Well, good bye everyone. I enjoyed my time here. Frankly, internet forum communicating is not my cup of tea. Good luck with exposing the SGI cult.

Time to move on.

[uubud.com]

Goodgirl, this article was written by a former high-ranking SGI member, check it out.

Quote
Upgrayed
Well, good bye everyone. I enjoyed my time here. Frankly, internet forum communicating is not my cup of tea. Good luck with exposing the SGI cult.

Time to move on.

Sorry to see your sudden departure, enjoyed your contributions. Good luck to you also.

Quote
Upgrayed
Well, good bye everyone. I enjoyed my time here. Frankly, internet forum communicating is not my cup of tea. Good luck with exposing the SGI cult.

Time to move on.

That's too bad, ungrayed. I thought you had a lot to contribute here. If you ever want to come back, I'm sure folks would welcome you.

Quote
kasumi
Is there anyone on this forum who has SGI/Nichiren Shoshu items that they would like to part with? [such as old gongyo books, Gohonzon etc]
If so, please pm me or post your info here.

Also, the issues with SGI raised here seem to center on its organization and operation, including its leadership.

Two questions:

1. Aside from SGI, did anyone have issues with the actual practice of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism itself [gongyo, daimoku, study, propogation]?
To discuss SGI, it is necessary to discuss the religion that SGI practices - namely Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism.

2. Has anyone left SGI to practice in another Nichiren group [such as Nichiren Shoshu or Shoshinkai] and how was your experience there?
Since this is a forum about cults, any sect would be presumably fair game in relation to Buddhism [although it is unclear here if people think that Buddhism itself is a cult]

kasumi

This is a forum for former members (accent on the former) and affected family members, not Craigslist. I suspect you are some sort of troll since you have not responded to previous responses to your original post.

Quote
ScoobyDooby


This is a forum for former members (accent on the former) and affected family members, not Craigslist. I suspect you are some sort of troll since you have not responded to previous responses to your original post.

Not Craigslist, HA! Definitely a TROLL.

Scoobydooby and other forum members - We have had some forum members in the process of breaking free from SGI who would not be considered full-fledged "former members". Especially since full extrication from the SGI community can be a difficult process, I hope we stay open to a degree and not discourage those on the fence. I agree that kasumi sounds suspicious, and will leave it at that.
One might still hesitate even after reading nearly 500 pages of testimony, opinions, advice, facts, examples, challenges. I hope that each individual's own gut feeling, intelligence, and research around SGI is the main driving force before absorbing all that is on these pages.
Although -Newbies to the practice might want to read and absorb this forum to establish an informed opinion.

As I thought about what might be the "obstacles" to me getting away fully in my mind (terminology like that for example) I considered how it is difficult to completely disengage from SGI members as they are human beings and one might consider those forged "heart to heart connections". (even though I never see any members) I consider the context, however, and also remember some condescending and controlling language from those leaders and members I considered most respect-worthy or genuine. And just plain lies!

Quote
rattyboy
Scoobydooby and other forum members - We have had some forum members in the process of breaking free from SGI who would not be considered full-fledged "former members". Especially since full extrication from the SGI community can be a difficult process, I hope we stay open to a degree and not discourage those on the fence. I agree that kasumi sounds suspicious, and will leave it at that.
One might still hesitate even after reading nearly 500 pages of testimony, opinions, advice, facts, examples, challenges. I hope that each individual's own gut feeling, intelligence, and research around SGI is the main driving force before absorbing all that is on these pages.
Although -Newbies to the practice might want to read and absorb this forum to establish an informed opinion.

As I thought about what might be the "obstacles" to me getting away fully in my mind (terminology like that for example) I considered how it is difficult to completely disengage from SGI members as they are human beings and one might consider those forged "heart to heart connections". (even though I never see any members) I consider the context, however, and also remember some condescending and controlling language from those leaders and members I considered most respect-worthy or genuine. And just plain lies!

There are posters here who I characterized as "SGI-lite" because they made it clear that they were still in the org but were having serious doubts. Those posters have been welcomed with open arms. None of them came in wanting to rescue our paraphernalia from us (why does kasumi want this stuff anyway?). Instead, kasumi was, in my opinion, setting the stage to argue about doctrine and the relative merits of other Buddhist sects former SGI members may have joined. If he or she is not a troll, then they are certainly at liberty to respond to posts directed at them and give more information about themselves and make it clear why they are here. Instead, they flounced, which is what most trolls do when challenged.

Speaking for myself, I would never discourage anybody "on the fence" about SGI from posting here, this is a good place for them. However, Kasumi's post did not sound like it was coming from a fence-sitter, but from a kool-aid drinker. We all know extraction is a difficult process, having been through it, that's why cult apologists should not be coddled because they do not help the process of leaving and adjusting.

@ Goodgirl,

The best is do be easy on yourself these days. An eye opener to me was when I read the book “Fire in the Lotus” by Daniel Montgomery in the late 90's. It is out of print right now but guess still available in Libraries. We all face lies in our lives – sometimes they are inevitable, but when one realises that one was systematically lied to is a bitter pill to swallow. This book rounds up the history of Nichiren Buddhism in a fairly objective manner and boy was I told lies. So for me what worked was to find out what SGI wasn't about. I would not go as far that individual members knowingly lied to me as they just repeated what they were told, but somewhere in the ranks of SGI there must have been the ones who knew better, especially when those ranks are in Japan.

Quote
Rothaus
@ Goodgirl,

The best is do be easy on yourself these days. An eye opener to me was when I read the book “Fire in the Lotus” by Daniel Montgomery in the late 90's. It is out of print right now but guess still available in Libraries. We all face lies in our lives – sometimes they are inevitable, but when one realises that one was systematically lied to is a bitter pill to swallow. This book rounds up the history of Nichiren Buddhism in a fairly objective manner and boy was I told lies. So for me what worked was to find out what SGI wasn't about. I would not go as far that individual members knowingly lied to me as they just repeated what they were told, but somewhere in the ranks of SGI there must have been the ones who knew better, especially when those ranks are in Japan.

Lies, lies, and more lies, especially about finances. SGI is a multi-BILLION dollar organization, and Ikeda is a multi-BILLIONNAIRE, yet there is NO disclosure to members who act as maintenance, security, and clerical help, all unpaid, for the org. Lower ranking members did not know about the deception, but without a doubt higher-ranking ones did. Even doctrine was a lie, such as the grand main temple opened in 1973 being the sign of cousin rufus (that's what we call world peace around here). The grand main temple is now on the rubbish heap, after I wasted several hundreds I could ill afford to go on a pilgrimage in 1973.

Enjoy free time, exploring interests other than SGI, just being yourself, being kind to yourself. It gets better and better.