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tsukimoto
From www.fraughtwithperil.com, Kempon Hokke Blog, Mark Rogow

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Soka Gakkai's Teachings on benefit: Quotes from Josei Toda, second president of SGI

"When I meet you, I don't ask: "Are you keeping faith?" The reason is that I take your shakubuku for granted. What I really want to ask you is how your business is, whether you are making money, and if you are healthy. Only when all of you receive divine benefits do I feel happy. A person who says "I keep faith; I conduct shakubuku" when he is poor - I don't consider him my pupil. Your faith has only one purpose: to improve your business and family life. Those who talk about "faith" and do not attend to their business are sacrilegious. Business is a service to the community. I will expel those of you who do nothing but shakubuku without engaging in business." Josei Toda

"How can we live happily in this world and enjoy life? If anyone says he enjoys life without being rich and even when he is sick - he is a liar. We've got to have money and physical vigor, and underneath all we need is life force. This we cannot get by theorizing or mere efforts as such. You can't get it unless you worship a gohonzon...It may be irreverent to use this figure of speech, but a gohonzon is a machine that makes you happy. How to use this machine? You conduct five sittings of prayer in the morning and three sittings in the evening and shakubuku ten people. Let's make money and build health and enjoy life to our hearts' content before we die!"
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There you have it. The writing was on the wall, even in the 1950's. In the words of Toda himself, SGI was never about faith, Buddhism or enlightenment. It was about money and worldly success, telling people that they could have whatever they wanted, if they followed SGI's directions.

You can't enjoy life without being rich? That's hardly Buddhist, but Toda said exactly that.

If you practice, but don't manage to become a success story that SGI can point to as proof that the practice really works -- then SGI has no use for you. What good are you if you can't give SGI money to invest in real estate and the stock market?

President Toda said "Let's make money and build health and enjoy life to our hearts' content...."

The irony was that Toda died at the age of 58. For most of his adult life, he suffered from pancreatic and liver problems, and diabetes, despite his dedication to SGI. (Daniel B. Montgomery, "Fire in the Lotus.")

... Thats actually disgusting. This needs to be on the SGI wiki page as a quote from Toda. I've been doing some digging in my old SGI materials and have found a few howlers. Also got some journals and stuff from a person I know who's at universtity. Expect some stuff from me soon! :)

"seeing he was getting nowhere, Toda finally strode out, leaving the old priest (Ogasawara) to the mercies of his tormentors. 'if you stubbornly refuse to apologise, whatever may happen to you is no longer my concern. Whatever the youth division members may do to you, I will not take responsibility.' " (Daniel B. Montgomery, "Fire in the Lotus.")

Oh the happy violent Buddhas that they are! If you want to know whats happening now look at the causes you made in the past, Hello SGI please come in your time is up. With a past like this no wonder that the Org, scares people in blind agreement, SENSEI's so f-ing great, he had a master in Toda, he never forget Toda, like we should never forget our Master Sensei IKEDA, he so so so so so so f-ing great. 'Why whats he done?' "he brought you this Buddhism?" "but i found out about it through you!" "but it is because of Sensei, he so wise" "in what way?" "read a youthful diary and you will see why he is so f-ing great"

"I read it, it's a pile of self aggrandisement on a major scale" only i know this Buddhism, only the Presidents know this Buddhism, Fight Fight Fight vocabulary" Be aware of how easily, if we are not looking out for it, that we can get sucked into believing in people/orgs etc... without first checking. what am i really doing!

I've searched this forum and haven't found this posted anywhere else.

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From 'Religion in the Contemporary World' - Alan Aldridge

"Consumerism embraced: Soka Gakkai International

Soka Gakkai's critics focus on what they see as intolerance, and on its overt engagement in Japanese politics.
In Wilson and Dobbelaer's analysis, Soka Gakkai has succeeded, on their evidence from the UK, in expressing the values and lifestyles of contemporary consumerism. Consumer culture reflects a consumer economy: 'The devlopement of laissez-faire economics inevitably brought in its wake laissez-faire morality' (1994: 218). This morality is antithetical to ascetism. In place of the character virtues of the Protestant ethic, consumerism celebrates 'hedonism, self-indulgence, and the unending pursuit of pleasure.' (1994:219).
Soka Gakkai's system of belief and practices is congruent with the hedonistic ethos of consumerism. It does not impose on its adherants and exacting set of disciples and commandments. The standards of personal conduct demanded by the Protestant ethic are displaced by a political morality emphasizing world peace, the environment, the plight of refugees, educational and cultural programs. Virtue gives way to values. Soka Gakkai endorses individual choice and responsiblity, and personal happines and self-fulfilment, combining these with a range of politicized causes which appeal to the idealism of young people in particular."

