I am a new member of this forum. I just discovered it today through a google search looking up information on ex-SGI members. I read a lot of the posts and they were very relevant in helping me.

I was unable to read through every post just because of lack of time, so please forgive if my questions are redundant.

I am an SGI member. I have been my whole life - my parents are both members. I recently got higher leadership position as an area leader. I feel very pressured to stay in, but I have been battling with issues regarding this organization for many years; I have seriously thought about quitting for about two years.

I guess I finally decided to about a week ago, but I still have not acted. I told my dad, and he is okay with it. Very supportive actually, and many of the issues I have with SGI that I shared with him he also has. However, I cannot tell my mom. He and I both agree that it is best for her not to know, at least not for now while I am in college and am relying on her for many things. She is crazy fanatical, and neither my father or I can begin to guess the drastic and negative reactions from her if she heard this. I guess this is mostly what is keeping me in. I am organizing a fairly large meeting for next month which she knows of and will be attending. I figured I would quit after that. (She lives in another state than me but will be visiting during that time.)

Otherwise, I was wondering how other members actually went about "quitting"? I guess some people probably just stopped showing up or answering phone calls. Did others actually tell other members or leaders? I feel like I am obligated to inform someone I want to leave because I'm in a leadership position, just so they don't think I disappeared or something and keep calling. I don't know. Any advice you can offer I would really appreciate. I will probably end up reading through most of this thread also.

I would also appreciate any advice about telling my mom. If you have any experience with a total SGI-fanatic, I'm sure you understand what a predicament I feel I am in.

Thanks a ton!

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jojaroyd
Otherwise, I was wondering how other members actually went about "quitting"? I guess some people probably just stopped showing up or answering phone calls. Did others actually tell other members or leaders? I feel like I am obligated to inform someone I want to leave because I'm in a leadership position, just so they don't think I disappeared or something and keep calling. I don't know. Any advice you can offer I would really appreciate. I will probably end up reading through most of this thread also.
!

I was a Women's Division leader. I called my leader and told her that I was quitting my position. It was only fair. In accepting that position, I'd agreed to take on certain jobs and responsibilities. If I was going to stop doing those things, then the organization needed to know so that they could have someone else cover my old responsibilities. Frankly, my resignation couldn't have surprised my leaders that much. I was questioning and arguing about a lot of SGI policies by that point.

I did not actually quit the organization itself in one fell swoop. I left, came back, left, and came back again. I was so ambivalent. I didn't want to go. I would have stayed if I thought there was the slightest chance that SGI might become truly Buddhist and more democratic. I finally had to accept that there was no hope of that at all.

I've never announced that I was leaving SGI. I just quit going to meetings. I've gotten the occasional phone message and e-mail message about various activities, and I delete them. One of the members did catch me at home, on the phone. She asked me if I wanted to talk about why I wasn't attending meetings anymore. I said "Thanks for asking, but no," and we wished eachother a good day and hung up. A couple of times, I've run into SGI members while shopping or something. They ask me if I'm going to this or that meeting. I smile and say politely, "I am not." and move on.

Nobody has ever confronted me and demanded that I justify my decision to quit. They already knew that I didn't like the way the organization was run. Or perhaps, given my track record of not coming to meetings for awhile, then coming back -- they just figured, "Oh, she's in one of her moods again. If we leave her alone, she'll get over it and come back again."

I think it's pretty cut and dried regarding your position. If what you really want is to quit, call your leader and say you are resigning from your position, and stop attending meetings. Talk about your reasons if you want, but know that some people will never understand, no matter what you say. If you think that you can get them to understand, you'll just be drawn into long, guilt-inducing discussions that waste your time and keep you stuck.

The tougher problem is what to tell your mother. It's very hard, keeping a secret from people you love. It builds walls between you, and makes your time together tense, rather than enjoyable. You're on pins and needles, watching everything you say. If your mother is that into SGI, when you call and visit, she'll surely ask you about your meetings, your members, your study and daimoku. What will you say? Are you willing to lie and make up stories in order to keep your secret? Would your leaders be likely to call your mother and tell her that you've resigned your position and are no longer coming to meetings? She may be upset if you tell her now that you're quitting....but how much worse is it going to be once she finally discovers you've lied (or omitted the truth) for months?

