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corboy
Holly wrote:

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A big part of depression or abuse or both is to instill that awful feeling "I am no good at anything".

So what Holly described as her learning to speak cautiously and conditionally of what she was actually good at doing--thats to lose grip on one's own identity.

Persons sucked dry by shame in SG probably seek to bash down vitality in new members, and for similar motives???

Both of these statements hit home for me.

IDENTITY CRISIS. After the first time I escaped from NSAcult, I use to say, "I had an identity crisis that forced me to leave", It always sounded so strange and unreal to hear myself say it aloud, but I knew in my heart it that it was the truth. I had not yet come to understand the nature of the SGcult, but now I understand that my life/essence was indeed endangered by the SGcult. This is one form of sucking a person dry.

SHAME. As I have previously described, I was severely shamed by sansho goma (having sex with another cult member). But it went too far and backfired when the cult drove me away instead of trapping me even further. Yet another form of sucking a person dry.

Some people were driven (or even volunteered, like so many fujin-bu did) to "bashing" those underneath them in the cult pecking order. But not me - I got the hell out of Dodge.

Spartacus

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Hitch
Ask and Ye Shall Receive

"MyoHo A Buddhist's Life For Me!
We encourage, empower, praise and root, chant a bodhisattva's 'MyoHo'
We conquer darkness, cheer and hoot, chant a bodhisattva's 'MyoHo'
'MyoHo-MyoHo' a buddhist's life for me!

For raising successor's we've got the knack, chant a bodhisattva's 'MyoHo'
Our lives are expanding and on the right track, chant a bodhisattva's 'Myoho' 'MyoHo-Myoho' a buddhist's life for me!

We rekindle hope and bring you light, chant a bodhisattva's 'MyoHo'
We polish our mirror's until they are bright, chant a bodhisattva's 'MyoHo'
Many in body and in mind we are one, chant a bodhisattva's 'MyoHo'
We chant away devils until we have won, chant a bodhisattva's 'MyoHo'

'MyoHo-MyoHo' a buddhist's life for me!
Obstacles are plenty, but we overcome, chant a bodhisattva's 'MyoHo'
Kosen-Rufu Warriors we shall become (!), chant a bodhisattva's 'MyoHo'

'Myoho-MyoHo' A Buddhist's Life For Me!"

[www.youtube.com]

Thanks for another great laugh Hitch! The line that says, "chant the devils away" is a prime example of the magical and superstitious mindset of the cult. What could be further from Buddhism?

She's quite an inspiring singer (gag), but in the words of the twit, Michiko Kikumura, "Don't quit your day job".

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TaitenAndProud

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For the last 2
weeks they had been controlling their meals so they wouldn't have to
go to the bathroom on this day. Still, many of them wore diapers as
a precautionary measure since it would be impossible for the to get
up once they were seated.

That's shockingly disgusting! WHO would be so *irresponsible* as to arrange an activity like this, knowing full well that those involved would be put under such extreme duress?

It's just insane! SCREAMINGLY insane!!!

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I wonder if any of the YMD went home and told their parents, out of the blue, "Mom/Dad, I've decided I want to crap my pants for Sensei someday." "Well, son, where'd you get that idea from ....?"

:D x a billion! >.< x a bazillion!!

There are so many puckered tight assholes in the SGcult, they should have no problem finding members that won't go potty #2 during dear leader's visit.

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corboy
Some transfer the addict mentality from use of alcohol and drugs to crusade mentality on behalf of an organization.

They're still chasing dopamine but the focus is different.

And with religions, if an addicts mentality is in play, whether its missionizing for Jesus or missionizing for Ikeda, its no different--its the aching 'rush' -- the dopamine thrust.

Thanks for the great info and comparisons, Corboy.

Addiction and religion, both dangerous - addicted to religion, catastrophic!

Spartacus

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TaitenAndProud

_{Did I tell you about how the other Pentecostal Aunt, Aunt Jane, tried to get my uncle to speak in tongues? She had him kneel by the sofa, and she knelt behind him, and started whacking him on the back, over and over, yelling "Praise him! Praise him!" After about a minute of this, he said, rather quietly (as was his style), "I don't think this is working." She then sat back on her heels, sighed, and said, "You just don't praise him."}

When I was growing up, I had a lot of Pentecostals in my family. Imagine a marriage beween an SGcult buddhist and a culty Pentecostal (ever heard of one like that? whoa!). Can you imaging growing up in a family like that? Double trouble! ;D

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When parents are obsessed with something to the point that they neglect their own children, the children grow up with damaged brains. It doesn't matter how supposedly "virtuous" the parent's obsession is - it's still sick and destructive.

