Wakatta and Dragon, you guys are taking me down Memory Lane. Dragon, were you at that big convention near Boston in the summer of 1988? We were staying in a college dormitory, some college outside of Boston. (Worcester?) I was there. Running around in the heat in white shirt and pants, and wearing white shorts with red and blue sequins when I marched with the YWD marching band. And the YMD doing the roller-skating pyramid? Wasn't George Williams there too?

I knew a single man, in his fifties but still part of YMD. He had to appeal considerably up the chain-of-command in SGI to be released from being part of this roller-skating human pyramid -- he had arthritis and back problems. Even then, I wondered why he didn't just refuse to participate -- why did he feel that he needed permission not to?

That convention was just so wacky and over-the-top. At the time, I thought it was a fun thing to experience once...I don't think I'd have had the patience to do something like that twice in a lifetime.

The Division structure was a bit demeaning, I thought. You had Men's Division, and Women's Division, and Young Men's Division (YMD) and Young Women's Division (YWD). The criteria for moving from Young Women's Division to Women's Division, or from Young Men's Division to Men's Division seemed to be having a child -- at least in my area. Perhaps this works in Japan, where most people tend to marry and start families at the same age. Americans are more inclined to reach certain milestones like marriage and children at different ages. In the United States, if you're nineteen and have a child, you're in Women's Division. I never did have a child, so I was in my late thirties and in YWD. I felt put-down by this, as if SGI was saying that I was not really an adult because I didn't have a child. Plus, a lot of the YWD were way younger than I was, in high school and college. I was not interested in the things that they liked -- and they probably felt that doing activities with me was like hanging out with their mother's friends. But Japan decreed you were YWD until you gave birth or adopted, so there you have it.

I wasn't the only one trapped in YWD or YMD -- a lot of the members in our area were gay, and so were not going to marry or have children. The guidance at the time was, of course, to chant more daimoku and do more shakabuku so that they'd become straight! That was before SGI realized that many gay members were very dedicated, willing to contribute lots of time and money to SGI -- so now, of course, SGI is all for diversity and tolerance.

The guidance at the time was, of course, to chant more daimoku and do more shakabuku so that they'd become straight!
That was before SGI realized that many gay members were very dedicated, willing to contribute lots of time and money to SGI --
so now, of course, SGI is all for diversity and tolerance.

Yup! If it was something that was culturally accepted in Japan, then NSA had to suck up and follow the party line. I'm not gay but I recall hearing whispers about exactly that sort of guidance being given in the Chicago area. The top leadership was very secretive and if I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times "Sensei is encouraging us to .... <fill in the blank with whatever goal that was on the table at the time>.

I had also known several members that were being "matched up" as prospective husband/wife by the division level or honbu level leaders (mostly womans division who went in for that). By the way Tsukimoto-san, you were spared a lot of agony by being kept out of the womans division, it was rife with gossip, hypocracy and endless schemes and palace intrigues. The YWD seemed to have a lot of goals ahead of them whereas the WD spent most of their time swapping stories. (Yes, the mens division had its problems too... so I'm not singling out any single group :^) )

As long as I'm on a rant, I do have a lot of problems with the encouragement they gave to people to go on tozan or to financially get involved in supporting the organzation. I suppose the belief is that if they "gave until it hurt" they would get benefit from it however many families were in serious financial straits because of the many "money oriented activities". When I challenged this whole line of guidance to the Hombu chief I was told "If someone in NSA has given bad guidance then the Buddhist Gods will abandon him and he will be become possessed by devils, so never fear, you will see the effect of bad guidance eventually in their lives" I guess that was their cover story for giving that sort of guidance so that if I gave the same guidance it would just go back up the line to the person who initiated it. I dutifully added that disclaimer when having my arm twisted to give guidance on that topic.

Years later, looking at what essentially became of NSA/SGI I am left to wonder whether those same "Buddhist Gods" packed their bags and left for the coast beginning with the onset of the "Gakkai Temple wars"

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gingermarie
Hi Everyone,

[,,,] snipped

I don't know what else to tell him. Faking it goes against my grain, however, I do know the whispering, and questioning that will occur once I officially resign my position. I hope he has the guts to take it. Any thoughts?

Gingermarie - Just a couple thoughts for you to consider.

