You’re right, Hitch. That clip was good for a laugh: from to the senior who needs help locating the kaikan that’s several feet away from his face to the fellows picking up cigarette butts and proclaiming “More fortune for us!” And the guy opening the door… I wish that dressing like one half of the Blues Brothers would’ve been considered acceptable Soka Group attire during my days in the cult because I would’ve taken full advantage of that.

As far as speculation on Ikeda goes, something’s definitely up from the recent World Tribunes that I’ve had the opportunity to glance over. In the past, many of the main Ikeda articles in the World Tribune were transcripts from meetings (the ones they made videos of that the SGI shoved down your throat every month). Now, curiously enough, the guidance articles are always “from a series of recent interviews” - interviews that no one can verify of actually taking place. Pretty convenient, eh?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2012 03:34PM by SGBye.

Personally, I'm pretty sure that the phantom leader is either very ill or even dead. There was a tabloid article in Japan that claims he is in hospital and demented (who knows though). But what I find important about this is that the org is keeping so quiet about it. This sort of secrecy is, to me, a sign that SGI is definitely a cult (as if we needed any more evidence).

I suspect leaders in the know couch the hiding of information in terms like 'protecting the members' - another of those SGI phrases that actually means the opposite of what it says (like the SGI Charter which is mostly doublespeak eg. "SGI, based on the ideal of world citizenship, shall safeguard fundamental human rights and not discriminate against any individual on any grounds").

Meanwhile, who is running the org? It certainly can't be Ikeda. In any legitimate, democratic organisation the members would be kept up-to-date with what was happening and who was in charge.

My very first post on this mb had to do with the movie "The Last Detail." Well, I just came across this:

********

"O-M-G-ohonzon! Please tell me I am not the last person to see the movie The Last Detail, starring Jack Nicholson, Otis Young and Randy Quaid – circa 1973?

I caught the tail end of it recently. It didn’t catch my attention until the closing credits. I have a movie credits fixation. Yup that’s me the last one to leave the theater reading who the Unit Production Manager and the 1st Assistant Director are. What did catch my attention was seeing the words Nichiren Shoshu Members scroll through the credits; one of the members was played by the late Gilda Radner – you know, Saturday Night Live’s Rosanne Rosanadana!

I had to find the movie and watch it! It’s a story about two sailors in charge of delivering a third sailor to an 8 year prison stint, but before they do they set out to take him out for the time of his young inexperienced life.

They embark on an adventure of firsts for the young sailor including his maiden voyage to a whore-house. Awkward. Eventually, they find themselves on the street and notice an unusual humming sound none of them had ever heard nor could identify.

The reverbing humming sound sounds a lot like a bunch of people repeating Indiana Daaawg – Indiana Daaawg – Indiana Daaawg…over and over again. As they all listen quietly trying to figure out what the sound is, one asks, “What the hell is an Indiana Dog?”

They decide to investigate and go inside, to be met with a pile of shoes outside of an apartment door displaying a hand written sign that reads Nichiren Shoshu. The sound, once Indiana Daawg, morphs into Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. They take off their shoes and go in for a while.

O-M-G-ohonzon! It is a classic creepy 1970’s Nichiren meeting, with a butsadan adorned with candles and greenery and the little baby bell plus a dozen or so cheerful chanters hyped to tell their experiences, followed by a robust trio of A-A-OH!

The rest of the movie is colored by the young sailor chanting everywhere they go – on the subway, at the ice skating rink, in a bar where a woman who hears him, introduces herself as a Nichiren Shoshu member and invites the three to a party.

The Last Detail is just one of those last little details you have to at least be able to say you saw if you have ever had any kind of affiliation with any kind of Nichiren Buddhism.

It’s like when people say, “You just had to be there”, and well you just have to see it. But in the meantime here are some snippets of the scripted dialogue while you wait for Netflix to send you your flick.

Randy Quaid: What are they saying?

Jack Nicholson: Hold it down. I think we’re in a church. (they take of their sailor caps)

Randy Quaid: What’s a Gohonzon?

Jack Nicholson: Shhh! I’ll tell ya about it later. (as if he knows – Ha!)

Nichiren Shoshu Members: (singing) There’s a sun shining in your heart – there’s a song waiting to be sung – there’s a dream longing to be free – in your life happiness you’ll see – bring it out – your shining light – you can change this world of trouble and strife…

Jack Nicholson: Why does all this make me feel so fucking bad?

Otis Young: Let’s see if it works. Then you can chant for something really big…

Jack Nicholson: Yeah, like how’s about the three of us getting laid, huh?

Randy Quaid: Well, should you chant for something like that?

Jack Nicholson: Why the fuck not?

Randy Quaid: Well it’s a religion.

If you thought the Nichiren scenes in the Tina Turner What’s Love Got To Do With It movie were too short – The Last Detail will be right up your alley. And if you feel warm and fuzzy watching them and not totally creeped out by them – then you my friend are still deeply embedded in the cult."

********

And here, reposted, is the creepy clip again [www.youtube.com]. That daimoku chanting at the beginning of the clip, brings back some long forgotten (bad) memories for this ex-misfortune baby.

From the same site, [rougebuddha.wordpress.com] - Sung to the tune of "Forever Sensei", the new "So I Joined a Cult Today - HEY!"

"Stress and strife in my life
La-la-la-la-laaaaaaa
Thought prayer was right
Prayed with no hope in sight
So I joined a cult today –hey!