Please understand that I'm not saying, "Tell her now." That would be irresponsible of me. I don't know your mother, and I don't know what you have to lose. If you just tell her you're quitting, would she refuse to pay your tuition, and force you to quit college? Do you have younger brothers and sisters, and would she refuse to let you see them? If that's the case, you might consider just reducing your involvement in SGI. When you're financially independent, you can quit, and tell your mother.

With my own parents, I have had to tell them things that they didn't want to hear. Yes, their anger and hurt were very painful to me...but we have all survived, and I think that our relationship is better for having the openness and honesty. On the other hand, I was not faced with the prospect of being kicked out of the house or forced to quit school....and they aren't SGI fanatics.

You are not in an easy situation, and I wish you the best with it.

Hey all. Thank you to everyone who has posted here. I have found it VERY helpful. Here is my story. Hope it contributes to this discussion in a meaningful way.

Several months ago I was introduced to a couple who held themselves out as “Buddhists.” I was thrilled as someone who has extensively studied Buddhism, practiced Zen and Vispassina, and is generally interested in eastern thought. I also live in a very conservative Christian part of the country where there are few, if any Buddhists. I inquired what type of Buddhism they practiced and was told that they were Nichiren Buddhists associated with the Soka Gaki. Naturally, I was curious. I had read a great deal about Buddhism over the years and had taken more than one college course on the subject. What intrigued me the most was that in all of my Buddhist studies I had never been exposed to Nichiren Buddhism and had never heard of the SGI.

My first experience with the SGI was similar to those of others who have posted above. I was hit with the love bomb and thought that the group was one of warm, open and genuine Buddhists. This was all despite the fact that I couldn’t specifically identify at first why they called themselves Buddhists. At first that didn’t seem to matter as I was, frankly, swept away by the thought of being a member of a Buddhist community. It didn’t take long for me to realize, however, that something was very wrong.

I have now been affiliated with the SGI for 7 months and am planning my escape. After the honeymoon ended, I started to realize that something was not right. SGI members simply do not practice Buddhism. In fact, it is quite tragic that the SGI calls itself a Buddhist organization as most of its members know very little, if anything, about the Buddha or his actual teachings. Instead, what they digest is a steady diet of SGI President Ikeda’s confused writings on the writings of Nichiren who was himself writing on the Lotus Sutra. The material that SGI members read is so totally filtered that it virtually eliminates the Buddha from their Buddhism.

Looking back, I should have known something was up at the very first meeting I attended when one of the leaders indicated that more people need to be introduced to Buddhism because there are only 12 million Buddhists in the world (at the time I thought this was surely a misstatement because it is so obviously not true. I have since realized that he actually meant it. The point was that only SGI Buddhists are real Buddhist- totally absurd). I also should have known something was off when the members seemed to be suggesting that chanting to the Gohonzon would result in material benefit and when they suggested that I chant to the Gohonzon to achieve personal goals. Because this decidedly NOT a Buddhist teaching or way of thought, and because I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, I assumed that these members were mistaken and would be corrected in the fullness of time. (After all, I thought, chanting is an ancient form of meditation that can focus and calm the mind. Surely that is what these SGI members were doing with the goal of achieving a state of awareness from which they could perceive emptiness, non-duality, non-clinging, etc. …. In retrospect, I couldn’t have been more mistaken).

Nevertheless, believing that there had to be more to SGI’s “Buddhist” practice that at first blush, I began to attend regular meetings and chant on my own (which did have a positive impact on my own anxiety and was seemingly more effective at calming my mind than past experiences with meditation had been). I soon received a Gohonzon for $30. I wasn’t exactly pressured into purchasing a Gohonzon, but they were very eager to get me one and, little did I know, the $30 purchase price included a subscription to the two SGI-USA publications.

