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SGBye

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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.

Last week, I actually started to count how many times victory was mentioned in the current edition of the World Tribune. I lost count after 32 and that was only on page 4.

One of the statements that stood out was one of the 5 eternal guidelines for for faith for Ikeda Kayo-kai Day: "open the gateway to the eternal victory of mentor and disciple". Blech.

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Rothaus
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?

Schizophrenic is the word, Rothaus. SGI as an organization is like those Christians -- politicians, priests, ministers -- who insist that they are for "family values," chastity before marriage, fidelity after, marriage is a man and a woman and a sacred commitment -- while, all the while, having their girls, or their boys, on the side.

Honestly, if SGI SAYS it does something -- the odds are good that it's doing the opposite.

--------------------SGI Charter, from SGI-USA Website-------------------------------------------------------------------

Purposes and Principles
1. SGI shall contribute to peace, culture and education for the happiness and welfare of all humanity based on the Buddhist respect for the sanctity of life.

2. SGI, based on the ideal of world citizenship, shall safeguard fundamental human rights and not discriminate against any individual on any grounds.

3. SGI shall respect and protect the freedom of religion and religious expression.

4. SGI shall promote an understanding of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism through grass-roots exchange, thereby contributing to individual happiness.

5. SGI shall, through its constituent organizations, encourage its members to contribute toward the prosperity of their respective societies as good citizens.

6. SGI shall respect the independence and autonomy of its constituent organizations in accordance with the conditions prevailing in each country.

7. SGI shall, based on the Buddhist spirit of tolerance, respect other religions, engage in dialogue and work together with them toward the resolution of fundamental issues concerning humanity.

8. SGI shall respect cultural diversity and promote cultural exchange, thereby creating an international society of mutual understanding and harmony.

9. SGI shall promote, based on the Buddhist ideal of symbiosis, the protection of nature and environment.

10. SGI shall contribute to the promotion of education, in pursuit of truth as well as the development of scholarship, to enable all people to cultivate their individual character and enjoy fulfilling and happy lives.
-------------------------------End of Quote--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#1: Respect for sanctity of life: Well, Linda Johnson, a high-ranking SGI leader prosecutes death penalty cases in California. President Ikeda compares himself to Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. However, both Gandhi and King spoke out many times against the death penalty...Ikeda has said nothing about this, despite Japan's frequent use of the death penalty. Japan even executes mentally ill prisoners who may not fully understand the nature of the crime that they are accused of. Not a peep from Ikeda about this practice. (www.amnestyinternational.org)

The SGI-backed Komeito Party of Japan also voted in favor of sending aid to the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. As SGI owns a varied stock portfolio, it must also own stock in companies that manufacture weapons.

And if SGI so values the peaceful resolution of differences, and respect for human life -- why did the late President Toda allow Ikeda and several other members of Young Men's Division, to beat up and taunt the Reverend Jisei Ogasawara, an elderly Nichiren Shoshu priest? (From Fire In The Lotus, Daniel B. Montgomery.)

#2 SGI will not discriminate against any individual, on any grounds? SGI will value fundamental human rights? There are many qualified Americans who could lead SGI USA, yet Ikeda keeps choosing Japanese men to lead SGI-USA. This also happens on regional and local levels -- why are Japanese put into leadership positions when there are qualified Americans who have worked hard in a particular area and understand that area better than some stranger coming in?

Isn't freedom of speech a fundamental human right? SGI has expelled or driven out members who have asked members to have greater say in how SGI is run. If you doubt this, go to www.nichirenscoffeehouse.com and do a search for the Internal Reassessment Group (IRG) or www.fraughtwithperil.com, "A Byrd's Eye View" blog. Byrd was told, essentially, that she couldn't write about SGI on her blog unless she submitted her work to a senior leader before she posted it!

Lisa Jones, a former employee of SGI, was also threatened with legal action, when SGI leaders decided that they didn't like what she wrote on her website about SGI.

#3 and #7: SGI will respect freedom of religion, and other religions? Then why are there so many cases of SGI members harassing Nichiren Shoshu members -- why the whole "war" with the temple?

#4: SGI will promote "grassroots exchange" regarding the Daishonin's Buddhism? Nonsense, there is no real "dialogue" at SGI meetings -- if you have a different opinion, you will be shunned and criticized. And Nichiren's teachings is clearly not SGI's focus -- it's all mentor/disciple, Ikeda, Ikeda, Ikeda, culture festivals, Soka Spirit...everything but Buddhism!