First, when I was practicing actively there were many people of the same state of mind that you have. That is - inner concerns about what they were being told, but afraid to "rock the boat" and quit (People would go "Taitan" (backslide or quit) and there would be major eye-rolling sessions at the district meetings for weeks afterwards. ) The whispers come with the territory. Fear of whether the "organization" approves of what you want to accomplish with your life can paralyze you. Nevertheless the concerns you have are of importance to you and by now, they certainly haven't been resolved or answered. Which is better - spend your life hating the situation you are in and feeling like a hypocrite for not even exploring whether there is something to it, or instead moving forward with what (in your own heart) is the next reasonable step?

Secondly, I was once told that any organization is like a bucket of water. Once you stick your hand into it, no matter how quickly or forcefully you pull your hand out, there is never a hole left behind. Organizations, like people have their own karma. If you are not attuned to that particular karma then only you can readjust your situation. The organization will always be the organization (warts and all...)

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gingermarie
My husband is a district leader. He is not your "normal" leader. He doesn't buy in to Sensei, doesn't read the publications, rarely does gongyo. Yet, he enjoyes his activities. He asked me if I could "fake it" I don't know what else to tell him. Faking it goes against my grain, however, I do know the whispering, and questioning that will occur once I officially resign my position. I hope he has the guts to take it. Any thoughts?

Gingermarie, you say "Faking goes against my grain." I think you have your answer right there. You know, members differ. There are those who are "true believers," who totally buy into whatever the organization says. On the other extreme, there are those like your husband who don't necessarily buy into a lot of the organizational stuff. They can just take what they like -- certain activities, their friends in the organization, the idea of being a Buddhist, whatever, and ignore the rest. Then there are those in the middle like us. We can't buy into a lot of things about the organization, and we can't just ignore it or pretend to be happy.

What exactly is keeping you in? Would your husband be angry or upset if you quit SGI? Do you enjoy participating in some of the SGI activities together?

For me -- I did enjoy some of the activities, and just being able to chant and study with other people. I don't have that now, I may never have it again, and I miss it. Still, I don't miss it enough to go back. It is a great relief to be free of all the Ikeda worship, the fake friendship, and the pressure to do things and believe things that I just couldn't accept.

For awhile after I left, I was so angry that I couldn't do gongyo or daimoku...it just felt wrong, brought up bad memories of SGI. Then I got to the point where I could do gongyo again, and recently, I've started doing maybe a half hour of daimoku a day. Much much less than what SGI leaders recommend, but it feels right to me. It felt really great to do about twenty minutes of daimoku this morning. Practicing alone, I think I realize what really matters to me. Just the peace and clarity that I felt when I chanted this morning, the Lotus Sutra's message that all people are worthy of respect, Nichiren's messages of persisting through difficulties and appreciation for anyone who helps you.

And yes, I'm sure that my former fellow SGI members have gossiped about me. But they probably gossiped about me while I was in, too. They'll say and think what they want to think. I have to be true to me.

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wakatta
As long as I'm on a rant, I do have a lot of problems with the encouragement they gave to people to go on tozan or to financially get involved in supporting the organzation. I suppose the belief is that if they "gave until it hurt" they would get benefit from it however many families were in serious financial straits because of the many "money oriented activities". When I challenged this whole line of guidance to the Hombu chief I was told "If someone in NSA has given bad guidance then the Buddhist Gods will abandon him and he will be become possessed by devils, so never fear, you will see the effect of bad guidance eventually in their lives"

Yes, I got very tired of hearing leaders tell members that we had to go on Tozan, subscribe to publications, or give donations to change our karma. I particularly hated the experiences that people gave during fundraising campaigns. The script was, they were having terrible financial problems and they didn't want to contribute zaimu, go to an SGI convention or on Tozan, or whatever. But, they got the guidance to "make the cause" and they did, and it was a struggle -- but after that, they had some great piece of financial fortune -- landed a well-paying job, were repaid money that they were owed, and thought they'd never get back, won a lawsuit. The leaders would say, now of course, it's not guaranteed that you're going to make the donation, and then have some great financial luck right after....no, no, no. It's more that you should give out of a sincere desire to support kosen-rufu and SGI -- and you will then be able to overcome obstacles in your life. It maybe be a financial obstacle, it may be an obstacle in another area of your life.

And if you're still broke, hey, maybe you just didn't give with a sincere enough attitude.

Now, the line about the Buddhist gods abandoning leaders who give bad guidance -- I never heard that, but maybe that does explain the mess that SGI/NSA has become.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2009 08:30AM by tsukimoto.