Wilson, B. R and Dobbelaere, K. 1994: A Time To Chant: the Sokka Gakkai Buddhists in Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

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I thought this was apt considering Tsukimoto's quote from Toda above.

David, that quote is right on target -- Toda's description of the Gohonzon as a "happiness-generating machine" encourages materialism, self-centeredness and the pursuit of pleasure. It enables members to do whatever they want -- and not feel guilty, as long as they're chanting.

Anyone remember the "Daily Guidance" books? I found my book yesterday when I was cleaning out my closet. I have Volume 4. The "Daily Guidance" is a book -- one page for each date of the year, with a quote from Ikeda (or his ghostwriter) on each page. The idea was, before or after gongyo, you would read the day's quote. At meetings, the day's daily guidance was always read out loud, after gongyo. February 29 is also listed. God forbid we should miss Ikeda's guidance on Leap Year.

Yet another way to program Ikeda's ideas into our brains, since chanting can make a person's mind more open and receptive.

The "guidance" itself is a mixture of love-bombing, elaborate metaphors and rhetoric, fear-mongering, Chinese fortune cookie sayings and "SGI is wonderful, you need to stick with SGI!"

September 30: "It is most important to always humbly receive guidance in faith. You have to realize that if your mind deviates from that of your seniors in faith or our organization itself, you have already reached a danger zone in your faith."

Translation: We might have members who actually think for themselves, and we can't have that! Noooo....be scared....very scared...of thinking something that the organization didn't tell you to think!

March 17: "Once you become accustomed to the organization of the Soka Gakkai, you may begin to take it for granted. If you separate from it and find yourself all alone, however, you will deeply realize its value. The organization exists to help you deepen your faith."

...deepen your faith....and empty your bank account. And look at his notion that not being in SGI means being all alone. There are certainly good, caring people outside of SGI!

June 3: "There are five billion people on Earth, yet we are the pioneers who will propagate True Buddhism..."

More of that "aren't we special?"

June 23: "Buddhism is reason. Whether you will develop like a gigantic tree into an accomplished person in your forties, fifties and sixties, or simply finish your life sadly like a weak, skinny tree is determined by how you handle obstacles at this course in your life. You should remember this point."

Remember, people, you don't want to end up being a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree! Let's all be tall, mighty oaks!

June 29: "Youth should never be swept away by materialistic greed or the desire for superficial fame...."

But President Toda said we should all make money and be successful!

July 20: "A person who feels joy in life is happy. Even if you become a great statesman, a great scholar, or a prominent businessman, or if you achieve high honors or wealth -- life without joy is miserable."

A person who feels joy is happy? Who knew? Boy, am I lucky that I have President Ikeda to tell me things that I could never have figured out for myself.

August 24: "President Toda once said, "Because I went through more hardships than anyone else, I became president of the Soka Gakkai.""

How does he know that he's been through more hardships than anyone else? Certainly he suffered during World War II -- nobody else did?

October 30: "Celebrating a new departure of my dear fellow members, I would like to give these three guidelines -- they are brightness, vitality and a never-retreating spirit."

Does this even make sense?

Awww no, I had that very book next to my Gohonzon until last night. (doesn't seem to say which volume it is but it was published in 1999)

I occasionaly did read the daily guidance, looking back on it now its all just cutesy inspiring words (or serious cult manipulation whichever way you look at. :) )

I had a very cathartic experience last night of going through the piles of SGI magazines and 'study' materials I've accumulated over the years. The person I had been trying to shakabuku was with me too. We wound up on the floor laughing at how often the phrase 'Oneness of mentor and disciple' comes up.

On a serious note though, all of my materals were from SGI UK, but the 'mentor and disciple' stuff really goes into top gear around 2002-2003. The monthly magazine was also completely overhauled shortly before this. I randomly have some pre 2000 editions, and they're actually quite good! The articles seem world wise and balanced, some interesting buddhist concepts, and they actually mention by name some of the other people in the Lotus Sutra. Including the ones with particularly 'Indian' sounding names, something I noticed is pretty much non existant now, hmmm.
Anyway there is definately a big change around 2000, must have been directed from the top.

