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Hitch

I'd like to think that somewhere in the back of the minds of some of the longtime members, there's a little voice telling them that something has gone cukcoo, but ..... I don't know.

Definitely, 100% CULT. If they can't see it, they're brainwashed.


Recently I have talked to a longtime member and he said that he is in "Panzer Division" now. That was no joke, seriously the guidance he has got from his district leader for asking about Organizational problems. He was so proud of beeing a "Panzer member" now with an unbreakable scull and never give up - no matter what -Panzer's slogan.

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Hitch
Junior Pioneers / "YOUTH!" / "The Future Division." Let's pull the curtain back a bit and take a look at how it all works.

For those unfamiliar with how the brainwashing (thought reform) begins for those born into the practice ("mis"-fortune babies), the following clip is a good introduction to one aspect of the process.

Gongyo has now of course been mercifully shortened, from a full 5 long prayers in the morning with long daimoku sessions pre- and post-, to a one time thru (a) and (c) only (no (b), long section) (Sorry for the cult-speak, but members will know what I mean here). The post-gongyo daimoku would commonly go for ~ 30 - 45 minutes, with the entire process taking well over an hour, when I was in. This is a clip of the entire process, now shortened and completed in less than 15 minutes. (The longer process was causing member loss and decreased participation.)

All ages of "YOUTH!" division present, but this gongyo training session appears to be focused specifically on the YWD. They are training the little girl, in her Sunday best, to "lead" gongyo; mommy is there to help and always close by the entire time to ring the bell. Interesting tidbits throughout the clip: watch the cult mother at the very beginning rudely moving a YWD out of the seat next to her daughter so *she* can sit there, notice the girl in boots (holes in the jeans at the knees, legs crossed - OH! THE HORROR!! during gongyo) is lost once gongyo begins (nobody helps her), the girl next to her ignoring her the entire time, the girl in the Indian dress on the other side bored out of her mind most of the time, and the loud mouthed support girl yelling gongyo into the microphone almost off screen to the right. The YMD media man helping with the microphone and chairs, etc..

It's all pretty much exactly the same as I remember it all. Now for the most interesting part:

At the 2:00 min. and 12:20 min. marks, you get to see the "Byakuren" (female version of Soka-han, inside meeting venues) offering and removing trays with envelopes laid out on them. Those envelopes are called "*Gokuyo" (offerings to the cult org.) and contain $$$$$ that members "voluntarily" "offer" at tables set up at the entrances to cult buildings/kaikans. How appropriate that they sansho and bow before taking (errr, I mean "offering") them (to the manufactured gohonzon of course). Everything they do and every step they take is choreographed and trained: the signal to step onto the stage, exactly where and how to stand, how to sansho, how deeply to bow, picking up and carrying the trays in unison, stepping forwards and backwards together, holding the tray at a certain very specific height, etc. - everything (notice how they all are taking their cues from the dark haired asian byakuren standing next to the blonde on the left side - she's the mini-Hitler of the group).

This is how the kids are trained and brainwashed to become future cult org. "leaders" themselves, someday. Some will reject it and manage to walk away, but others may not be able to (due to the psychological manipulation by the cult org., it's "leaders" and, most unfortunately in some cases, the fundamentalism/ignorance/brainwashing of a hardcore gakkai parent or parents).

[www.youtube.com] Training the "YOUTH!" (young, naive, impressionable and trusting minds) in superstition and ritual, with the ultimate goal of shackling them to the cult org./The Dear Leader and the hope that they themselves shall one day do the same to others (shakubuku), including their own children.

(*Gokuyo is invariably given with the understood expectation that it is a "good cause" and ultimately creating great "fortune" for yourself, your family and your future, even more so than for the cult org. itself. If you blink, you might miss the "Gokuyo" "offerings", but they are THE MOST IMPORTANT thing going on in this clip, for the cult org.. Everything else, is just window dressing and part of the show.)

- Hitch

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TaitenAndProud
I was a group leader when the SGI-USA was rolling out their "membership cards" campaign. As I live in the San Diego area, I was able to attend a leaders' meeting with representatives from Los Angeles, from the National HQ. I believe this was in about August 2006, but I'm not quite sure of the year. Anyhow, in that meeting, the LA representative was telling everyone that a membership card is to be filled out for each person in a member's household, whether they be roommates or family members. I asked the following question:

"My husband, who is not an SGI-USA member, has top-secret government clearance and does not want ANY organization that he is not a member of using or even holding his personal information. Can I be guaranteed that there will be no membership card filled out for him without his permission?"