#6: SGI will respect the autonomy of its constituent organizations? Yet Ikeda could just fire George Williams as General Director of SGI with no explanation to the American members -- and appoint his own men, Fred Zaitsu and later Danny Nagashima -- again with no consultation with or explanation to the American members? SGI-USA has NO autonomy. Never has, never will. It dances to Japan's tune. While I was a member, Tokyo told us what to study and when to study it, what meetings to hold -- and when to hold them. February was always a Women's Division Meeting, regardless of what SGI members in Fresno, or Baton Rouge, or Cincinnati might have wanted to do. Tokyo said so!

#10: Pursuit of Truth? Why doesn't SGI practice financial disclosure? Why don't SGI members know how much real estate SGI owns, or who exactly owns the community center? Why were SGI members told in the 1970's and 80's to respect and follow the Nichiren Shoshu priests -- and then told in the nineties that the priests had always been evil and corrupt and what's more the SGI senior leadership had always known it?

Also #10: Enable members to cultivate their individual characters and happiness? No, members are encouraged to devote most of their free time to SGI activities at the expense of schooling, work, social life, rest and family life, and told that they are making bad causes if they don't...that they will have bad fortune and never be able to improve it unless they devote ever-increasing amounts of time to SGI.

In short -- SGI is a master at saying beautiful, idealistic words -- and turning around and doing the exact opposite.

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tsukimoto
Linda Johnson, a high-ranking SGI leader prosecutes death penalty cases in California. President Ikeda compares himself to Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. However, both Gandhi and King spoke out many times against the death penalty...Ikeda has said nothing about this, despite Japan's frequent use of the death penalty.

Could you elaborate on Linda Johnsons role in that? This actually extremely interesting I think !

Daer Rothaus:

Here's one:

[www.courtinfo.ca.gov]

If one were a critic of the SGI, you wouldn't hear the end of it: "low life condition", "destroyer of the dignity of life", "deluded, unenlightened, slanderer" [in the case of non-SGI Buddhist], "racist" [were he or she white in the case of black death row inmate, for example], "misogynist" [in the case of a female death row inmate], "insane", "inhumane", "hypocrite"...

Nichijew

On another note, I've been thinking about the way leaders spoke about the actual practice of chanting.

We were always vehemently told not to 'strategise' while chanting. By that I mean if you wanted to get a job you weren't to chant and think in your mind exactly how you would do that, coming up with various ideas and plans.

First of all, in respect to 'traditional' Nichiren buddhism (as far as I understand) chanting is done to reveal one's own buddhahood, to bring out the compassion, wisdom, proper mindedness and happiness that is inherant in our own being. This would seem to fly in the face of SGI claims of 'chant for a new car!'. However I always found that when I did simply chant on my own buddhahood for a while, and then brought to mind the problems I was having in my life (job, relationships etc) I was able to analyse, disect and 'strategise' very easily, and see through to the root cause of the problem and hence find an answer. All this while I was still chanting. So it seems very odd that SGI would discourage this kind of 'strategising'.

The only answers I can come up with for this is that SGI either: Did not fully understand the length and breadth of Nichiren's teachings and taught them erroneously; did not actually want people to solve their problems therefore keeping them increasingly dependent on the organisation; wanted to stop people 'thinking' while they chanted incase they began thinking about SGI in a critical way, or wondering why it is ok to have a picture of Ikeda next to the gohonzon and not Nichiren or Shakyamuni etc etc.

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DavidM
First of all, in respect to 'traditional' Nichiren buddhism (as far as I understand) chanting is done to reveal one's own buddhahood, to bring out the compassion, wisdom, proper mindedness and happiness that is inherant in our own being.

That is how i think about it, great way of thinking about chanting. some make it more complicated than it is. then again they may think we think about it too simply. Simplicity is the key!

Just got a "hitory with our mentor" pamphlet fro 2010. It got mailed out to anyone who has gotten SGI USA publications for the last year. I ended my publications this summer but the SGI still hasn't let up. The pamphlet's almost pocket sized. It folds out to four parts. It has Ikeda's "27 visits to America" on it. I looked for it online so that I could post a link here, but I can't find it. Its for SGI USA members and its a small pictorial, historical, etc. etc. Does anyone else have this? I threw it in the trash and didn't look back. It just keeps getting worse. Its like the universe gave me its stamp of approval.

was the title "towards a new century of ikedaism" ? :-)

by the way I now and again check what is talked about in the yahoo group (you know that officialy unofficial one), its interesting that with a certain time gap some of the issues raised here a being talked about over there.

Hi everyone. I want to begin by thanking all of you from the bottom of my heart for the effort and sincerity you have put into your writing. It has really helped me and I have become absolute in my decision to leave SGI. I haven't read all of the posts, i've gotten to about page 30. But I also have a story to tell, and would like to ask input just from your similar experiences. I kinda need help and advice I guess. Let me tell you why, after around 2 years of spotty SGI membership, I googled "SGI cult" for the first time in over a year.


