On the theme of the last point made in my post above (the cult org. in Japan):

[www.youtube.com]

Although this clip is all in Japanese, the last three minutes (from the ~4:00 min. mark) is a demonstration of the aggressive shakubuku'ing (proselytizing) in Japan.

Two leaders ring the door of a man's apartment. He answers, they tell him that they are with the soka gakkai and want to talk to him. The guy has zero interest and tells them flat out, "No", more than once. When they don't listen, prevent him from closing the door and keep pushing, the guy just leaves them standing at his door as he goes back in. One of the gakkai members says, "I think he's calling somebody." The top (elder) leader then sticks his head in the door and says, "What are you doing in there?" "What's wrong?" "Are you making a phone call?" "Are you calling the police on us?" (The gakkai members are smiling all the while, at this point.) "Well, we'll come back again." "We'll leave you our newspaper, please read it." The elder leader then sticks a Seikyo Shimbun (the cult propaganda newspaper) into his mail slot. The clip ends. You get the impression that it is all just fun and games for the gakkai leaders, just another day on the shakubuku circuit.

From the 80's, a full (7 part series) broadcast of one of the soka gakkai cult's peace cultural festivals:

[www.youtube.com] (Part 1) (Follow other playlist links for remainder.)

You can see many of the NSA members in full uniform whites, arriving at venues, marching around and performing in the festival. Other clips have people in tears after it is all finished. The dear leader makes an appearance. One of the creepiest things that you can see throughout is all of the plastic faces on the members while performing, the Disney-esque fantasy smiles, exaggerated mannerisms and the obsessive, constant focus on pleasing the dear leader (North Korea anyone?).

Dancing and singing by the brainwashed, all for cousin rufus.

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Hitch
On the theme of the last point made in my post above (the cult org. in Japan):

Although this clip is all in Japanese, the last three minutes (from the ~4:00 min. mark) is a demonstration of the aggressive shakubuku'ing (proselytizing) in Japan.

Two leaders ring the door of a man's apartment. He answers, they tell him that they are with the soka gakkai and want to talk to him. The guy has zero interest and tells them flat out, "No", more than once. When they don't listen, prevent him from closing the door and keep pushing, the guy just leaves them standing at his door as he goes back in. One of the gakkai members says, "I think he's calling somebody." The top (elder) leader then sticks his head in the door and says, "What are you doing in there?" "What's wrong?" "Are you making a phone call?" "Are you calling the police on us?" (The gakkai members are smiling all the while, at this point.) "Well, we'll come back again." "We'll leave you our newspaper, please read it." The elder leader then sticks a Seikyo Shimbun (the cult propaganda newspaper) into his mail slot. The clip ends. You get the impression that it is all just fun and games for the gakkai leaders, just another day on the shakubuku circuit.

They had better not try blocking somebody from closing their door in Chicago, or there will be shooting!

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Hitch
From the 80's, a full (7 part series) broadcast of one of the soka gakkai cult's peace cultural festivals:

[www.youtube.com] (Part 1) (Follow other playlist links for remainder.)

You can see many of the NSA members in full uniform whites, arriving at venues, marching around and performing in the festival. Other clips have people in tears after it is all finished. The dear leader makes an appearance. One of the creepiest things that you can see throughout is all of the plastic faces on the members while performing, the Disney-esque fantasy smiles, exaggerated mannerisms and the obsessive, constant focus on pleasing the dear leader (North Korea anyone?).

Dancing and singing by the brainwashed, all for cousin rufus.

Thanks again Hitch, it is hard for me to accept, even all these years later (I haven't practiced since 1975), that I participated in these spectacles, probably glassy-eyed and plastic faced myself, overcome at the thought that I was contributing to cousin rufus! I had no clue I was in a cult.

You are also right on point about how burdensome that old gongyo was. As a high-schooler, I sometimes had to be there by 7 or 7:30 in the morning, with a long bus ride at that. All that mandatory praying and chanting, "or else", left me feeling rushed and harried, not refreshed and relaxed. Newer cult members should be happy for the short-form gongyo.

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Freeheartandmind
Thanks again Hitch, it is hard for me to accept, even all these years later (I haven't practiced since 1975), that I participated in these spectacles, probably glassy-eyed and plastic faced myself, overcome at the thought that I was contributing to cousin rufus! I had no clue I was in a cult.