Not long after (a month or so), I began to notice that the members in my district knew absolutely NOTHING about the actual Buddha or core Buddhists teachings. I can recall one incident when our group was discussing a conversation that a member had recently had with one of his co-workers in which the co-worker mentioned his familiarity with one of the Buddha’s teachings called the “Four Noble Truths.” The SGI members were actually laughing out loud at the very idea that Four Noble Truths were Buddhist. One of them actually said, “What are the Four Nobel Truths? That’s not Buddhist. I should know. I’m Buddhist.” I had to step in and inform them all that, yes indeed, the teaching of the Four Noble Truths is one of the oldest and most revered teachings of the Buddha. THEY HAD ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA (and probably still don’t). Although this shocked me, I again gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought that perhaps some members either did not have the capacity or time to study Buddhist principles or the Buddha’s teachings. And besides, the SGI members were so nice, seemingly sincere, and seemed harmless enough.

Then I began to read the SGI Publications that began to arrive soon after I got my Gohonzon (The World Tribune and Living Buddhism). I quickly realized that they are vacuous garbage. There is literally nothing in them of any meaningful content. They are, instead, full of propaganda about how great President Ikeda is and serve as advertisements for his countless books. Even the articles that arguably had some merit did nothing to really explain or explore in depth why SGI members chant or to reflect on core Buddhist principles like impermanence, emptiness, non-duality, etc. Instead, the articles were all extremely vague and repetitive. The articles also frequently resorted to summarily referring to the Mystic Law of Nam-Myho-Renge-Kyo whenever an important point needed to be made, without ever explaining what the hell the Mystic Law actually is; as if that statement alone should satisfy all curiosity. From a scholarly point of view, I feel the SGI publications are full of nonsense and gibberish. It really is sand to me and, I think, a tremendous tragedy, because the SGI publications have such a captive audience who would benefit from being introduced to real Buddhist material.

Which brings me to the unhealthy fixation on President Ikeda. Because I was so focused on trying to figure out what these people actually believe and what they think they are doing when they chant, for months I largely overlooked the cult of personality that surrounds President Ikeda. I now feel as if the SGI is Ikeda's personal piggy bank. I’m not sure about the whole dispute with the priests, etc., but I can tell you that Ikeda strikes me as a most unbuddhist individual. Accumulation of wealth, prestige, and relentless self-aggrandizement are not qualities that the Buddha personified and, ironically, seem to run counter to the 8 fold path (not that anyone in SGI would know what that is). Anyway, I have read some of Ikeda’s books and am of the opinion that they are mediocre at best in terms of message and contain virtually nothing that would instruct readers on the deeper truths of our reality that Buddhist teachings has to offer. And I must say that videos SGI shows of Ikeda are quite freaky. The first time I say one of those videos, and saw Ikeda spend 45 minutes bragging about his honorary degrees, etc. I almost fell out of my chair. Later, at a meeting, when I mentioned my sense that SGI had an unhealthy fixation on Ikdea, a group leader actually began to cry and told the group how personally appreciative she was to have had Sensei (Ikeda) as her mentor and how we need to appreciate him and his mentorship now more than ever since he is old and may not be with us much longer. Yikes! What does Buddhism have to do with any of this?

I don’t necessarily think that SGI is a cult, but I do think it is a group just loaded with people who are intrigued by the idea of calling themselves Buddhists, but who don’t have any real interest in the hard work and study that would be required to actually embrace a Buddhist practice. Anyone can chant to a scroll for material gain. It is far harder to practice letting go of the illusions that color our perceptions of reality.

Ken Wilber, a noted author on traspersonalpsychology, has devised a system for categorizing different types of spiritual practices/experiences that I think is useful in understanding what is going on with SGI and how they mistakenly call themselves Buddhists. In one of Wilber’s models he places spiritual experiences on a spectrum of consciousness with pre-rational at one end and trans-rational (going beyond the rational) at the other. Of course, rational is in the middle. Because neither prerational nor transrational experiences/practices are rational, they are often easily confused. For example, Buddhism in its pure form is transrational, because it includes rational thought and dialogue, but then proceeds to invite its followers to transcend it. Wicca, on the other hand, is prerational, because of its emphasis on animism and “hocus pocus” – clearly not concerned with rationality. With this model in mind, I tend to see SGI as a prerational interpretation of a legitimate transrational Buddhist system…. Thus, SGI members have fallen into what Wilber calls the pre/trans fallacy. Clearly, chanting to the Gohonzon for material gain is totally and completely irrational, but that doesn’t mean it represents a transcendent mental state (which SGI members believe). Rather, it is prerational magical thinking. Too much hocus pocus, not enough rationality … and no goal of transcendence.

