Once "in," you get this:

"Hello girls!!! Here's the lyrics of the Ikeda Kayo-kai song. Please memorize it by heart...


The Vow of Ikeda Kayo-kai

Today with you Sensei
With eternal brilliance in our hearts
We cast away the winters gloom
Bringing spring a brand new start
Like a father you cheer us on
Undefeated our hearts are one
True disciples for eternity
Ikeda Kayo-kai

We seek from you Sensei
In rhythm with your life each day
To give courage to all our friends
We awaken to our vow
Illuminated bright as the sun
Like Kaneko's embracing smile
True disciples for eternity
Ikeda Kayo-kai

We vow to you Sensei
With justice burning in our hearts
We stand together
We won't retreat
Always fighting by your side
Eradicating all misery
With monumental victories
Thank you Sensei we are proud to be
Ikeda Kayo-kai

Born together thru eternity
Always forging on joyfully...."

[www.youtube.com]

or this

[www.youtube.com]

Notice the "official" titles of the groups, "Ikeda."

The Dear Leader.

Once on the inside, he's literally everywhere. (It was always like this to some degree, but in my opinion, it's been really ramped up and is now on steroids.)

Click on virtually any link from one of those videos and you will find yet more examples. The internet and YouTube are all the evidence one needs. Look, think, decide for yourself. For some, it will practically scream it out, for others, somewhere deep down inside of you might be hearing a small whisper . . . . . .





Cult.


- Hitch

Re: Hitch's reference to Ikeda being anywhere, I was in from 2006-2013 and it seems to me that there was less focus on him earlier on (don't get me wrong, it was a matter of him just not being QUITE everywhere). The last couple of years, though, it was clear that every gosho or lotus sutra reference was only there to support Ikeda's lecture content. It became the All-Ikeda-All-The-Time show. The same thing happened with all of the articles in the Weird Tribune and Lying Buddhism.

It seems like they realize that the end is near for Senseless, and their pushing the eternal-mentor mentality. If he's everywhere, he can't go away. And of course all of those previously-written pieces of crap that will mysteriously surface after he finally does die will only enhance the idea of his immortality.

By the way, if anybody here has any real-estate, title or property law expertise, I'd appreciate it if you could PM me. I'm working on a little sgi-related project that I'm not ready to go public with as yet and would love to pick your brain a little bit. Thanks!

A brainwashed train wreck:

1. A modern day version of a YMD end of cult meeting "Dear Leader" praising song [www.youtube.com]

2. And this one is evidence of the deep, delusional brainwashing that takes place in hardcore gakkai cult meeting circles. DEEP. It's like watching a train wreck [www.youtube.com]

One doesn't have to sneak a camera into secret "inner" cult meetings, because their mindset is so warped that they do it for you, post them on YouTube, and don't see anything wrong with it - at all (i.e., brainwashed).



- Hitch

I'd still love to get one of their krg dvd's into the hands of someone who could analyze it to determine if they're using subliminal messaging to further lock in the programming! There's so much security around how the dvd's are handled; I was always told that it was because of concerns that NST would get hold of one and tamper with it. That never made any sense to me - were temple members hanging around leaders' mailboxes waiting for that sensitive delivery? Are they fedexed, and some nefarious NST-er lurks on a front porch and signs for it? It always seemed so cloak-and-dagger preposterous. It just seems to me that there's something about those things that they didn't want us to know about.

Hi, my name is Sam and I've been reading this forum on and off for the last year. I was an SGI member for 15 years but for the last few years I started to question the questionable i.e how 80% of the content of the SGI magazines are all about Ikeda, photo's of him shaking hands with high profile people, his interpretation of Nicherin's teaching. Then there was the chant more, attend more meetings, if you really want to change your life you must chant more, attend more meetings, chant with determination, you are not attending SGI activities blah blah blah. A few weeks ago my district leader advised me to start attending two meetings per week instead on one. When I mentioned that wouldd mean I would have to attend these meetings on my days off work which meant I would not have a day off to myself EVER, he replied "if you want to change your life this is what you must do".

I have noticed lately I've been feeling mildly depressed and seriously frustrated when it comes to chanting. I have seen incredible benefits to chanting, within myself but my environment hasn't changed. I believe chanting, quietly alone, is a form of meditation -hence the benefits. I also believe when I have chanted I have tapped into my Higher Self or Buddha Self. I can feel it.

But as a wish machine? No. And that's where this "I'm a failure, nothing's changed even though I've chanted and chanted and chanted" comes from. When my marriage broke up my district leader told me it was because of all my chanting and how it's all for my happiness. Well, not really. I mean, I'm glad I'm out of an unhappy marriage but I'm broke (paying for everything on a single wage), I'm alone, too traumatized to ever date again (it was a nasty break up) and all I do is work. I once chanted for 8 hours but again, nothing changed that I could see.

