From the Kempon Hokke Blog, March 20, 2011, www.fraughtwithperil.com

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The Victorious Future of Mentor and Disciple

I can see those who are like demons
Milling around what
Unbeknownst to them,
Is only an execution block
Traitors!

Having turned your backs
On the Daishonin’s golden words,
Are you ready
To be burned in the fires
Of the Hell of incessant suffering?
To be imprisoned in a cavern
In the Hell of extreme cold?
To be shut off in the darkness
Of misery and strife, forever deprived of the sun’s light? –Daisaku Ikeda
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Victorious future? It sounds like a horror movie, what Ikeda hopes will happen to "traitors" -- ie, anyone who doesn't agree with him.

Daisaku Ikeda is a mentally sick man.
Yes, Daisaku Ikeda would have loved to bring back the executioners block, for those who choose not to buy into his SGI bullshit.
He would have lined them up by the hundreds to dispose of them.

Daisaku Ikeda is full of crap.
Those who choose to not follow his SGI personal religion, will have a great life.
Its called FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE, Mr Ikeda. Something you cannot even imagine, with such a fascistic mindset.
to the fascist mind, like Daisaku Ikeda, personal freedom for people is his greatest enemy, freedom is a demon to Ikeda.
Because then he would have had to have had a real job.

All Ikeda is trying to do is use psychological warfare on his followers, to Ikeda its like scaring children with scary stories to try and make them behave.
Hellfire and damnation.

Who is the real human demon in this?
Who is the money-vampire?
Daisaku Ikeda, what a revolting fraud that man is.

Spotted on a "subway wall", likely from some urban prophet

The terrible failure of Master - Disciple

Oh you perpetrator!
you prevaricator! you deceiver
you whose only lust is for gold and privilege
you who abandoned the temple and the lineage
the one who filled volumes with double-talk about some guy called Shin'Ichi
and lured millions into ruin through your lies

As a "Master" You should know that life is but a vapor,
and each man will eventually reach his due.
it will be interesting to be a fly on the wall
and seeing what happens to you...

when the smoke clears..

Tsukimoto, The Anti-Cult and Wakatta1: Your posts reinforce the thing in my head that I can't get my head quite around....help me out here. How does Daisaku Ikeda believe he can make huge inroads with the American/world masses for membership in the SGI when written words like what Tsukimoto posted above SCREAM CULT!!!???

I mean, there is no difference between Fire and Brimstone fundamentalist Christian thinking and Burning in the Hellfires of Incessant Suffering. What's the appeal in that?

How can he say it's better? The True Way?

Well, fire and brimstone, damnation and judge your enemy, have worked quite well in the US to this point!

But clearly, from many past posts here, Ikeda has always been totally out of touch with the US and much of the west. His early techniques were like crude Stalinist propaganda, with the giant photo's and the rest of it.
Then SGI-USA had marketing experts come up with a better message for the US, and the SGI message changed over the years, to become more moderate sounding, less demanding for initial members, (more demanding for more involved people) and everything else contained in this thread.

But one has to try and look at it from Ikeda's perspective, at least in years past. One can see him sitting in his fancy offices, probably with a map of the world on a huge table, plotting strategies for expanding SGI in various markets and countries worldwide. Getting field reports, recruiting numbers, revenues from each country.
Its just a big numbers game when you are at the top. Just business management.
And one can be sure the amount of money coming in from the USA increased when they changed their tactics, so they do what works.

Of course one can't read anyone else's mind, but one has to assume that Ikeda just saw America as the big fat golden goose.

Quote
Shavoy
Tsukimoto, The Anti-Cult and Wakatta1: Your posts reinforce the thing in my head that I can't get my head quite around....help me out here. How does Daisaku Ikeda believe he can make huge inroads with the American/world masses for membership in the SGI when written words like what Tsukimoto posted above SCREAM CULT!!!???

I mean, there is no difference between Fire and Brimstone fundamentalist Christian thinking and Burning in the Hellfires of Incessant Suffering. What's the appeal in that?

How can he say it's better? The True Way?

I joined SGI in the 1980's, when it was still NSA, Nichiren Shoshu of America. As a new member, I heard nothing like this -- it was all bright and happy -- world peace, valuing everybody, attaining your dreams. The hatefulness started coming out in the early 90's, with the Nichiren Shoshu priests/Soka Gakkai split. It was very shocking to me...like seeing a sweet, even-tempered friend suddenly start acting hostile and rude to someone else....while still being polite to you. You begin to wonder -- yes, the friend is still nice to you, and you still care for him...but if he's capable of acting this way toward other people, when will he start being nasty to you?

Seeing all this hostility toward the priests was the beginning of the end for me. I began to wonder what was really under SGI's pretty, shiny surface. Friends who stayed? I think they were in the mindset of "My friend is still nice to me. Those people that he speaks harshly to must have done something to deserve it."

I've been away from the organization for so long, I have no idea what the prospective and new members are being told.

The Anti-Cult and Tsukimoto...thank you for answering my query. I also began thinking that because of the M/D hysteria mass, that objectivity has gone out the window. Of course, P.I. can afford to hire marketing consultants to tweak the medicine going down. One would think that a good marketing firm (If they are not members or have a major interest in SGI) could see and say, Hey....this cult of personality ain't gonna get the tickets for admission in the numbers you desperately want. Back off that. Back off now.

