Thank you Corboy, I enjoyed the article you linked.

The recruitment techniques of the SGI are to get you to a "discussion" meeting where people give testimony or "experiences" about the cult practice and overwhelm the person through the sheer unfamiliarity of chanting and the Buddhist topics. It's overwhelming to the point of suspended disbelief.
Once this is achieved, the love bombing begins.

Home visits, offers for being taken out to dinner and a collective weaving of "we love you" spectacles.

Once you become a member and have crossed to the other side, you are no longer the center of attention. If you liked the attention and the love you recieved, you must continue to participate and please others, especially your "sponsor" who is your recruiter.

The sponsor is the person who brought you into the practice. This person follows your progress and encourages you. He is your minder and more than that , you are his property.

I have seen members fighting over new members. One member introduced a potential member and another member through an act of sabotage, got to become the sponsor of that new member when recieving Gohonzon.

It was petty and destructive, as if this new member was a slab of meat.

Edit: I shouldn't forget to mention "member care". This is where discussions by leaders are had regarding members. Through member care, they share each person's personal information, which had been divulged in confidence and use that information to discuss the best way to get that particular member to become more active within the SGI cult.

If you have given out any information about yourself in confidence to another member or leader, assuming that this person is your "friend" and that your secrets are safe, you are in trouble.

As soon as any information appears, it is shared and ripped apart as a means to figure you out. Nothing is sacred within the SGI cult.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2012 04:36AM by Upgrayed.

This is for Corboy and Upgrayed - re: winning the affections of your "leaders"/peers, etc. I came from an entirely different perspective. Early on, when I was younger, I did all that was expected of me (and much more) in order to please my hardcore practicing parent. I eventually learned, however, very slowly, with time, and after nearly pushing myself to the point of collapse, that no matter how you ultimately did (or gave), it was always - somehow - not quite enough (for both the parent AND the leaders within the cult, btw). It reminded me of a vampire that sucked you dry and then got mad at you for running out of blood. Once understood, it was like a turning point for me and I realized that there was something toxic that I had to get away from. It wasn't the only factor, but it was definitely one numeral in the equation that thereafter, ignited the momentum for my eventual departure. So, although I couldn't have cared less for the approval/acceptance of my peer culties, I did go through a different and highly personal version of this manipulation.

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Upgrayed
I have seen members fighting over new members. One member introduced a potential member and another member through an act of sabotage, got to become the sponsor of that new member when recieving Gohonzon.

It was petty and destructive, as if this new member was a slab of meat.

Oh yeah, I've seen the exact same thing and it wasn't pretty. I use to think to myself, "don't they realize that they are fighting over possession of HUMAN BEINGS" (!?) And that's exactly what they were doing, enslaving people and fighting over who got credit for it (because new meat meant increased #'s for your district, chapter, and as discussed above, the transient backslapping and high-five's of your cultie peers). The more meat you brought in, the more you were temporarily transformed into "SUPER Member!" (Those super powers, however, faded away when the campaign ended and the training for new sparring battles for the next campaign soon began.)

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Upgrayed
If you have given out any information about yourself in confidence to another member or leader, assuming that this person is your "friend" and that your secrets are safe, you are in trouble.

As soon as any information appears, it is shared and ripped apart as a means to figure you out. Nothing is sacred within the SGI cult.

Info. is more power for manipulation. The masters of these dark cultie arts are, hands down, the Japanese WD. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that it is their second nature, their inborn instinct, to use this talent as part of their mission and purpose in service for Cousin Rufus. I have even seen them turn on each other occasionally and backstab. Utterly disgraceful to witness.

Interesting Hitch, as you have described the reality further. It's not just the acceptance from one's peers, it's usually one or two individuals that you know on a personal basis in which that dynamic is being manipulated.

For example my "sponsor" would attempt to ingratiate himself as a Father figure attempting to generate a deeper bond and giving obvious, basic guidance, without my asking, as a means to promote himself as an authority over my practice. Out of etiquette I would simply dodge this game but it began to concern me that this person, whom I thought was a friend, was nothing more than a hustler. This person took the basic respect that I had and attempted to manipulate that respect and trust to gain more.

