Hello, am new to posting but have been reading for ages, i love it when the truth is revealed by so many people not scared to highlight the sham that is SGI.
I am in the UK and got sucked into the SGI about 3-4 years ago. I never joined but did get to the stage of filling out the forms to do so, and sending them off. This was after maybe 3-4 months of going to meetings. I felt quite pressured to join at the time. But also felt that it was all quite strange. anyways I got a date that i was supposed to go to Taplow court with some jerk that i couldn't stand from my local area. If this guy was a representation of the power of SGIs law then we were all doomed. I ended up ringing Taplow to cancel going to the gohonzon confering ceremony, they didn't take that one well. How a buddhist answering the phone can be so rude i don't know, especially when they work at headquarters for the SGI-UK. Just before i cancelled i had been on the net finding out that there were loads of Nichiren schools and Indys. Also I realised that SGI was a massive bunch of Cults.
I should have realised at the first intro meeting i went to, they were mentioning that 'this is SGI we are True Buddhism, we are not part of the Temple and Nikken' at the time i had never heard of them, i had only heard of SGI via a poster that they were putting about at the time. As time went by literally 2 meetings in they kept saying 'hey Sensei's so great, you got to open your heart to Sensei, he is the master of this Buddhism' Jeezuz what a bunch of Puke! They had the fandance pic on their altar and that one of him and his missus with the big bowl of flowers on the wall. Then you realise that even though Chanting is great, especially in a group (i love the sound of it). That these people were vacuous brainwashed robots, spouting an endless repeat of Soka BS. Sensei's so great Sensei's so great, THE STEPFORD BUDDHISTS.
So you decide to stop going to meetings, but miss this chanting in a group, so you get suckered back in thinking I can ignore the cult worship crap, but you can't they want you, you are there next victim/target/shakabuku. Once the teeth are in it takes time to let go unless your personality dies and you succumb to the mantra Sensei's so great. Hey can we come to yours and have a dialogue about why you don't want to come to meetings any more. No thanks, here is some dialogue its initials are F-O, get the message. Man just thinking about the meetings and days away I spent listening to total bollocks, or watching Ikeda, Ghandi, King f-ing joke, that propaganda movie is on a par to anything that the USA, Brits and Germans were promoting about each other in bloody world war 2. It wasn't a waste of time, i think it was great to at least be involved in something that you can 'look back on' and think what the hell was that all about how could i have been such and idiot. But remember at least we are looking back at it. and not straight into it.

Anyway I need to regain my sanity, so look forward to following and maybe chippin' in every now and again!

TheVoid

David M seems to think that we are a bunch of troubled souls that need to get"help" due bad treatment by a "few" bad apples in the org. This is EXACTLY what SGI says about ex members!!!! This proves our thoughts all along. Any one who leaves such a "world peace" org MUST have some sort of mental defect or emotional trauma caused by some errant leaders. NO! The entire system of the SGI subjugates members to leaders, and leaders to Ikeda. PERIOD. It hijacked "True Buddhism" for its own perverted power goals and to provide a base of money and real estate for the top echelon of leaders..

@DavidM

I don't know you, obviously, but let me level with you. You have been in the SGI for 5 years? I got my gohonzon around that time, only recently leaving the org.

First of all, it may be easy to say that SGI-UK is different from SGI-USA. However, they are both transplants from Japan. Whatever is done in Japan is done everywhere else. Point of reference, I believe (and this is before I left) the last study topic was something about the Devil King in the 6th Heaven, right? It's not like the topics are localized for American, British, Taiwanese, or Japanese needs. Whatever the top guy wants, we do it. No questions asked. Furthermore, I also practiced in China and in South Korea and the problems are prevalent in both countries.

Ever noticed the leaders like to make a huge noise about compassion and helping others? Yet their actions don't back it up? Ever noticed how the fortune babies expect others to overcome their problems and psychological weaknesses, while the fortune babies themselves are content with doing nothing on their own?

