Exactly my opinion.
They, the police, get paid to deal with trouble-makers, so you as an individual, dont have to.
Theres nothing wrong with asking for their assistance, its what they are trained to do.

I think the SGI really depends on these overzealous members to keep things moving. Otherwise, they would have to rely on members who have become apathetic/zoned out on the Ikedaisms and jargon. It does happen, the burn-out. People burn out, then return, rev up and then burn out again. I saw it many times. SGI values those people who can maintain a slightly higher than normal activity level. Those are the people that are promoted. The nutso ones. Unfortunately. But yes, there are some sane ones in the bunch. Thank goodness wayfarerfree found one in his HQ chief!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2009 03:21AM by sushigrl.

Some posters have mentioned "Byrd," a blogger on the www.fraughtwithperil.com website. She loved SGI, but also questioned its policies -- and for this was treated horribly by the leadership. She died during the summer of 2008. The following is part of one of her last blogs.

--------------------Beginning of Quote, "A Byrd's Eye View," July 14, 2008, www.fraughtwithperil.com-------------------------------------------

I was really looking forward to an SGI-USA women's division pot luck this past Sunday. I was going to get my usual stuffed grape leaves from the local Armenian deli, hitch a ride with a dear friend, and enjoy chanting and interacting with the women's division members of my SGI-USA Chapter. The hostess and I have never been on anything but good terms, and I was looking forward to this activity all week.

I was startled, therefore, to receive a telephone call on Saturday night at about 8:00 from a woman's division leader who was "assigned" to my district about a year and a half ago. She informed me that she and a men's division leader wanted to come by to my home immediately in order to chant with me and "have a talk."

I declined their request to drop by, and asked what it was that they wanted to talk about. Although I took some notes, the content of the "message" was rather jumbled. I asked if we could discuss the matter the next day at the activity, but was told in no uncertain terms that I was being made persona non grata at my friend's home the next day, as a reaction to the contents of this blog.

"No!" I was told me sternly in response to my request to discuss the issues the next day at the potluck. "You are not welcome!"

"Was a vote taken on this?" I asked

"Well...uh...yeah!" she replied. There was a hesitant gap between the "uh" and the "yeah", so I'm not actually sure who the jury was on this vote. I was too startled to press the issue of whether or not the hostess had been consulted on the issue of who was and who was not "welcome" in her home.
As far as I was able to make out, the grounds for my being banned from activities with my church of 24 years are as follows:

1. I have written of Soka Gakkai International President Daisaku Ikeda in an irreverent fashion, sometimes referring to him by the common online moniker "PI" (for "President Ikeda"), and I have failed to embrace the SGI's current focus on the Mentor/Disciple relationship, specifically as it requires the adoption of Daisaku Ikeda as a Mentor in Life.

2. I have been "deceitful" by behaving courteously at SGI meetings.

There were a few other offenses hurled at me (including the always-problematic issue of my tone), but one of the most important appeared to be:

3. I have failed to "talk to my leaders" about the issues discussed on this page before posting my opinions. In other words, I have failed to submit my speech to an implied censorship process (at least that is as clear as I can be about the charge - if the leaders who want to be "talked to" before I post can clarify this complaint, I would be most grateful).

Huh. Apparently, chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to the Gohonzon is supposed to result in some sort of naturally occurring Buddha insight that I'm not competent to express my own thoughts and observations about my religious community without submitting my ideas to an intellectual supervisor first.

I also hope that the SGI-USA leadership will seriously consider that since the SGI's Mentor Daisaku Ikeda is the founder of a university here in the United States, a documented campaign by the SGI-USA to enforce reverence for him by prosecuting blogsites might not make him look too good, particularly since we spend so much time promoting his work as an international advocate of human rights.

If anyone wishes to contact me to discuss any matter, they can certainly give me a call. I will not, however, open my home to people who are coming there to restrict what I believe to be my rights, however "heartfelt" and "sincere" their tone may be in doing so. I also prefer not to submit my writing to the supervision of anyone who is employed as a criminal prosecutor. Otherwise, I am always available for a coffee at McDonald's, where we can discuss these bizarre matters under the happy eye of a real clown.

