting, and to seek psychiatric or psychological help with their obsessive personality or whatever. They tell them to chant harder and faster, and it will magically cure all their problems.
Of course it won't, in fact it will make them worse, as they are not doing anything about their problems.

This is not a rare event, for a SGI member having a mental breakdown, and SGI-chanting is always a part of it. If you look around the former SGI peer group, you may also recall examples of these SGI-chanting related mental breakdowns or psychotic breaks.

I may also add that this practice in itself is the complete antithesis of Buddhism. It's just an SGI pissing contest to see who could espouse the most drama, who could hold claim to espouse overcoming the most struggle and above all who has gotten the most benefit. This alone is actual proof that SGI are not your friends, they are a cult.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2012 07:30AM by KR.

KR's post has reminded me of something. There was even an unwritten competition between "leaders" as to who could have the "best" "experience" or "actual proof" in their own life (and amongst their own members!). If you happened to have a fantastic "experience" that could easily trump another leader's mini-experience, then they'd turn around and try to find something else to criticize you about, like your member subscription or attendance numbers being low this month or last month, or you could be doing more gajokai than you have been, or you haven't attended as many meetings as you could lately, or even something as mundane as your tie being crooked or your uniform not being up to snuff, etc..

Anything bad that happens in your life is your fault or your own karma. Anything good requires credit being given to the cult gakkai for making it happen (in some cases, even in spite of your "practice" having made it more difficult to achieve it in the first place). A lot the of real purpose of "home visitations" and personal "guidance" is to mold your mind into this way of thinking, with the ultimate goal of making it into a mental habit, reframing your worldview to see things through the cult's eyepiece/lens by default.

KR is correct. It is indeed a pissing contest in more ways than one. It's a stupid childish game of control, manipulation and delusion, nothing more.

I just call it competitive happiness which underneath was SGI narcissism in plain sight. Listen carefully it's all about me, me, me and my happiness. Can't account the many rude moments of fellow SGI members interrupting Cousin Rufus's most immaculate guidance to interject and impose their own happiness upon the bunch. We were a bunch of sick happy mofo's in the Youth Division Pissing Contest back then.

Quote
Hitch
KR's post has reminded me of something. There was even an unwritten competition between "leaders" as to who could have the "best" "experience" or "actual proof" in their own life (and amongst their own members!). If you happened to have a fantastic "experience" that could easily trump another leader's mini-experience, then they'd turn around and try to find something else to criticize you about, like your member subscription or attendance numbers being low this month or last month, or you could be doing more gajokai than you have been, or you haven't attended as many meetings as you could lately, or even something as mundane as your tie being crooked or your uniform not being up to snuff, etc..

Anything bad that happens in your life is your fault or your own karma. Anything good requires credit being given to the cult gakkai for making it happen (in some cases, even in spite of your "practice" having made it more difficult to achieve it in the first place). A lot the of real purpose of "home visitations" and personal "guidance" is to mold your mind into this way of thinking, with the ultimate goal of making it into a mental habit, reframing your worldview to see things through the cult's eyepiece/lens by default.

KR is correct. It is indeed a pissing contest in more ways than one. It's a stupid childish game of control, manipulation and delusion, nothing more.

Warning: Potentially Offensive Clip Alert.

The following was obviously posted by an ex-gakkai-cult member as an act of personal liberation from the shackles of the cult:

[www.youtube.com]

They filmed themselves getting rid of (destroying) their official gakka-cult omamori gohonzon (personal, portable, miniature mandala) to a musical theme of the "Aum Shinrikyo" cult. They also allude to Ikeda being sick, hospitalized and likely to die soon, symbolized by their actions in the clip.

A few of the comments (all in Japanese) show support: "You can see clearly now." / "Well done!" / "Gakka is a cult!" / "Gakkai cult is dying." / Etc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2012 11:59AM by Hitch.

Quote
Nichijew

Quote
Hitch
Some protest video clips were posted earlier in this thread. Here's an interesting related clip:

[www.youtube.com]

Some of those same protestors, on another day, are being tailed through the streets by an earpiece wearing undercover soka (MIB=Men In Black, but in this case light brown) James Bond wanna-be stalker. He appears at the beginning of the clip (~20 sec. mark) and is confronted toward the end of the clip (~2:00 min. mark).

Take a look at his face at the beginning of the clip --> psycho eyes. At the end of the clip, when confronted, he is reaching for his communication piece in the back of his waist.

For those that don't think this is a cult, you'd better wake up and open your own eyes. Educate and inform yourself.

A joyful bodhiNOTva is he. Unbelievable clip. those anti-SGI people are such fearsome desperados. He looked so angry. What a low life condition.

Nichijew

That guy is exactly the kind of ymd "leader" that I remember from growing up in the cult. That look in his eyes, I've seen it many, many times. It's the look of delusional psychosis, fundamentalism, intolerance, 100% certainty in one's beliefs, arrogance, dogma and ignorance.