I just had a funny memory. I was at a 99¢ store or something - this was while I was a YWD HQ leader - and I saw these cute little lined notebooks, about 2" x 4", on sale, and I bought a bunch for the YWD. I was thinking I would give them out with little pencils, so that they could, you know, draw caricatures of the speakers at whatever activity we were at and then show them discretely to each other and giggle and stuff, help pass the time. But then I realized that this was really kind of a subversive thought - certainly wasn't promoting the sort of prayerful, rapt attention attitude that I knew (on a different level) that the other leaders expected, so I never handed them out. Kinda wish I had :)

@ Nichijew: WOW what a long list of wacky, twisted thoughts and statements. The Greg with the blackbird shooting is too much what I can stand, no thats not enough, that is all so wrong, wrong wrong. They are so SICK, how can anybody claim they are not?

After the reading I thought about the Stockholm syndrom and if it could be a possible mass phenomenon, like the 12 Million people in 192 countries suffering from it.stockholm syndrom

BTW, all those sources Nichijew posted are from 13 or more years ago, in some cases 50 years ag.

Quote
TaitenAndProud
""I think some or these so called spies were probably people who were curious to see
if you guys are as weird as I said you were. -
Tom Ultican SGI member - per Nichijew"

Nichijew, I have spoken with Tom Ultican personally. Granted, it's been about 8 years, but I DO know the man - a bit. Can you please provide the context? It appears this quote can be taken either way - that he was saying to people that the SGI members were really weird, so the temple members sent "so called spies" - OR that he was saying that someone else was weird and that...what? So I just don't understand what this quote is supposed to mean.

If you prefer to PM, my mailbox is open :)

Hi T&P. Tom CULTican was attempting to put the abhorant behavior of the SGI [in sending out spies to the temple] in a more favorable light. Like all good sincere SGI members, he was defending the indefensible.

Nichijew

Quote
TaitenAndProud
Nichijew, I have thoroughly enjoyed the various comments you've presented - they're eye-openers, to be sure!

However, I can't escape this nagging feeling that it's all directed at ME O_O I know, I know, I'm such an attention whore, aren't I? Unforgettable...that's what you are...everybody SING!!

Perhaps I'm the exception that proves the rule, or whatever THAT's supposed to mean? Everybody in the SGI is evil and dangerous - except ME, because I never was??

Sorry, not buying it. I know *plenty* of SGI members who ARE good-hearted, kind, and well-meaning. Not everyone who is in SGI posts on-line, and not everyone who posts on-line posts inflammatory threats. We should all know that by now.

I'm not saying that there *AREN'T* icky SGI members - there obviously are! I've known a few of them, myself! Remember, I rubbed elbows with the national leadership! Seen it O_O

Perhaps I mentioned it before, but I arrived, a few years back, at the conclusion that all religions are essentially equal. There is no difference between them - they're all *neutral*. The only important detail is whether a given religion meets YOUR needs or not. If it does, that makes it the *RIGHT* religion. If it doesn't, ignore it. Religions are a big buffet - take as many items as appeal to you. If you aren't interested, you can take nothing! If you like, say, Buddhism + Taoism + Confucianism, why not? A billion Chinese can't be wrong!! Sure, you might be hungry an hour later, but then you can go right back and choose something else, right? Who's to stop you?

The person who wants to restrict and dictate your choices is the dangerous one. The person who wants to remove options "FOR YOUR OWN GOOD" is the manipulator you want to avoid at all costs. Yes, I have my eyes open.

No exception. Feeling that one is an exception is the world of Anger. You were as bad as the rest of us. Now you are good. You are taking your life back and contributing to a noble cause, revealing the dark side of the SGI cult.

Nichijew

Quote
TaitenAndProud
BTW, all those sources Nichijew posted are from 13 or more years ago, in some cases 50 years ag.

The new improved kinder gentler SGI? It is SO much better. The reality is, the powers that be shut down SGI member participation on unmoderated newsgroups. They created what amounts to a news blackout. They went on stealth mode. Like all authoritarian nations who subjugate their citizens and restrict their freedoms, it is now even more difficult to gain a true picture of SGI. If anything, the old SGI was better than the new SGI. Now that's a scary thought.