It's frightening to think that I walked into the SGI assuming that it was a normal healthy organization and over time, I found myself uncovering a nightmare. Every questioning step produced more insights which began to eat away at the perspective I had "built" but in reality, acquired.

Hitch, your experience is hardcore and it's commendable that you broke free. Hopefully you will turn this experience of poison into medicine (just being cynical).

The more I think about this, it's the mind set of "well if I don't see it, then it doesn't exist" which gets people in trouble. When people stumble upon information that goes against the "Soka" cult narrative, many just justify their presence out of arrogance, unable to accept the fact that they were totally conned.

I got conned. This is the point people who are or have been in the SGI Cult need to come to terms with. Accept the fact that one is not invincible and all knowing. Get past the cognitive dissonance and ask oneself serious questions. After leaving the SGI, looking back, all of it is bizarre and blatanly manipulative and wicked. It's interesting that during my time in the SGI, there was a time where I thought that I had found a nice organization in which to improve my being. It's laughable if it weren't for the tears.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2012 06:12AM by Upgrayed.

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Upgrayed
In regards to the big leader, again I saw a slick presentation, with the vacous pure sales charm, but in that, as I study people closely, I could see subtle cracks. What were those cracks? That person's experience was weak. This individual must have struggled to put together a leadership level experience regarding gaining fortune as it was not very good and that unto itself made the pitch that much harder. So perhaps still a good errand boy for Ikeda, but beyond that, no feeling or depth in the presentation. In this case the "bullshit" was literally the tough sell regarding one getting rich through donations. It's a propesterous, edgy performance.

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Upgrayed
Wow, that's really creepy. I didn't notice that pink shorted individual.....very good eye. In fact, when dealing with the SGI cult, it's about having a discerning eye and studying what the organization does in it's mind control programming.

I would say that this probably applies to both of us. I spent decades learning to observe gakkai cult members and can "read" a "leader" (lower or higher level one) quickly. By their actions, their words, their demeanor, etc., I can pretty much quickly sum up in my mind what kind of person I'm dealing with and adjust accordingly. It took years of practice (pun intended) and silent watching on the inside. There is so much I could say on this and so many examples I could give, but am hesitant, because I kind of view it as my own secret shield against their BS. A discerning eye will take you a long way in this cult (either climbing the ladder within or keeping them at bay).

**************

On the general topic of Shinanomachi being viewed as cult territory by non-member Japanese citizens, I offer up this clip as evidence [www.youtube.com]. The person filming keeps the camera down so as too avoid being to obvious and mentions three times in Japanese how "scary" it is to be walking through the "slick", intimidating and efficient cult town, under watchful eyes. It's all in Japanese, but you can get the general feel as to how they deal with the stress by joking about it. (He also makes questioning references to Ikeda and the yakuza - mafia.)

*****************

On the topic of Levi McLaughlin (Princeton Ph.D), I get the impression, after watching this [www.youtube.com], that his views are typical of ones constructed from a purely outsider and theoretical perspective. I've watched the whole clip and think he did a fairly good job (his Japanese pronunciation is excellent, btw), but his views, IMO, also reveal limitations. He admits to not being a member and formulating his thesis over a period of only 7 years based on "working in the field" with lower level gakkai members only. As a result, I doubt that he ever got full exposure to the chronic full throttle cult manipulation that longtime hardcore members do. And he certainly didn't see any of the machinations that go on behind closed doors of the upper level leadership. I'm also dubious of his claims that he was able to take the in-house study exams and rise up the study dept. ladder as a non-member. I don't doubt that he took the exams, rather, I question the fact that he was allowed to do so as an outsider. Sounds to me, more like a hook to attempt to reel in an outside academic into the cult org. (this, btw, would be a decision from a higher level leader, too). In other words, it was done with other motives in mind on the part of the cult. I could be wrong, but it is all JMO, nothing more. I enjoyed his presentation, but feel that it was/is limited in its scope.

