SGI NEWSLETTER / AUGUST 1995 Page 74
Extract of a speech by Daisaku Ikeda, 3rd July 1995.


"Those who abandoned their faith and betrayed their fellow members were
people who exploited the organization for their own ends while avoiding any
real hard work themselves. They never truly exerted themselves strenuously in
propagation, in activities for kosen-rufu, in giving individual guidance, or
in promoting publications. Instead they used the SGI merely to satisfy their
own egos. In the end, they became deadlocked and brought about their own
ruin. Because they failed to make earnest efforts, they did not grow, nor did
experience the true joy of faith."

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

"Those who abandoned their faith and betrayed their fellow members were
people who exploited the organization for their own ends while avoiding any
real hard work themselves."

Like New York public school janitors? (Just kidding, I didn't mean to
make any sweeping generalizations:-)


"They never truly exerted themselves strenuously in propagation, in activities
for kosen-rufu, in giving individual guidance, or in promoting publications.
Instead they used the SGI merely to satisfy their own egos."

Damn, I knew I should have gone to two thousand meetings instead of
a thousand. Boy, was I wrong in not strenuously giving guidance to those
poor people chanting the Daimoku and the Sutra and reading the writings of
Nichiren Daishonin on their own. Not privy to Iked.... I mean my guidance,
they were certainly missing out on the true joy of faith. As far as promoting
publications, again, president Ikeda is correct. I didn't insist that my dog have
his own personal subscription to the World Tribune and my cat her own [for her
kitty litter box]. My ego was satisfied, that too is true. Cleaning the toilets in
the Community Centers, especially President Ikeda's personal toilet, really
satisfied me.


"In the end, they became deadlocked and brought about their own ruin."

Writing this letter from my cell in Attica state penitentiary proves the good
President correct.


"Because they failed to make earnest efforts, they did not grow, nor did
they experience the true joy of faith."

Prozac! Honey, what did I do with my bottle of prozac.

Nichijew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2013 11:26AM by Nichijew.

The Dear Leader = Fraudulent shell game huckster.

The $oka Gakkai's version of buddhism [www.youtube.com]. (The chanting starts about half-way thru.)

And on the topic of nutso gakkai members:

Let's mispronounce gongyo to the sunset in Santa Monica [www.youtube.com]. (Gongyo mercifully finishes around the 4:24 min. mark, then she sees a boat in the ocean and goes off on a tangent about "a ship to cross the sea of suffering", next, she mentions dolphins, then finally, a crazy scooter couple appears.) This is the typical kind of gakkai cult member I remember most and this clip is as crazy as she is.


- Hitch

Quote
Nichijew
SGI NEWSLETTER / AUGUST 1995 Page 74
Extract of a speech by Daisaku Ikeda, 3rd July 1995.


"Those who abandoned their faith and betrayed their fellow members were
people who exploited the organization for their own ends while avoiding any
real hard work themselves. They never truly exerted themselves strenuously in
propagation, in activities for kosen-rufu, in giving individual guidance, or
in promoting publications. Instead they used the SGI merely to satisfy their
own egos. In the end, they became deadlocked and brought about their own
ruin. Because they failed to make earnest efforts, they did not grow, nor did
experience the true joy of faith."

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

"Those who abandoned their faith and betrayed their fellow members were
people who exploited the organization for their own ends while avoiding any
real hard work themselves."

Like New York public school janitors? (Just kidding, I didn't mean to
make any sweeping generalizations:-)


"They never truly exerted themselves strenuously in propagation, in activities
for kosen-rufu, in giving individual guidance, or in promoting publications.
Instead they used the SGI merely to satisfy their own egos."

Damn, I knew I should have gone to two thousand meetings instead of
a thousand. Boy, was I wrong in not strenuously giving guidance to those
poor people chanting the Daimoku and the Sutra and reading the writings of
Nichiren Daishonin on their own. Not privy to Iked.... I mean my guidance,
they were certainly missing out on the true joy of faith. As far as promoting
publications, again, president Ikeda is correct. I didn't insist that my dog have
his own personal subscription to the World Tribune and my cat her own [for her
kitty litter box]. My ego was satisfied, that too is true. Cleaning the toilets in
the Community Centers, especially President Ikeda's personal toilet, really
satisfied me.


"In the end, they became deadlocked and brought about their own ruin."

Writing this letter from my cell in Attica state penitentiary proves the good
President correct.


"Because they failed to make earnest efforts, they did not grow, nor did
they experience the true joy of faith."

Prozac! Honey, what did I do with my bottle of prozac.

Nichijew

Thanks to Nichijew for the great comments!
Huhu Sensei, you sound like the jealous stepmother in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the loveliest fellow in the land?
The reply was always: you are, Sensei! until that dreadful day when he heard it say,"Taitens are the most loveliest in the land". Sensei was furious and wild with jealousy, began plotting to get rid of his rivals...

Quote

SGI NEWSLETTER / AUGUST 1995 Page 74
Extract of a speech by Daisaku Ikeda, 3rd July 1995.