Furthermore, since it was a huge deal despite toning down the recent rhetoric, ever noticed how there is so much hate going on against Nichiren Shoshu? I don't like them myself but . . .

Let's say a boss, partner, or a friend did something really shady against you. They betrayed you in some way and treated you like dirt? How do you chant for them? For their misfortune? For their death? Hell no! The leaders told you never to hate them and always chant for their happiness and well-being!

So if you can't hate your boss, partner, or friend and chant for their misfortune, why is Nichiren Shoshu different? I don't like them either, but it's not like Nichiren Shoshu are Nazis out to exterminate Jews. They just have a different philosophy.

Lastly, I appreciate your advice to tell us to take it up to the top if a leader mistreats us. It sounds good on paper. Only on paper. Speaking for myself, that never worked. There are no grievance procedures and even if you do protest, the other leaders would simply tell you that you don't understand Buddhism or you have fundamental darkness.

In fact, if there is a point in time when a leader abuses you, try to take it up to the top. You will get little sympathy from anyone, especially if you are a peon.

If you disagree with me, that's fine. I do await your reply. If you want to personally address my argument, do feel free to PM me.

I may be full of fundamental darkness since leaving the SGI, but I don't bite :P

I love how the SGI labels honesty and objectivity as fundamental darkness!

tsuki - thanks for the info. I remember the IRG. I had never heard of the UK independent people.

Where do I begin?

First - although my family was not top leader material, I was told that my studies would bring me benefit and advance kosen-rufu. Once I had some leader from Japan come to visit the college students in my city. He met with me alone on my campus. I was told that I didn't study enough. WTF? I had a life outside of my activities. I didn't have to answer to anyone. Last time I checked Ikeda never worked his butt off to get through a real school/college, let alone two degrees.

As for you the SGI apologist regarding "I truly hope you will get better soon" : I am soooo much better after having left and having the "fortune" to find the awesome people who are part of this forum. After having been born and raised in this practice (30+ years), I am defintely at liberty to state this was a cult. I am also at liberty to state that I was a fortune baby that has done a lot of hard work to get over the trauma of being raised in SGI.
So please don't feel sorry for me. Its the best thing thats ever happened to me (leaving) besides getting married and having a kid. I have seen the light. I hope that you see the light one day too. You'll have a lot of hard work ahead of you should you choose to leave (which it doesn't sound like you're doing anytime soon). I also had the attitude that things weren't so bad, that something was wrong with me, and that SGI wasn't really a cult. It took a lot of courage for me to stand up and say that I was in a cult.

I want to say one last thing to DavidM, before allowing the thread to return to the folk who are truly here to recover from SGI and speak objectively:

If you are truly "naturally rebelious toward authority" (I wasnt aware that SGI represents an authority), then use that faculty to learn from other more open, honest, and verifiable sources than the narrow, controlled mediums The Cult (SGI) offers.

There IS a lot of mudslinging online. Its easy to do. It is, after all, mostly anonymous. There is a deal of crossfire between the preisthood and SGI even now. It would be easy to get caught up in that. But this forum isnt about that. I would suggest you go to the homepage that hosts this thread and message board forum, to understand what its intentions are.

As Evergreen observed above, though, I dont get the impression that you are coming from a position of truly questioning SGI, either.
We all know exactly what an active supportive member of SGI thinks in general about those that have complaint with the organisation.
We have been there ourselves, becuase we used to practise with SGI too.

I would strongly recommend that you refrain from attempting to offer any "guidance" on this thread.
I, for one, find it insulting, and at the least incredibly naive of you to attempt to do so in such an online environment.
You PM'd me with an apology for this, which I accept, on the grounds that you are still involved with the cult of SGI, and, as you stated in your PM,
are a little confused by the contradicting and opposing viewpoints you have found online. As I said to you in response - there is no such forum or real system for effcetively handling complaint in SGI, which is why forums such as this have come to exist. Given the amount of offense you have already caused here, I would also suggest that you try posting an apology to everyone, instead of doing so privately, if you are sincere, I am sure this wouldnt seem inappropriate.