All day long they come and they call
for me to get others to join
They have to keep their numbers growing
‘cause people keep going
But I joined a cult today – hey!

My dearest loved one died
La-la-la-la-laaaaaaa
Felt lost and alone
No place was home
So I joined a cult today – hey!

All day long they come and they call
For me to get others to join
They have to keep their numbers growing
‘cause people keep going
But I joined a cult today – hey!

My job was outsourced
La-la-la-la-laaaaaaa
No paycheck for me
Can’t buy grocery
So I joined a cult today – hey!

All day long they come and they call
For me to get others to join
They have to keep their numbers growing
‘cause people keep going
But I joined a cult today – hey!

Today-ay
I joined a cult to-day!

I won’t go!
I won’t go!
I won’t go!"

Got to admit, I LOVE IT! HAHA!

Also, recommended (long) reading is her 20 part story about her ordeal in the gakkai cult (some parts will have you reliving the frustration that I'm sure we all here can relate to, others will have you in stitches). (The part about her brief stint in byakuren and getting the "senior leader" water, had my sides hurting. As I've said before, the key to understanding this cult is understanding the Japanese mindset/psychology. Boy, that was hilarious!)

[rougebuddha.wordpress.com]

A note of thanks to RougeBuddah, for that walk down memory lane. It's nice to see others who have been through the same, gotten out & survived.

(If any of this has been posted before, my apologies; it's my first time seeing it all.)

Quote
SGBye
You’re right, Hitch. That clip was good for a laugh: from to the senior who needs help locating the kaikan that’s several feet away from his face to the fellows picking up cigarette butts and proclaiming “More fortune for us!” And the guy opening the door… I wish that dressing like one half of the Blues Brothers would’ve been considered acceptable Soka Group attire during my days in the cult because I would’ve taken full advantage of that.

I can definitely relate 100% to everything you said. Typical cult mindset on display in that clip. "Please take my free slave labor and abuse me, so that I can add more good causes to the invisible fortune bank account in my deluded mind." Most of the gajokai I remember could barely walk in a straight line without tripping over their own feet.

And OH YEAH (!), I remember the ol' Good Humor Man Ice Cream / Milkman uniforms, all whites with cheapo red NSA logo necktie. At least they don't have to change out of their costumes like we did, before they dare re-enter the real world. I remember some ymd who didn't (or couldn't) and boy did they look f-u-n-n-y out in the civilian world after cult activities.

Simplify - agreed, the "SGI Charter" is good for a good laugh. For those of us who have been on the inside, it's easy to see the blatant lies. For they break most, if not all, of the charter's precepts in reality. The NSA/SG/SGI cult org. and all of its official salaried leaders have always spoken with a forked tongue.

Recently found an interesting, spot-on the money, post regarding the cult org. that I can relate to:

"I lived with one for many years. The SGI are absolute masters at rationalising their absence of altruism or compassion for those less well placed. They plead karma like the 5th ammendment.

"Your problem - you get out of it, your karma put you here. If I help you I will be devaluing the lesson the mystic law (God) is trying to teach you. Now if you don't mind, I am late for the recording studio!"

One night, when they came around to my house to do their barking at their gohonzon,, a couple of them were slagging off my six year old daughter who was sat listening at the top of the stairs. The main body of their 'slander' was that she had inherited my arrogance. My arrogance being my animated questioning of their beliefs!"

(Taken from a discussion here [bitterlittlebuddha.tribe.net] ).

This goes back to the "true" nature of the cult org.. On the outside, "we value dialogue and tolerance", but on the inside you get all kinds of variations of this screwed up psycho (in this case primitive psychological displacement reaction) behavior from members (especially so-called "leaders"). Members and "leaders" alike, I saw a lot of messed up sh** from my time growing up in the cult, including the private lives inside some of the model gakkai families whose lives were held up to others and touted as exemplary examples of actual proof of the practice. It's all a con-job.

Quote
simplify
Meanwhile, who is running the org? It certainly can't be Ikeda. In any legitimate, democratic organisation the members would be kept up-to-date with what was happening and who was in charge.

I vote for Kane-chan and Hiro-kun (i.e., Kaneko & Hiromasa Ikeda, the dear leader's wife and son, respectively), at least on paper.

It's been awhile and with the changes with SGI I guess it's appropriate to comment...

I wish you were all here to see the level of enthusiasm I now have towards the SGI. It's like being apart of company where everyone is a vice-president. Every member is now a minority shareholder, the stock owned doesn't allow you into any board of directors meetings however you can sit on that stock and watch it rise in value - Wait, this is SGI - THE STOCK IS PLUMMETING.

This will go great distances in advancing the cause of Cousin Rufus.

The wife and son would be controlling the SGI $$, which is what SGI is all about.
Its like Macbeth at the top of SGI Inc.

Also, as Ikeda loses his faculties, his wife would become his legal guardian, and would take over all his affairs legally, including all of his SGI assets and everything else.

So in fact, his wife has to be the one controlling SGI now.
SGI is a private family fortune, and when the patriarch loses his faculties, the wife takes over, as well as the annointed son.

So as Ikeda loses his ability to conduct his affairs, his wife will take over.
Then the son of Ikeda.

For some zany reason SGI followers seem to think that SGI is some kind of public org.
SGI is a PRIVATE FAMILY FINANCIAL CORPORATION.

Its not even a public Corp like a Rupert Murdoch.
Its private, controlled by the Ikeda family billionaires.