Dr. Jesus, I agree with you, other cults also have something in common with hate groups. You are using the term "scapegoat" in reference to subject of hatred. To keep totalitarian groups together leaders must create external enemies and demonize these enemies and create a hatred towards them. That is exactly what neo-nazis do - they create an external enemy, teach their followers to hate this enemy and unify the followers by the hatred. Hatred is a perfect tool for unification. Hatred and negativity towards others are part of human nature (the worst part), and these groups appeal to it. Another thing these groups have in common is a feeling of being superior to others. They openely say they are superior - some groups openely call themselves "white supremacists" and so on. SGI members believe that they are superior because only they belong to the right religion. Only they know that special secret how to be happy - others live in the dark, so they thrive on the feeling of being special. That is another part of human nature - everybody wants to be special. So these groups openely appeal to the worst in human nature - negativity, hatred, need to be superior and special. But SGI does stand out from all those hate groups - they are the best organized and the best financed. Also their headquarters are located in Japan, country known to be very tolerant towards yakuza and other shadowy groups, but at the same time very rich. This country is a perfect harbor for SGI, they feel safe there. In comparison, for example Germany is not such a great harbor for neo-nazis, German goverment is not that tolerant towards shadowy groups. SGI is the most powerful and the most dangerous hate group out there.

Hello all!

I'm really glad I've found this on the internet. Too bad I didn't have time to read all the posts, but I had a good reading up until page 6 or 7, I really wish I could've read everything, but... ;/

My story seems a bit a different from the ones I've read, but my thought is precisely what most of you had while in contact with SGI.

I live in Brazil and SGI is really big here (I think it's possibly because in my city - Sao Paulo - we have the biggest Japanese colony outside Japan), my father converted to SGI in the year that I was born, 1989. I grew up in meetings and festivals, as a child I didn't mind much, I made tons of friends and learned tons of different things. My father never forced me to do anything, he simply asked if I wanted to attend, sometimes I wasn't in the mood and he was ok with it.

He was the Students/Youth Leader in part of my city (SP is HUGE), he wasn't just a neighborhood leader though, he was very well known inside the organization. Note that we're not of a Japanese family at all (I've read that in the USA only Japanese people are leaders). Anyway, as I grew up I started questioning the whole thing... for some reason I just didn't buy it.

I always liked the whole philosophy of cause and effect and how you must treat other people well and be a good person. And I actually believe that te daimoku can help people to end their suffering and transform themselves, of course it's not magic, but I think that when done sincerely it might help people in need to find their balance and fight for what they have to. The only thing is that I always believed that I could achieve what I wanted if I didn't chant, too. It's a question of determination. When I heard stories of success I didn't question that the daimoku helped them, I just thought that it helped them to concentrate (kind of a meditation) rather than actually transforming their karma and blablabla.

My dad was a bit sad because of that because at least here they tell you that your human revolution must begin at home and in my house nobody wanted to be part of it. My mother always had some problems with the amount of time my dad dedicated to the organization and she never agreed with the whole donating money thing (another note: my mother is an atheist).

Around the same time that I stopped going to the meetings, my father got seriously ill. He has kidney cancer, and some SGI member was the one to helped him to get a check up and everything. My dad was told by doctors that he had to take one of his kidneys off and that he had little chances to survive the surgery, but good chances anyway.

Needless to say my whole family freaked the hell out, but my father remained the calmest of all people, his faith helped him throughout the whole thing. It was really something how he managed to remain calm, he chanted everyday for about seven hours and he was certain that everything would be alright.

And it was, his surgery was a success, he's alive and kicking today and of course, more dedicated than EVER to SGI. He truly believes his faith saved him, and maybe it did, but I always tell him that he could've done alone if he wanted to either. But that's just my opinion.

Anyway, a few years later I moved with my brother and mother to Canada and lived there for about four years, while there I contacted the SGI Canada out of curiosity, just to see if it was different from Brazil. And it was: a lot less meetings, a lot less information and studies. In Brazil they really study the Lotus Sutra and Daishonin's scriptures, but also President Ikeda's; another thing that never went down my throat, why in hell should I have a master-disciple relationship with him? Never got that one answered in any of the meetings I've attended.