Tsukimoto: You said

"I particularly hated the experiences that people gave during fundraising campaigns"

Heh! Everyone had their "Shakubuku benefit" story to tell. I wonder how many were just contrived to permit the individual not to feel left out of the frenzy. Ah yes, the good old days.

You say you continue to chant...

I continued chanting for a time after I walked away from the organization, but then as my life moved on I began to wonder about the actual fabric of the belief I had been given through the practice.

Certainly the 180 degree shift of the organization suggested some sort of high level manipulation of ideas (recasting and remarketing to make things acceptable tot he membership), and the naked money-grabbing nature of the core organization provided all the motive necessary for that, but I began to develop even a further distrust of many of the things that I had originally taken as being true.

Studying more deeply into the history of the post Nichiren period I started to think that there had been quite a bit of mistelling of stories from the onset. You have no doubt read about the allegations concerning the DaiGohonzon and all the disputes about what constitutes the kechmyaku that passes from one high priest to another. (There are those that even dispute whether Nikko was even the legitimate heir). I had been taught that all the pieces fit together and suddenly it was beginning to look like none of them were really what they were described to be. Finally I arrived at the point that I couldn't be certain anything that came down through NSA/SGI and even NST was truly accurate. Like I said, all the pieces need to fit together. Take away one or two critical elements and the whole house of cards collapses.

Is the Gosho even accurate or has it been "adjusted" to suit the organization? How about the differing interpretations of the gosho from the various priests? More than once Nichiren stated that "evil priests were distorting the Buddha's message" - this is presented as if it referred to other "sects" such as Jodo, etc. but why should the Nichiren schools themselves be any different. And, if that was going to happen I'd expect it would be done through misinterpreting key facts, especially if those facts were particularly uncomfortable or politically incorrect. Its been a long time since Nichiren died and a lot of different hands have been in the mix. If an organization like SGI can simply rewrite its history books, why can't some priests in a monistery do the same (Nichiren's buddhism was passed through families for hundreds of years - lots of time for that to happen).

My point is that when the structure that binds the whole story together is found to be false or rickety, then were do you go to find ground truth? Do you continue to soldier on, knowing that things have been seriously distorted or changed or abandon the thread as having become damaged beyond rescue?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2009 09:22AM by wakatta.

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dragon14

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The Anticult

also, there are many other groups who claim what they do is some kind of Buddhism.
Why? It seems that in the west, Buddhism still has a good reputation, and now is trendy, like Yoga. So they call whatever they are doing Buddhism, and it gives them a fig-leaf to hide behind.

To me, when most Westerners refer to Buddhism, they're referring to Tibetan Buddism. The Dalai Lama is the best-known Buddhist in the Western world; Daisaku Ikeda is comparatively a footnote. Whenever I read about Western descriptions of what Buddhism is, it is never what the SGI expounds.

So I'd qualify that Tibetan Buddhism is trendy right now.

Just to qualify that, its as though they are just using the "word" Buddhism, without any understanding of it at all. Certainly NOT like Tibetan, in the area I am talking about.

My first contact with the current SGI a while back, was through a friend of a friend. This was a girl who was a partier, drinking every night, smoking, XTC pill-popping, sleeping around constantly, very vain, self-obsessed to a ridiculous level, etc..She was a mess, basically.
anyway, one night about 1am, she's drunk, and starts talking how she's a "Buddhist". Of course, I thought it was a joke, like someone eating a burger saying they are Vegan.
But it turns out she appears to be serious, and I start asking her about her "Buddhism", and it simply made no sense. I know a bit about classical buddhism, and I ask her about various things, like "desire" etc, and she sits there with a completely blank look on her face. She never heard of ANY of it.
Later she gives me a booklet, and that is when I started to look into this SGI thing. (the booklets were VERY deceptive, nothing about Ikea/Ikeda at all...very shallow and deceptive).

This person literally knew NOTHING about classical Buddhism whatsoever. All she knew was the few booklets from SGI she read. That's it.
So there is a bottom rung on the SGI ladder, where lots of shallow westerners get lured into it, from a friend, on a promise that "chanting" is literally going to make them rich, famous, happy, get a new car by chanting-magic, get a new job by magic, lose weight by magic, stop being depressed, anxious, etc.
Basically chanting, as a superficial wish-fulfillment scheme like was sold in The Secret.
All they literally think is...Chant for what you want. So they chant for more money, cars, house, sex, fame, bigger boobs, etc. Not kidding.
To them, Desire does not create suffering, Greed Is Good. That should be the slogan of SGI...Greed Is Good.