Here's a prime example of sick and destructive obsession. When I was young, my first marriage was between a sometimes ex-SGcult Buddhist and an ex-Catholic. It was more of a cold war than a healthy relationship. She became obsessed with blaming me for everything. She was tremedously overprotective and taught our kids to fear me, believing she was being virtuous by "protecting the children from me". After 20 yrs of obsessively brainwashing our children against me with extreme parental alienation, we went for professional counciling. When none of the counsilors could successfully disuade her from her deranged obsession of faulting me for every single problem, I finally came to my senses and ended our relationship for good. Her psycho tactics worked well - my children will still not speak to me.

No matter if your cult is small or big, it's easier to indoctrinate and victimize the young, weak, stressed, and/or confused.

Spartacus

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Spartacus
When I was growing up, I had a lot of Pentecostals in my family. Imagine a marriage beween an SGcult buddhist and a culty Pentecostal (ever heard of one like that? whoa!). Can you imaging growing up in a family like that? Double trouble! ;D

Yikes! I'm always acutely aware that no matter how bad I think I had things, I know that there are others out there (like you) who have been thru much, much worse.

Case in point, this lady's family [www.youtube.com]. (Btw, she later reconsidered and accepted the money ;-) ).

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Spartacus
There are so many puckered tight assholes in the SGcult, they should have no problem finding members that won't go potty #2 during dear leader's visit.

HAHA!

I've never seen so many "anal" people gathered in one place as I did in the gakkai cult org.. They are everywhere, absolute control freaks, if you let them.

I've mentioned before that the key to understanding the gakkai cult is to understand the Japanese mindset --> rigid control, supreme anal-ness, conformity and obsession with following the prescribed recipe cookbook without deviation, are all an absolute way of life. (Apologies if that is too harsh for some people to read, but it *is* true.)

I actually once told a "leader" that they might want to consider seeing a proctologist about their condition (they never did understand what I was getting at).



- Hitch

Here, finally, are pictures of my other two butsudans!

Here is the outside of the 57" medium sized butsudan:

[i129.photobucket.com]

At this point, my phone camera crapped out >:( so I had to use my son's old crappity-crap-crap piece of crap digital camera, which doesn't take very good pictures. Here are the inner doors:

[i129.photobucket.com]

Those are phoenix birds, as you can tell. This wood has a wonderful tiger-eye quality to it. And inside - it is only used to store my daughter's hina dolls:

[i129.photobucket.com]

That ^ is the top; here is the lower part:

[i129.photobucket.com]

Those silhouettes are all carved wood against gold background.

And now the outside of MY butsudan:

[i129.photobucket.com]

It's kind of upside down - the base is on top of the butsudan. It's in my messy garage!!!

Here is a close up of its locking mechanism:

[i129.photobucket.com]

And inside!!

[i129.photobucket.com]

There are numerous hidden drawers in there and two hidden trays that pull out. Like I said, this camera takes suckish pictures. More of the inside:

[i129.photobucket.com]

Looking up into the top:

[i129.photobucket.com]

[i129.photobucket.com]

[i129.photobucket.com]

The real color is like a black cherry - it's not red-red like some of those pics show it, but rather more of a dark, warm cherry.

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TaitenAndProud
And inside!!

[i129.photobucket.com]

You're gonna give gakkai cult members a heart attack, leaving your mandala all dusty and closed up all alone in a dark cold corner of your garage. They might even chant for something bad to happen to you, so that they can rescue your gohonzon from your heathen dungeon.

HA!


- Hitch

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Spartacus
Both of these statements hit home for me.

IDENTITY CRISIS. After the first time I escaped from NSAcult, I use to say, "I had an identity crisis that forced me to leave", It always sounded so strange and unreal to hear myself say it aloud, but I knew in my heart it that it was the truth. I had not yet come to understand the nature of the SGcult, but now I understand that my life/essence was indeed endangered by the SGcult. This is one form of sucking a person dry.