Reasonable, right? The LA representative replied, "We have members with top-secret government clearance, and they don't mind their information being on membership cards."

I repeated, "My husband is not a member."

The LA representative repeated, "This is not a problem. Our policy is that a membership card is to be filled out for each person in each member's family, so as to provide optimal care to each member."

I then suggested that everyone should be required to give permission to the SGI-USA to use his information on an SGI-USA membership card BEFORE the card could be filled out, but this, too, was dismissed out-of-hand.

I was livid! After the meeting, my chapter chief approached me and privately assured me that no membership card would be filled out for my husband, but the damage had already been done. The SGI-USA would never receive another penny in contributions from me.

Some months later, I was chatting with a woman I had practiced with in North Carolina and described these shenanigans. She assured me that no such "membership card" campaign had been implemented in North Carolina, and she, though a much more devout member than I, wondered what the point of such a campaign would be. Unless the actual goal was to inflate membership numbers, there's no point to it.

I haven't attended a meeting since about early 2008, and I am preparing a resignation letter demanding that *ALL* my personal information and that of my children be removed from SGI-USA's records. This is a right under US law - we are free to resign from religious organizations we have previously been members of, and the religious organization is required to remove our personal information when notified of our resignation.

I suspect that membership in the SGI-USA is in decline the same way membership in other religious organizations is in decline all over the US (and the world). You can't just impose a structure onto a group of people, define it as "the most ideal family-like organization", and expect it to automatically be successful and turn into what you say it is.
Especially with the amount of authoritarianism and coercion that exists among the leadership of the SGI-USA.

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Shavoy

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TaitenAndProud
I was a group leader when the SGI-USA was rolling out their "membership cards" campaign. As I live in the San Diego area, I was able to attend a leaders' meeting with representatives from Los Angeles, from the National HQ. I believe this was in about August 2006, but I'm not quite sure of the year. Anyhow, in that meeting, the LA representative was telling everyone that a membership card is to be filled out for each person in a member's household, whether they be roommates or family members. I asked the following question:

"My husband, who is not an SGI-USA member, has top-secret government clearance and does not want ANY organization that he is not a member of using or even holding his personal information. Can I be guaranteed that there will be no membership card filled out for him without his permission?"

Reasonable, right? The LA representative replied, "We have members with top-secret government clearance, and they don't mind their information being on membership cards."

I repeated, "My husband is not a member."

The LA representative repeated, "This is not a problem. Our policy is that a membership card is to be filled out for each person in each member's family, so as to provide optimal care to each member."

I then suggested that everyone should be required to give permission to the SGI-USA to use his information on an SGI-USA membership card BEFORE the card could be filled out, but this, too, was dismissed out-of-hand.

I was livid! After the meeting, my chapter chief approached me and privately assured me that no membership card would be filled out for my husband, but the damage had already been done. The SGI-USA would never receive another penny in contributions from me.

Some months later, I was chatting with a woman I had practiced with in North Carolina and described these shenanigans. She assured me that no such "membership card" campaign had been implemented in North Carolina, and she, though a much more devout member than I, wondered what the point of such a campaign would be. Unless the actual goal was to inflate membership numbers, there's no point to it.

I haven't attended a meeting since about early 2008, and I am preparing a resignation letter demanding that *ALL* my personal information and that of my children be removed from SGI-USA's records. This is a right under US law - we are free to resign from religious organizations we have previously been members of, and the religious organization is required to remove our personal information when notified of our resignation.

I suspect that membership in the SGI-USA is in decline the same way membership in other religious organizations is in decline all over the US (and the world). You can't just impose a structure onto a group of people, define it as "the most ideal family-like organization", and expect it to automatically be successful and turn into what you say it is.
Especially with the amount of authoritarianism and coercion that exists among the leadership of the SGI-USA.

TaitenAndProud, welcome and thank you for sharing this. This reminds me of how, back in the 80's, everyone in a member's family was on the books, even if they didn't practice, did not care to practice, or was a believer in another faith.

This sounds so disrespectful and wrong. Optimal care to each member? Right. Membership cards for non-members? Come on!

Once again, it is wayyy more than likely that membership numbers are not at the Optimal level and inflation is put into play.

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Shavoy
@leeduffield----that would not surprise me either. I know I'm an old broken record on this, but if SGI thinks that America is going to become The Land of Ikeda, they are mistaken. All there is to it.

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leeduffield
Had the district leader phoning on Monday promising me a lifetime of poor health and Avici Hell in the hereafter.To be fair,the chapter leaders both wished me well though.