If you ever get to the point, which, like others here who are either going through right now, or have been in the past, where you find it impossible to continue following the method and mentality of the SGI cult, this forum will be here, as a vehicle for communication, and hopefully to support you getting your own identity back. In the meantime, I hope you continue to follow it and maybe (hopefully) learn.

Please understand though that it is precisely the attitute your first post was written in, that has lead to the resentment toward SGI that you find here.
Thats that. I think thats more than enough attention for the time being.
And now for something completely different (pleease), cue music ...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2010 06:24PM by wayfarerfree.

Long, but interesting message from the SGI Unofficial Board: Deals with the Dai- Gohonzon, a big wooden Gohonzon, supposedly inscribed by Nichiren Daishonin for all mankind. SGI used to try to get members to go on Tozan, a pilgrimmage to Japan to see the DaiGohonzon. Then after the split, somehow it wasn't necessary -- because Nichiren Shoshu was at Taiseki-ji, the temple where the Dai-Gohonzon is enshrined. And now, there's some question about whether the DaiGohonzon is even authentic!

See how SGI can just change their doctrines to suit their ends!

This message also contains information about the Komeito Party (Komei) in SGI. The tie between the DaiGohonzon (DG) and the Komeito Party? Ikeda had dreams of establishing SGI as Japan's official religion, using the alleged sacred status of the DaiGohonzon as leverage. This doesn't make a lot of sense to a westerner like me -- but look at Japan during World War II. The military government decided to make the Japanese people enshrine a Shinto talisman -- and get everyone to practice Shinto to make them more patriotic.

[groups.yahoo.com]

-----------------------------Beginning of Quote-------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: SGI Won't Tell Me What's on the Daigohonzon

You are 95% correct.
Both Mr. Makiguchi and Mr. Toda, and even Mr. Ikeda did not know that DG is
whether a fake or a real one when they became the members of NS.
And if NS opens DG in Public since it belongs to us since it is said as for the
world, we will see whether it is real one or not.

Re Shakubuku and election campaign for Komei :
It is absolutely true that the election campain activities is stronger than
Shakubuku in daily Gakkai activities in Japan a lot more than 20-30 years ago.
Even after Gakkai declares that ‚"hey separate religion from politics, all
people know but never mention that they do activities in Zadan kai or in Culture
Centers in Japan. Even candidates come in and ask for their vote both in those
places. It is true, but no one has no spirit to say that in public.

Even the Head Office of Komei cannot make it clear and give you any answer to
prove convincingly about that.

In short, it is power struggle among Gakkai, NS, and Politicians who want to
rule the country.

Now there is ZERO percent for us to talk in person to Mr. Ikeda if you have no
very special connection or power to do so.

If you have Komei party in the U.S. or other countries, people will understand
what I am saying.

What I can say right now is that every 6 month, politics activities are held in
Zadan kai or Culture centers more than Shakubuku activities still now.

Do not telephone SGI USA, they just say "don't know" or "it is confidential" or
"it is not my capacity to answer your question" and your phone call will be
transfer to an other guy or lady and again and again.


