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Shavoy
what you wrote about P.I. kicking revolting masses out made me think...If all these sincere, good-intended members rose up in defiance, refusing to do any more for the Gakkai in the functions you said...P.I. might do a double-turn...that's a lot of disciples to lose, a lot of revenue shot...Of course, he does not need any more, but gotta keep the funds flowin' no matter what....
Great post, Anticult..
Shavoy
I've wondered about this myself. SGI loses members all the time; so many leave due to constant pressures to do too much, the obsessive mentor/disciple talk, and total lack of democracy in SGI. So why doesn't SGI ease up on these things? If they did, they'd keep more members -- have more worker bees and more cash coming in. Hasn't this occurred to the senior leadership? Surely, it must have. So why haven't they changed SGI? In my opinion, the leadership just wants unquestioning, totally devoted Ikeda worshippers. Ikeda and cronies are fine with losing members who think for themselves. They want all members to be like this: (posted on www.fraughtwithperil.com, Kempon Hokke blog)
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9-15-00 World Tribune study material:
“As the American poet and author Robert Bly says in Iron John, we
search for a “second father” or “a second king…”
“We can each ask ourselves: Is there anyone we know or have heard of
who possesses true greatness? If so, we should leave
with him or her”
Early in my youth I faced a huge test in my relationship with President
Ikeda. I loved him from the first and considered myself
his disciple. But I was very young and had no clue about the obstacles
that I would face in the future.
After a particularly severe set back in my life, I felt that I had
failed as a disciple. Before I realized it, I was overcome with
negativity. “I have failed him;’ I thought. And my heart broke. I had
to think deeply about what he really meant to me. What is a
disciple? What does a mentor think about a disciple?
I came to understand that I had a very shallow view of the mentor-
disciple relationship.
When I realized that President Ikeda’s
belief in me, his belief in my potential, was unconditional, I was able
to pull myself out of the depths of that hell…I heard the mentor disciple relationship explained once as the mentor
being like a transmitter and the disciples like receivers. President
Ikeda is always transmitting. It is up to us to receive the message.
Several months ago I heard a young woman describe her struggle with the
mentor-disciple relationship. She was devoted to her practice, to kosen
rufli and her members. She was acting as a person of the same mind as
the mentor. But al though she respected President Ikeda and thought he
was “a great guy” as she put it; her heart was closed to him. And this
troubled her. She was frustrated by the fact that she “just did’nt get
it.” This was some thing she pondered through many prayers.
Then one night as she was standing alone out under the stars at the
Florida Nature and Culture Center, she had an awakening,
a realization. It was a matter of trust It wasn’t President Ikeda; it
was her ability to open her heart to him. Her father had been a
very respected professional, but behind closed doors he was an abuser
feared by the family. She realized that this was the “wall” between
herself and President Ikeda. All of her chanting and prayers had led her
to see this and suddenly she “got it” and tears began to flow down her
cheeks. Her receiver was turned on.”
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Receiver on --- mind off.
The writer of this passage feels that he's let Ikeda down -- that Ikeda's belief in him is unconditional? This writer most likely has never met Ikeda and never will --- Ikeda doesn't know his name, wouldn't recognize him if he tripped over him. Apparently, Ikeda is like a combination of God and Santa Claus -- sees you all the time, and knows who has been naughty and who has been nice. Children eventually question, and outgrow their belief in Santa....so how is it that adults can still believe in Ikeda Claus?
I felt very sad for the woman that the writer describes -- who had the revelation at the Florida Nature and Culture Center. Here you have a person who was wounded at an early age, in pain and probably longing for a father whom she could trust.....as a lot of people are --- and instead of real help, she gets manipulated into buying into this daydream about a fantasy father. Who, in reality, is less trustworthy than the father that she couldn't trust. It's like encouraging someone to obsess on a crush on a movie star that they'll never meet -- rather than dating and having real relationships with the people around them.
I guess there's just this market for fantasy. People in pain are desperate to escape it -- and SGI has figured out how to exploit people's pain, and their desire for escape.