And you're right, Anti-Cult...Brimstone and Damnation will always be alive and well in the USA and it has worked.

From what I've seen at meetings I've attended over the last year, when guests are present, the M/D manifesto is toned down. P.I. is mentioned as part of the whole package, and there is a stronger emphasis on Nichiren's background and teachings.

No videos are shown at the local meetings, but of course, at KR Gongyo, the videos play on.

To outside eyes, another obviously fake "godman" is probably dying.
Its very shocking to read comments from followers.
They literally believe that Sai Baba is "God" and is controlling the universe.
Sai Baba [forum.culteducation.com]

So the human mind is a very flawed and vulnerable thing, which is prone to "believe" in these fraudmen (obvious to outsiders) who are not godmen.
But for those on the inside, even when the direct facts of reality contradict their beliefs, for a moment their faith will lapse, then their mind will concoct a rationalization, as frankly reality is too painful.
Its too painful to realize for many that they have been conned.

And the Rev. Dr. Superman Ikeda, he has been trying to do the exact same thing as Sai Baba. Use every technique in the book, to get his believers to believe he is a Buddha Godman.
Sai Baba actually succeeded in getting a lot of people to believe that, even while doing obvious and crummy magic tricks.

Very shocking that so many humans seem to have a need to believe that some guy in a robe is a Buddha or "God".

Very interesting to read all the true believers comments about the illness of their fake Godman Guru Sai Baba.

It really points to WHY Ikeda and SGI hammer on the Mentor/Disciple angle. They know it works, and they changed the language to be more acceptable in the USA.

Originally, the concept across various religions is Master/Slave, but that doesn't sound very good anymore.
So it gets modified to Master/Disciple.
But even the word Master is not trendy now.

So SGI choose the word Mentor, which is a trendy word used in business.
And Disciple, is used in the bible, so it adds a religious tone.

But in reality, SGI and Ikeda know perfectly well, that to get a personality cult going, you need and MASTER and you need a worshiper. And the follower has to link up in their mind to the Master Guru.

In reality, SGI-Ikeda wants to create the same thing as Sai Baba, in that followers start to believe he really is a Buddha Godman superman. And once people believe that, you have a personality cult.
Sai Baba was more old-school, as back in his time it was still ok to say I AM GOD, and you are my disciple/slave, so you better obey me and do everything I tell you without question.

But now in SGI, and all the New Wage groups, they changed the language, but the concept is the same.
Mentor and Follower, Master and follower.
Its the same psychological system, just a different language pattern.

Quote
Shavoy
The Anti-Cult and Tsukimoto...thank you for answering my query. I also began thinking that because of the M/D hysteria mass, that objectivity has gone out the window. Of course, P.I. can afford to hire marketing consultants to tweak the medicine going down. One would think that a good marketing firm (If they are not members or have a major interest in SGI) could see and say, Hey....this cult of personality ain't gonna get the tickets for admission in the numbers you desperately want. Back off that. Back off now.

And you're right, Anti-Cult...Brimstone and Damnation will always be alive and well in the USA and it has worked.

From what I've seen at meetings I've attended over the last year, when guests are present, the M/D manifesto is toned down. P.I. is mentioned as part of the whole package, and there is a stronger emphasis on Nichiren's background and teachings.

No videos are shown at the local meetings, but of course, at KR Gongyo, the videos play on.

I remember in the early 1990's, when SGI split with the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood, leaders spoke differently when guests were present. If there were no guests, the tone was very anti-priesthood, and especially hateful toward Nikken, the then-high priest. If there were guests...leaders often didn't even mention the split. It was all very positive, about the benefits of practicing Buddhism and the teachings of Nichiren. World peace, making a difference in your community, happiness, attaining your goals....all the lovely things that most people want.

So that's definitely one ploy of SGI: bait and switch. Prospective members are shown a much different view of SGI. Once you've joined, you will start seeing some different things.

As to why SGI continues this cult of personality? I think it's target marketing. Any product, service, or business has its target market: the people who will be the best customers. Much as a business might want to appeal to everyone -- a wise marketer knows that that's impossible. So why not use your advertising budget well -- and appeal to the people who will be the heaviest users of your product. Your most loyal customers. McDonalds isn't going to have much success advertising to vegans. Nail salons probably won't get many male customers, and you're probably wasting your time trying to get people in their seventies to go to rap or hip-hop concerts.

You could say that McDonalds would appeal to more people if they would sell both vegetarian fare and burgers. Or that the music company could promote many different kinds of performers. The trouble is -- diversifying like that can dull your focus and spread your company too thin. Consumers don't know who you are. The company can become "jack of all trades, master of none."

SGI, likewise, knows its "target market." It's the people who will accept Mentor/Disciple. SGI could change its ways and attract more people -- but too many of them would be people who think and question. SGI doesn't want to attract people like that. As things are -- they're attracting who they want to attract.

For years, I thought of SGI as a religion -- the truth is, it's a business, selling you a dream in exchange for your time, money and loyalty.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2011 08:08PM by tsukimoto.