Needless to say, I intend to make a hasty exit from by brief encounter with SGI. As someone who is educated and holds a doctorate degree, the whole experience has been rather embarrassing. I’m trying consol myself with the fact that SGI makes it almost impossible to figure out what the hell is actually going on, what they believe, why the chant, and how any of it is Buddhist. It took me 6 months (5 months too long) to answer those questions for myself.

I intend to continue to chant and practice more in the vein of the Nichiren Shu (who by all accounts actually have their act together). I have chanted to the Gohonzon with the goal of improving myself spiritually and with a focus on realizing the Buddha’s Dharma (not material gain) and felt that this practice was genuinely beneficial. Also, I have studied the Lotus sutra and do think it is an extraordinary teaching of the Buddha. In this respect, I see nothing wrong with the practice of chanting Daimoku and doing Gongyo in and of themselves and suspect that Nichiren never indented Daimoku to be used as a wealth accumulation tool. For those who intend, like myself, to continue to chant and practice Nichiren Buddhism outside of SGI, I would suggest doing so with the following understanding (which I think is more true to the teachings the Buddha. This is also partly how I have rationalized my continued participation in the SGI):

Chanting should be combined with other useful Buddhist practices.

We chant to awaken to our true nature as empty, deathless and unborn, which leads to the cessation of all sorrow.

Chanting as meditation engages the mind, body, voice, and breath and trains us to focus our attention in such a way as to ultimately reveal/uncover a state of awareness from which we will realize the truth and wisdom of the Buddha’s teaching.

One can chant any mantra. However, the Daimoku (Nam-myho-renge-kyo) is the foremost mantra for awakening to the truth of our empty, deathless and unborn nature because it at once represents a statement of reverence, devotion, and gratitude to the Lotus Sutra (the highest teaching of this true nature) and captures the essence of the sutra’s teaching.

We use the Gohonzon (a visual representation of the Daimoku and Nichiren’s enlightenment) as our object of devotion while chanting to assist us in focusing our mind with reverence on the Daimoku, to further acknowledge our gratitude to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who have gone before, and are reminders that we too posses, and can bring forth, the same Buddha nature as they.

There is nothing particularly magical about the words Nam-myho-renge-kyo, but because they are at once the title of the Lotus Sutra and capture its essential message, they are words of great weight and meaning and serve as nourishment on the path toward liberation.

There is nothing particularly magical about the Gohonzon, but it is important because it is a visual representation of the Daimoku, Nichiren’s enlightenment, and the sacred Buddha nature that is shared by all sentient beings.

Chanting Daimoku while honoring the Gohonzon can help to train the practitioner’s mind and body in preparation for awakening.

I recall one person I knew, telling me she was a Buddhist, I thought she was joking due to her lifestyle of boozing, partying, being promiscuous, extreme vanity, etc. I thought she was being comically ironic when she said she was a "Buddhist"...like someone eating a burger saying they are a vegetarian, or when smoking saying you are a health fanatic.

So I made a joke about the 4 Noble Truths, and suffering being created by desire.
She stared at me blankly. She never heard of it.
It took a while to figure out she was not joking when she said she was a "Buddhist". Won't go into more details than that, but it was beyond ludicrous, and it got far far worse than that, involving the Gohonzon. Really crazy stuff.

Only a bit later did it all come out it was SGI, which clearly is a cult. SGI is a cult folks.

So it would be smart not to jump from the frying pan into the fire immediately.
Why not take a break from the chanting stuff for a year, or at least a LONG time to clear one's head?

SGI is a cult, and they use powerful methods on people. You have to take time to get yourself out of it, or a person can jump from one cult, to the next. It happens all the time.