--- In SokaGakkaiUnofficial@yahoogroups.com, "queequeg1812" <lateshuvit@...>
wrote:
>
> I'll just put some facts out there to frame what I am about to say.
>
> SGI-USA is a membership of what, 30,000? 150,000 by some very suspect claims.
OK, let's say its 150,000. Heck, 200,000. Makes no difference where this is
going.
>
> SG in Japan is what, at least 7,000,000 HOUSEHOLDS, not individuals, if the
claims are accurate, maybe 10,000,000 households. Whatever. Go to any decent
sized Japanese city and you will find at least one kaikan that is bigger than
the biggest kaikan in the United States, if not several kaikans and a
Makitodakeda Hall or two.
>
> DO NOT DISREGARD THIS: That SG membership is an energetic and motivated bunch.
Tell them to vote and they will vote. In DROVES. SG has so much wealth and
influence that they were part of the ruling coalition of the Japanese government
for 10 years before the LDP coalition was knocked out by the Democratic Party
this past year for chronic mismanagement. And I will bet everything I have, the
DPJ is making overtures to SG right now to try and lure them into the fold of
the present coalition to make up for the threat by the hard left parties to
withdraw from the DPJ coalition. Yes, I know Komeito is independent of SG.
That's on paper. Go live in Japan, practice in Japan with SG for a few years,
at least an election cycle or two, and tell me that is true with a straight
face.
>
> In the SGI-USA, there is a very different image of what the SG parent
organization is. We don't see that they are like the Mormons in Utah, with TV
commercials and the whole bit. We don't hear about how SG is a regular topic of
discussion on the news programs the way say, the Moral Majority was a few years
ago, or Haggert's super ministry out in Colorado before he got caught huffing
meth with gay hookers.
>
> We are talking about serious political, economic and social power in Japan.
The needs and concerns of 200,000 sincere Americans really does not rank that
high on their list of concerns. They know we have no dog in the political fray
in Japan, that we just want to learn about this Buddhism, but to be open with us
means they have to be open at home and they CANT DO THAT[[/b].
>
> To the point of the Daigohonzon.
>
> I am convinced that SG knows and has known for a long time that the DG is a
fake (I am 90% sure the leadership of Nichiren Shoshu knows the DG is a fake).
I have heard rumors that SG considered approaching Nichiren Shu for Gohonzons
after the schism (BIG problem in the Nichiren teachings, the way they've taken
form in SG is you need a legit source for these scrolls. So much authority is
vested in being able to source these talismans. Think about it.)
>
> So much of SG was built on this vision of shakabukuing the entire nation of
Japan and establishing the National Ordination Platform where the DG is to be
enshrined, this special Mandala handed down through the Shoshu lineage, that if
they were to all of a sudden say, "its a fake" and make a clean break with
Shoshu, you would have a lot of very sincerely devoted members in Japan freak
the heck out and you would have a LOT of political upheaval, not to mention the
organization risking loss of power completely.
>
> SG were able to maneuver most of the membership away from Shoshu by convincing
everyone that it was a Martin Luther-esque principaled withdrawal from Shoshu,
and have been able to maintain this stance by casting themselves as reformers -
implying that should Shoshu relent and reform the way SG wants them to, SG would
return to the fold and once again support Shoshu. Fat chance. And more
importantly, what would be the point? Share power with a temple that has its
own power hierarchy with a magical board that world peace hinges on? You have
to have light coming out of your mouths to compete with that kind of charisma.
>
> Back when I was a member, I had a meeting with some high leaders in Japan, one
of the VPs and an up and comer in the Legal division, and asked them point blank
about the DG, what we were going to do about it. This was probably around 1999.
They said, we are just going to go on and forget about it. This was said in a
very serious and hushed tone. The younger guy was a very active leader in
Komeito, too, by the way. There is no intention of returning to the fold with
NS. None. But coming out with that might cause a lot of trouble.
>
> So, I don't know how much this study department cat knows, really knows, how
much he is aware that the DG is a fake. I don't know how good a grasp he has on
SG's big picture status. In any event, its a messy subject that SG can only
lose by delving into. So you got the run around.
>
> I'm not trying to say that all the ideals of SG are false. What I'm saying is
that behind that idealism is a lot of realpolitik, and its no joke. Its not an
arena for innocent idealists to get caught up in.
>
My suggestion is this, stop turning your brain inside out to make the SG
recommended practice make sense to you. You can stay in SG and just cut out the
parts of the practice that don't make sense to you. However you decide to deal
with stuff, the sooner you can extricate yourself from the politics and tourist
trap propaganda that SG got sucked into with Shoshu (and having the DG is about
as tourist trap a claim a temple could make), the sooner your practice will be
freed up to lead you where its supposed to. If that means forgetting about the
silent prayers they have you mumbling in your head about being grateful and full
of praise for the DG, so be it.
>----------------------------------------End of Quote---------------------------------------------------------



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2010 09:17PM by tsukimoto.

