Re: Former SGI members
Posted by:
quiet one
()
Date: September 22, 2009 11:39AM
Hi, Von. I'd like to hear some of your stories about your time with SGI! Also, you said "There are some misconceptions going around, which my personal experience shows are absolutely not true." Could you clarify? Thanks!
...
Posted by:
Yzak
()
Date: September 22, 2009 12:34PM
Von, I would like to read your experiences! its good to sit back for a while and think for a second(thing that probably all religions wouldn't allow to do that!)
aLL of the sudden I'm back to this thread LOL its been 3 months since I left SGI, and my life hasn't change very much, neither for good nor bad. I say this because in SGI, leaders were constantly remembering us that if we ever leave the organization, your life will go to misery, you will have no friends, and things are going to become harder. Well I don't have SGI friends anymore and I'm glad, it was kind of sick that they always (especially with younger members) talked about SGI and Ikeda and the pseudo World Revolution all the time. Now that I'm out, the air finally seems refreshing!
Well, the Buddhist club that I organized at college last semester is now gone, just like that! its seems they didn't have any incompetent member at the college to do that shitty work anymore :P!
BTW, I got an email last week, one of the members of my district emailed everybody that "she was going to commit suicide". It seems like she's ok now, but further than that, no idea. She actually works at SUA, so I can imagine all the pressure she had felt because of SGI. Its sad, hopefully more people like in this thread realize that religion is never meant to take care of its followers, but rather to satisfy itself economically. Or should I say INSTITUTIONALIZED RELIGIONS, that sounds more accurate!
aLL of the sudden I'm back to this thread LOL its been 3 months since I left SGI, and my life hasn't change very much, neither for good nor bad. I say this because in SGI, leaders were constantly remembering us that if we ever leave the organization, your life will go to misery, you will have no friends, and things are going to become harder. Well I don't have SGI friends anymore and I'm glad, it was kind of sick that they always (especially with younger members) talked about SGI and Ikeda and the pseudo World Revolution all the time. Now that I'm out, the air finally seems refreshing!
Well, the Buddhist club that I organized at college last semester is now gone, just like that! its seems they didn't have any incompetent member at the college to do that shitty work anymore :P!
BTW, I got an email last week, one of the members of my district emailed everybody that "she was going to commit suicide". It seems like she's ok now, but further than that, no idea. She actually works at SUA, so I can imagine all the pressure she had felt because of SGI. Its sad, hopefully more people like in this thread realize that religion is never meant to take care of its followers, but rather to satisfy itself economically. Or should I say INSTITUTIONALIZED RELIGIONS, that sounds more accurate!
Re: Former SGI members
Posted by:
Yzak
()
Date: September 22, 2009 12:54PM
Von, I would like to read more about your experiences at NSA/SGI!
I'm back to the thread. Its have been 3 months since I left SGI, and my life didn't have any significant change, neither for good nor bad. I say this because leaders constantly reminded us that if we ever leave the organization, "your life will be a misery, you will never be happy ever again, you won't have enough friends." blah blah..
Well I do have less "friends" (or should I say false promoting friends) and I'm glad I don't. Now that I'm no longer in the organization, I can see more clearly how unhealthy the pressure SGI members and leaders put on others, and the constant brainwashing media of CHANT FOR MIRACLES, EMBRACE PRES. IKEDA AS YOUR MENTOR, DO MORE "CAUSES" (or should we say, doing activities to SGI for free) FOR SGI AND WORLD PEACE AND REVOLUTION!
My life is still not a misery yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were, 'cause thats life, tons ups and down like any human being!
And I have had been happier since I left SGI!
BTW, I mentioned weeks ago that I helped organize the SGI club at my college. Well, guess what? Now it doesn't exist! My guess is that there was no other incompetent SGI member at my college who wanted to do the job!!
Finally, last week I received an email from my ex district area, a member wrote to everyone at the district that SHE WAS GOING TO COMMIT SUICIDE! Its seems she was saved and its now ok, but any further detail, dunno. This lady (I didn't even know her personally!) works at the SUA administration, so I can't imagine how much stress SGI has been putting her to make her decide almost to kill herself.
Hopefully more people get aware of this thread and lets keep exposing the failure that Pres. Ikeda has been carring on for so long. "INSTITUTIONALIZED RELIGIONS" are the ones that have to be avoided at all cost!!
(SORRY DOUBLED POSTED ;-; erase the first one if you want!)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2009 12:56PM by Yzak.
I'm back to the thread. Its have been 3 months since I left SGI, and my life didn't have any significant change, neither for good nor bad. I say this because leaders constantly reminded us that if we ever leave the organization, "your life will be a misery, you will never be happy ever again, you won't have enough friends." blah blah..
