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Hitch
Back in America, the Japanese leadership was livid over the way the priesthood treated the USA gakkai cult members. They basically did the bare minimum, and begrudgingly so. It was all washed under the rug and kept hush-hush from the English-only speaking members. The official spin was that our "faith" had gotten us in and blah-blah-blah. The reality was, it was just another extension of the fight going on behind the scenes, unbeknownst (intentionally suppressed) to the common membership. Why was it intentionally suppressed? The cult org.'s official spin to those in the know, "to protect the innocent and pure faith" of the members, was the justification.
The priesthood rift was only kept a secret as long as it served the cult org.'s interest. When it no longer did, there was no holding back (and it got real ugly, too).
- Hitch
I am most definitely interested to hear about what's been going on lately. I believe I was out by spring of 2008. What you say about how we only got a "sanitized" history - one side's narrative, separated from actual details and events - is right on the money. And speaking of money...Quote
maybe the longer out ex members want to know about the current cult tactics. They appear to change their faces like a virus, cleanup the old informations and put on a new diguise or the old one again, and when you are a cult novice you know nothing about the whole priesthood affairs or SGlie history.
Oh barf. They'd take ANY money, no matter how grudgingly given! But I know what you mean about how the attitude toward money must be carefully managed - we can't let the organization appear greedy or demanding, can we? One time, in 2007, I think, I called HQ (I live in north San Diego county, so the HQ in LA is accessible to me) and asked for a copy of the SGI's financial statements. I have a graduate degree in finance, and financial statement analysis was one of my favorite classes. I was told that they would not give me copies; if I wanted to come all the way up there (almost 2 hour drive in heavy traffic), they would let me go into a room and *look* at a report - no pictures, no notes. Hmmm...Quote
In 2011 I had that study examinations 2 and it was divided into three sections. Part 1 was all about Nichiren and historical events and the history of the 3 presidents, a multiple choice test. Part two was about the gosho The Inheritance of The Law, you had to fill out in your own words a lot of life and death phrases and waves of the ocean blablaba.The most correct answers were those within emphasis on master-disciple relationship, the oneness of the group and the protection of the group. Always go conform with the group, ever protect the group, don't leave the group...The other questions in part 2 were about donations, an excert of the NHR triumph lecture about the Suddatta -rice- offering story. And a praise of SGI history of donations- how they carefully handled the money and only the most deepest heartfelt offerings are welcomed by them.
I took the study exams (*eye roll*) years ago - they were apparently a bit different then. The article on the SGI over at culthelp (This article, not this exact page said that SGI was legally required to change its doctrines in order to set itself up as a separate religious entity from NS (or else NS could just excommunicate the SGI and that would be game over). I never heard about these doctrinal changes, and it sounds like they have lately accelerated. Details would be very much appreciated.Quote
Part 3 was all priesthood conflict, and the only question was: what is your personel opinion about the priesthood split and do you think that SGI profits in the future from the splitting.So from your point of view, was it a good descision? You only had the filtered version of the story/ the script and you had to go conform with it, make a pretty little nikken-baiting and sum up with a sensei the good man. I think you had maximum of eight to ten lines to fill out in part 3. The examination papers had to be signed and I regret that I did sign it. With hindsight I would like to sign it with Micky mouse or Mork from Ork.
Fact is the SGI owns a paper signed by deceived sixtyseven. And I feel real sick when I think about that examination papers. - 67
Wow. Wouldn't THAT be a kick in the pants? To spend all that money and effort and time to go see the Dai-Gohonzon - and then spend the entire trip doing something else and miss out on the "Prime Point"? Remember that cultspeak? "Prime Point" HA!! Boy, I would have been rather steamed, to have gone specifically for that and then not get to do it because of cultie running around instead.Quote
All of our CULTural festivals, zadankai meetings, garden parties, cult org. building tours, and obligatory cult HQ official visit were all finished up and we only had yet to visit Taisekiji. Well, a typhoon decided to blow into town and with it, our officially scheduled pilgrimage plans to the head temple got blown off the books. Roads were washed out and closed, so there was no way to get up there.
*le sigh* Maybe I'll have the stamina to look at that video later today. Say, you were in back when men sat on *one* side of the room and women sat on the *OTHER*, weren't you? They got rid of that shortly after I joined - I don't think they could have made it if they'd continued that Japanese segregation model.Quote
This kind of meeting, especially the mc, brings back lots of bad memories for me. I can't believe that I ever sat through that kind of crap for so long, before. I definitely would not have the tolerance to do it today; just going thru selections of this clip was enough for me. Good luck to those of you who have the stamina to watch the entire thing, because I sure as hell didn't. - Hitch
What, specifically, is "absolute NONSENSE"? I can tell you from personal experience that the SGI choirs I heard used the Beethoven "Daughter of Elysium" lyrics. I *saw* the music sheets for the Chorus when I practiced in North Carolina!Quote
If memory serves, the reason "Ode to Joy" was supposed to be acceptable was that the original Beethoven lyrics, which are the ones the SGI choirs would sing, were NOT Christian! The Schiller lyrics were made up later - there is a long tradition in Christianity of putting their own words to existing classical pieces. Here are Beethoven's original lyrics - it's long, I'm just going to post a few stanzas. He sounds quite deist in his perspective, and many historians think that he had little real personal connection to Christianity:
NO.
Thats absolute NONSENSE.
Ah, yes, these tabloid-esque "experiences"! Of course we can't identify this woman and confirm that it, indeed, went down like this, now can we?Quote
As an example, one WD Chapter Chief had a member who decided to run away from all her problems. She bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco. Based on her WD chief's warm and confident guidance to take this opportunity to fight to change her fortune by contributing to the Special Zaimu [money collection], she cashed in her bus ticket and gave all the money to Special Zaimu [money collection]. Within 24 hours, she was offered a job which came with a new apartment.