I was introduced to the soka gakkai by my neighbor and then afterwards roommate. Early on she gave me some pamphlets and stuff about her religion, and I just kinda accepted them and thought "Hmm how nice." She asked me to come to meetings where they'd perform, and the people were super nice of course. I thought "buddhism" would be good. Members told me stuff like "Christians can actually be good buddhists too because they live good lives". I liked that, and they said it was all "logical" and I bought all of it. I was really impressed when my roommate's gohonzon was enshrined. It was the first time I really chanted and I liked the ceremony of it and the feeling of meditation through chanting. I liked the idea of a humanistic society, people trying to be good! People trying to create values! Right on man! So, eventually I got offered my own gohonzon, and I felt great when I was handed the certificate and warmly applauded for.


I remember one of the first alarm bells went off at the shoddy literally plastic altar being priced $50 some bucks for the cheapest one. And no, no altars from anywhere else. I felt my heart sink really noticeably...but I just didn't follow the feeling. I thought, whatever, it's worth the cost of the "education" about buddhism, ironically.


So, I get invited to meetings a lot. I notice people are very, very interested in my practice, always want my number immediately, and are very pious and militant eventually. I meet some nice people my age and stuff but everyone just has to make it all about SGI. I ask questions at a ymd meeting about the Komeito and nichiren shoshu after hearing about them at a chanting session. I said I was against religion and politics mixing, and people basically said they needed Komeito for kosen rufu. Ughh....how could I not have turned my back then!?! It so clearly violated my morals. But I continued to try to explore this side of faith, it still spoke to me somewhat, even though I found myself throwing away World Tribune and not being able to stomach ikeda's material that was loaned to me.


But I remained active about voicing concern about Ikeda, about everyone's attachment to my OWN PERSONAL spirituality...well, active at least to one person. I honestly felt like so many people in the organization would be impossible to talk to about buddhism, hilariously. My friend and roomie who shaka buku'd me developed a very close attachment to me being part of SGI and an interesting way of agreeing with my views on the organization and saying that it was worth it despite the flaws.I tried to describe how I viewed gongyo as realistic meditation, focus on problems in your life. I said I didn't believe in magical unexplainable forces and such, or what many people chanted for in the various groups. She would agree and then say something like "but you'll notice traffic gets better and stuff if you chant more" and I would just cringe and ignore it.


Anyways, I would sometimes dread the meetings and sometimes be bored enough to want to go! Some good looking people (among the really burned out ones), it was diverse and was usually "good natured" stuff. I prided myself on trying to bring up things other than SGI and try to get to know people.


Anyways, I had a trip to Japan for an extended amount of time through school. Since the purpose was to study I decided to be unattached from the organization to have a "purer" view of the culture, unobstructed by the bias I knew about in Japan but hadn't really researched. I got a call from one of the members once since I kept in touch with my roommate by email. I just ignored the call.


Anyways, I returned to the area I started just three weeks ago. I got invited to meetings through my roommate who i reunited with, and it felt kinda good at first. I went to a major performance for Ikeda's anniversary visit...and again, militant, so much Ikeda, f-ing P Duffy, and the incredible weirdness of it all strikes me. Sorry, that's rather rude but true. I meet a member there who wants my number, he ends up calling me frequently for meetings.


Anyways, here begins the fun part! Creepy as hell warning signs! I return to my place of schooling after going sober from alcohol, and I feel a much stronger sense of self confidence than I did before. I feel that it has enabled me to notice some things that really, really hit my gut feeling as wrong, and led me here. Albeit eventually...


So, I'm being driven to my first meeting in over a year and a member we picked up is complaining that her son, who was supposed to MC, wasn't coming. The other member, a leader of some district or area or something, says "Oh, well....I'll have to talk to him." in a very authoritative voice. It honestly creeped me out, and then the woman was starting to complain more and he just said "Oh I'll talk to him." I looked at him and then just kept my mouth shut, while I was thinking inside "that's really neither of your business"


When I get there, I get a warm welcome, I'm asked to MC! Then, after the meeting, a member is absolutely fricking ecstatic when he learns that I need the two publications (jumping up and down)!! I look at the price...$35 bucks apiece for the two required ones? Are you serious? National Geographic is like 12 bucks a year...and this is 70? How much did I pay before, I thought. Anyways I resigned not to pay at that point, remembering what I learned about the komeito but still continuing with the group.


Well, it's time for the discussion meeting that changed it all. I'm sitting in on this meeting, but before it I'm ushered into the shop to buy the two magazines for a 4 month period...15 bucks, of course. F__k. But, I sit down, and see I am easily the youngest there and that these people are all leaders! Whoa...