I've decided I'm going to recycle it all. Thankfully around here we have paper recycle pick up every two weeks. I will feel a bit nazi tearing the pages out of Ikeda's hard back books (they wont get recycled without being loose paper). But I'll just remind myself of how much he personally earned in renumeration over the years. If he's terribly annoyed I'm sure SGI can afford to print off another copy.

I don't know if this is extreme but I'm normally a very calm and balanced person, maybe I'm coming across like that but underneath im pissed off and just want to go up to Ikeda and tell him to F... O.. . I still consider myself a practicing buddhist however so I will need to learn to forgive. Just need to keep reminding myself that all the nice people I've met in SGI are just and brainwashed as I was... its hard to forgive those at the top though.

I thought about burning it all but atleast I'm helping the environment this way. In more ways than one.

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DavidM
I had a very cathartic experience last night of going through the piles of SGI magazines and 'study' materials I've accumulated over the years. The person I had been trying to shakabuku was with me too. We wound up on the floor laughing at how often the phrase 'Oneness of mentor and disciple' comes up.

If you want to have a few more laughs, try counting how many times the words "Victory," "Victorious," and "Victor" appear in a single SGI publication. Recently, the caption under a photo of Ikeda and his wife read "Victors." It's absolutely ridiculous. "We must win!," "We must be victorious!" For a bunch of "peaceful Buddhists," the SGI sure sounds like it's gearing up for a war to me.

David, great idea!

Made me think of Star Trek, your description of this 'Buddhist' Organization. The B.ORG. "Resistance is Futile!" "Assimilate!"

Yes, indeed, one-ness of Mentor and B.ORG!

From the Byron Katie Thread, "Cults, Sects and New Religious Movements Forum"

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Inattentional Blindness. [en.wikipedia.org]
QUOTE: "Inattentional blindness...is the phenomenon of not being able to perceive things that are in plain sight. This can be a result of having no internal frame of reference to perceive the unseen objects, or it can be the result of the mental focus or attention which cause mental distractions."

Because most of the Nondual believers have no training or knowledge of the "objects", (processes, methods, and tactics) of covert group persuasion, they literally cannot even perceive them. On top of that, their mental focus is completely absorbed in the alleged Nondual "content" and 4 Questions being put forward by Byron Katie.

So their conscious mind is totally occupied on the Nondual content, and their lack of awareness of the other unconscious processes being used on them, means they literally can't perceive what is there in plain-sight.
To get out of that rut, you have to temporarily IGNORE the content, ignore the nondual philosophies, and try to spot the persuasion processes being used. Talk about enlightenment, with some awareness and training, once a person can see these thing being done to people, a light does go on.

Its like how a fellow magician looks at a fellow magician's act, he sees how the magic trick is done. But to the general public with no experience in magic, they only see illusion and magic. But another magician sees the misdirection, and looks away from it, to spot what is really going on.
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SGI is a master of this too. The senior leadership keeps the membership occupied with putting on endless rounds of meetings and activities, the feud against Nichiren Shoshu, Ikeda-worship, and abundant chanting, to get their wishes to come true. Kept so busy and distracted, many members won't think about things like SGI's involvement in Japanese politics, its wealth and lack of financial disclosure, and the members' lack of voice in the organization.

My experience with long-term SGI loyalists is that they're absolutely baffled when someone brings these issues up. It's as if they have no idea what you're talking about. It seems as if they can't even think that SGI is not all it says that it is. It's like trying to describe colors to a blind person!

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tsukimoto
My experience with long-term SGI loyalists is that they're absolutely baffled when someone brings these issues up. It's as if they have no idea what you're talking about. It seems as if they can't even think that SGI is not all it says that it is. It's like trying to describe colors to a blind person!

You are right Tsukimoto! On the other hand I sometimes have the impression they know deep down that soemthing is foul. As if their actions and belief would undo those things. Under normal circumstances they are happy to point out that SGI is a world wide movement and state the number of members around the globe. When one points out the above mentioned flaws though its all of a sudden "a cutural thing" - being here in Europe saying "oh thats an american/Japanese thing" even though the same things happen here too. What strikes me most that Buddhism after all is known for its respect and here we see the actions of SGI which overall lacks one important issue - respect. May it be respect in regrad for the privacy of peoples lives or respect for those who hold on to other beliefs.
Again we just have to read the SGI charta to see how SGI goes against its own so called principles. In many ways its quite schizophrenic is it not?