These folks literally have ZERO understanding of "Buddhism", and are just lured in by the promise of "get rich quick by chanting".
SGI targets these folks, and happily takes their dues. SGI wants them to be completely ignorant. Ignorant is good for SGI, that makes good SGI followers. The more thoughtless and greedy the shallow westerners, the better it is for SGI.

I've met a number of SGI folks like this, and they all have the exact same self-centered, shallow, vain, self-obsessed view of "chanting" and "Buddhism".
Its really reached the level of comedy, where people are doing literally the opposite to Buddhism.
Why call it Buddhism? It should be called Trumpism, or Consumerism, or just MeMeMe-ism.

and some of these people have never even HEARD of the 4 Noble truths, or anything like that.
It literally is like The Secret, but with Chanting, for them.
And they are all obsessed with enrolling their friends, as taught by their leaders. They mindlessly try to enrol everyone they know.

So there is some subset of SGI for vain, shallow, westerners who are completely ignorant, and SGI likes them that way. They pay their dues, they don't ask questions, and they bring in other shallow, greedy, thoughtless westerners, who also want to "get-rich-quick" by Chanting.

Remember, the Buddha was very clear on this...
Greed is Good.
Greed is God.

That is why my Buddha statue is so fat and happy.

edit:
hmm, looking closer at my chubby Buddha statue, he does actually have rather large breasts...so maybe chanting does increase one's bust size?
but seriously, there is the low-end of the SGI food-chain which is really ridiculous. But truly, Ikeda would love these people, they are not going to hassle his Org about anything, they just want their Stuff by chanting magick.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2009 02:27PM by The Anticult.

nice pic of a chubby buddha...SGI style. [farm1.static.flickr.com]

Wakatta,
You had said

"My point is that when the structure that binds the whole story together is found to be false or rickety, then were do you go to find ground truth? Do you continue to soldier on, knowing that things have been seriously distorted or changed or abandon the thread as having become damaged beyond rescue?"



So well said. That is my quandry. I am in that no chanting stage right now while I figure this out. I am on a search for as much "truth" as I can find. Although, it seems that few Nicheren schools agree! It's enough to make my head spin. I might have to come to terms with the fact that there are no "facts", just interpretations upon interpretations. I would like to practice Buddhism, but what Buddhism? Who's Buddhism? When I do open the butsudan, I just stare at my Nichikan Gohonzon and think, "what am I doing?" "Am I making a good cause, or not?" "If I chant to this Gohonzon, will it just be wasted time?" Strange as it may seem, I feel better questioning that than being fed lies, and being told to perpetuate the lies. Ahh, ignorance was bliss!

Tsukimoto,

Thank you for your comments. He is not angry. I think that he is really shocked. I had always practiced with a lot of sincere dedication. This is a 180 degree turn around for me. He knows now that I am trying to seek out the "truth". But, I know how he feels. We often see that the husband does what the wife does. If the wife joins, then soon enough, the husband's coming around. Likewise, if the wife quits, the husband soon quits. I think he wants to be his own person in this decision, and not just "follow" me, particularly because he doesn't have as much at stake. I just feel the need to inform him of what I'm now learning. And, I don't want him to experience the inevitable SGI backlash from my decision.

All,

Just to keep things straight and honest here...and I apologize for my fading memory. I referred to my Gohonzon as an "O Taigiri Gohonzon" when in fact it was a "Okatagi Tokubetsu Gohonzon " that I received not long after the Chicago Temple was opened. This was done in exchange for the family Gohonzon that we brought from Japan. My EX wasn't happy about that exchange at all by the way but the Honbu leaders said that I needed to do it since I was a committed chapter leader.

gingermarie. I'm glad I verbalized something you could relate to.

Often I would sit and chant and the confusion would just become too much to deal with. Until the schism everything fit together. When you are in an organization for a long time you see its many phases. I wondered whether, had I described the temple schism to fellow NSA members back in 1972 they would have seen it the way that NSA described it as they constructed their little house of rationalization. It is now more like the way a political party will craft its message to win over particular voting bloc's. I wonder if SGI/NSA did focus groups to see whether they would be successful in taking in folks.

Thankfully, I have been able to transition out of that mind set and still keep my personal integrity intact. I guess that is a major plus in and of itself.

Wakatta