I think Anticult's journal is a good idea. I was at a point in my life a year or so before I quit SGI where I was trying to win back an ex-girlfriend, and all I got from leaders' guidance was to let her go or chant to fight harder for kosen-rufu. Nobody gave me practical ideas to go out and just do what I used to do best before her and that was to just go out and date tons of women, which I did. It wasn't that I was expecting practical ideas from these leaders, it was just no men's division really understood what I was going through or had been out of the dating scene for so long. I met the girl of my dreams and moved in with her after I stopped chanting. Anyways, the point is that, my love life is great, my business is great, and all this is happening during this severe economic downturn we're having (even with all the high-flyers and poseurs here in LA, the hip spots in town and conspicuous consumption definitely have slowed down).
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gingermarie
I began a journal and it helped a lot. I began to use my critical thinking skills again. In one entry I recalled how members were often told that "Sensei" would only travel where he could feel the daimoku of the members, and where the "members were fighting the hardest for kosen-rufu. And of course, we want "Sensei" to come to America this year! "Obviously, this would start tosos rolling. Well, when one really thinks about it, Ikeda goes to where the photo-op is the best. He went to China and Russia, no members there. He went to Harvard, for a speech (in the basememt of some insignificant building, where the head of Asian studies wasn't even invited) And he went to Columbia University, for a speech, etc. But no, Ikeda only goes where the camera will follow him. I feel so sorry for people who chant so hard to see him. They are truely deceived. To make matters worse, the members are probably told that they are not chanting hard enough, and that is why "Sensei" isn't coming to America, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, they’d been telling us to chant for him to come back to the US since 1996. I think that was his last visit here. I just never understood why SGI-USA members never questioned what was up with this continuing 13-year and longer wait and the chanting and tosos had no effect. Especially since they always said “President Ikeda cares about Los Angeles, he thinks LA will be in the forefront of kosen-rufu for the US and the world!”
SGI always bragged how Ikeda would meet Gorbachev or some other leader. I never was or now too impressed with Gorbachev. In any case, I think Ikeda only met with Gorbachev after he left office and was a private citizen. Ikeda never got to meet with any American President like Clinton or Bush while they were in office, even though he obviously wanted to. Whenever there's an international crisis he would offer a peace solution to the crisis, e.g., the Iraqi Wars.
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tsukimoto
When leaders said things like that, I would always think, "Well, how do you know that SGI leaders are really happy in their personal lives? You don't! People can struggle with all kinds of problems -- bad marriages, troubled children, debts, addictions, eating disorders, whatever, and put on a good act to hide their pain. It's human nature to want to look good to the people around you. Wouldn't we all rather be seen as smart people who make good decisions and handle our lives wisely and well? How are SGI leaders exempt from this? SGI leaders, in fact, can feel even more pressure to look happy and successful, since SGI teaches that the practice can help you become that way. If you're a member with unresolved problems, you will not only feel as if you've failed at your job, parenting or marriage -- you'll feel as if you failed at Buddhism as well.
I can’t tell you how many SGI-USA leaders and members I’ve known or heard about who always presented a happy face and always trumpeted their accomplishments through chanting, who turned out to have been cheating, being unfaithful, or doing some other stuff that supposedly enlightened spiritual people don’t do. Looking back now, it really bothered me that the organization always told young people that they were “special” or in the “forefront” of youths in America who will greatly “succeed” (maybe because this was LA, after all). Well, guess what? 10 or 15 years later, I see these youths and they haven’t “succeeded” spectacularly in anything. Oh sure, the ones who now have regular jobs, spouses, and kids are fine people, but they’re just like responsible 30- or 40-something adults in society who don’t chant. So, what was the purpose of chanting? To have built up your fortune in your 20s so that you could be a responsible adult with a mortgage in your 30s? If that’s the case, I didn’t need to chant. With very few exceptions (like Duncan Sheik, the singer, a friend I did gajokai in the early 90s with), the youths I participated in activities with in my 20s are not in the “vanguard” of anything in American life except in their own minds. I got very disgusted at the rah-rah cheerleading they're doing to the newest crop of youth leaders in my final days in the organization. Felt like they were insulating these kids from the harsh reality of life, e.g., umm, doing Buddhist activities by themselves ain't gonna get you a job, kiddo.
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Sparky
You are right to "fear" the Komeito party. The old adage of "relgion and politics do not mix" is most likely a western one. Clearly they do mix in the Komeito.
No one can see the future, but I would probably guess that when Ikeda dies, his successor (and let's face it folks, it WILL be a MAN as sexism is alive and well) will INITIALLY continue Ikeda's direction. As time goes by I would suggest that the new leader of SGI will stamp more and more of his own personal ideas on the org. Eventually the SGI we see today will NOT resemble the SGI of the future (for better or for worse).
The current American members except for some old-timers are so naïve. I bet 99% of the members who joined after 1992 or so (after the priesthood split) aren’t even aware that there’s such a party. I never heard the word Komeito mentioned anywhere publicly in a meeting by anyone in my 18 years. I only learned about Komeito through private conversations with old-timers in the early 90s, or reading a private translation of an SGI article published in Japan.
There is a censorship process with publications in SGI-USA. No doubt, the SGI censors feel that disclosing the existence of the Komeito party would turn off a lot of American members who in the beginning at least, join a religious organization without expecting there would be a political connection. Too bad many of them eventually change and use the organization as a forum to advocate for one-sided political causes, at least in my experience here in LA.
As far as his son succeeding him, I don’t think that will be enough. Admittedly, President Ikeda is very charismatic and has a unique personality. However, I just didn’t see anybody in Japan who could even come close. Maybe I just don’t know or maybe such a person will rise up. But we would have seen such a man groomed by now and playing a prominent role. As far as Ikeda's son Hamasa Ikeda (I think that’s his name), he seems like a really bland fellow. I don’t think he’ll have what it take to keep the members going. And, yes, I absolutely agree that it’s a shame that nobody questions this automatic succession going on.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2009 03:38AM by Mav.