Well I do have less "friends" (or should I say false promoting friends) and I'm glad I don't. Now that I'm no longer in the organization, I can see more clearly how unhealthy the pressure SGI members and leaders put on others, and the constant brainwashing media of CHANT FOR MIRACLES, EMBRACE PRES. IKEDA AS YOUR MENTOR, DO MORE "CAUSES" (or should we say, doing activities to SGI for free) FOR SGI AND WORLD PEACE AND REVOLUTION!
My life is still not a misery yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were, 'cause thats life, tons ups and down like any human being!
And I have had been happier since I left SGI!
BTW, I mentioned weeks ago that I helped organize the SGI club at my college. Well, guess what? Now it doesn't exist! My guess is that there was no other incompetent SGI member at my college who wanted to do the job!!
Finally, last week I received an email from my ex district area, a member wrote to everyone at the district that SHE WAS GOING TO COMMIT SUICIDE! Its seems she was saved and its now ok, but any further detail, dunno. This lady (I didn't even know her personally!) works at the SUA administration, so I can't imagine how much stress SGI has been putting her to make her decide almost to kill herself.
Hopefully more people get aware of this thread and lets keep exposing the failure that Pres. Ikeda has been carring on for so long. "INSTITUTIONALIZED RELIGIONS" are the ones that have to be avoided at all cost!!
(SORRY DOUBLED POSTED ;-; erase the first one if you want!)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2009 12:56PM by Yzak.
Re: Former SGI members
Posted by:
tsukimoto
()
Date: September 23, 2009 04:40AM
Von, welcome to the thread. I too would love to hear more of your experiences with SGI. I've found the sharing here so helpful. It's hard to discuss my SGI experiences with people who have not been in SGI. I sometimes wonder if they think I'm making things up!
Yzak, good to hear from you again also! Glad that things are going well for you. Sorry, though, to hear about the depressed lady who works at Soka University. I remember reading the World Tribune. Years ago, it had a letters to the editor section. There were so many letters criticizing a member who said that he was on anti-depression medication. Many members thought that this was just awful -- he should chant more, and then he wouldn't be depressed! So you can imagine what this poor lady at Soka University might have been feeling. She's depressed and probably needs therapy and medication. Instead she's got her co-workers and her SGI group and leaders telling her that she shouldn't go to a doctor or psychiatrist, she shouldn't take medication, and she shouldn't go to therapy -- she should chant more. And if her family are members, they could be saying the same thing. She needed professional help and instead she's probably just being told to chant more, do more activities for SGI, and admire President Ikeda more. And she's not getting better and she's being told that she isn't practicing correctly, she's just got to try harder to show actual proof of this Buddhism. That would make anyone feel desperate. Writing to everyone in the district telling them she's committing suicide -- what a cry for help! I hope she gets real help now, not just advice to chant more.
Yzak, good to hear from you again also! Glad that things are going well for you. Sorry, though, to hear about the depressed lady who works at Soka University. I remember reading the World Tribune. Years ago, it had a letters to the editor section. There were so many letters criticizing a member who said that he was on anti-depression medication. Many members thought that this was just awful -- he should chant more, and then he wouldn't be depressed! So you can imagine what this poor lady at Soka University might have been feeling. She's depressed and probably needs therapy and medication. Instead she's got her co-workers and her SGI group and leaders telling her that she shouldn't go to a doctor or psychiatrist, she shouldn't take medication, and she shouldn't go to therapy -- she should chant more. And if her family are members, they could be saying the same thing. She needed professional help and instead she's probably just being told to chant more, do more activities for SGI, and admire President Ikeda more. And she's not getting better and she's being told that she isn't practicing correctly, she's just got to try harder to show actual proof of this Buddhism. That would make anyone feel desperate. Writing to everyone in the district telling them she's committing suicide -- what a cry for help! I hope she gets real help now, not just advice to chant more.
Re: Former SGI members
Posted by:
Yzak
()
Date: September 23, 2009 05:30AM
Quote
tsukimoto
Writing to everyone in the district telling them she's committing suicide -- what a cry for help! I hope she gets real help now, not just advice to chant more.
Yes, so true. Actually, the very first warning that I got about SGI was from my brother-in-law who went to Japan, and regular Japanese people told him that SGI was a well known cult in Japan, and they don't believe in Psychology or Psychiatry.
That's like what some Christian cults don't believe in the evolution theory, SGI "Buddhism" doesn't believe in Psychology!
that's even worst. I actually replied this lady that was going to commit suicide that "don't be desperate, SGI is probably abusing you, don't give up"
I hope she's all right now. Yet probably she's going to be consumed once again to practice harder....
Re: Former SGI members
Posted by:
tsukimoto
()
Date: September 23, 2009 05:41AM
Yzak, the cult of Scientology doesn't "believe in" psychotherapy or anti-depression medication either. It's very sad that people have to suffer unnecessarily, when there are medications that could help them.
