@Tibbs, You wrote, "Yes!! This is how I felt so many times. Usually as I was going off to attend yet another planning meeting to plan the next planning meeting. Dog and pony shows and planning meetings to plan the next dog and pony show." I hear you. With all the activities toward "world peace" it is possible to finally ask yourself, "How do any of these make the world more peaceful?" It usually stressed me out before and during the activity. I cannot even imagine the line that the YD must have fallen for re: RTE. Were they making history by coercing members to fill up a large venue? How did any of that change anything? Why does anyone think that making people more aware of Ikeda matters? The further I get from the period of my membership the more I see how puzzling SGI is. I also become less and less impressed by Ikeda and the organization. For all the talk of compassion and caring about people there is very little of either. Otherwise people would not be expected to do more and more for SGI for some ambiguous objective. On a related side note, my mom, a member of 20 years, had surgery earlier this year. No one in her district even called her after or around that time. She is 75 years old and very active in her district but the same people who call her to attend activities did not think it was important to check up on her or see if she wanted company to chant for her recovery. She found that odd and a bit educational. @cyclops, you wrote, "the goal is world peace but you have the entire organization – centered around Japanese corporate leaders and with IKEDA as MASTER to all doesn’t play well outside Japan where the culture needs a Most High Leader! Had a youth come back from IKEDA feast @ LA (RTE) and he was puzzled – because he and some others were talking to some non members about the most magnificent IKEDA and the people ask who is he? Taken back by this the YD said he is like Gandhi, or King – the people responded never heard of him! This was a downer for the young IKEDABOTS – so outside IKEDA little (SGI) empire he is an unknown – as he should be. I have written this before: Why would anyone who is not an SGI member need to know Ikeda? He is a religious leader not a peace activist. He is a religious leader, not a humanitarian. He is a religious leader not a poet, or an author, or an educator. I demand someone's credentials before I start giving them credit they have not earned. SGI keeps giving him credit for helping open the door between China and Japan, but I am a little too educated to believe anything that important is so easy to explain. People of other faiths or no faith are usually very involved in anything important. Are we going to go around crediting Christianity or its leaders for every breakthrough in medicine, human rights, science, technology etc? I say this because a leader once tried to give Ikeda credit for advances in civil rights in the US simply because Ikeda had visited here. To those deeply entrenched in SGI's propaganda things like that are logical, not to me or most others.

When I first joined the SGI everyone kept telling me what a great leader Ikeda was and I wanted to believe it. But try as I might I could never find anything that the man had actually DONE to further world peace. I was excited when the Victory Over Violence campaign started because I thought, at last, the SGI was going to be DOING something that would matter to people outside of SGI and have a real impact on the community. What I saw instead were SGI members using Victory Over Violence events as an avenue to convert high school students to SGI Buddhism. I looked at the Victory Over Violence website yesterday and saw there was a message from their "Peace Mentor" Daisaku Ikeda.

The fact that he places himself alongside Martin Luther King and Ghandi in an exhibit is so offensive to me. He has done nothing to deserve that type of recognition.

Hello everyone,

I started practicing in 1983 but I've been detached from any participation with any Soka Gakai groups because it just didn't get to me and I thought I just wasn't ready for it. I would go to meetings every now and than but never got hooked on this ITAI DOSHIN feeling I was supposed to have with any groups. I moved around a lot and met new members and also went to some meetings and new groups but still never felt inspired to give it all I've got and get totally involved. But because I felt so good after Gongyo and daimoku I realized that some guilt was nagging at me for not devoting more time and energy to the SGI, but I also knew that feeling guilt is a desctructive emotion and not what buddhism is about. This awareness has helped me detect any manipulative attempt to get me to join any activity that didn't feel ok with me deep inside. It all started with Street SHAKUBUKU when I first started out in 1983. I refused to do it because I remembered Nichiren's words I read that said something like ''know a person's heart when you talk to them about the law...''

