Shin Yatomi was a great listener and he never tried to feed me a bunch of manure. True his was a cog in the SGI wheel, but I actually found him to be refreshing. Here was someone who was openly allowed to write about the gosho and the Lotus Sutra, and it was not Ikeda/Ikea. I was at FNCC when he was on his death bed (study conference).

Sorry about the ranting last night, but I have had it.

here's a toast to all of you :)

Quote
The Anticult
Could someone post the precise link where that "story" about the cobwebs was posted, so the username of the person who posted, and other posts can be looked at?
It might be possible to learn more from that, and who did it.

1. The Soka Gakkai Unofficial link:

[groups.yahoo.com]

If the link doesn't work, go to the Yahoo group Soka Gakkai Unofficial, and its message 92061, posted on Sunday, December 21, 2008.

2. Ryuei's link on Fraught With Peril:

[www.fraughtwithperil.com]

If the link doesn't work, go to www.fraughtwithperil.com, and click on "Rev. Ryuei" on the left side of the page. This was posted on December 18, 2008.

OMG.
Some of the dialogue in the above yahoo link is highly disturbing and highlights just howarrogant I could be if I followed such modes of thought.
The response that my life is superior because I continue to practise/remain with SGI ... please, if that isnt a definition of arrogance, tell me what is?
I hope SGI ARE following this thread, because I'd like to say that as the first clear, sane and positive thing Im going to do in 2010 , in about 50 minutes, is burn my SGI membership certificate, with pride - pride for my own fuzzy spirituality (not to be confused with Religion, and defo not with SGI) and as a clear statement that, because of attitudes like this, I want no link to this twisted cult anymore.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(ps: I'll let you know if my arms drop off)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2010 07:14AM by wayfarerfree.

Wayfarerfree: That sounds like a GREAT idea. I wish I had such a certificate so I could burn it! I can burn something else I find I'm sure...like one of those pesky "daily guidance" booklets hanging around in the airplane hanger (Butsudan). Yes I know I haven't chucked it yet, but I will. I am really getting over the superstition now. My fingers have NOT fallen off! But yes please let us know that you are in one piece after the ceremony, k? ;)

Oh and yes! Happy New Gagkai freel Year!!! Hentai!!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2010 07:38AM by sushigrl.

That actually would be a good experiment, to take various SGI materials one might have, and then have a little freedom of mind ceremony, and burn them.
One could then monitor and write up their SGI burning "Experience".

Just like SGI has their concocted and edited advertising story testimonials they call "Experiences"...like...I was sick with a fever of 140 for 18 months, was broke, alone, and was going bald, and then I gave ALL my money and savings to Ikeda, and was instantly healed and found a new car in my driveway...and my hair grew back instantly.

Except these SGI burning Experiences would be like...I burned my old SGI junk, and I now I feel great, as I am breaking free of the SGI indoctrinations and superstitions.

Its very interesting how so many aspects of SGI are not compatible with "real" Buddhism.
For example, the greed, and self-centeredness, and dishonesty in recruiting, and many other things.

And the bogus SGI superstitions about the SGI altar, and pieces of paper. Its all just primitive superstitions, like being afraid of black cats or a broken mirror.

In proper Buddhism, the entire point is supposed to be non-attachment.
For example, the Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas [en.wikipedia.org] spend days and weeks creating beautiful mandalas, and then they destroy them. That is very profound stuff, its about the beauty of life, and also how to not be over-attached to everything, yet still enjoy it. Not easy to do.

But if SGI made a SGI sand mandala, they would put a huge image of Ikeda in the center of it! They would then list Ikeda 250 fake degrees from China on the edges.
They would then put a nude reclining pose of Ikeda as Caesar.
And they would charge you a $5,000 "donation" for the sand to make the mandala. Then they would turn it into cement, and charge you another 5 grand to put it in your living room. Then SGI-Ikeda would tell you if you damage the SGI mandala, you will die of cancer instantly, or be attacked by spiders.
Then one day when you die one day of old age or natural causes, the SGI police will break into your home and try to steal your SGI concrete mandala.
Ikeda would have a mandala made of pure gold, studded with diamonds, rubies, guarded 24/7 by SGI "volunteer"s.

SGI is utter madness, if one just thinks about it in the context of actual Buddhism.
What ever happened to non-attachment? There should be ZERO attachment to an "altar" or any piece of paper, or any of that nonsense.
And to destroy it, should be a sacred act, like the Buddhists destroy a mandala.
But SGI deliberately uses excessive attachment and SGI superstitions to create FEAR in their own members, and people who are afraid can be controlled and managed.