(Hi, I have sent this to the member 'wayfarerfree' as he said he would post on my behalf, if he has already posted this by the time this has been vetted (I realise it is extremely long) then there is no need to post it. In this post I have said I am leaving SGI, not sure if that will help your vetting process. Thank you.)



Hello everyone,

As you know I am not a 'pre-approved' member so I have been unable to respond to you quickly and directly on the forum, I have sent some of you private messages so I realise I have come across as fragmented and confused. Which I was btw.

I want to keep my main message here as short as possible, the latter section of this message will be about my own personal experience which I realise most people will not be interested in.

First of all, I want to apologise for the arrogance and ignorance of my first post. I did mean it honestly and sincerely but I realise now how misguided and inappropriate it was. I was quite emotionally upset when I wrote it so that might explain my actions, but it doesn't excuse them. I have a message on page 127 which was added about 24 hours after I originally posted it so you may not have read it, but it also contains and apology for my actions.

To answer the other main question of why I was here in the first place I will be completely honest.

I had been introducing someone close to me to SGI for the last few months. We had been to a few discussion meetings together and had been chanting regularly when we were together. This person was really enjoying it, the chanting and the discussion meetings. I had not been pushing SGI or buddhism in general on them at all, I have been very close to them for over 2 years and completely left them to 'come to me' if they wanted to find out about my practice or anything like that. As that was the 'proper' way in my mind.
Over the last few weeks however they had seemed unsure or anxious about SGI in some way. They said they really enjoyed chanting and did enjoy the discussion meetings but it was more the 'far-away corporate' side of SGI that bothered them. Now obviously I defended SGI (in the myriad of ways you will all have heard). However I am not and never have been an 'Ikedabot', nor are the people at my discussion meeting. So the issue of Ikeda's leadership of SGI was obscure and obtuse to me, I didn't really consider it an issue to be honest, as I had never felt Ikeda being 'pushed' at my discussion meetings or anything like that.
Obviously this person was still uneasy and sent me the link to this thread. I could tell how upset they were. I cam to the forum with the same mindset I have had coming to many other anti-SGI websites. But this was different, not the usual 'Ikeda raped this person' or 'SGI members murdered Nichiren Shonin monks' stuff. So I read, a lot.
As I said, when I made my original post I was emotionally upset, drained, and close to tears. I could offer nothing, other than to 'apologise' in an abstract way, the same kind of way you do when you hear of someone's death that you didn't personally know.
After this I read a lot of other websites with a different eye. All of the ones recommended to me I have read.

In short, I have decided to leave SGI.