I know some Japanese too, and SGI has a very bad reputation in Japan. Many Japanese see them as very aggressive, dishonest, and overly concerned with taking people's money. The Japanese press has published many negative stories about them -- wiretapping, insurance fraud, tax evasion.
I know some Japanese too, and SGI has a very bad reputation in Japan. Many Japanese see them as very aggressive, dishonest, and overly concerned with taking people's money. The Japanese press has published many negative stories about them -- wiretapping, insurance fraud, tax evasion.
Re: Former SGI members
Posted by:
quiet one
()
Date: September 23, 2009 05:48AM
Quote
Yzak
I'm back to the thread. Its have been 3 months since I left SGI, and my life didn't have any significant change, neither for good nor bad. I say this because leaders constantly reminded us that if we ever leave the organization, "your life will be a misery, you will never be happy ever again, you won't have enough friends." blah blah.
Yzak, I feel much better since I am not going to SGI meetings. Because I was a member of SGI for over 30 years, I felt like it was going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to stop going to meetings. But, much to my surprise, I feel very relieved. For a couple of years I felt troubled by what was going on in SGI, but I didn't actually withdraw until a few months ago. Some local ex-SGI members have formed a group of people who get together and chant, and I have enjoyed going to their meetings. I will admit that I have attended 2 SGI meetings this summer. It was social in nature--I miss my old friends! The last meeting I went to, about a month ago, I only stayed for part of it. It was so nice seeing people that I have known for so many years, but I really couldn't relate to anything else. The "experiences" seemed absurd to me!
Anyways, I have been feeling so much better and have such a better outlook on life! I have been busier than ever, with things that are more important to me, such as family and work. I have also been re-connecting with people from long ago in my life that I didn't have much time for because of SGI. My husband, also, is in a much better mood since he doesn't have to deal with alll of the local politics of SGI. His better mood, in turn, makes me happier!
Maybe it's not because I'm free of the SGI-hold, but there is a correlation in when I started to feel much better and when I left SGI behind!
Soka Gakkai Insurance Fraud, Japan
Posted by:
tsukimoto
()
Date: September 23, 2009 05:50AM
For example, this:
---------Beginning of Quote, Cult Information and Awareness Website---------------------------------------------------------------
Soka Gakkai Defrauds Japanese Government
Evades Taxes In Insurance Scam of more than U.S. $10 Million
According to the Weekly Post of 11/25/94, Soka Gakkai has committed insurance fraud in forty-two documented cases (Twenty-two in Tokyo; eighteen in the area just outside of Tokyo; one in Osaka; one in Kyushu) and evaded taxes in excess of U.S. $10,000,000.00 (Ten million) in the twenty-two cases in Tokyo, alone. It is highly likely that more cases will become documented and that the money involved will rise as investigations into the Gakkai's insurance records continue.
The insurance, a type that was established for small, family run businesses, is "long term inclusive insurance." It was devised to cover small businesses where an individual's residence serves also as one's place of business and for businesses where part of the property is set aside for permanent occupancy as one's place of residence. A typical example of this second type of business arrangement is one where a family/owner has a shop on the first floor of a single family dwelling unit and the family residence on the second. The Ministry of Finance defines the prerequisite conditions for eligibility for this insurance as "permanent occupancy and place of residence" and "the place one determines as one's permanent residence and uses as the basis for living." Further, this insurance is recognized for tax purposes as a "financial loss." Therefore, the small business is given a break and can get a tax write-off.
The Gakkai committed fraud when it purchased this insurance for, among other properties, the Soka Gakkai Headquarters in Tokyo, the Seikyo Newspaper Headquarters office building (in the same area), the Kansai Seikyo Newspaper Headquarters, and the Kyushu Seikyo Newspaper branch office building. Further, the Gakkai's for-profit newspaper company, the Seikyo Newspaper purchased large amounts of this insurance to reduce its taxable income and thereby committed tax evasion.
The insurance is different from the usual type of "pay as you go" insurance in that it can be purchased to cover periods of three, five and ten years. Further, a small percentage of the insurance amount is set aside. That amount accrues interest and, at the end of the specified period, ten percent of the insurance amount plus interest accrued on the amount set aside that is above an estimated amount of interest earnings is returned as a "gift of gratitude" to the insured.
In Japan, gifts are not included among taxable income. The Gakkai, in addition to committing fraud and tax evasion in fourty-two instances, illegally received more than one million dollars in bogus "gift (kickback)" payments.