On basically every point, SGI has nothing really to do with Buddhism. Buddhism should not be about fear, hatred, greed, self-centeredness, fake degrees bought from China, gold faucets, global money laundering...
Ikeda has done this to "Buddhism", as Ikeda believes the mass public are a bunch of dummies, who need to be scared and then told what to do. Ikeda has openly stated his contempt for the mass public, and he treats them as such.
Ikeda clearly uses "Buddhism" as a type of fig-leaf to hide behind, as a type of opium for the masses.
Because once some critical thinking gets applied to SGI, the entire house of cards just falls apart.

That is another main point that I had increasingly more diffi-cult-y consolidating, that even though, yes, I have Buddha nature within me, somehow I need an external object to help trigger it... I didnt have a Gohonzon when I began practising... but its just a mirror of my own life ... blah blah blah.

Im sorry, but the very act of focusing on a PHYSICAL OBJECT THAT IS PHYSICALLY NOT ATTACHED TO MY OWN BODY simply didnt work.
Also, whilst I understand that SGI has a now irrational fixation on Gohonzons: it makes you officially branded as "one of us", I couldnt condone IT being more important than, a person, a persons memory (as in Byrd), or a persons life.

I remember going through a really horrible time of my life, where all the local members knew full well how much I was suffering (in the normal, non-SGI sense of the word), very very much so at the end of my tether. Yet the only thing that drew any response was my telling a leader that I'd had enough of the BS and I was going to tear the Gohonzon in half! Im sure you can imagine the response. My point is, that members couldnt even be bothered to stop by and ask how I was, but the safety of the Gohonzon was more important.

I must admit, I am still victim to the superstion, otherwise, I would have simply threw my Gohonzon in the bin, or the recycling tray.
Instead, I hope to send a clear signal to SGI UK, that it is not welcome in my life anymore, by my giving it back to them, not that Im under any responsibilty to do so.

But that would be the ultimate test, would it not?
Simply discarding the thing instead of continuing with any pretence of pomp and ceremony, which I feel is merely pandering to the whole charade of it all.
It is, after all, my property, is it not?
It seems their fear-tactics still work on me after all. That, I find acutely annoying.

I tink thats up to your discretion. In my case I have two options either hand it over to a priest of the scholl I am going to join or hand it back to somebody in SGI. Since I left not in a grudge (as I just left) I think the latter makesa clear cut. And they would officialy have to count me out.

If you plan to give your Gohonzon back to the SGI, you can plan on your leaders staging an SGI "intervention." I've seen it numerous times. wayfarerfree is correct: SGI-ers do value the Gohonzon more than the member. They absolutely go into panic mode when someone says they want to give their Gohonzon back. It isn't good for their precious, precious numbers.

By the way, here's some SGI silliness to start off your new year: Did you all know that Barack Obama is our president because a 10-year-old SGI member chanted for him to be? Here's that child's experience from the kids section of the World Tribune (1/1/10):

"On Nov. 4, when Barack Obama was running for president, we had a party at my house. My grandma and my dad voted for him to win, but he didn't have enough votes yet, so I asked my grandma if I could go to the Gohonzon room to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for Barack Obama. So I went downstairs and chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo three times for his success. Right before I went to bed, Barack Obama won and was going to be our first African American president."

No don't throw your Gohonzo! It is very sacred, if you do you'll----- ahhh never mind. Maybe you can send it to an SGI center in South Africa or some other country no one cares about. It is far enough that it will take months maybe to reach there. Just make sure you don't put on a return address and send it out of the nearest big city so no one can track you.

This Xmas my brother gave me a dvd set of the Tick, a very underrated superhero comedy. Your comments on the Gohonzon reminds me of this one part where the Tick (main super hero) goes up to a teenage boy and says, "Now it's time for you to hear the truth. This is not really a magic hubcap. The magic was inside you."

You can see the clip here:
[www.youtube.com]

Do they really believe a kid influenced the election? I think the reason why Obama was elected was because he was young, charismatic, intelligent . . .and everyone hated Bush.

Did everyone remember to donate to kofu after new year's gongyo? AH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA just seeing if u guys are awake ;) I have a hard time tossing my Gohonzon as I think it's quite pretty. I was thinking of hanging it on a wall for a month and see if my house burns down. Or if I have any naked dreams LOL heh heh. Really these superstitions are for the birds. Not for any intelligent human being. That's why I feel so foolish. People hang crosses on the wall, why not the gohonzon? In Tibetan buddhism, the thangka (painted pictures of Buddha and Bodhisattvas) are hung on the wall... they are scrolls also. People have built cottage industries based on butsudans housing the gohonzon. There's a step, no more capitalization!!!! I'm on the road to recovery. I can feel it :) I wonder if a gohonzon would sell on ebay...hmmm, no one would buy it cause it's photocopied...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2010 06:14AM by sushigrl.