Quote
Mashkadov
There is in fact already a charter school founded and still operated -following the spirit- of the SGI. It is called the Rennaisance Charter School located in [...] Jackson Heights.Their website is renaissancecharter.org. Although not explained on their website, it was founded by a certain Dr. Montee Joffee in the 1990s. It was only recently that he stepped down as detailed in the article "Practical Implementation of "Soka" Education: A Dialogue with Monte Joffee" URL: [www.eric.ed.gov]. You can read the abstract on that page. I have the full article but I can't share it because I has identifying information on who downloaded it (me) and where. One striking fact here is that their website doesn't mention anything about the SGI, Makiguchi, or Ikeda anywhere! There is no mention of Soka Education - not even in the Educational Philosophy Section. Do parents even know the inner motivations of their children's school?

Excerpt from About Us > Mission
Renaissance is based on the conviction that a change in the destiny of a single individual can lead to a change in the destiny of a community, nation, and ultimately humankind. Its mission as a K-12 school is to foster educated, responsible, humanistic young leaders who will through their own personal growth spark a renaissance in New York. Its graduates will be global citizens with an abiding respect for peace, human rights, the environment, and sustainable development.
...
Renaissance is committed to graduating competent individuals who are powerful thinkers, engaged citizens, and life-long learners who will create the renaissance of New York.

Mashkadov, thanks for posting this. Montee Joffee was, and probably still is, an SGI leader, and the statement reeks of SGI rhetoric. SGI has also spoken of a "Soka Renaissance."

Still, it's difficult to know exactly what the story is with this school. Is it a school that has been created and funded by SGI, and it's just not identifying itself as such?

Or is it a school that just happened to have a principal who was a member of the Soka Gakkai? (Interestingly, Dr. Joffee was a friend and mentor of the hate-chanting principal, Phillip Scharper.) Principals bring their interests, philosophies and values to their schools -- how can they not? A Christian principal may feel that his values inform his work as an educator-- yet that doesn't necessarily mean that his church runs the school. It doesn't automatically mean that he's trying to convert the students.

"Renaissance" seems to be a popular name for charter schools. There's a whole chain of Renaissance Charter Schools in Florida and Georgia. Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Moscow, Idaho, Fresno, California, and Flushing, New York have all had Renaissance Charter Schools. Are all of these schools connected with SGI, then? When you look at their websites, there is certainly no mention of SGI. The schools also seem to have different philosophies, and focuses -- and quality.

The school in Jackson Heights seems to have a good reputation, while Renaissance Charter Schools in Pennsylvania have been closed for low test scores. The Boston school was poorly evaluated for turning away special ed students. It was one of the Edison schools -- so is SGI connected with Edison? The Fresno school has been closed. The Barack Obama Charter School in Los Angeles had two board members who also hold important positions at SGI's Soka University. Coincidence?

Given SGI's secrecy, it's just hard to know what's really going on here. They've had an Educators' Division since the 1990's...used to be part of the Culture Department. Some of the teachers in my area used to go to these meetings. They said they just talked about teaching, "value creation," and humanistic education. And for many principals and teachers, maybe that's all it was -- an occasional meeting, hanging out with other educators. For other people, in other areas, maybe there was more to it. Perhaps some educators are being groomed to become principals and apply Makiguchi, Toda and Ikeda's "humanistic education," and "value-creation education" to the public school system. Not specifically Buddhism, since in America, religion in schools is extremely controversial and could easily backfire -- but this "humanism," "socialist competition," that Ikeda keeps spouting. This philosophy seems to interest him far more than actual Buddhism does anyway.

This could offer Ikeda the best of both worlds -- he can get his half-baked philosophy into the schools, without the actual work and expense of operating large numbers of charter schools.

I'm a new poster, but in the last 12 hours I've read the entirety of this particular thread.
So...here's my story.