Nichijew

One other thing, the more recent SGI member threats, spin, and intimidation witnessed on my Fraught With Peril Blog are gone. As you may know, they shut it down. The more recent foolish, mean, slanderous, columniatiing, and irrational comments by SGI members are no longer available to the public. Now they don't even bother to comment. It is even more important to hide their ugly faces than to "protect Sensei" and their "organization that is more important than their lives". Actuallly, by shutting their mouths and the mouths of their critics, they ARE protecting Sensei and the Soka Gakkai. Some sick people like their freedoms restricted. Not me, but it is more difficult revealing their true nature. I'm sure they like it that way.

Nichijew

"Hi T&P. Tom CULTican was attempting to put the abhorant behavior of the SGI [in sending out spies to the temple] in a more favorable light. Like all good sincere SGI members, he was defending the indefensible." - Nichijew

Oh, like YOU'd know. You don't know him, do you? And I *looked* up your source - it sounded like playful banter. But it CAN'T be playful banter, can it? No, it MUST be deadly serious EEEVIL!!! And that's why you have to insult and malign him, right? Changing his last name from "Ultican" to "CULTican" - he DESERVES to be treated badly, doesn't he? Because he made not one, but TWO playful comments? Inexcusable!!!

If anyone wants to see the thread and the various contributions - it's from the year 2000, so almost 13 years ago - it's here: [tinyurl.com]

And here's the whole post:

Did they come in black helicopters and wear blue helmets? Kurt, I assume a
lot of what you say has some basis in fact, but I think you are being as
parinoid as some group of young men were being stupid. I think some or these
so called spies were probably people who were curious to see if you guys are
as weird as I said you were. - Tom U

Hmmm...anyone else detecting...oh, I dunno...A SENSE OF HUMOR, perhaps?? Really now.

Here, from 1999, is an example of Tom Ultican's dry humor - his reference to Faulkner: [groups.google.com] Don't look, Nichijew! I'm sure it's just *dripping* with EEEEEVIL!! Trying to infect you like some vile tentacle beast!!!

You know, back when I was in Soka Spirit, I thought about attending a temple ceremony or whatever, just to see what they did there. Because I didn't buy what I was being fed about them, and I thought that the only way I could know for sure would be to go see for myself. In the end, I never made it - too far, small children, etc. - but that would have made ME a "spy", right?

When I did their gongyo with the Theravada Buddhists at the Deer Park Monastery in, what, 2008?, I was a "spy" then, too - right? Interestingly, for all the ick Nichiren had to say about every other Buddhism, when I did a few minutes of the Theravada Buddhists' gongyo with them, I came away quite impressed, and with a newfound respect for their Buddhism! Funny, huh? What if the "spies" ended up sympathetic to the temple movement from seeing for themselves? Le horreur! Oh, wait - that could NEVER happen, right?

"No exception. Feeling that one is an exception is the world of Anger. You were as bad as the rest of us. Now you are good. You are taking your life back and contributing to a noble cause, revealing the dark side of the SGI cult." - Nichijew

Oh barf. Issues, dude. You has them. False dichotomy - look it up. Also "nonduality" - it's a Buddhist concept. Even within the Nichiren schools. Here, since you were lamenting the demise of FraughtWithPeril, from FraughtWithPeril:

I also see some Bodhisattvas
Who attained the following truth:
“The nature of things is not dual.
It is [formless] like the sky.”
(The Lotus Sutra p.11)

Buddhism teaches that all things exist through dynamic mutual participation; in other words, all things are involved in one another. All phenomena, which we usually think of as separate or distinct, are actually intimately related to, or even identical with, one another. These teachings are the natural implications of the basic Buddhist principles of interdependence and consciousness that are the subject of the previous chapters. The non-dualistic world view of Buddhism is very different from the dualistic religious, philosophical and even scientific world views that are so prevalent in modern culture.

Let’s begin our exploration into the non-dualistic world view of Buddhism with the non-duality of body and mind. In Nichiren Buddhism, we use the phrase shiki shin funi to express this. Shiki means “body” or “form.” Shin means “mind” or “heart.” Funi means “non-dual.” This simple phrase, shiki shin funi, encapsulates a whole different attitude towards the relationship between mind and body than the typical assumption characterized by Western philosophy. In that view, the body and mind are separate entities that have somehow been fixed together.