-------------------------------------------------------End of Quote---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------Beginning of Quote, Cult Information and Awareness Website---------------------------------------------------------------
Soka Gakkai Defrauds Japanese Government
Evades Taxes In Insurance Scam of more than U.S. $10 Million
According to the Weekly Post of 11/25/94, Soka Gakkai has committed insurance fraud in forty-two documented cases (Twenty-two in Tokyo; eighteen in the area just outside of Tokyo; one in Osaka; one in Kyushu) and evaded taxes in excess of U.S. $10,000,000.00 (Ten million) in the twenty-two cases in Tokyo, alone. It is highly likely that more cases will become documented and that the money involved will rise as investigations into the Gakkai's insurance records continue.
The insurance, a type that was established for small, family run businesses, is "long term inclusive insurance." It was devised to cover small businesses where an individual's residence serves also as one's place of business and for businesses where part of the property is set aside for permanent occupancy as one's place of residence. A typical example of this second type of business arrangement is one where a family/owner has a shop on the first floor of a single family dwelling unit and the family residence on the second. The Ministry of Finance defines the prerequisite conditions for eligibility for this insurance as "permanent occupancy and place of residence" and "the place one determines as one's permanent residence and uses as the basis for living." Further, this insurance is recognized for tax purposes as a "financial loss." Therefore, the small business is given a break and can get a tax write-off.
The Gakkai committed fraud when it purchased this insurance for, among other properties, the Soka Gakkai Headquarters in Tokyo, the Seikyo Newspaper Headquarters office building (in the same area), the Kansai Seikyo Newspaper Headquarters, and the Kyushu Seikyo Newspaper branch office building. Further, the Gakkai's for-profit newspaper company, the Seikyo Newspaper purchased large amounts of this insurance to reduce its taxable income and thereby committed tax evasion.
The insurance is different from the usual type of "pay as you go" insurance in that it can be purchased to cover periods of three, five and ten years. Further, a small percentage of the insurance amount is set aside. That amount accrues interest and, at the end of the specified period, ten percent of the insurance amount plus interest accrued on the amount set aside that is above an estimated amount of interest earnings is returned as a "gift of gratitude" to the insured.
In Japan, gifts are not included among taxable income. The Gakkai, in addition to committing fraud and tax evasion in fourty-two instances, illegally received more than one million dollars in bogus "gift (kickback)" payments.
-------------------------------------------------------End of Quote---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Former SGI members
Posted by:
quiet one
()
Date: September 23, 2009 05:59AM
Quote
Yzak
[/That's like what some Christian cults don't believe in the evolution theory, SGI "Buddhism" doesn't believe in Psychology!]
Hey, that's a good point. I never thought of it in that way. I never have been able to understand why some religions didn't believe in the theory of evolution when there is overwhelming evidence to support it. SGI members always act smug about other religions not going along with science.
But SGI is the same way with Psychology and Psychiatry!
Re: Former SGI members
Posted by:
Yzak
()
Date: September 23, 2009 08:29AM
Quote
quiet oneQuote
Yzak
[/That's like what some Christian cults don't believe in the evolution theory, SGI "Buddhism" doesn't believe in Psychology!]
Hey, that's a good point. I never thought of it in that way. I never have been able to understand why some religions didn't believe in the theory of evolution when there is overwhelming evidence to support it. SGI members always act smug about other religions not going along with science.
But SGI is the same way with Psychology and Psychiatry!
Yes, I remember whatever question I have about life, they always gave me the same answers of either
1) you should chant with more passion to find the answer to all your questions
or
2)Whatever science says Xp
Well, thats sounded reasonable at that time, but now its quite contradictory, especially their attitude towards Psychology.... no wonder why when students want to apply to study psychology they only accept agnostic people!!
I can't imagine quiet one, going to meetings for 30 years? whoaaa, I just got tired and started having my doubts in less than 2 years! Its quite sad and depressing how these great and enthusiastic people are being pressured constantly to accept SGI's craps, and then automatically they become "shakabuku-ers" in no time, just because they "discover" the greatest way to obtain this "pseudo" happiness. !!! just thinking about it is very sad!
I have to congratulate you, that must have required a lot of courage to decide leaving SGI after so many years. I know this may sound cruel, but I recommend not to bother yourself going to meeting or to once in a while meet with SGI members. I understand there was a time when SGI meant everything for you, but the more you expose to the SGI environment, the more nostalgia will come, and eventually you may start participating once again! This is my advice, hopefully you don't take it too seriously, but really, I do this because I can finally feel more free and feel the breathing of fresh air. In SGI? NO WAY, YOU SHOULD BE CHANTING OR DOING SGI ACTIVITIES FOR HUMAN REVOLUTION!
And friendships? well, I don't think it is very healthy to just have friends that share only 1 interest, especially a religious interest. I remember when they called themselves we are friends, it somehow annoyed me because I knew once we were out of the kaikan, they wouldn't care for you. Is that a real friendship? I don't think so. Is like an alcoholic friend comes to you and forces you to start drinking, and if you don't, this person can easily end your relationship just because a small and insignificant difference.
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