Trying to read or understand the Gosho was hard for me, and I was never able to really enjoy 'the New Human Revolution' book.... Over the years I often felt the old GUILT feelings resurface here and there with certain statements or comments coming to me in various ways which only turned me off more and more. I went to many different meetings from LA, FL, TX all the way to Paris, Brussels and Germany but was never able to stick to the horse like a fly on its tale. I must say that no Soka Member or Leader ever ran after me, nor tried to convince me to be more involved. I was never hassled or threatened by anyone only by my inner seeking mind wondering why I couldn't get myself more involved with activities within the SGI even though I had grown so much stronger from steady daily practice and study. (I even wondered if I was a Bad Buddhist or a hypocrite?....) In spite of my attitude many often asked me why I wasn't a group leader, why I wasn't having meetings at my house.... Why? Because that would mean I have to follow the rules.... go to study meetings, and other meetings and even more meetings and I knew I wasn't ready nor willing to do that, maybe I would some day but not now. Looks like that some day never came and never will....

I usually go to the SGI Center when I need some supplies on days which is 1-2 times a year. Many are surprised and happy to see me and nobody ever pressures me. The leaders that know me are nice, respectfull and friendly even though they never see me involved. I recently helped someone's shakubuku because this person lives almost next door and wanted to go to a meeting. Open minded me I decided to go with her and check it out after nearly 3 years since my last meeting which turned me off. The 1st meeting with this group was good and I loved the beautifull sound of daimoku, even the comments made sense and I felt positive about it all so I was willing to attend a 2nd meeting with the same group the following month and again I was touched by the powerful sound of daimoku when we walked in.... but when the discussion about MASTER & DISCIPLE started, I thought to myself (Oh No, not again!!!). I listened to all that nonsense I had heard at those few previous meetings before and reacted with the same aversion as I did a few years back. I was hoping they wouldn't ask for my opinion but they did and they got it straight from my heart.... I said with all due respect for Daisaku, I am very sorry but I cannot identify myself with me being his disciple and the more you talk about it and the more I don't want to hear about it. I don't understand why we always talk about Daisaku Ikeda's greatness at every meeting instead of teaching members how to get more out of the correct attitude while practicing this buddhism, and I cannot and will never be able to bring my shakubukus to any of these meetings as long as this goes on... After the meeting I left because I said what I had to say and didn't want to talk about it anymore. This Daisaku Ikeda discussion have been going on for years and who am I to want to change that? Since than, nobody has contacted me except for those who agree with me and are also wondering about the way SGI has been acting lately. I am confused and for now I just practice and remind myself that Nichiren said to follow the Law and not the people.

Thank you for reading and I am very gratefull to have a place where I can publicly announce my Official Divorce with the SGI. Now lets hope I can deal with it..
ExMio

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The most dangerous lie is that which most closely resembles the truth.

This speech saved my sanity!

[www.youtube.com]

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v3rsus
@ everyone, hehe: I just feel SO STUPID for allowing myself to get sucked into this crap not once, but twice! Everyone's so nice at first and then once you gain your footing, they're crawling up your ass for money, shakubuku, harassing you to go to meetings and World Peace Gongyo, etc.
I can't bring myself to go to another meeting...for me, it would be my first meeting in Texas. As someone else stated in a post long ago, SGI members talk about you behind your back. I'd be going in with everyone knowing my entire SGI history, as well as the entirety of my personal life. I'm really not emotionally stable enough to dip my body in honey and throw myself to the fire ants. I lost a baby in the 5th month of pregnancy not too long ago. My former district leader told me, as you might suspect, that it was simply my karma. I brought it on myself. I don't care who you are or what religion you follow; you don't say shit like that to a mom who just lost the son she'd so longed to have. Friends and family support you. People who follow any religion usually consider fellow followers friends, at the very least. SGI members are not my friends.
The more I talk, the more things come back to me about shit SGI folks told ME about MY LIFE. And I just went on, letting 'em do it! I sucked it all in like some kind of psycho-sponge for such a long time.
I was ashamed of myself for a while. Finding this forum helped; I know I'm not alone. It's frighteningly easy to get sucked in by these freaks of nature. I'm still shaken up about the whole ordeal, though.
I think I'm going to reply to the latest e-mail from the current area WD leader. I'm gonna tell her I want nothing more to do with her or any other SGI member. And I'm keeping my Gohonzon. I DID pay for it, monetarily and otherwise. I deserve it.