"Those who abandoned their faith and betrayed their fellow members were
people who exploited the organization for their own ends while avoiding any
real hard work themselves. They never truly exerted themselves strenuously in
propagation, in activities for kosen-rufu, in giving individual guidance, or
in promoting publications. Instead they used the SGI merely to satisfy their
own egos. In the end, they became deadlocked and brought about their own
ruin. Because they failed to make earnest efforts, they did not grow, nor did
experience the true joy of faith."

2 Peter 3:3-4 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the [Evil] last days [of the Law] scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus [kosen-rufu] is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created [and the American people don't seem to gravitate toward the SGI-style cult].”


1 John 2:18-24 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist [spirit of apostasy] is coming, and already many such antichrists [taiten members] have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. These people left our churches [districts], but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

But you are not like that, for the Holy One [President Ikeda] has given you his Spirit [of kosen-rufu], and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies. And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ [President Ikeda is not the Mentor in Life for everyone in the entire world]. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son [President Ikeda and his son Hiromasa] is an antichrist [evil backslider]. Anyone who denies the Son [Hiromasa's obvious superlativeness] doesn’t have the Father [President Ikeda as his mentor], either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son [the greatness of Hiromasa] has the Father [inherited the spirit of mentor and disciple] also.

So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father [President Ikeda and the SGI].

1 John 4:1-3 Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit [Enlightenment]. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God [Gakkai]. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God [kosen-rufu spirit]: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ [Daisaku Ikeda] came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God [kosen-rufu spirit]. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus [President Ikeda], that person is not from God [Gakkai]. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist [Nikken], which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

All you need to do is change the names. These intolerant religions are all the same - they reserve their harshest criticism for the people who wised up and got out.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2013 04:02PM by TaitenAndProud.

Beware of Cousin Rufus' wrath ..... ooooh, I'm so scared!

Not.

I agree with sixtyseven, it's like being threatened by a Disney character.




- Hitch

Quote
sixtyseven


I too have noticed the growing phenomena of young women loving Ikeda especially on facebook. A lot of Ikeda photos are posted by women on facebook and an unbelievable mass -hysteria - likes and shares and comments and blinking hearts. That is so so disgusting, how can these attractive, intelligent young women(from all over the world) love an old and ugly man in Japan? Is it l'amour par distance, beginning mass- schizophrenia? I'm not a doctor in psyciatrics but when I spend more time on facebook among the SGI members I could become one.

It’s an interesting point you raise there sixtyseven.

I can only speak from my perspective of my time in the young women’s division. I remember meeting after meeting where we were told that President Ikeda had cited the young women especially as leading the way for kosen rufu due to their special qualities of courage and compassion. Anyone who joined the dedicated lilac group (equivalent of byakuren) received constant messages about how we were carrying out Sensei’s work and being his ‘arms and legs’ in working hard. Just before I left there was a big deal about this Kayo Kai Ikeda group for all the young women. Apparently you didn’t have to do anything to join, all you had to do was decide that you were part of it. There is a song to accompany all this (of course) one of those patriotic ones that is supposed to install the feelings of love and loyalty to our mentor – you have probably heard it - I think it has come up on this forum.

Talking of songs, on one of our young women’s courses there was great emphasis given to a story about the young women who used to report to Ikeda in Japan – the byakuren – I think in the 1950s. According to the story this group of young women spent all night composing a special song for him. However, when he heard it, he told them it wasn’t good enough and they had to go back and make it even better. I think he might have done this to them several times until he was perfectly satisfied with their efforts. The way this was related to us was to make us feel that we should never be happy with a half-hearted attempt and should be prepared to go back again and again until things were perfect!

Of course, this message is like holding a red rag to a bull for anyone who might have slightly obsessive issues. Young women who already had this tendency would have their attitude amplified 10-fold – this would usually be the leaders who would never be satisfied with the way an activity was run and would communicate this attitude down the chain until we were all running round like headless chickens having near nervous breakdowns.

From a personal point of view, receiving messages like this played on my insecurities about not being good enough. I always felt guilty that I was being too laid back about kosen-rufu and if I was having a bad time in my personal life, it was no surprise because I hadn’t made enough effort with home visits, the young women’s entertainment for the HQ course, hadn’t chanted strongly enough etc, etc, - the list was endless.

Also, looking at it from a wider point of view, young women/women are a very good group to target in this way. They often receive the cultural messages from society that they need to be caring, look after people, listen to an authoritarian ‘father figure’, not upset people, be polite, etc. So the SGI are reinforcing internal messages that a lot of young women already hold about themselves to use them for their own ends – in this case to lay down their lives and worship Ikeda.

So I have to say I’m not surprised that some of these young women are posting on their FB about Ikeda, making up ridiculous songs and being obsessive. I remember feeling like this myself when I was in the depth of all the psychological manipulation but I am so glad to be back out of this madness and thinking clearly - very grateful for all your comments on this forum.

Quote
Nichijew
SGI NEWSLETTER / AUGUST 1995 Page 74
Extract of a speech by Daisaku Ikeda, 3rd July 1995.