Just blunty putting this out there. But its a bad idea to immediately jump from one practice to the next. First, perhaps figure out what happened with this one.

These cults are very very tricky, and its not easy to make sense of it. It can take years to sort it out. But hey, a true Buddhist is in no hurry...right!?
:-)

Hravenkel, you've probably read my posts. I would say around the 7-month period is where I started to take my steps back, too. Unlike you, this was my first intro to Buddhism. However, being a Catholic I have read many of the writings of priests and monks who have studied Buddhism extensively, namely Thomas Merton, and I can tell you their writings are nothing, nothing like you would find in SGI. Merton's writing is incredible and beautifully meditative and comforting. I've also been reading some Perma Chodron in a link from the Catholic Buddhist blog website. Great stuff -- great for the mind, great for the heart, great for meditation.

I think I was able to read about 10 copies of the Tribune before I couldn't take it any longer and they just piled up. I'm using them now to line the bottom of my iguana Frankie's home. So at least my money wasn't totally wasted -- it is going to a good cause. Tell me that for $30 you got the Gohonzon, the Tribune and Living Buddhism? I got ripped off. I got the Gohonzon, the Tribune and one old copy of Living Buddhism -- a teasor to get me to subscribe. The day my Gohonzon was installed in my home, the one long-time member who came along highly recommended this magazine. When I said I couldn't afford it, she said, well, you can chant for the money for that! Well, in the realm of pressing things involving money that really was at the bottom of the list for me and I remember thinking, wow, that is ridiculous. I'm worried about the roof over my head and I'm being told to chant to be able to buy a silly magazine?

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Hravenkel

Not long after (a month or so), I began to notice that the members in my district knew absolutely NOTHING about the actual Buddha or core Buddhists teachings. I can recall one incident when our group was discussing a conversation that a member had recently had with one of his co-workers in which the co-worker mentioned his familiarity with one of the Buddha’s teachings called the “Four Noble Truths.” The SGI members were actually laughing out loud at the very idea that Four Noble Truths were Buddhist. One of them actually said, “What are the Four Nobel Truths? That’s not Buddhist. I should know. I’m Buddhist.” I had to step in and inform them all that, yes indeed, the teaching of the Four Noble Truths is one of the oldest and most revered teachings of the Buddha. THEY HAD ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA (and probably still don’t).

Then I began to read the SGI Publications that began to arrive soon after I got my Gohonzon (The World Tribune and Living Buddhism). I quickly realized that they are vacuous garbage. There is literally nothing in them of any meaningful content.


I don’t necessarily think that SGI is a cult, but I do think it is a group just loaded with people who are intrigued by the idea of calling themselves Buddhists, but who don’t have any real interest in the hard work and study that would be required to actually embrace a Buddhist practice. Anyone can chant to a scroll for material gain. It is far harder to practice letting go of the illusions that color our perceptions of reality.


I intend to continue to chant and practice more in the vein of the Nichiren Shu (who by all accounts actually have their act together). .

Hravenkel, you've made good points. I had heard a bit about Shakyamuni Buddha when I was in college -- the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path. So when I began going to SGI meetings, I mentioned them -- and was told "Nah, we don't follow that."

That surprised me, but my first leader was a college professor who loved study -- and our study sessions were amazing. We were really taught the philosophical background of Nichiren Buddhism. These days, it sounds like the members are just being fed steady diet of Ikeda worship and "Chant for whatever you want," with no real study at all.

This leader began by comparing the original Buddha to Jesus Christ. Both lived in a period where much of the population was illiterate. They travelled about, speaking to anyone who would listen, but neither man ever wrote down his own teachings. That was done much later by their disciples. Then considerably later, these writings by the followers were assembled into more organized form: the New Testament for the Christians, the Sutras for the Buddhists.

Christ's ministry was three years, Buddha's was thirty -- consequently, there are many, many Buddhist sutras floating about, some very different from others. So how do you decide which to follow, which is most important?