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quiet one

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Hitch

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tsukimoto
From www.fraughtwithperil.com, "Diary of a Chapter Leader" blog by Nancy Thomsen, "Presto Chango" essay

Thomsen is writing about recent organizational changes in SGI:

----------------------------Beginning of quote-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For about a year, the top leaders in SGI-USA have been trying to figure out how to grow the organization. They talked to each successive leadership position down to chapter. Funny how they stopped short of talking to the front line leaders at the district level. But in the end, I think they have come up with a good short term solution. They are going to combine the two levels above district, chapter and area, which will free up over a thousand leaders to become district leaders again. I just can’t wait for this. I’m all for change and no one believes this will fix everything, but it is a start. It puts the emphasis on the districts, it will put more leaders into the districts and it will let more districts have men and young leaders in them. Also, each area has been tasked to figure out how they want to incorporate the changes. I have to hand it to SGI — good for us. Thank you, SGI-USA leadership for working to make this a more American organization. Now, if we could just get our members to want to understand Buddhism…

----------------------------End of quote------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SGI is doing the equivalent of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. You can combine and rearrange various levels all you like. The real problem is that members and prospective members are tired of the Ikeda worship, the incessant, and unreasonable demands on their time, having no voice in the organization, clueless, egotistical leaders, and the lack of Buddhism within SGI. "If we could just get our members to want to understand Buddhism..." Really? A lot of members joined SGI because they wanted to learn about Buddhism....and left when they realized that SGI had nothing to do with Buddhism. It was only ever about money and power for Toda and Ikeda. Those SGI members who understand Buddhism -- realize how little Buddhism there actually is in SGI -- and they leave.

This portion is interesting. I see some things never change. Not only are the "leaders" not very bright to begin with, but they also cannot even be pushed, pulled or even towed, up the learning curve either. On that note (things never changing), many of those "thousands of leaders" are in store for a whole new round of renewed pressure, grief, manipulation and mind games. Announce the changes, hype it up, everybody cheer loudly (especially the "YOUTH!", have to cheer with the most decibels), everyone smile and pretend everything is great, and in the end, nothing substantive ever really changes in the Japanese centric, personality worshiping, pseudo-buddhist cult organization. All members - ENJOY!

This is so funny. How do they ever think that chapter leaders will tolerate becoming district leaders again? It seems to me that the real reason this is being done because SGI is shrinking, that they no longer have the members to need so many "leaders".

@President Ikeda possibly not being with us anymore: I have thought for quite a while, even during the last bit of my involvement with SGI, that President Ikeda had died. Several years ago, the pictures of Ikeda in the world tribune did not look good. He did not look healthy and it looked like he may have had a stroke. And then no current pictures were shown of him. All that were shown is OLD ones. Pictures of him when he was a young man doing something or other, not current ones. This went on for a while. And then suddenly he reappeared. Looking healthy and young again. I thought that they had found someone, and prepared him, to impersonate Pres Ikeda.

@SaffyFoo: Congratulations on getting out before they had you hooked!

Great posts. the take of my friend who is a Nichiren priest is twofold. SGI in the USA and elsewhere [besides Japan] is hurting financially and therefore, it doesn't want to continue to promote people because, eventually, they would have to be promoted to salaried positions. Also, it is a way to consolidate power at the top at a time when all hell [for control of the empire] is about to break loose with the death of the beloved leader.

Nichiju

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Upgrayed
Fair enough Corboy. Not wanting to enter this forum with the wrong foot.


You do seem to be giving me a lecture, which is fine, so please continue to do so if you see something that should be corrected for the sake of this thread's health.

You make some very good points and perhaps you are right.

Because I used a set of reasons to leave this cult, some of that residue remains and therefore this logic slipped into my post.

If I offended anyone, please accept my apologies and I will be more aware in the future.

What I want, more than anything is to expose this organization for what it is.