I was introduced to Nichiren Buddhism in 2000 by my former mother-in-law. Now, my ex-husband, prior to introducing me to his parents, referred to his mother as a "Crazy, neurotic woman who practices Buddhism". I was sure that I wouldn't like her, and vice versa.
When we met, she seemed to be such a sweet, loving, kind, and compassionate woman. She didn't mention Buddhism to me until a year after I'd met her...it was the day after I married her son. At that point in my life, I'd given up the Catholic church and all the guilt that came with it 5 years prior. I considered myself agnostic, for the most part. After talking to Susanna (my then MIL), I felt like Buddhism was for me. .I read the books she gave me...they were all about Nichiren Buddhism and, at that point, I hadn't read anything by Ikeda yet. Before long, I was chanting at least 3x/week with Susanna and, little by little, she'd introduced me to other members, meetings, the community center, etc. This was in Northern Virginia, and Susanna was a district leader at that time. She has since advanced up the ranks, though I don't know her current title. I enjoyed my activities with SGI.
Life went on and things changed, as they tend to do on a regular basis. My marriage fell apart because my husband was diagnosed with schizophrenia and refused to take the medication his doctor prescribed. I couldn't take care of his 2 children from a previous marriage, him, and myself. The pressure was too much and I was personally falling apart and felt that I was dragging his kids down with me. That wasn't fair to any of the parties involved and, after much discussion with my mother and sister, I decided to leave.
Susanna took her grandchildren in, as her son was essentially useless at that point. She helped me packed my things, all the while smiling and cooing gentle things at me. When I got into my car to drive to my hometown in another state, she got within an inch of my face and said, "I know you probably don't care at this point, but my son's mental health issues were brought on because of your relationship karma. You could have asked me or another leader for guidance, but instead you are choosing to run away from your problems. You could have chanted more daimoku. I know you didn't chant as much as you should have. When you're lamenting about your broken marriage to your friends back home, take the high road and tell them your role in it."
I was flabbergasted. I was pissed. I didn't take the "high road". I told her to go fuck herself and pealed out of the driveway. I didn't chant again for a long, long time. Two years later I met another SGI Buddhist at work. She asked me if I'd like to join her for a meeting and I told her about my prior SGI experience and how the tables turned on me so quickly. She told me that it was Susanna's grief over her son's 2nd failed marriage that prompted her to lash out at me. "Devlish functions". She assured me that HER SGI group was NOTHING like that. And they weren't. I was practicing again without much pressure to buy the World Tribune (our leader made copies of the articles we discussed at meetings...I'm sure that's probably a no no), without pressure to shakubuku, etc. It was peaceful, I enjoyed my practice, I enjoyed my fellow SGI members.
Then I moved again, to another part of Pennsylvania. I figured I'd get in touch with the SGI members in that area since I'd had such good fortune with the Pittsburgh area group. This is when things started getting dicey. I was coerced into buying World Trib & Living Buddhism. At meetings I was badgered so strongly into sharing experiences that I began just making shit up, all the while wondering what the hell was wrong with me for not just saying, "Ok, screw this, I'm outta here." I'm not exactly a shy, soft-spoken woman. :P
Fast forward to now. I moved to Texas a few months ago. I didn't even contact anyone with SGI ties because the PA people freaked me out and reminded me of my former MIL, so I figured I'd just cut my losses and move the hell on. Lo and behold, I start receiving e-mails and phone calls from the area leader where I live now. I hadn't returned any of those communications and one morning, as I was walking my dog, my phone rang. I let it go to voicemail and t was my former district leader from PA...she said that she'd done her part to put me in touch with the right people in my new location and that she'd been told that I have avoided all of their attempts to contact me. She said, "Since you are no longer practicing, it is imperative that you return your Gohonzon to your local community center. That is property of SGI, on loan to you, and you may not keep it if you're going to slouch in your practice in this way."
I didn't call her back. I've been chanting, still. Gongyo and daimoku have always felt good to me. I don't chant till my lips are numb or anything, but I find that gongyo and chanting just make me feel good. Relaxed. It's like meditation.
I keep getting calls from the SGI Texas people and I keep avoiding them. Hopefully they'll stop soon. I enjoy this
practice and it's a real shame that there are more nutjobs than normal people involved. *sigh*

Quote
Mashkadov
Hi Guys,

I am a new poster to this forum - although I have been lurking in the shadows and have been following since about page 15. I am sure there are some more people like that. I don't want to hijack the latest discussion but I thought I would add something to the earlier discussions regarding the SGI charter school.

There is in fact already a charter school founded and still operated -following the spirit- of the SGI. It is called the Rennaisance Charter School located in [...] Jackson Heights.Their website is renaissancecharter.org. Although not explained on their website, it was founded by a certain Dr. Montee Joffee in the 1990s. It was only recently that he stepped down as detailed in the article "Practical Implementation of "Soka" Education: A Dialogue with Monte Joffee" URL: [www.eric.ed.gov]. You can read the abstract on that page. I have the full article but I can't share it because I has identifying information on who downloaded it (me) and where. One striking fact here is that their website doesn't mention anything about the SGI, Makiguchi, or Ikeda anywhere! There is no mention of Soka Education - not even in the Educational Philosophy Section. Do parents even know the inner motivations of their children's school?