The monk Nichiren, in 1200's Japan, studied this matter, and many sutras for years. Nichiren eventually concluded that the Lotus Sutra was the highest and most important of the Buddha's teachings -- and that all other teachings like the Four Noble Truths were really just early teachings that the Buddha was presenting to his early followers who knew nothing of Buddhism. Teachings like the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, Nichiren thought, were just preparatory teachings, designed to get people ready to hear the ultimate truth -- the Lotus Sutra. Once you could grasp the Lotus Sutra, you could discard things like the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, Nichiren said. He began chanting parts of the Lotus Sutra daily. This became gongyo, the chanting that we Nichiren Shoshu/SGI members were taught to do twice a day. He also taught that the way to enlightenment was chanting Nam -myoho renge kyo. This can be translated various ways, including, "Devotion to the Lotus Sutra," and "Devotion to the Mystic Law of Cause and Effect."

Where did Nichiren get his ideas? Well, he was influenced by a Buddhist philosopher named "T'ien T'ai," and the Tendai school of Buddhism. Tendai was more theoretical; Nichiren was looking for something that the average farmer or samurai or housewife actually practice. He thought that Nam Myoho Renge Kyo was that practice that anyone could do, whether you could devote your life to meditation and study or not. So perhaps a certain amount of anti-intellectual bias was built into Nichiren Buddhism.

Nichiren himself fought with the military government of Japan and other schools of Buddhism. He felt that he was the Buddha of the "Latter Day of the Law," the modern era. He was anything but a peaceful Buddha; Nichiren Buddhists do have the reputation in the Buddhist world of being rather militant in their beliefs.

Has SGI decided that members don't need to know all this background anymore? Sounds like it and that's unfortunate. Soka Gakkai members shouldn't just say that the Four Noble Truths are not Buddhist. They should be able to explain that this teaching is part of Shakyamuni Buddha's preparatory teaching -- an early teaching that the Lotus Sutra later replaced. I think that people need to know WHERE their philosophies come from -- as well as WHAT the philosophies say. I guess there's no more time for this kind of study. It would cut into the Ikeda commercials...um, videos.

"Vacuous garbage" about sums up the value you can find in publications like "Living Buddhism" and "The World Tribune." Though if you have a pet who needs to be cleaned up after, you can certainly put your old copies to good use.

I have heard good things about Nichiren Shu, though I have no personal experience with them. There are no Nichiren Shu groups in my area. I would advise anyone to be careful with Nichiren Shoshu. The two names sound very similar, but they are two different groups. In the past, the Nichiren Shoshu priests insisted that you enlightenment came through your connection to the high priest. Neither the Lotus Sutra nor Nichiren's writings support any notion like that.

And yes, I would go so far as to say that SGI is a cult. Members are not willing to make the effort to do serious meditation and study? Maybe, maybe not. Do they even realize that they have a choice? It sounds like the leaders now are just saying "Rah rah rah sensei," and "You can chant and get anything you want." Where are the study sessions? Where are the materials that go deeply into the history, philosophy and practice of various schools of Buddhism? Toward the end of my time with SGI, I signed up for a women's study group -- and what a disappointment! I was used to the serious, deep, and intelligent study that my former leader/professor had led. What did the women's group study? "The Human Revolution." Ikeda wrote that -- his fictional, but basically autobiographical history of the SGI. What a bunch of self-glorifying garbage! A few of us asked if we could study something else, and we were told no.

Cults lie to their members. Cults try to keep members powerless and ignorant. Cults glorify a fallible human being, treating him or her like God. Cults allow leaders to accumulate far too much money, power and honor. Cults deny their members the right to help make decisions that affect the members. SGI does all of these things. How is it not a cult?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2009 10:17AM by tsukimoto.

