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tsukimoto
Someone else commented that Ikeda took off his own suit jacket at this meeting -- so all the men in the audience did too. The men's division and women's division sat separately in the auditorium, and the men's division was a sea of white shirts. The conformity is so striking.

Japanese/gakkai custom being mirrored in the mini-Japan-cult in the U.S.A.. I was once asked to leave a meeting for not showing up in the mandatory all whites "official" (aka: milkman) uniform at the time (I gladly complied :-) ).

Simplify, re: the downloads, EXCELLENT! WELL-DONE! Those clips need to be out there and available, precisely because the gakkai is consistently trying to censor information (which they have mastered within Japan and its media).

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Shavoy
No matter how the Gakkai tries to figure out how to adapt to each country's culture, etc.--They are Japanese first. That's never and will never leave.

Agreed, 100%. (Random side note: I always hated sitting on the floor!)

Sometimes, reading this mb/thread dislodges long forgotten pieces stuffed into the crevices and recesses of one's memory. I can vouch for some of the general things being discussed in the following posts:

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tennpeach

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KittyLuv

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tsukimoto
Anticult, your chanting-addict friend reminds me of a former friend of mine who's heavily involved in SGI. I went on vacation once with her, and another friend of ours who isn't an SGI member. My SGI friend just became extremely anxious, perhaps from being away from home and in a strange place. We were at this beautiful beach -- and all she wanted to do was sit in the motel room, very withdrawn and irritable, curtains drawn, and chant for hours. Our non-SGI friend and I tried to get her to come out and do things with us, and she refused. All she wanted to do was sit in that motel room and chant. She'd come out for meals and that was about it. So, the other girl and I just went out without her and had fun...what were we going to do?

This is really sad. I talked to a lot of people suffering from anxiety in the course of my healing, I noticed that isolation was a common theme, and I was no stranger to that. I can see why chanting would feed into this. I'm very grateful that I had people that were pushing me to get back out into life. There seemed to be a lot of anxious people in SGI and my SGI "mentor" would tell me stories about these various members of the group that I was in and their various conditions -- this one has depression, that one has anxiety -- and they had been in SGI for years. I said, wow, that's amazing. If they've been chanting all this time why haven't they gotten better? Her answer: They're doing it wrong. They don't attend enough meetings and they're not chanting with determination to overcome their fundamental darkness.

(I'm coming into this a bit late)
That was a common thing to tell members who had any kind of illness--"they needed to attend all the meetings, give more money to the organization instead of buying necessary medication such as oxygen,...." I know someone who died because she did exactly that....
Nichiren Daishonin took medicine given to him by Shijo Kingo when he needed it.

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tennpeach
Her name was Kimi L., I remember meething her for the 1st time when I was 15 years old, I think she was a similar to my mother--so she might have been about 35~40 years old at that time. I returned from out-of-country in '86. Then the split happened--she contacted my mother around 1991 to let her know that SGI leaders were trying to dig up any kind of dirt to discredit me as being a "disgruntled member", etc.. In the end, since they couldn't get the kind of information they wanted, they made up stories-- real doozies, I tell you. Returning to Ms. Kimi's story--she moved to Austin in Texas around 1995. She was working a minimum wage job, had severe emphysema and needed to carry oxygen. Her leader told her that she must attend some big meeting in Houston, she explained to the leader that if she went, she wouldn't be able to afford her oxygen....that ldr told her she must show conviction of her practice, use her money to attend that "big" meeting and "overcome" her illness by showing she didn't need the oxygen. My mother begged her to use common sense, her oxygen and life was more important that going to that meeting....she didn't listen...she went, returned home. A few days, her landlord found her dead...she had basically suffocated from lack of oxygen....

Very sad story.

I remember a youth division member who had some minor disabilities and he was encouraged to fight harder, marching around in the brass band and later building human pyramids for Cousin Rufus. Poor guy, I don't know what ever happened to him, but I do remember seeing him struggle and ignorant "leaders" basically making false promises to him that his struggles and efforts in the ymd would lead to him "overcoming" his physical ailments/handicaps. Having to "challenge oneself" and all that other BS. As I've said before, I don't know how some of these so-called "leaders" can live with themselves today for some of the stuff that they did. I also recall another fellow with Hodgkin's disease being made similar promises and struggling to attend ymd activities. Ignorant "leaders", who probably didn't even know what the disease was, dispensing authoritative "guidance" on what he should be doing with his life. Thinking back, this is the kind of manipulation that REALLY makes me angry and wish that some of those "leaders" could be held responsible for their stupid acts.