I participated too. In a way, I'm glad I did, because I now KNOW for a fact that those people are indeed brainwashed - as was I, at the time. I remember I had to literally kind of shake my head, as if to loosen the brainwashing and prevent it from crystallizing, when it was all over, telling myself that none of it was "real." I instinctively knew that if I abandoned my anchor to reality, that I would be further pulled in. It gave me a much deeper perspective on the cult. The fellow members around you, were also of the more intense variety. I could tell, even then, that they were more glassy-eyed than others and heavy kool-aid guzzlers. The kind that you don't even dare joke around with about the practice or anything at all.

One thing I just remembered, but forgot to post: Those peace cultural festivals were supposed to be about "heart-to-heart" human connections and bonds. However, I distinctly remember one incident that demonstrates how hypocritical and controlling the cult org. is, even under such rare circumstances as an International festival with members from all over the world coming together for a common cause. Our American leaders warned us beforehand not to give away any parts of our uniform (cheap headband or wristband, hat, etc.) to fellow International members at the end of the show and that we HAD to return everything when it was all done. Some Japanese performer (a girl) came up to me, with tears in her eyes and wanted to exchange parts of our uniforms (no pun intended). I did (as did a few others), and got into trouble (yelled at) for it later. I thought that kind of behavior was so manipulative, controlling and at odds with common sense and ordinary human compassion, that it made me further question exactly what it was I was doing in the cult and the kind of warped (i.e., sick minded) people that were in it.

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Freeheartandmind
You are also right on point about how burdensome that old gongyo was. As a high-schooler, I sometimes had to be there by 7 or 7:30 in the morning, with a long bus ride at that. All that mandatory praying and chanting, "or else", left me feeling rushed and harried, not refreshed and relaxed. Newer cult members should be happy for the short-form gongyo.

I agree on all points and went thru exactly the same. It's also a demonstration as to how nothing is sacred in the cult org. and how they can change anything to suit their needs and bottom line, at the drop of a dime. It's all smoke and mirrors to manipulate the faithful (i.e., ignorant).

I attended a cullture festival in japan in 82-83 time frame. I forget the exact year. Watching that video brought back some old memories or sure. The one I attended was in an outdoor stadium, I don't remember the name right off hand. I can't remember the type of costume I was wearing, but we were told when we went out to look up where the dear leader was sitting along side nikken, the high priest then ( I guess they must have been best buddies in those days) and smile with an ear to ear grin and wave. I was just glad there were a lot of people there because I felt like an ass out there. Total propaganda and phoniness.

The scary part in watching these now is if you watch any clips of festivals in north korea they are strikingly similar. It kind of makes you wonder. These tinhorn dictators use this stuff as pure propaganda to try and impress on the world, look at how great and happy everyone is. Around the 6:15 or so mark of that video where they come marching out with the flag. Reminds me of soldie
rs in north korea or the old soviet union marching down the street like robots showing off their military might.

On a side note the american members with the full white ice cream suits with the NSA patch brought back many memories as well. I had my own ice cream suit as well. That thing hung in my closet for I don't know how many years. One day the wife asked if I was ever going to get rid of that ugly thing. (Along with her byakuren uniform I might add.) i think I took off the patch and gave it to goodwill.

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coolshyone
...... we were told when we went out to look up where the dear leader was sitting along side nikken, the high priest then ( I guess they must have been best buddies in those days) and smile with an ear to ear grin and wave. I was just glad there were a lot of people there because I felt like an ass out there. Total propaganda and phoniness.

I was told the same thing, too. It was drilled into you as if it were of vital importance. We were forced to be extra happy and extra phony in front of the dear leader. I was just a teenager at the time and I thought that I was going to get into trouble if I couldn't muster enough feigned happiness to match everyone else around me (and some people were literally CRAZY-DELIRIOUSLY-HAPPY!, to such a degree that it creeped me out and a level that I couldn't even hope to approach).

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coolshyone
The scary part in watching these now is if you watch any clips of festivals in north korea they are strikingly similar. It kind of makes you wonder. These tinhorn dictators use this stuff as pure propaganda to try and impress on the world, look at how great and happy everyone is. Around the 6:15 or so mark of that video where they come marching out with the flag. Reminds me of soldie
rs in north korea or the old soviet union marching down the street like robots showing off their military might.