Many victims are, at least, partially to blame for their victimhood. So I think you are both correct.

Nichijew

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Hitch
Another protest group in front of a gakkai cult building, inside a car with loudspeakers (a common protest device used in Japan) [www.youtube.com]. Protesting the cult's media influence (Mainichi Shimbun, a major Japanese newspaper) and Komeito dirty politics, etc..

The "elite" soka-SS protectors (notice the custom eagle emblem patch on the coat of the person who first approaches the car) start photographing the occupants inside the car, to which the protestor, over the loudspeaker states "we are filming you, too" and "it's going on YouTube." To which the "elite" soka-$$ security forces retreat, hide back-n-forth behind a tree and constantly cover their faces so as to not be filmed themselves. They eventually resort to blocking the filming with black umbrellas and having an individual (gakkai member?) who "says" he's a police officer (to which the protestors are skeptical and drive off). It's also interesting to note that the first security guard can be seen calling his "leaders" for direction on what to do; shortly thereafter, more and more black coats slowly show up.

It's all laughable, because the soka protectors ultimately have no powers, other than intimidating stares, bullying and paparazzi-style attacks. Turn it all back onto them and they are at a loss as to what to do. Kind of reminds me of a 3 stooges movie.

Once again, the cult in action in its own homeland.

One perspective is that it is so obvious the reality of the Soka Gakkai, especially that of their leaders, to engage them in order to open their blind eyes is essentially meaningless. Nichiren himself stated on more than one occasion that even he couldn't open the blind eyes of the Japanese people. From this Nichiren Buddhist standpoint, they are merely beggars at the gate [of wisdom or enlightenment], to be ignored. I am wrestling with this perspective.

Nichijew

[/quote] I would say that this probably applies to both of us. I spent decades learning to observe gakkai cult members and can "read"a "leader" (lower or higher level one) quickly. By their actions, their words, their demeanor, etc., I can pretty much quickly sum up in my mind what kind of person I'm dealing with and adjust accordingly. It took years of practice (pun intended) and silent watching on the inside. There is so much I could say on this and so many examples I could give, but am hesitant, because I kind of view it as my own secret shield against their BS. A discerning eye will take you a long way in this cult (either climbing the ladder within or keeping them at bay). [/quote]

Faastic stuff from everyone. There is another way to "read" [discern] an SGI cultleader without vast practice and experience...from the perspective of the foundational teachings of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin. Of course, this skill requires a modicum of study. How closely the so-called leader's or priest's words and actions embodies the Lotus Sutra and teachings of Nichiren is a way to read them. I never met one Gakkai top leader who embodied the Lotus Sutra and teachings of Nichiren in word or deed. Most members are too ignorant and unlearned to even know what the authentic teachings entails or what is actually written.

Nichijew

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Nichijew
I never met one Gakkai top leader who embodied the Lotus Sutra and teachings of Nichiren in word or deed. Most members are too ignorant and unlearned to even know what the authentic teachings entails or what is actually written.

Truer words have rarely been spoken, on both counts.

I can only speak as to the cult in Japan and the U.S.:

I've been exposed to just about every common top U.S.A cult "leader" on the west coast (Santa Monica HQ central), from booted gen. director Williams on down (including some of the newer rising meat currently serving their time at cult plaza across the street) and not one - not one salaried cult leader - is the kind of person that I would ever look up to, much less emulate in life. As mentioned before, there is also a good amount of mental pathology floating around the top leadership as well.

In the cult's homeland, the official salaried "leaders" are much better at presenting a false polished veneer of sincerity, humility and service to the membership and outside world (again, this a Japanese characteristic), but on the inside, to hardcore followers and lower leaders in training, they are regarded, treated and obeyed much as chief master sergeants. They are served hand and foot, people stand at stiff attention and bow deeply when they are in the room and their commands are mandatorily carried out post-haste, all as a matter of course. This perverse behavior is also expected of them by their higher ups too, all the way to the very top (the dear leader). They are brainwashed to view it as respect and service, but in reality, it is actually fear and slavery. They do whatever they are told, even if they don't really want to, and it is done solely with the goal to avoid another leader's predictable dissatisfaction or perceived punishment that may follow later. Just like a slave to a master (ironically), their only concern is maintaing their position in the cult org. (or rising up the ladder) and remaining in the good graces of those in authority above them. The Jekyll-Hyde phenomenon is also much more extreme, pronounced and fearsome.