Anyway ... I sent my district leader an email advising him I was thinking about (please note operative words "thinking about") leaving SGI because of my concerns about it becoming more about Ikeda than about Nicherin's and Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings and that I didn't feel that a "religion" or faith should be demanding I exhaust myself to prove how much I wanted my life to change.

Guess what happens when you critcize SGI and Ikeda? Now I know. You receive a reply that is downright nasty and just a little frightening! Apparently I'm deluded and it's my fundamental darkness that is speaking ill of Ikeda and how wonderful he is having amassed 300 honorary doc's and that if SGI is a scam then he's (my district leader) been a deluded moron for 30 years and so he obviously isn't a deluded moron so the deluded moron must be me, right?

So I was thinking about leaving SGI. But after that response I'd say I've left. When I emailed a reply, along the lines of, it's not very Buddhist to imply I'm a deluded moron I then received a one sentence email asking if I wanted to be taken off the notification list. WTF??!!

Now I've been in this Buddhist community for 15 years. It's been my 'rock' for so long. You'd think I'd be falling down in shock and fear, wondering what calamities will befall me. But strangely I hardly feel afraid. I feel almost free actually. As if the great weight of guilt and frustration is starting to fall away. I no longer have to feel guilty about not talking to other people about SGI. I don't feel guilty about not chanting every day. I don't have to hide that spidey sense I get when I look at photo's of Ikeda. I don't have to feel like a failure because my life isn't fantastic enough to stand up and share my experience i.e "once my marriage broke up and I was lonely and scared but then I met this amazing person and now we live happily ever after and I make so many $$$$ I only have to work part time and we take trips to the Bahama's and life is wonderful".

Now I realise there is no magic formula. Life is life and you deal with it, learn from it, live it.

I may still chant, I don't know. It's only been a week since I've left the SGI.

I'm so relieved this forum exists. I don't know who I would have turned to who would understand how I feel. Thanks.

Hi, SamR –

Well, first of all, welcome to freedom. It does feel like a burden has been lifted, doesn’t it?

So many things to say, but if you’ve been hanging out here for a while, you’ve already read a lot; realizing that SGI was more about Ikeda than anything else was one of my deciding factors, too. I was also seeing members being treated badly and disrespectfully, just as you were.

Of course, anyone who believes that they are in the perfect practice is going to point the finger of blame at you when things don’t work out the way you were chanting for and your life gets kind of crappy. It’s got to be you – you, you, you (picture pointing blamy finger)! It can’t possibly be that chanting a magical incantation doesn’t actually change anything! Of course, you have to be the failure – if your leader admitted that the practice didn’t work, he’d destroy the belief system that he so desperately needs to cling to.

Telling you need to go to more meetings? Your leader may have sensed that you had growing doubts and wanted to deepen that programming – nothing better than meetings for that.

And asking you if you wanted to be taken off the notification list? Scare tactic. Okay, sonny – you don’t think you’re crutch is working? Let’s see how you feel if we threaten to take it away from you. There are people STRUGGLIING to get off notification lists, because until you firmly put your foot down (like writing a letter of resignation to HQ and copying your leaders), they are relentless.

I wouldn’t say that anyone is a deluded moron. SGI is so good at manipulation, programming and mind control that anyone can get sucked into it. In fact, they love really bright people – such good examples! And if you’re attractive and/or successful, those are just bonuses.

The benefits you’ve seen have come from you – you own them, They’re yours. You accomplished them, not some roll of Xeroxed paper in a box. As you distance yourself from the organizational programming, you’ll accept that more and more.

I left almost a year and a half ago, and haven’t looked back. It’s been tough sometimes – all of my friends were in the org, and I’ve lost everyone I was close with. They no longer speak to me. I haven’t fallen into any hells, though, and my family and I remain happy and healthy. Life is good.

Continue to chant, or not, or when ever you want to or feel like you need to. You can take your life back, and live it the way that you decide to. You're in charge now.

It's interesting to see how very little has changed since my time in (long ago). You've just described many of the exact same things that I experienced (again, decades ago):


SamR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Then there was the chant
> more, attend more meetings, if you really want to
> change your life you must chant more, attend more
> meetings, chant with determination, you are not
> attending SGI activities blah blah blah. A few
> weeks ago my district leader advised me to start
> attending two meetings per week instead on one.
> When I mentioned that wouldd mean I would have to
> attend these meetings on my days off work which
> meant I would not have a day off to myself EVER,
> he replied "if you want to change your life this
> is what you must do".

The Cult Org. wants more, & more, & more. It's never enough. You either keep giving until you fall apart, or you burn out. Either way, it's always *your* fault, too. Many just simply get fed up with it and walk/fade away (they'll always want you back to try and repeat the cycle and they will indeed come a knockin' multiple times over the months & years that follow, as long they still know how to get in touch with you).


