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.