Excerpt from About Us > Mission
Renaissance is based on the conviction that a change in the destiny of a single individual can lead to a change in the destiny of a community, nation, and ultimately humankind. Its mission as a K-12 school is to foster educated, responsible, humanistic young leaders who will through their own personal growth spark a renaissance in New York. Its graduates will be global citizens with an abiding respect for peace, human rights, the environment, and sustainable development.
...
Renaissance is committed to graduating competent individuals who are powerful thinkers, engaged citizens, and life-long learners who will create the renaissance of New York.

This is a little out of topic but 253 honorary degrees? I know that in at least some of the countries I am intimately familiar with - MOST OF THE UNIVERSITIES HE GOT HONORARY DEGREES FROM WERE NOT EVEN PRESTIGIOUS. A lot of these universities are no-name universities that were probably enticed by generous gifts or cash infusions. The SGI does not do much of anything practical for so-called "World Peace". How would these mostly obscure universities even know who this man is? There is just so much BS.

[Moderator Note: Please don't post addresses and phone numbers here. Read the rules]

I know Monte Joffee quite well. A more zealous Ikeda disciple you will never meet. I would immediately pull any child of mine out of any school founded by him. He is like the evil Bizarro Clark Kent who turns into the evil Bizarro Superman. He looks like Clark Kent and obviously put on his best Clark Kent persona when founding and promoting his school but underneath, he is a leader of the Soka Spirit destroy the "Evil Nikken sect" movement in New York:

[nonstny.homestead.com]

More of the ends justify the means SGI pseudo-Buddhist philosophy and Doubtful wants to put Ikeda on the Gohonzon. Might as well put Enchin, Jikaku, or Annen on the Gohonzon. They were all practitioners of the Lotus Sutra for whom Nichiren had nothing but criticism [because they mixed the clean teachings of the Lotus Sutra with other beliefs and practices, like SGI's mentor disciple teachings].

Mark

v3sus,

Welcome to the forum, I am so sad to hear your experience, there is a weird thing in the Gakkai, I have seen over the years when dealing with members with mental illness, there is much bad guidance to the unfortunate and then there is a certain level of labeling and disdain, not good for all concerned. I think if you make it clear to them what it is YOU want to do they will leave you alone. These people have no right to tell you what to do, if you make that clear to them they will leave you alone. It sounds like you have settled on a good rhythm of chanting and gongyo that works for you, great.

If only it was as easy @ this to tell SGI to leave you be! Years ago I was a leader and I had a YD member parents call me and they told me that there kid would not be going to any SGI activities so take their kid name off the list - I horned their request and said the kid would be taken off! This occurrence took place during the IKEDA is your mentor campaign! Well about two months later I got a very troubled call from the x-YD parents – they told me that they had received numerous calls and their kid was receiving e-mails and having “home visitations” the parents said they told these YD visitors to go away! Then came the warning that if any other contact was made in any way then they would take legal action against the SGI. I informed them that I was unawares of these contacts and would right this matter promptly. SO I put out to one and all to stop just stop because the parents would take it to the next level with legal action and might even go further – it had to go to this extreme before these fanatics would stop with their unwanted advances. I am sure this is not the only incident of this type ; )

@The Void, To me you wrote, "Your mind is your own matter, in how you decide to acknowledge SGI pros and 'CONS'
But i truly think it is just a Professional Con, and we have been had!" I like your use of upper case. Who knows? Maybe I have not exorcised all traces of SGI out of my system and maybe I will hold onto some parts deliberately. You also wrote, "People were encouraged to write to Sensei about "how i was struggling to make a Break Through in my practice, so i wrote to Sensei" these people who got replies never seemed to be regular members, but area and district leaders or the National leaders, they would "never believe that he would write back, because he must get so much mail, but to my surprise, Delight (insert variation on how f**king pleased you were, but the more over the top and emotional the better), he did, I welled up and tears flowed from my eyes at this joyous occasion. It said 'STAND UP'." I admit that whenever I would hear people share the contents of their replies from Ikeda, I was incredulous. The only thing I could think was, someone in some office somewhere has this responsibility to pretend to be Ikeda responding to letters. I don't need any convincing. SGI is a cult, albeit a benign cult, but a cult nevertheless because of things like this: encouraging people to write to Ikeda and then expecting them and us to believe he wrote back. The pics in members' homes, usually on or near the altar; The Human Revolution; Ikeda's ridiculous poetry; 250 meaningless honorary doctorates; mentor-disc (with Ikeda as the only possible mentor); the preposterous Gandhi-King-Ikeda exhibit; and all the uncritical talk of Ikeda's greatness; encouraging the members to use ment/disc + the Gohonzon to make their dreams come true---all of these things make SGI a cult, not a legitimate Buddhist sect. But for sentimental reasons, I like having his pic in the room where I do my practice. After all, I don't regret my 21 years in SGI.