Stay happy, stay enlightened, stay cool - Byrd in LA
----------------------------------------------End of Quote------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


In short -- SGI members may not publicly express any opinion on SGI -- other than the most positive -- without their leaders' permission. Funny, I was never told that when I joined SGI. If I had been told that, I certainly would not have joined -- who would?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2009 03:43AM by tsukimoto.

Byrd's problems with her local, overzealous, SGI leaders went on for some time. This entry is from May 14, 2008, www.fraughtwithperil.com

------------------Beginning of Quote, "A Byrd's Eye View," May 14, 2008, www.fraughtwithperil.com------------------------------------------

I Remember a couple of weeks ago when one of my SGI leaders asked me to think about what I wanted to accomplish with my blog. Well, believe it or not, I'd like to get some ideas on the table and have a forum where people can talk about those ideas freely.

OK, so here are some things that I want to accomplish:

1. I want a forum to write and state my opinions and perspectives and get feedback on them. Although I know that some people will disagree with me about my perspectives, I have no intention of getting mean or vicious with people. I don't think that's productive, and I think it's contrary to the spirit of Bodhissatva Never Despise.

2. I want those people in the SGI who are in positions of influence to begin addressing these issues in the realm of policy. Ideally, I would like them to come online and discuss things openly, but if they can't or won't do that, at least I'd like to have the ideas on the table and hope they get discussed in private. Some examples of the ideas I'd like to see discussed are:

a) the conflict between the Western principle of religious freedom and the SGI's campaign to shut down our parent sect's houses of worship;
b) the rights of individual American Nichiren Buddhists to choose which denomination they wish to practice with, and a commitment from the SGI to respect those choices;
c) The SGI's insistence on parroting Nichiren Shoshu's inaccurate version of Nichiren Buddhist history, despite all modern research to the contrary;
d) Whatever else come up - I'm sure there will be plenty more.

3. The opportunity for general readers to participate in discussions of Nichiren Buddhism which are not ultimately content-controlled by Japan;

4. Open discussions about how Nichiren Buddhism can best adapt to a Western environment, and how Westerners can go about building sanghas which support their practice.

And a whole lot more!
-------------------------------------End of Quote----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Open discussion of Buddhism not controlled by Tokyo Headquarters? Questioning the Soka Spirit movement? Correcting inaccuracies in the Soka Gakkai/Nichiren Shoshu's version of Nichiren Buddhism? Considering how to best teach and practice Nichiren Buddhism in the west? Such audacity!

I'd be surprised if they didn't have a "daimoku campaign" for her demise also, and then whoop it up when she passed. I wouldn't put it past the siggies, the Gagkai Ikedabots.

@ tsukimoto

you should mention the dirty laundry after her passing. SGI showed its true face !!!

@ wayfarefree

Good to hear how things turned out - keep us posted !

I love the way SGI had its members contribute millions of dollars toward the building of the Sho Hondo because it promoted the belief in the Dai Gohonzon, and then when they were excommunicated from Nichiren Shoshu, all of a sudden the Dai Gohonzon is a fraud. Nichiren never inscribed it. Never. Members were pumped full of the Tozan BS. "Visit the Dai Gohonzon and all your wishes will come true." SGI can't rewrite all that history. What a freakin waste of money, trust and what a lie. It still stings. I went on tozan three times. We were hustled around and told to give "experiences" to the Japanese members. Japanese members were propped up to greet us also. Yet it was all based on a lie.
One of the people who was killed in the 9-11 attacks told me that he had visited the Dai Gohonzon 20 times. Does that mean that he visited a lie 20 times....

@ Rothaus

Will do, but if my wishes get accurately conveyed to him (which would be the second time he's been asked to ... bugger off), I would like to think that is the end of the issue. There is a chance he'll react adversely to my official request, and try some other silly vengeful gambit in an immature spirit of spite (I get the impression he might), but that will get him a house-call from a PC (um...thats a policeman to none-Brits, not a computer!), so I hope his leader explains this possible outcome to him.

What are peoples thoughts on having a specific thread for actually helping people still enmeshed in SGI, get out of it?
A bit of grey area, maybe, morally and ethically? To know when, or how, to step in for other members?
Its so easy for people to "better the devil they know" and just stay involved, instead of tackling the implications of leaving.

Tsukimoto, what happened after Byrd's death? I can't find the info, and it would be good to know "the dirty laundry" as Rothaus mentioned.