Don't feel stupid, learn from it. This is my official quitting date but I'm keeping my gohonzon and most of all I am gratefull I was wise enough to know the difference between buddhism and SGI

Welcome Exmio!

I enjoyed your experience. You pointed out so well the positive and negative aspects of the SGI, and you have seen it all over the world! You really decribed so well the dilema that many of us are dealing with. I am still a member but only attend the district meeting, and only because there are those on the same page there, and we just don't get into the MD aka MDM (mentor disciple aka mentor disciple mistake).

I remember the old days when I always thought all members should get more involved than they were. That was the way!! Now, I'm thankful that I still have for friends some of the people that never did get very involved. Many of them have more compassion than the busy bee members. They did not write me off even though I kept encouraging them to get more involved. When I called them, the conversation always had to include "are you coming to the next activity?" Now when I call a member (the ones that are my friends), we just talk about our lives. That is so much more enjoyable than having this 'other' agenda.

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backnforth
Welcome Exmio!

I enjoyed your experience. You pointed out so well the positive and negative aspects of the SGI, and you have seen it all over the world! You really decribed so well the dilema that many of us are dealing with. I am still a member but only attend the district meeting, and only because there are those on the same page there, and we just don't get into the MD aka MDM (mentor disciple aka mentor disciple mistake).

I remember the old days when I always thought all members should get more involved than they were. That was the way!! Now, I'm thankful that I still have for friends some of the people that never did get very involved. Many of them have more compassion than the busy bee members. They did not write me off even though I kept encouraging them to get more involved. When I called them, the conversation always had to include "are you coming to the next activity?" Now when I call a member (the ones that are my friends), we just talk about our lives. That is so much more enjoyable than having this 'other' agenda.

Dear Backnforth:

If you wish to continue your faith and practice of the Lotus Sutra, why not embrace the same faith and practice as Nichiren? Nichiren teaches about the evil of complicity and the danger of bad spiritual friends. A thorough study of the Lotus Sutra and the writings of Nichiren [without the SGI footnotes] and you won't be SGI for long [because of their deviations]. Take the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren at their word without the SGI, "Nichiren said that but meant this" agenda.

Mark



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2010 12:48AM by Nichijew.

Mark,

By asking this question:

" . . . . why not embrace the same faith and practice as Nichiren?"

You seem to be implying that I am not, just because I am still officially on the member roster. I don't think it is up to anyone to judge another's faith or practice. It simply isn't possible.

My question to you would be: do you enjoy still being part of an organization that wants to be known as the "only correct way" and how long will that last into the future? I believe the human race continues to evolve into one of tolerance (at least in the West) and won't always accept being part of any religious organization that teaches the wrongness of others or that judges or excludes others

I do think you mean well, and you know a heck of a lot more about Buddhist history and theory than I do, but I was attracted to the practice originallly because I don't have to change who I am, can make simple causes, chant and bring out my enlightenment. This practice is for all types, at all levels.

Backnforth...

I should probably have said, why not join a more orthodox sect of Nichiren Buddhism, one that more faithfully adheres to the basic tenets of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren. I certainly am not saying, my way is the one true way. What I am saying is that the Gakkai way is not the way of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren. Find another way or you are complicit. This group is entitled, Former Cult Members and Affected Families Soka Gakkai International -- SGI. It is not a forum for current SGI members or even those who support the SGI. Many of us were damaged by the SGI, materially, psychologically, and spiritually. It is an affront to us coming here and praising even one aspect of the SGI. It is like saying, "This is a wonderful apple. There are only several worms in it" or even saying, "This infested apple has some good parts and tasty flesh. Why don't you just cut away the bad part?" I say to you, ditch the rotten apple and go get a clean and pristine apple.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2010 07:54AM by Nichijew.

Agreed, but I don't think people instantly become a "former member". I think it is a process especially for those of us that spent decades feeling as if we were in the right place. Let those of us have the process; maybe we'll break free entirelly, maybe not . . . either way it's good to get the word out to people that think they are the only one in their district having these concerns.

Rather than just a place where people come with their anger, I think it can be useful as a movement of sorts to raise the awareness of the cult aspect that many of us never considered. I don't discount that people feel damaged, but as you know, many people feel a mixture of emotions about their experience in the SGI. There are not many places where people can sort through that.