They called me every single day to make me go to meetings and help them with crops in some far away place and I always said I didn't want to. They insisted until I moved to another neighborhood and changed my cell number. Seriously, it was crazy.

When I returned to Brazil I still wasn't interested in being a SGI member and my dad was still big in the organization here, ever since I came back I've been receiving phone calls from girls from the Young Women's Division and it's been driving me crazy, I've told them I'm not interested and I've told me father too, but he still tries to make me go. Not force exactly, but he tries really hard.

So last night I was looking for information on SGI, out of boredness and curiosity, and I found this thread, I could relate to a lot of things people said here, but some I couldn't. Still, I was glad I found it and I gathered some of the questions you guys put here (what happens to the money? why follow Ikeda? why the chakubukus? why they try to get so much of your time? why not everyone has access and discuss the sutra? why is Ikeda and SGI affiliated with a political party? and so on), question I always had, but never knew how to ask and I asked them to my father.

He LITERALLY freaked when I started questioning Ikeda. Like I was calling my grandmother a bitch! He said I was misinformed and played by information people post to deceive others, I simply told him I always thought all that, but never really bothered to expose it. And that I don't believe in everything I read, but I did like the way things were exposed in a way to make me think more about it. But he really freaked, he didn't treat me bad or anything, but he took it all very personally.

Anyway, I was thinking about going to one of the big meetings in the next few weeks and question the other ones in one of the dialogues and I was hoping you guys could help me to make up those questions based on facts and other people's experiences. I will surely post whatever they tell me here, too. :]

Hello, Anita...thank you for sharing some background....The impression I've gotten, especially recently, is that the members from Brazil are probably the most die-hard SGI-ers outside of Japan. Hardline and hardcore, if you forgive me for saying that. I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just how it's come across for me.

The questions you pose should rightfully be answered...there are great people who post here who could give their insights on your question about getting a dialogue going at the large meeting coming up.

Personally, I know you will run into The Frame. SGI has a "frame" for everything, answers that make total sense for them, and not always making a lot of sense elsewhere. They will defend to the end. It is not democratic. It's sad.

President Ikeda has been deified to a ridiculous degree. But The Frame here: he totally deserves it and more, because he alone---paved the way for Kosen-rufu. He has no flaws. He has no yuck skeletons in his closet. He has the charisma for many who need and want a father figure, which he has nooo problem with. He makes grown men cry. I hope you will be able to get something than the usual from the meeting.

President Ikeda always talks about having No Fear--the Courage of A Lion....to speak out on What's True and Right.
Actually, courage is doing the thing you fear. And it has taken courage for people on this thread to speak their truth.

Hello Anita- Related to being able to bring up these issues, here's the beginning of D. Ikeda's guidance for March 18th 2011: "Let us do our utmost to sustain the wonderful warm atmosphere of the SGI- an atmosphere where members feel free to discuss whatever is on their minds." And there is more. Mainly about how that will keep the organization strong. So if you say what is on your mind, as this guidance suggests: They might try to have you speak to one person later or start talking about Devadatta or the devilish functions, that you should start chanting abundant daimoku about "Doubt", or how people in the world of learning and realization get caught up in their minds. or maybe the devil of the sixth heaven. there's a list of places to begin for the members and leaders as they wait for you to stop talking. Early in my practice, when i had questions, I was told "You are still a baby." this refered to the short time i had been practicing.
If you do this, i suggest you don't feel rushed in your responses. It is your life with or without the organization. They shouldn't expect you to just take their pat answers and that's it.
I haven't written on this thread in a while, but have experienced tremendous growth without the practice of SGI or chanting while also slowly accepting the long process of getting to a normal baseline of reality for someone my age.
I wish you the best.

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Shavoy
He has the charisma for many who need and want a father figure, .

I never understood this, how does he have charisma, no one sees or get to talk to him, to me his charisma is a phantom. It is made up by the org, by people that have never met him, by the leaders who recieve letters from Sensei which make them cry and realise how wonderful he really is. It's all fakery and lies. At the bigger meetings i attended there was always a leader who had written to Ikeda and got some kind of generic reply that usually just said 'STAND UP' and from this the leaders gushed about how amazing sensei was, it made me bloody sick. What nonsense!

After watching one of the computer generated cartoons dealing with the politics of the day, it occurred to me that the same could be done for the SGI situation:

Outsider: Do you realize you are supporting an organization that takes your membership dues without any accountability to you?