Buddhist non-duality does not just stop with the body and mind, however. The teaching of dependent origination also implies the non-duality of life and its environment. The Nichiren Buddhist term for this is esho funi.

In the West, our attitude towards the world around us has been very dualistic and destructive. [fraughtwithperil.com]

Indeed. So, no, no "switch" has flipped within me, changing me from "evil" to "good." I'm still just me.

Sorry, I'm simply not able to get that worked up over it. You sound as vitriolic and extreme as the SGI members about the Temple issue. Calm down. There is no "King Devil of the Sixth Heaven" that we must go to war with. But if you enjoy getting all armored up and galloping around, then by all means!

"They created what amounts to a news blackout. They went on stealth mode." - Nichijew

So they stifled themselves, in other words. Self-imposed isolation. That's a GOOD thing, last I checked! The less a group participates in society, the more it distances itself and restricts how its members may interact with others, the more it reveals its cult-ness and the easier it makes it for the members to see it. That's "win", in other words. They've lowered their profile, which means fewer people will be aware of them, which results in less successful proselytizing, fewer converts, and lower collections.

Sorry, I've never done "hysterical" and I don't plan on starting now. You go ahead without me. Now I'm *really* done. Hmmm...where are the complaints about your wall-o-texting the board and how RUDE that is?? Oh, right, s/he left... *eye roll* And those hysterics were just for ME, after all.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2013 04:09AM by TaitenAndProud.

T&P,

I just took the quote from this page

[cyberpaths.blogspot.ca]

It's from her book "The Sociopath Next Door" so I assume (safely I think) that this was a reference to a story in there.

***

Nichijew,

First, I just want to say thank you for all the postings.

Second, this isn't meant to sound as if I'm yelling. You never know online so I'm just making sure.

Right now I am also feeling that I may be coming off wrongly on here too. I did not mean to suggest there aren't people like them. All I was trying to say was that I am not like nor was I ever like this. I don't feel I should be painted with a brush when no one actually knows me here, if that is the case. I realize text is difficult enough to glean that sort of information from, but I've never in my life ever considered such actions nor would I entertain such thoughts. If ever I was approached in this manner, I would certainly have left at that very moment. Especially since I actually recognize these behaviors as the most un-Buddhist I have come across yet.

The people quoted are obviously very disturbed and then maybe there are some who seem misguided by the people they (wrongly) trust wholeheartedly. I am not saying that they aren't real, or too extreme. It's just not how I am, nor have I come across anyone who at least admitted to carrying on such activities. I've never been in a leadership position though I was being pushed to eventually be one as I was the only new member. You know they are desperate when they try to put someone like me in that position. I am not the same type of person that has often been talked about on here. I don't know what else to say on the matter but this: In my life there are always exceptions, which I tend to have found applies to me quite a lot so I am very much used to this sort of thing. No one knows what I was doing, what was going on in my mind at the time, not even those closest to me or my family know all of it.

You are right in one way though about me here. I am contributing to the forum for a good reason and that is all that matters to me right now. Even if my experiences weren't extreme, I have experienced a lot, recognize the techniques being used and would like nothing more than to share my honest experiences. What I won't do is I will not descend to SGI's level and lie about stuff just to scare people away. That is the kind of thing that kept me from investigating further. For those members, or prospective members who are much like myself, I will be disclosing things at my own leisure and participating as needed. Feel what you will about the different types of people here, but know that if you have any questions you can feel free PM me any time, I won't bite.

On FWP, I noticed Byrd's blogs and the reference I found to her death are also gone from the site when I was certain I had actually read them somewhat recently.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2013 04:10AM by sleepy skunk.

sleepy, I can't be 100% sure, but I believe Byrd's blogs were removed because she was a polarizing figure for the SGI. She was a sincere person who wanted to open up the SGI, she saw wrong and wanted it make it more right for the members. From what I've read, SGI leadership make it difficult for her and when she passed away, didn't show much sympathy.

One more example of trying to budge the SGI mindset, in sincerity for its membership, and having it end up in...well, we know.