I do have a disability. I was hounded about not getting to every meeting so I could overcome my health issue. It sucked! I had meeti.gs in my home for well over a year. I was happy to have activities here but was constantly po'd about what was expected. I have severe arthritis & fibromyalgia in my legs & kness. I had to keep my home clean, and nights of activities was literally stuck
standing in front of the table serving food to everyone. It was very painful & noone helped. I attempted to discusits the food thing then was talked about being difficult. We purchased flats of water for members so they were comfortable. Kids ran rampant & were basically unsupervised so I never heard a single meeting since I had to sit where i could have a counter to pull myself up by...i can't manage without it due to stiffness after sitting. My husband became responsible for the friggen chairs that were kept here due to hosting meetings. Sooo he had to take them all the places they were needed & they were basically the last straw. I got sick due to members coming here sick then told i needed to chant about it. I was so sick during tbT stupid "test" we had fo take but the WD leader insisted I take it & came here so I could change my health karma & take it anyway. I wonder why we quit!

I wonder why I put up with so much for so long! In the past week we have gotten texts fm four people. One said "i
iss ur smile" had a phone number but no name. It took me three days to figure out it was my wd district leader! funny how loved i am suddenly...oh yeah, time for MONEY COLLECTIO! Sooo disengenuous! I guess i am bitter
I heard a great quote by Depak Chopra
Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not here. I am free of both

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jlynneda63
I wonder why I put up with so much for so long! In the past week we have gotten texts fm four people. One said "i
iss ur smile" had a phone number but no name. It took me three days to figure out it was my wd district leader! funny how loved i am suddenly...oh yeah, time for MONEY COLLECTIO! Sooo disengenuous! I guess i am bitter
I heard a great quote by Depak Chopra
Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not here. I am free of both

What you've gone through is quite typical: they use your house, facilities (restroom, food, etc.), time and effort, gradually becoming more and more comfortable, eventually just expecting it as a matter of course. Then, once it's all gone (especially *you*), they all of a sudden miss it all. Very typical.

When I was distancing myself from the cult, I got those same messages (no emails existed at that time, but I got phone calls, letters, post-cards, home-visitations, top senior/salaried leader cold contacting even years later). They will always want you back, keeping the "faith" that you will one day awaken again from your "sleeping" non-practice. Please come back and fight for Cousin Rufus once more (although now it appears to be follow the dear phantom leader), "so-and-so really misses you", remember when "x" happened - it was a "golden memory", and by the way, the month of May is almost here, how about some token zaimu as an expression of your faith and appreciation for all the good luck you've had in your life from your earlier days.

They always want you back, always. I'm not surprised when I still get a rare message shuttled to me about somebody asking about me (the last time it happened, as a matter of fact, was just last year) and I've been out for over two decades.

"Better Out Than In", as per Shrek, Wakatta1, et al.. I could never go back to being an ignorant (young & dumb) fool again. Count your blessings, at least we are some of the ones who managed to make it out and recover (I know many who are not as fortunate and are still being manipulated and played by this cult).

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Hitch
Please come back and fight for Cousin Rufus once more (although now it appears to be follow the dear phantom leader).

The dear Phantom Leader and Cousin Rufus. Thank you Hitch, I now have a perfectly formed comic book image in my head and a smile on my face. I love it. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

I will never b able to think of "Kosen Rufu" the same way again! Lol!

What makes me so mad is that i devoted almost my entire adult life to Cousin Rufus! I left for 13 yrs but came back again! I feel as though my life is over & I am questioning just what i do now. I am a reasonably smart person so what happened?

It is a very weird thing to try to understand!

As for being contacted...this is ridiculous. Don't they know it is apparent they only call when they want something?

I remember crayons on the walls from the kids running all over the place and the parents not taking responsibility for them. I always brought toys for my kids and sat in the back. I don't have a problem with meetings in the homes but please respect the homeowner. Gosh, I cound sit here for hours and write of past experiences. Some were ok and others were just plain wacky. Again I feel the SGI has gotten way off the beaten track of Buddhist philosophy and mindful thinking.

I've been reading mind control info very disturbing!
Kids were so cute but our house is small..900
sqft. 30 members & squashed like sardines.

It was really hard! I was being tortured by a wd member who was the most manipulative person I have ever known! Since we now text mostly noone knows what shes doing. Said one thing to leaders & another to me. I always felt like she felt threatened by me. Come to find out she was chanting for certain people to quit that she didn't like! We had leaders removed twice. I am so glad I am out! It is interesting how reading your posts will start me on a diatribe about something I have long repressed. Is that a good thing or just beating a dead horse?

Here's a new one I heard yesterday from an SGI member who quit a couple of days ago.... "They are saying that thanks to the Hokke [who number about forty in the United States and 150,000 in Japan] the Buddhist Gods have left the land"..... Implying that we are the reason SGI is not growing and not getting benefits. I love it. The Hokke is so powerful that the Buddhist Gods have left the land but the 12,000,000 Ikeda worshippers are so powerless that their one true faith can't overcome the negative influence of the Hokke.

Nichijew disciple of Nichiju