I begin to half listen and mostly flip through the handouts. They're talking about kharmic retribution now, and I notice a pattern in the selected content of the handout. Everything is a reference to not needing other religions, for one law alone being needed...and I notice it's in sneaky ways. When they are referencing the "devil king of the sixth heaven", "he is also named freely enjoying things conjured of others"...the need for gratitude, as talked about in another article.

It was like I switched into paranoid mode. I start notice how the refer to "encouragement" as being involved in the organization, like a code word. I start flipping through the magazine more...every page Ikeda shit..."The errors of the nichiren shoshu organization", and "stormy april 24th", an area where I ntoiced him using "morally bankrupt", "insidious tyranny", "abandoned all that is good and just" to describe them. Wow. Seriously? I kept reading other stuff.

Listen to this for describing people who leave the organization "The mentor-disciple spirit is a powerful driving force for defeating any form of devilish function. By contrast, those who lost sight of this spirit and forget their debt of gratitude to their mentor (ikeda) will become increasingly consumed by fundamental darkness until they eventually turn into subjects or followers of the devil king" Holy...I told my mom this passage and she just said "Honey...that's absolutely horrible."


But, the piece de resistance!!!! I read this stuff at the discussion meeting, and I just look up. I'm like hyper-sensitive to the possible code words they can be using and stuff. and then someone brings up guests being bored at discussion meetings and not coming back. A member then says " A member had this problem before. I said to them, why don't you tell me some of your friend's problems? That way I can frame the discussion meeting around what they'll pay attention to" to everyone nodding and shit. At this point my jaw must have dropped, because another member pulls me out of the room. He says I can make a good leader one day, gives me another subscription form, and then keeps talking to me about how the subscription is basically "my goals and dreams". He says he doesn't want me to get "discouraged", and though he had just met me he knew I'd be a great leader. Uh huh. He keeps explaining away the meeting I just witnessed saying "I know the whole administrative stuff can get really boring to listen to so I brought you out here". At this point I was shocked but felt confident in the extreme gut feeling of wrongness about the place I was now in, and just stood there stiffly as i had my ear chatted out. "Choose your battles" I thought.


Welp, here I am. I talked to my ex-roommate about some of that stuff and she twisted it around to sound ok, but I googled SGI cult and here I am. I read so many of your experiences and have learned so much about the true nature of this organization and want to THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR INFORMATION. Thank you from the bottom of my heart that the hours, money and credibility I granted this organization were all I did and that I can get a clean break now. I want to help my few sincere friends within the organization but I figure my leaving will be a good test of true friendship, and them having an outside contact might help them someday.


But, telling my ex-roommate will be difficult. If you have any advice on that, that would be great. If she read this post she'd know it was me.


I plan on continuing to learn about buddhism in an open minded, personal approach with many sources. But I like meditation (even without chanting) and might check out nichiren shu. Thanks again and I feel badass with a renewed sense of faith in my critical thinking and in being a taiten. This isn't the last I deal with this organization (still officially a member), so I'll keep you updated.

-Pathetiquest

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Rothaus
was the title "towards a new century of ikedaism" ? :-)

by the way I now and again check what is talked about in the yahoo group (you know that officialy unofficial one), its interesting that with a certain time gap some of the issues raised here a being talked about over there.

Rothaus - loved your title! There are others who are like me - who know in their hearts the very language SGI uses is Ikeda focused. Am I right in assuming that this is SGI and not some bad translation? Also do you have the link to the yahoo group?

Pathetiquest - stick to your guns about telling your roomate/friend who introduced you. I told a few people and had a variety of responses. Everything from members who are only able to speak/think through the paradigm of SGI, to friends who understand and will continue to understand. I had a few people tell me that it was the "devil king of the sixth heaven," "esho funi" and "fundamental darkess." It saddens me that they aren't able to use normal english in their replies. The way they view the world is only through definitions/terms that SGI has mass produced/induced. I am sorry if you will lose your friendship. I stayed for a long while in the SGI for many reasons, even though every cell in my body told me to run. I missed/still miss their friendship immensley, but couldn't fake it anymore.

I haven't asked them to remove me from any lists or to shred my membership card. They know I want nothing to do with them.

Daily life has been interesting lately. You see, I've always been told to chant about my problems. Since I've stopped practicing I don't chant (some others on this forum still do on their own or through another Nichiren school). I don't think I've ever had to deal with my problems head on, alone. It was always in the back of my mind that problems were there because I didn't chant enough, or that I was lessening my karmic retribution, or that I was being protected from something worse happening (benefit). Its hard to do, but fortunately I'm equipped now to be an adult. Sometimes there is no reason/logic for hardships.