That part is very disturbing, especially the sgi-cult flags and the manner in which they are held and displayed. Fanaticism, fascism, complete and thorough brainwashing.

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coolshyone
On a side note the american members with the full white ice cream suits with the NSA patch brought back many memories as well. I had my own ice cream suit as well. That thing hung in my closet for I don't know how many years. One day the wife asked if I was ever going to get rid of that ugly thing. (Along with her byakuren uniform I might add.) i think I took off the patch and gave it to goodwill.

I despised that suit with a passion, the patch, the neckties, the ID badge, the whole nine yards. Walking around with everyone else with those suits on always made me feel like I was part of some kind of secret mafioso group (which ironically, we kind of were).

Brainwashed cult members, out of our minds - that's what we were.

Ikeda copied the crude, but effective, early mass-persuasion and "brainwashing" techniques that were used in Japan up to WWII, as well as the Stalinist brainwashing techniques that came after.

The comparison to North Korea is right on. North Korea of course, has also studied and implemented similar techniques to use and try to brainwash the followers of the regime. (they just use fear on the peasants).
Recall that "brainwashing" as a term came into use during the Korean war.
(not endorsing this Wiki link at all, but it is out there. The cult-apologists seem to have worked very hard on this Wiki article)
Korean War and the origin of brainwashing
[en.wikipedia.org]

Of course "brainwashing" is not a good term, in fact its simply just organized persuasion, one step at a time. They slowly work at modifying the person's beliefs, thoughts, feelings, behaviors, social contacts, clothes, and anything else they can. So its really just highly organized mass-persuasion.


Its fascintating to see the perspectives of some of those who were persuaded to march for Ikeda in these SGI brainwashing festivals.
When you were marching, were you ever in the True Believer mode, or were there always doubts hiding behind the forced smiles?

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The Anticult
Its fascintating to see the perspectives of some of those who were persuaded to march for Ikeda in these SGI brainwashing festivals.
When you were marching, were you ever in the True Believer mode, or were there always doubts hiding behind the forced smiles?

I remember pangs of true believer mode trying to slip in and that I had to consciously keep reality knocking on the door to be let back in. At the height of my time in, I was vacillating between the two sides. Quite unpleasant and distressing at times. Eventually, I sided with doubt and simply faked it from then on out. I became quite adept at feigning piety, so as to make my existence less problematic. From that point on, I started to see things with new eyes (the manipulation, control, the rampant fallacies, etc.). As my knowledge and critical thinking abilities began to grow, it slowly transformed into push back, resistance and on occasion, confrontation.

I recall, that even at the height of my time in, some of the faces, emotions and behavior of some of the more "brainwashed" members, always creeped me out. In the back of my mind, I was always thinking, "there's just something wrong with some of these people."

Its interesting, in many other sects and groups, like Byron Katie, etc, those who break away seem to have always had doubts and kept something in reserve.
Example, as part of her process of Identity-fusion with her followers, Byron Katie demands they give her their wedding rings. Yep, Byron Katie takes the wedding rings of her female followers at her seminars. (and they don't get them back...they must sell them off for cash...)


Re: James Ray, Byron Katie, jewellery, valuables, wedding rings,
[forum.culteducation.com]

So someone's wife goes to some weird LGAT seminar, and comes home without her wedding ring and glassy-eyed, and signed up for 35K worth of "seminars", with another 15K of credit card debt to Byron Katie.
(Byron Katie is using deep psychological techniques to get her followers to "fuse" their identity with her...Oneness of Master and disciple, same thing).

But for those who escaped, they seem to have held something in reserve, like keeping their real wedding ring, and giving Byron Katie some piece of junk.

It often seems those who break free had a sliver of doubt in their mind, or more.

One has to wonder, do the True Believers also have that sliver of doubt in their minds?
Of course they won't admit it, but is it there?
Or do some get taken over by absolute belief in the SGI-Guru? Even if just for a while.
And later when the doubt arises, they just block it out of their mind.

What does SGI say to followers who have doubts about SGI?
My guess is they say....chant 5 hours a day, and work for SGI 14 hrs a day...and the doubts will vanish. That is...Thought-Stopping to block the doubt out.

Too bad for SGI-USA, that it seems hundreds of SGI believers read these threads, to explore the inner doubts about SGI in the privacy of their own computer and home, and to make up their minds for themselves.