@v3rsus, You wrote that your district leader finally left you a voice mail saying, " 'Since you are no longer practicing, it is imperative that you return your Gohonzon to your local community center. That is property of SGI, on loan to you, and you may not keep it if you're going to slouch in your practice in this way'. I didn't call her back. I've been chanting, still. Gongyo and daimoku have always felt good to me. I don't chant till my lips are numb or anything, but I find that gongyo and chanting just make me feel good. Relaxed. It's like meditation." First of all, welcome to the forum. Where in the hell did that leader get off asking you to return the Gohonzon? It's not SGI property. You paid for it. They don't even realize how this could backfire. I now chant to a Gohonzon on-line when I am not at home. Everyone is welcome to do so but this would be disastrous for SGI. If I return MY Gohonzon I will do so simply to be taken off membership lists, not for any other reason. At that time I will probably download another one, possibly not even a Nichikan Gohonzon. RRI and other things I have read have convinced me that no one person or organization holds "the truth" exclusively. The moment I believe otherwise I let in all kinds of potential problems. I enjoy my solitary practice. Why not, after all? I did the group thing for over 21 years. For now I am enjoying the practice another way. So be it.

@Nichijew, You wrote, "...Doubtful wants to put Ikeda on the Gohonzon. Might as well put Enchin, Jikaku, or Annen on the Gohonzon. They were all practitioners of the Lotus Sutra for whom Nichiren had nothing but criticism [because they mixed the clean teachings of the Lotus Sutra with other beliefs and practices, like SGI's mentor disciple teachings]." Just a minute Mark, I never said I WANT to put him on the Gohonzon. I said, or meant, that if SGI were to do that I could understand it. I know it's not a popular opinion here, but I think he directly and indirectly increased membership significantly. Furthermore, even Nichiren made more than one Gohonzon. I wouldn't use SGI's modified version but if their members would want to--hell, why not? They are already mixing Buddhism with their leader's importance and hongaku concepts anyway. They are also free to create a new mandala to reflect their interests. The rest of us have a choice not to acquire one of theirs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2010 04:11AM by doubtful.

Quote
cyclops
If only it was as easy @ this to tell SGI to leave you be! Years ago I was a leader and I had a YD member parents call me and they told me that there kid would not be going to any SGI activities so take their kid name off the list - I horned their request and said the kid would be taken off! This occurrence took place during the IKEDA is your mentor campaign! Well about two months later I got a very troubled call from the x-YD parents – they told me that they had received numerous calls and their kid was receiving e-mails and having “home visitations” the parents said they told these YD visitors to go away! Then came the warning that if any other contact was made in any way then they would take legal action against the SGI. I informed them that I was unawares of these contacts and would right this matter promptly. SO I put out to one and all to stop just stop because the parents would take it to the next level with legal action and might even go further – it had to go to this extreme before these fanatics would stop with their unwanted advances. I am sure this is not the only incident of this type ; )

@cyclops, you may be right about that they can be persistent at times, I found that telling them to leave me alone did work, but then I have a long history with them and they know better, I have an idea, @v3sus, just go to one last meeting and openly debate the Master/Disciple dogma and make relevant points that show they are off track, then they will not only leave you alone , they may ask you to leave..

@ everyone, hehe: I just feel SO STUPID for allowing myself to get sucked into this crap not once, but twice! Everyone's so nice at first and then once you gain your footing, they're crawling up your ass for money, shakubuku, harassing you to go to meetings and World Peace Gongyo, etc.
I can't bring myself to go to another meeting...for me, it would be my first meeting in Texas. As someone else stated in a post long ago, SGI members talk about you behind your back. I'd be going in with everyone knowing my entire SGI history, as well as the entirety of my personal life. I'm really not emotionally stable enough to dip my body in honey and throw myself to the fire ants. I lost a baby in the 5th month of pregnancy not too long ago. My former district leader told me, as you might suspect, that it was simply my karma. I brought it on myself. I don't care who you are or what religion you follow; you don't say shit like that to a mom who just lost the son she'd so longed to have. Friends and family support you. People who follow any religion usually consider fellow followers friends, at the very least. SGI members are not my friends.
The more I talk, the more things come back to me about shit SGI folks told ME about MY LIFE. And I just went on, letting 'em do it! I sucked it all in like some kind of psycho-sponge for such a long time.
I was ashamed of myself for a while. Finding this forum helped; I know I'm not alone. It's frighteningly easy to get sucked in by these freaks of nature. I'm still shaken up about the whole ordeal, though.
I think I'm going to reply to the latest e-mail from the current area WD leader. I'm gonna tell her I want nothing more to do with her or any other SGI member. And I'm keeping my Gohonzon. I DID pay for it, monetarily and otherwise. I deserve it.