SHAME. As I have previously described, I was severely shamed by sansho goma (having sex with another cult member). But it went too far and backfired when the cult drove me away instead of trapping me even further. Yet another form of sucking a person dry.

Some people were driven (or even volunteered, like so many fujin-bu did) to "bashing" those underneath them in the cult pecking order. But not me - I got the hell out of Dodge.

Spartacus

This is an interesting post.

My brief "leadership" position made me feel like I had to adopt something of a fake identity / persona in order to succeed. Coached in what to say and mirroring the way you said it after those above you. This is why many of the gakkai cult org. "leaders" sound and act the same. Even Nagashima kind of reminds me of a bad rebooted version of Williams-Sadanaga in some ways.

The shaming and bashing of your underlings comes with the territory as a "leader" in the gakkai cult org.. I respected the sincere members below me too much to play those kind of cruel games with them.

For example, when one of my members told me that they couldn't make it to a certain activity, I'd just tell them "it's OK, I hope to see you sometime when you have the time to come. Take care and see you then." Nope! Couldn't do that. I would essentially get bashed for not bashing them to attend. I was supposed to say something along the lines of "you cannot backslide in your efforts and faith. 'Buddhism' is 'win or lose', you have to 'challenge yourself' if you ever hope to change your circumstances / karma" or "if you don't attend, you're letting me down, not pulling your own weight, forcing other members to take up your slack, you're being weak in your practice, not standing up at the 'critical moment." BULL-SH**! I refused to shovel it for the cult org. and handed my position back after that one campaign.

I had zero interest doing their bidding after that and never looked at the cult org. ever again thru quite the same lenses that I had before.

You see, gakkai cult org. leaders all wear a leash. It starts with The Dear Leader up on the top. He's pulling and leading them around on a leash and every leader under his control is doing the same thing to their own members below them. It's a leash of control, manipulation and fear.

Just take a look at the infamous "Eccentric Ikeda" video clips that are out there hiding on the internet (from the early 90's, at the Ikeda Auditorium in Santa Monica). Look at the way Zaitsu (the first guy who replaced Williams) was so stressed, nervous, uptight, SCARED and on a short leash during his sycophantic speech / show in front of The Dear Leader. This pattern trickles down all the way to the bottom.

Look at Ian McIlraith's ($GI Cult Org. salaried "leader"), back on the Ikeda-King-Gandhi topic, comments I posted earlier. Disingenuous, patronizing and manipulative. In this case, here's an example of a cult org. "leader" trying (and failing badly) to control and keep on a leash, comments on a public messageboard!

This is how the gakkai cult org. functions and operates. I've also noticed that every single gakkai salaried "leader" I've ever known (Williams-Sadanaga included) always - in some way, big or small - act as if they are on a pedestal, have all the correct answers / wisdom and are somehow "above" you (if only in the "spiritual" realm). That holds true, only until a "leader" above them shows up ... and then you see the pattern simultaneously reversed, and upped one level.


- Hitch

Yeah, at first, as the earlier pictures showed, I had my butsudan right there in my living room. Where I had meetings. Which I hated. After I stopped practicing, I moved the butsudan across the lower level to in front of the sliding glass door (on the side that doesn't slide). It stayed there for maybe a year. Then we moved it out to the garage. I have no plans to get rid of it - as you can see, it's a beautiful piece of furniture.

Interestingly, when I stopped going to meetings, nobody followed up with me. Oh, sure, I got a couple messages inviting me to this or that meeting *eye roll* but nobody called to say, "Hey, what's going on? Are you okay?" Ha!

And nobody's said a word to me about my gohonzon! They aren't getting it back. I might sell it on eBay, but it's mine - bought and paid for - and I'm not *giving* it to anyone. If they want it back that badly, they can pay me for it.

Per your experiences as a leader, Hitch, someone must've dropped the ball when I was a YWD HQ leader in MN. I never pressured or browbeat anyone - I wouldn't have even if I'd been ordered to. I've always been an encourage-and-support kind of leader. As I told one or more of my fellow YWD leaders, "Now that I'm HQ YWD leader, if somebody wants to chew YWD ass over something, mine's the only one on the menu." And I meant it.