Basically, as I said have I had never really 'thought' about the 'top level' SGI management and leadership. It was something very much removed from myself and obscure. This is where this post may get either controversial, or boring (if you don't care to know any more of my personal experience, though I think it may be useful to see the experience of an SGI member exposed to the 'moderate' side of SGI and how how this molded my view of the SGI.) As said, I have been a member for nearly 5 years, in that time I have been to hundreds of discussion meetings, a few 'chapter level leadership' meetings. The thing is I have never once felt Ikeda'ism being pused on me or any of the other common complaints found in this thread. There was a period I was not practicing much for about 8 months.
I got a couple of calls from someone I am very friendly with (who happens to be young mens chapter leader) but just to ask if I was ok, I told him I was but my practice was feeling weak, he gave me some advice but that was it, no more calls, no knocks at the door. I guess what I'm trying to say is I found (and still do to an extend) it difficult to accept that SGI is 'wrong'. I feel I have gained a fair understanding of Nichiren buddhism (I read the Gosho and the Lotus Sutra a lot on my own) and I've never experienced any kind of 'intellectual' censorship when speaking about the LS or the Gosho to other members and at discussion meetings. Everything was good basically.
But in saying that I guess I have never openly questioned the neccessity of 'mentor disciple relationship' (which was very, very rarely mentioned at my discussion meetings anyway) or brought up the financial and political situation of SGI in Japan. Actually I have spoken about the peculiarities of SGI in Japan to one of my leaders but he just spoke about it 'being a different culture in Japan' and stuff like that, but I did feel as though he was listening to me and replying honestly. Now that I think about it thats exactly what I would have said to someone who questioned me on it.
Sorry this is becoming to stream-of-conscious btw. I'm just typing as I feel.
I guess the other thing I feel is that all of you have had really horrific experiences in SGI and that caused you to leave. As I said I haven't, so it almost feels 'a bit rich' of me to leave. I'm not sure if that makes sense, the core reasons I do want to leave is because of the undemocratic heirarchical structure and the finincial situation. Also I have read many many personal testimonies of bad things happening to people, now obviously i could go down the line of 'this thread is just a big conspiracy against SGI'. So I suppose I needed to examine something that definately is true (the SGI top leadership and financial situation) to justify leaving to myself. I do believe 99% if not all of the testimonies on this thread are true, but thats a subjective decision I've made after reading the sincerity they were posted with.
I guess in my ind the questions of Ikeda's leadership and all the other 'dirty stuff' was put to the back of my mind. I didn't want to confront it as (for a very shallow reason) it would mean lsing the discussion meetings and other activites that I do genuinely enjoy. But as many of you have said I need to look beyond that at the wider picture.
I'm also nsure how I feel about Daisaku Ikeda. Clearly he has helped spread Nichiren buddhism around the world and done a number of other good things. So it is very difficult for me (having not been personally harmed by SGI to turn around and say 'he is an evil man manipulating people into joining and funding a cult'. Considering the birth of the SGI and other events I just find that hard to comprehend. Perhaps he has lost his way, or perhaps the 'next level down' of leadership are manipulating things to their own ends. I have no idea. As I've said I am no Ikedabot, I enjoy some of his writings but I saw him as a 'pioneer' of spreading buddhism and later a writer and 'administrator' of SGI, pretty benign basically. Perhaps my opinion will change but right now I cannot 'hate' him.
Maybe all that also explains why I didn't have alot of difficulty accepting that Ikeda is the 'head' of SGI, I saw little harm in it (obviously there are the questions of 'democracy' but he seemed to be doing a good job (from my own small personal point of view)).
I'm not sure if this will be allowed on this forum so please edit it out if so. But I have also been doing a lot of chanting as well as reading. Tonight when I resolved that I will leave SGI I chanted, without doing any silent prayers or anything like that, just chanted. I felt liberated, deeply connected to my pracice, and really, really happy.
The hardest thing is going to be telling some of the members I am close to. Particularly the young men's division leader who I am very close to (we have spoken and hung out a lot, very personal discussion from both sides) he has given me a lot of great, personal advice and helped me through some hard times. I guess I just need to be honest.
I guess my experience may be different to many others as I was actually (on my own time) reading about buddhism for a while before i met the person who Shakabuku'ed me. I was undecided which route to take with my buddhist study and practice so obviously this apperead like an amazing karmic blessing! Which to be honest, I think it was. I read an article written by a Nichiren Shu priest which was adressed to a former SGI member (easily found through a google search) in which he basically said 'try not to be too angry at SGI, thank them for introducing you to Nichiren buddhism and move on'. This is exactly what I intend to do.
After doing a lot of reading I am interested in Nichiren Shu, though the nearest temple is about 500 miles away from me. If anyone has any experience (good or bad) with them I would be very grateful for a PM to 'DavidM'. I guess for now I will be practicing as an 'Independent'. :)

Bloody hell, just saw how long this is, if anyone has read this far then... sorry! But I guess I just felt that I needed to get everything off my chest. I hope it will help illuminate the feelings of members who may come here in the future who are confused about how they feel.

