By the way, one could spend many hours carefully analyzing the SGI-USA website. It is very very cleverly put together, to lure people in.
For example..they target brand new people here, who's minds are full of doubt's about SGI and religion in general.
Is it OK to try the practice even if I’m not sure I believe in it?
[
www.sgi-usa.org]
I hope people can see how brilliant that is. This is modern advanced persuasion.
They have targeted the doubting mind.
They turn everything upside down and inside out. They reframe so-called "blind faith", and tell you to listen to their Testimonials to start, which is the same thing!
SGI is deliberately setting out to create a Confirmation Bias [
www.skepdic.com] in peoples minds, its deliberate.
SGI then sets out their program for CHANGING YOUR BELIEFS. Its right there in the text.
"documentary proof, theoretical proof and actual proof.".
The "documentary" are the Testimonials and stories, like an infomerical.
Theoretical, that is meant to bamboozle people with the twisted SGI ideas. (beliefs are theories in the mind)
And the so-called actual proof, is at best the confirmation bias [
www.skepdic.com] and often self-delusion.
But guess what, that is exactly how you change human beliefs.
Change expectations, change the stories in their minds, change their philosophies and theories, and change their perception of their experiences.
Modern SGI has carefully studied these methods, and just on one page for the SGI newbie, its jam packed with their techniques of completely changing your belief systems.
They target a skeptical mind, and lure in those people who don't have extensive experience in critical thinking.
The SGI alleged documentary Stories are bogus, many of them are fabricated, they are contrived advertising testimonials.
The SGI Theories are false, and go against actual logic and reason, and against real Buddhism!!
The SGI experiences (so-called actual proof) are the confirmation bias, and often severe distortions of reality, and more fabrications.
Real "proof" would be real university backed studies, that studied "chanting" with a double-blind control group, with placebo controls, done in many different ways. That could measure life results, or the lack thereof.
SGI offers nothing, just their own Stories, false SGI theories, and distorted perceptions of reality.
Guess what, its all intentional by SGI. They know that.
SGI doesn't chant with its billions in investments and wealth, SGI pays professional (non-SGI) money managers millions a year to manage the money for Ikeda. And they watch them like hawks.
The material below shows how there are those in SGI who have carefully studied the most current advanced methods of belief re-engineering, and have inserted them into the SGI system. That is what SGI is doing.
That is far less than 1% of the tip of the SGI iceberg.
SGI makes all these other sects and cults look like mom and pop operations.
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[
www.sgi-usa.org]
Is it OK to try the practice even if I’m not sure I believe in it?
Many people are wary of how some religions tend to emphasize belief without any evidence of how they work. They basically ask for your blind faith. Nichiren Buddhism is different. It is a philosophy and practice of actual proof—belief, or faith, arises from the positive impact the practice has on people’s lives, from how it leads to happiness here and now.
Of course, if you are very new to chanting Nam-myoho-rengekyo, you might not have experienced any conspicuous actual proof yet. But at SGI-USA activities, you have no doubt heard members’ experiences of having received benefit as well as explanations of how the practice works. This can be your starting point—instead of blind faith, you can begin with an expectation that the practice works and therefore be willing to try it.
Nichiren Daishonin established the criteria of “three proofs” that people should apply to determine the validity of a religious practice: documentary proof, theoretical proof and actual proof. Documentary proof means that the teaching should accord with the Buddhist sutras, considered the collective and comprehensive body of wisdom at the time. Nichiren explains in his writings how chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and sharing it with others actualizes the Lotus Sutra, the highest teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha.
Theoretical proof means that the teaching must accord with reason and logic. Nichiren Buddhism is profoundly based on the principle of cause and effect, of which all phenomena in the universe are an expression. We are not expected to believe in anything that cannot ultimately be explained in light of this principle.
Actual proof means that the teaching actually changes people’s lives for the better, that there is undeniable improvement that anyone can see. Nichiren argued that actual proof is the most important of the three: “In judging the relative merit of Buddhist doctrines, I, Nichiren, believe that the best standards are those of reason and documentary proof. And even more valuable than reason and documentary proof is the proof of actual fact” (“Three Tripitaka Masters Pray for Rain,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 599).
As Nichiren Buddhists, we develop ever-deepening faith through our own experience rather than simply accepting our beliefs from others. Ours is a philosophy of proof, and new members can expect to see actual proof from their practice soon after starting.
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2009 02:07AM by The Anticult.