And whether it be the U.S. or Japan, the behavior of the leadership is imitated all the way down and employed to the manipulation of the lowly general membership. If, as a new member, you ever witness or encounter some bizarre dysfunctional behavior (and you will, given enough time), you can rest assured that it is not an isolated incident, but is pervasive all the way up the cult's organizational pyramid. In fact, the more perverse and bizarre the behavior, they more likely it is that the person doing it has a whacked out (hidden) "leader" instilling manipulative fear and zealotry into the person doing it, essentially pulling the strings on the marionette.

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Nichijew

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Hitch
Another protest group in front of a gakkai cult building, inside a car with loudspeakers (a common protest device used in Japan) [www.youtube.com]. Protesting the cult's media influence (Mainichi Shimbun, a major Japanese newspaper) and Komeito dirty politics, etc..

The "elite" soka-SS protectors (notice the custom eagle emblem patch on the coat of the person who first approaches the car) start photographing the occupants inside the car, to which the protestor, over the loudspeaker states "we are filming you, too" and "it's going on YouTube." To which the "elite" soka-$$ security forces retreat, hide back-n-forth behind a tree and constantly cover their faces so as to not be filmed themselves. They eventually resort to blocking the filming with black umbrellas and having an individual (gakkai member?) who "says" he's a police officer (to which the protestors are skeptical and drive off). It's also interesting to note that the first security guard can be seen calling his "leaders" for direction on what to do; shortly thereafter, more and more black coats slowly show up.

It's all laughable, because the soka protectors ultimately have no powers, other than intimidating stares, bullying and paparazzi-style attacks. Turn it all back onto them and they are at a loss as to what to do. Kind of reminds me of a 3 stooges movie.

Once again, the cult in action in its own homeland.

One perspective is that it is so obvious the reality of the Soka Gakkai, especially that of their leaders, to engage them in order to open their blind eyes is essentially meaningless. Nichiren himself stated on more than one occasion that even he couldn't open the blind eyes of the Japanese people. From this Nichiren Buddhist standpoint, they are merely beggars at the gate [of wisdom or enlightenment], to be ignored. I am wrestling with this perspective.

Nichijew

In modern day, all of this is also a sign that you are dealing with a cult. Just look at the behavior. The oversized "security" protector comes over, gets in your face, tries to bark trivial authoritative orders at you (just to try to establish his position), calls for back up, flash photography stalker techniques follow, when that doesn't work, they resort to hiding behind trees (like Curly of the 3 stooges), covering their faces with their hands (again 3 stooges), obstruct you with MIB umbrellas, and ultimately have somebody impersonating an officer try to intimidate and scare you off. This kind of stuff is reminiscent of Scientology (cult) behavior.

Any truly legitimate "religious" buddhist organization would behave entirely differently: like trying to meet you halfway (maybe over a cup of green tea and rice crackers or mochi), perhaps learn from each other and goodness forbid maybe even succeed in changing one or each others' minds to see things in a different light. This would be a more genuine manner to sincerely engage in those who don't understand you or are against you, and it would certainly go a lot farther in winning reasonable and rational supporters to your side in the long run. The problem is, in Japan, the cult org. cannot hide behind the language (like they conveniently do abroad). They've got a lot to fear and hide and the "truth" is definitely not on their side (hence, their behavior).

In my "experience", you cannot engage a salaried cult leader in critical, substantive, logical, and non-fallacious debate. They are simply incapable of it. In fact, if they were able to, they wouldn't even be a cult leader in the first place.