"Those who abandoned their faith and betrayed their fellow members were
people who exploited the organization for their own ends while avoiding any
real hard work themselves. They never truly exerted themselves strenuously in
propagation, in activities for kosen-rufu, in giving individual guidance, or
in promoting publications. Instead they used the SGI merely to satisfy their
own egos. In the end, they became deadlocked and brought about their own
ruin. Because they failed to make earnest efforts, they did not grow, nor did
experience the true joy of faith."

Ah yes, I remember this one well. I remember reading it when things weren’t going very well in my life and thinking “ I must do more for kosen-rufu, it’s the only way”. It is a brilliant piece of writing for pressing all the guilt and fear buttons in people who have that tendency. I also remember feeling horrified after reading this at the thought of what would become of me if I left SGI.

Now, I am happy to say it has lost its power on me. But it really does encapsulate the SGI mentality about people who leave. It could never be that it was actually a good thing for their lives, it would have to be due to something being terribly wrong with them like fundamental darkness or delusion, or not trying hard enough - always a personal failing.

Personally, when I was ingrained in the organisation and someone left I would usually feel very sad for them rather than thinking they had done something wrong but this was still a very patronising and disrespectful attitude to have about people making their own choices in life.

But it really does encapsulate the SGI mentality about people who leave. It could never be that it was actually a good thing for their lives, it would have to be due to something being terribly wrong with them like fundamental darkness or delusion, or not trying hard enough - always a personal failing.

Arrogance! Don't forget arrogance! Some people are just too arrogant to understand Sensei's heart!! :D

Or spoiled! SELFISH!! I remember shortly before I left, when I mentioned to my Men's Division District Leader (a barely educated and simple type, liked to do as he was told) that my participation in SGI was not meeting my needs as a parent or as an individual, he told me how *selfish* I was and that I should be thinking about how all my "training" and study could be used to help others! Thing is, the others weren't interested in any of that crap.

You're right, Nichijew, it IS patronizing and disrespectful to think that you know better than someone else how that person should live his life. Whose life is it, anyway??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2013 03:56AM by TaitenAndProud.

Teeth

I mentioned, above, that "barely educated and simple type" MD District Leader I had. I think he was a high school dropout, which is neither here nor there, necessarily, but he'd lost almost all his teeth. For a while, he had this one enormous horsey chomper right there in the front, all alone, and then even THAT was gone. I was raised middle class, but routine dental care was absolutely taken for granted! This was NEVER negotiable! I think he maybe got some dentures at some point, but who knows? Did I mention that he was probably 10 years younger than me?

Additionally, my best friend for a while (and only real friend in the SGI, which had connected us originally) was a fortune baby from Japan. 19 years younger than I, she'd come over to the US on a student visa and gotten pregnant by a 1/2-Japanese American junkie. They married. When I met her, he was in jail awaiting trial on what I thought was his first felony offense (robbery to support his heroin habit) but it turned out later that this was, in fact, his SECOND offense. She and I were friends until he got out almost 4 years later; at that point, our relationship ended because he was very jealous and told her not to see me any more. She complied. That's fine - whatever. Her life to lead. Back to this post's subject - teeth. She had *terrible* teeth when I met her. She had her wisdom teeth taken out (under inadequate novacaine) by some Mexican doctor who came over and did her dental work in somebody's living room (we're only, like, an hour and a half from the Mexican border here). Then that Mexican dentist hurt her back and stopped dentistin'. At one point, my friend told me that half of one of her front molars had just *fallen out*. So I took her to my dentist and she arranged a payment plan to get the rest of her teeth brought up to tolerable - I paid half ($400).

Now Blubber Boy is back in prison for the rest of his life, and we've gotten together once. She's got a gaping hole where that half-tooth used to be. I remember a young Japanese woman in the Soka Spirit group when I was in it - she suddenly started missing several teeth.

WTF?? Where is the "protection of the Gohonzon"??? What's the deal when people who presume to be models for the rest of us aren't even taking basic, necessary care of their own bodies??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2013 04:44AM by TaitenAndProud.

Re: Nichijew's post about Ikeda's threats and TaitenandProud's clip with the Christian mother threatening her son -

Once an organization reaches the point where you have to start threatening your members, you are already losing (or have lost) your way.

****

All the authority in the cult org. (The Mystic Law / The Dear Leader / etc.) is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Clear the fog from your mind and you'll eventually see that there is nothing there. It's ridiculous psychological manipulation. Once you walk away, you'll eventually ask yourself one day, "How did I ever fall for it and what was I scared of?"

You fall for it, because you are brainwashed and conditioned to by the cult org.. You were scared, much like a child is of the dark before they grow up - to later realize that there is no monster lurking under the bed.

It's all a psychological construct. A prison to control your mind and keep you shackled to the cult.

Again, once they have to resort to fear tactics, the have lost the game. It's a tactic of desperation and last resort, employed only for one reason - to control you / put you back in your place.

It's disrespectful to human dignity, dysfunctional, abusive and just plain wrong. I would never stay with ANY "organization" that treated people in such a manner.


- Hitch