I have this SGI-USA Buddhist Learning Review from 2008. I got this in December when they were talking about this test. There is nothing in here about Four Noble Truths or the Eightfold Path. From attending meetings I can understand why SGI does not talk about or embrace these teachings. As I was reading about these teachings , I was remembering the last meeting I attended where it was an hour of chanting and then these silly, mindless games where you won benefits. I think I wrote about it in one of my earlier posts. It was the last straw for me. I was smart enough to know that this could not be true Buddhism, it was so different from anything that I had ever seen or heard or read in passing.

tskimoto,
I agree with 90% of what you say. This is my first post, I've been an edge member of the SGI for so 20 years now. When I started it was explained to me that Nicherin Studied far and wide and found that Tenati had catagorized the Buddhist sutras according to their importance, Tenanti felt that the Lotus Sutra was the most important Sutra and was also one of the Buddha's last sutras. That it surpasses the previous sutras like the New testament surpasses the Old. Each is there in it's own time and place. Islam. however, is a totaliltarian fascist cult. There is nothing that you find in Islam that doesn't have a better wording, delivery or message than Christianity or Judiasm. Somewhere in the Revelations I think it says beware of false prophets. It is directly speaking about twisted individuals like Mohammad.
Nicherin took hold of the Lotus Sutra, that's why the four noble truths and the eight fold path aren't as important in Nicherin's Buddhism. Those are seen as teachings that were important in a different time to attain enlightenment, while the Lotus Sutra is important to find enlightenment in this life in this time.
About the SGI who've all hit the nail on the head. It does have some similarities to being a cult. When I say I've always been a fringe member is that I've only chanted a little each day and I've stuck to the Goshos and Lotus sutra for study material. I've gone to women's meetings infrequently in the last year and a half. They always are studying the World Tribune or the Human Revolution volumes. I personally want to study the core materials not something they have made up. I was really freaked to see an Ikeda video where he was praising himself for all of his honoray degrees and that they have built a library in China with his name on it. Shouldn't that be Nicherin's Name? Then, he went on in the video that he is our mentor. I thought you are supposed to find your own mentors. People that you beleive have the correct attitude towards the practice. In my next study group Ikeda was shoved down my throat once again that he is my mentor period. When I have voiced my concerns about Ikeda's judgement, policies etc I've been assured (not really) that he has his reasons. I was told to write Ikeda with my concerns, guess what, I never got an answer. Well, it turned out to be quite harsh. Maybe I'll post it for you all sometime.
The icing on the cake is my mother in law. She is a 50 year member, has her life been a bed of roses? Nah, she married an alcoholic, has an addict for one son, a dependent depressed son who is in his 50's and never left home, and my husband who has his own problems being the adult child of an alcoholic. Just getting him to admit that his father was an alcoholic has been huge! Talk about denial! My point is, if she has been practicing for such a long time, why has she continued to face the virtual same obstacles throughout her life? SGI teaches that through chanting you will be able to overcome the obstacles that present themselves in your life. This was my final revelation. They keep calling, I still have my Gohonzon. But, I'm out of SGI and won't allow my children to practice it either. I still beleive in the principles of Nicherin's Buddhism and want to practice that, but don't know where to find good study material. Any suggestions.

just want to drop an idea in.
It seems these groups try to pick and choose their Sutra, the one they want to use.
Its like some use the bible to attack homosexuals, some to praise them. So these are just ancient texts, written by fallible people, that can be reworked almost any way people want to.

But just using one's own common sense, it is accurate to say that suffering is created by desire.
That makes sense. You want X, you don't have it, you feel bad. You can't feel bad about not having something you don't want or need!

As a matter of fact, SGI doing the opposite, and promoting desire as a virtue, is proven to make people more unhappy!! There is plenty of evidence, that is done on purpose by Ikeda. (I keep typing Ikea!).
He's just doing it, as he knows humans are generally by nature GREEDY and LAZY and fearful and unhappy, and those are easy buttons to push! Greed is Good! a new mantra.

But that doesn't mean one has to become a monk and live in a tub.

But this is probably why SGI as run by Ikeda, does not get into the philosophy in detail.
He doesn't want his soldiers to "think", he does the thinking around here. The General does the thinking, the foot soldiers and pawns do what they're told, basically.
He knows if he opens up the can of worms in philosophy, then people will sit around talking and thinking! God forbid!

bascially every single cultish group tries to suppress people's ability to think for themselves, as they know thinking is dangerous.
For example, if you ever go to group meetings of "skeptics" you will see why cult leaders despise critical thinkers! You could not get those people to do anything! They ask too many questions.
Its like trying to herd cats.