SGI Member: I do not care, Pres Ikea is awsome, he has sacrificed so much for us.

Outsider: Do you realize that your Ikea has very little contact with the membership except to use your money you send him and has built a multinational empire?

SGI Member: I do not care, he is making KR happen and he has sacrificed so much for us, he is awesome.

Outsider: Do you realize that gohonzons created outside of the lineage from Nichiren are heretical.

SGI Member: I do not care, Pres Ikea is awsome, he is the true buddha, I must fuse with his life force to find enlightenment. Did I tell you he has sacrificed so much for us?

I could go on and on but you can get the idea.

Wakatta1

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TheVoid

Quote
Shavoy
He has the charisma for many who need and want a father figure, .

I never understood this, how does he have charisma, no one sees or get to talk to him, to me his charisma is a phantom. It is made up by the org, by people that have never met him, by the leaders who recieve letters from Sensei which make them cry and realise how wonderful he really is. It's all fakery and lies. At the bigger meetings i attended there was always a leader who had written to Ikeda and got some kind of generic reply that usually just said 'STAND UP' and from this the leaders gushed about how amazing sensei was, it made me bloody sick. What nonsense!

Dear Void:
According to the great sociologist, Max Weber, "On the basis of the belief in legitimacy, there are three ideal types of rulership: traditional, charismatic and legal rulership.
Traditional leadership (rulership) is the belief of the people in a traditional routine, the most important aspect being patriarchalism. This is the rulership system of monarchs
The second type of leadership is termed charismatic rulership whereby "charisma is rationalized through methodical and codified means, it is called 'virtuoso charisma'. Lastly, there is legal rulership, most often based on a constitution or other impersonal laws, such as the systems of democracy and communism."

Virtuoso charisma is the leadership [rulership] rationale in the Soka Gakkai and fascism. Ikeda is the king of Soka because of charisma, not wisdom nor compassion. Same as Hitler. Even many of their aphorisms are similar. Ikeda, however, is smarter than was Hitler. He obtained wealth, power, and a civilization without ever firing a shot. All the truly great masters [Buddha and Nichiren, for example] assume "rulership" through the Law or legal rulership.

Nichijew



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2011 01:16PM by Nichijew.

A few things on the mind.....first off, in the latest WT coverage on the earthquake/tsunami...SGI-USA apparently donated $50,000 to the relief effort. A mere drop from the SGI bucket, shall we say?

I'm also curious. How many people here have read some or all of the Human Revolution/New Human Revolution? I'd like to know your impressions.

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Shavoy
A few things on the mind.....first off, in the latest WT coverage on the earthquake/tsunami...SGI-USA apparently donated $50,000 to the relief effort. A mere drop from the SGI bucket, shall we say?

I'm also curious. How many people here have read some or all of the Human Revolution/New Human Revolution? I'd like to know your impressions.

Dear Shavoy:

This is a great essay: [www.collectionscanada.gc.ca]
DOMINATING TRADITION: SOKA GAKKAI AND THE CREATION OF HISTORY

Quote
Shavoy

I'm also curious. How many people here have read some or all of the Human Revolution/New Human Revolution? I'd like to know your impressions.

I was asked to join a women's study group a few years back. I was under the impression that we would choose what we studied -- a Gosho, or the Lotus Sutra. Instead, at the first meeting, we were told that we would study The Human Revolution. If I'd known that -- and realized what propaganda the book actually was, I would have quit the group immediately.

Another woman and I thought that the Human Revolution was basically SGI propaganda. Shinichi Yamamoto, the main character, who is really Ikeda, is noble, wise and self-sacrificing. So are his supporters. Anyone who opposes Ikeda/Yamamoto is evil, selfish, cowardly. About what you'd expect Ikeda to write. Not worth my time. This other woman and I gave our honest opinions, only to be told that we just "didn't understand President Ikeda's greatness."

We both quit SGI shortly after that.

I would be curious to read the newest installment, simply because a character that is meant to be George Williams, former director of NSA, is in it. I am told that George Williams' character is made out to be a real villain...interesting that Ikeda can write anything he wants about this character, and the loyal SGI members will totally believe every word. And if Williams or his family complain, SGI can just say, "Oh, it's just fiction."