> Guess what happens when you critcize SGI and
> Ikeda? Now I know. You receive a reply that is
> downright nasty and just a little frightening!
> Apparently I'm deluded and it's my fundamental
> darkness that is speaking ill of Ikeda and how
> wonderful he is having amassed 300 honorary doc's
> and that if SGI is a scam then he's (my district
> leader) been a deluded moron for 30 years and so
> he obviously isn't a deluded moron so the deluded
> moron must be me, right?

Gakkai members are notorious for their Jekyll-Hyde characters. The ones with the worst (hidden) psychopathology, in my experience, are the most likely to demonstrate such behavior - suddenly and in an extreme fashion. It's an ugly site. It's also quite common amongst the so-called "pioneer" members.


> So I was thinking about leaving SGI. But
> after that response I'd say I've left. When I
> emailed a reply, along the lines of, it's not very
> Buddhist to imply I'm a deluded moron I then
> received a one sentence email asking if I wanted
> to be taken off the notification list. WTF??!!

Threats to exclude you are the second line of attack, if the first line of attack doesn't work (i.e., your lack of faith or negativity). Both are attempts at psychological manipulation. It's all garbage. It also speaks volumes about the true nature of the cult org..

> I feel almost free
> actually. As if the great weight of guilt and
> frustration is starting to fall away.

Once completely free, the previous weight of the shackles, once gone, does indeed begin to finally register. It's literally like a breath of fresh air.


> I don't have to hide that
> spidey sense I get when I look at photo's of
> Ikeda.

"Spidey Sense," LOL!! SO true!

> I don't have to feel like a failure because
> my life isn't fantastic enough to stand up and
> share my experience

The way they tried to handle this with me was to get you to simply make things up or at the very least, be liberal with the truth and spice things up. The bigger the venue/meeting, the more spice required.


> Now I realise there is no magic formula. Life is
> life and you deal with it, learn from it, live
> it.

All the Cult Org. does is try to take credit for the "ups" (and blame you for the "downs") - if you let them. (It's hilarious to see this unfold, yet at the same time, sad to see how they use it to manipulate and control people.)


> I'm so relieved this forum exists. I don't know
> who I would have turned to who would understand
> how I feel. Thanks.

I definitely understand how you feel.


Good luck in your continued journeys.


- Hitch

To SamR:

You will have a chance to find and connect with friends, real friends
with whom you can disagree and still be friends.

When you first got involved, you were *not* given full disclosure,
up front, what SGI actually was.

Information that you needed (and deserved to have) in order to make
a full decision -- that information was kept from you.

You were not stupid.

You were led on.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2014 06:09AM by corboy.

You certainly were led on! SGI cultivates all of its members to be recruiters, and their success springs from the fact that it's very easy for them to recognize vulnerability in others. They can see it, because they experienced it themselves. The promise that the disconnectedness, loneliness or general dissatisfaction with one's life can be "cured" by chanting and becoming a member of das org is so tempting, and the solution seems so easy! To be surrounded almost immediately by kind and loving people who accept, encourage and support you is irresistible.

None of this is done with any malicious intent - everyone who stays in the group honestly believes that no matter how much their life sucks, they're still happy. Even when things go wrong, all you have to do is chant more, study more, participate more, contribute more, or make that heart-to-heart connection with Ikeda. So easy! It's all up to you, and all you have to do is take responsibility for doing those things!

What isn't obvious is that you've completely turned your life over to magic. And if you think it's a sign of weakness or stupidity, you're wrong. No one is immune from hypnosis or mind-control. Some of the smartest people you know are probably members, and they were duped as surely as you were.

Hi Hitch, Meh and Corboy

Thank for the welcome!

I really appreciate you all helping me 'see the light'. As it's only been a week, this can be a confusing time although not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Now I understand the threat to exclude me (another tactic) re: the email asking if I wanted to be taken off the notification list. I replied in the affirmative and received another email. When I saw it my heart skipped a beat, my first thought being he's realized what an ass he's been and is apologising but no, it was just a one liner "you are now off the list" with a smiley face. A smiley face!!??

This kind of thing could leave a person with huge trust issues huh?! I mean, I trusted this person for 15 years with my life. He knows all my weaknesses, all my fears. He's a psychologist for Gods sake. What do you think the next tactic will be?

A close family member is also a long time member of the SGI. They said they don't care that I've left but lets wait and see. They haven't contacted me to ask how I am faring.

One of my work friends has been very supportive during all this. It always surprises me how non-SGI Buddhists can be so compassionate compared to certain SGI members! (sarcasm) LOL

I have moments of pure joy and relief at the oddest times. At other times I feel a sense of panic - what do I do now if things go wrong? My answer, to myself was, as usual, I can always chant. It may take awhile .......

You are right Meh. Any changes have been because of me! I quit smoking a year ago. Some may say I did it easily because I chanted. Nope. I didn't chant to quit smoking. I educated myself on addiction, I prepared my quit and then I did it. It was all me.