So SGI is just a blunt instrument created and developed over time by Ikeda to control and manage large groups of people, for his own vanity and Ego, as seen with him showing off his degrees he bought (with donations) with your money!
Some Guru's had 20 Mercedes, some want 20 Hon Degrees, for donations in kind.

Think of the irony of such a monstrous and shallow Egotism trying to parade around as Buddhist. The Buddha knew all about this extreme vanity, that is what it was all about!
You almost have to laugh when you think about it.

It would be like the Buddha today, with gold-chains, and a posse of ladies, and driving a hummer limo, running 5 corporations.

Ikeda, the Buddha of Bling Bling.

Bling Bling Buddhism

Quote
The Anticult
But just using one's own common sense, it is accurate to say that suffering is created by desire.
That makes sense. You want X, you don't have it, you feel bad. You can't feel bad about not having something you don't want or need!

As a matter of fact, SGI doing the opposite, and promoting desire as a virtue, is proven to make people more unhappy!! There is plenty of evidence, that is done on purpose by Ikeda.
Bling Bling Buddhism

Anticult, when I read this, it was like a light clicked on. I suddenly had a much better understanding of WHY I feel more at peace since leaving SGI. SGI encourages you to think that you can change ANYTHING in your life through the power of chanting -- no matter how impossible. This sounds encouraging and empowering at first. But then, after you've chanted and chanted, sought "guidance" from your leaders, worked harder for the organization -- done everything that your leaders tell you to -- and you still don't achieve your goal -- then what?

Some years back, I was encouraged to "show my faith," and chant that a young relative be healed of Type I diabetes. Well, I chanted and chanted and chanted -- and guess what, she still has it. So I was told, and began to feel, that my faith wasn't strong enough, that I'd chanted with doubts. I was letting my family and my faith community down.

Then I thought some more. People chant and pray for a lot of things. Lotus's mother-in-law surely chanted that her husband would stop drinking. During a war, people on both sides will be chanting and praying for victory. There have been many seriously ill SGI leaders and members who have been chanted for by many members -- and these individuals have still died! Some things are just not possible, no matter how hard you chant, pray or wish. Telling people that their misfortune didn't end because "you didn't chant enough," or "you didn't chant with the right attitude," is just ignorant and cruel. You have no way of knowing what their attitude was -- and how much chanting DOES it take to cure diabetes, alcoholism, or cancer? Twenty hours, a hundred hours, five hundred hours?

Since Ikeda is, according to SGI, the perfect Buddhist, maybe HE should publicly chant for impossible things like the terminally ill to become healthy and peace in the Middle East. I mean, he's Super Mentor! How could HE have a bad attitude and not enough faith? And if he's successful, just think of how many new converts SGI would get -- as well as strengthening the faith of those who are already members! Just imagine the wonderful publicity for SGI.

As for my relative, the more realistic, and empowering attitude is to say, that yes, she has diabetes. No, we don't like it, it's unfair, but that's how it is. We will do everything possible to help her manage the diabetes so that she can have a healthy, active and productive life. We will keep informed about the disease and new advances in treatment. We can support diabetes research and education so that some day there may be a cure -- or at least, advances that make it easier to live with. THIS, to me, is so much more productive than encouraging the family in this fantasy that if we can only chant enough (and with the right attitude, of course!), our girl will somehow magically be healed of diabetes.

When I can think like this, I feel more free and at peace. I'm not beating myself up because I can't achieve the impossible. Instead, I'm focusing on the truth -- and what I really CAN do. Trying to do the impossible is very stressful! Do Ikeda and the other SGI leaders mind if you are stressed, and feel inadequate, when your chanting for the impossible doesn't work? Of course not -- the more stressed you are, the more you'll chant, seek their guidance and work for the organization -- in a fruitless attempt to relieve the stress they put on you in the first place! What a vicious cycle it is! How did I not see this before? People can run and run for years, like a hamster on an exercise wheel -- running to the point of exhaustion, and not going anywhere!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2009 07:06AM by tsukimoto.