And sincerely thank you to everyone who helped me start thinking critically and objectively about things. I am truly thankful."

a magical board that world peace hinges on?

I have never heard the DaiGohonzon referred to as a magic board before. When I joined SGI/NSA in the late eighties, the DaiGohonzon was revered. It's a large wooden Gohonzon, and we were told that Nichiren carved it in the 1200's as a symbol of his vow to spread his Buddhist teachings throughout the world.

SGI leaders urged their members to make a Tozan, or pilgrimmage to see the DaiGohonzon, which was enshrined in the Shohondo Building at the main temple in Japan. I heard and read many experiences of members who made the pilgrimmage and either had some revelation and/or achieved some breakthrough in their lives.

And then the SGI and Nichiren Shoshu had their bitter divorce, and Nichiren Shoshu had custody of the DaiGohonzon. SGI members were told not to visit the head temple because the evil priests were there! Yet at the same time, SGI was complaining bitterly that Nichiren Shoshu was "holding the DaiGohonzon hostage!" Please note, the priests were willing enough to let SGI members visit the temple and the DaiGohonzon --- SGI was now saying "It's a bad cause to visit the temple, because the priests are so evil."

And now? People are saying that the Dai Gohonzon is not even authentic.

SGI has done something similar with the individual paper Gohonzons that individual members keep in their homes and chant to. When I joined, new members received paper Gohonzons that were a copy of a Gohonzon inscribed by Nikken Abe, then the High Priest of Nichiren Shoshu.

Actually, it may not have even been a copy of Nikken's Gohonzon. A Nichiren Shoshu priest later revealed that SGI was handing out copies of other high priests' Gohonzons, just to keep up with the demand!

But anyway, we members had our Gohonzons -- inscribed by someone -- maybe Nikken, maybe someone else, who knows? Leaders kept telling us that our Gohonzons had power, and members gave experiences, based on their chanting to this Gohonzon.

And then the split came -- and Nikken would no longer inscribe copies of the Gohonzon for people who were joining the Soka Gakkai. Ikeda fumed, but of course came up with a solution. One of his "reformist" priests agreed to inscribe Gohonzons for new Soka Gakkai members, based on a Gohonzon that a former high priest named Nichikan had inscribed.

So new SGI members could get their own Gohonzons, and Ikeda thwarted Nikken and won that round. The next step, of course, was to get the SGI members who had received Nikken Gohonzons to exchange them for a Nichikan, SGI-approved Gohonzon.

Funny, before this, we'd always been told that our Nikken Gohonzon was just fine --- now, all of a sudden, chanting to it was going to lead you into darkness. I hate to admit it, but like the other SGI sheep, I too traded my Nikken Gohonzon in for a new Nichikan Gohonzon.

Don't you just love how SGI manages to change its doctrine to support whatever Ikeda wants to do!

I suppose next, Ikeda will inscribe a Gohonzon and everyone will have to swap their Nichikan Gohonzon for an Ikeda Gohonzon.

Tsuki, this rush to exchange Nikken Gohonzon for Nichikan Gohonzon (or whoever) was one of the first threads that started to unravel the cloak of my "faith". Other than styles and border colors, what difference could it possibly have made to have one or the other Gohonzon?? I don't even think the leaders knew what they were doing. All we knew is that Ikeda wanted us to throw out any possible remnants of Nichiren Snowshoe attachments and only be with our SGI symbols and guidances and stuff. It was crazy...the temple where I was married was suddenly a taboo and evil place.

It's all taboo and evil to me now, all the bickering and bullshit and custody issues and claims of fake DaiGs and priestly and lay person nonsense. Thanks really to this forum for a place to sit quietly come to realizations with a bunch of great ex members.