On the topic of the rocky relationship between the $oka Gakkai Cult Org. and The Nichiren Shoshu Priesthood, I have one "experience" (sorry for the cult-speak) to share.

One of my tozans inadvertently revealed the rift going on behind the scenes. All of our CULTural festivals, zadankai meetings, garden parties, cult org. building tours, and obligatory cult HQ official visit were all finished up and we only had yet to visit Taisekiji [en.wikipedia.org]. Well, a typhoon decided to blow into town and with it, our officially scheduled pilgrimage plans to the head temple got blown off the books. Roads were washed out and closed, so there was no way to get up there.

Cue in massive daimoku toso manipulation time to change the weather conditions or open the roads up. After playing with our minds for a day or two, we were bused up to the kuronomon / sanmon gates (front door of Taisekiji) on our very last day. The plan was, to do daimoku sansho (the magic chant, NMRK, three times) and then get back on the bus straight to the airport in time to leave Japan. Well, long story short, Williams-Sadanaga did some arm twisting and got us ushered in (reluctantly) by the priesthood in residence. 99% of the American members couldn't understand a word of what was going on, but Williams was not very happy during the visit. The air-conditioning and lights never came on the entire time we were in the main hall before the daigohonzon [parsec-santa.com]. It was hot and dark for our entire gongyo (prayer recitation) service and you couldn't see very well. The doors on the huge bustudan also got stuck and had trouble opening. Back in America, the Japanese leadership was livid over the way the priesthood treated the USA gakkai cult members. They basically did the bare minimum, and begrudgingly so. It was all washed under the rug and kept hush-hush from the English-only speaking members. The official spin was that our "faith" had gotten us in and blah-blah-blah. The reality was, it was just another extension of the fight going on behind the scenes, unbeknownst (intentionally suppressed) to the common membership. Why was it intentionally suppressed? The cult org.'s official spin to those in the know, "to protect the innocent and pure faith" of the members, was the justification.

The priesthood rift was only kept a secret as long as it served the cult org.'s interest. When it no longer did, there was no holding back (and it got real ugly, too).

Faith is just another word for manipulation (I know it, firsthand).


- Hitch

Quote
Hitch
Back in America, the Japanese leadership was livid over the way the priesthood treated the USA gakkai cult members. They basically did the bare minimum, and begrudgingly so. It was all washed under the rug and kept hush-hush from the English-only speaking members. The official spin was that our "faith" had gotten us in and blah-blah-blah. The reality was, it was just another extension of the fight going on behind the scenes, unbeknownst (intentionally suppressed) to the common membership. Why was it intentionally suppressed? The cult org.'s official spin to those in the know, "to protect the innocent and pure faith" of the members, was the justification.

The priesthood rift was only kept a secret as long as it served the cult org.'s interest. When it no longer did, there was no holding back (and it got real ugly, too).

- Hitch

Looking at the Soka Gakkai in postwar Japan -- none of this is surprising. In the 1950's, a group of Young Men's Division mocked and assaulted an elderly Nichiren Shoshu priest, the Reverend Ogasawara. Their leader? None other than our dear Daisaku Ikeda. SGI blamed this elderly priest because the priests enshrined the Shinto talisman that the Japanese military government forced everyone to enshrine during World War II. Somehow because of this, the priests were responsible for Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the first Soka Gakkai president, and Josei Toda, going to prison. (They refused to enshrine the talisman.)

The assault was widely publicized in Japan, and the public was outraged. Toda eventually apologized, when it became clear that this incident was causing the Soka Gakkai to be villified throughout Japan. You think? A bunch of young men beating up on a lone elderly man? And they're supposedly Buddhists who are deeply concerned with world peace?

I asked a couple of leaders about this, and they defended Ikeda's actions as justified.

So the hatred for the priesthood was always there. In the early years, SGI needed the priesthood; they made SGI seem more legitimate. Many cults sprang up in postwar Japan, but SGI could say, "No, we are not one of these new religions, our teachings go back to the 1200's. By the 1990's, SGI finally had the money and the numbers to break with Nichiren Shoshu, who were the only ones telling Ikeda what he could and couldn't do.

Breaking with the priesthood also served as a way to unify members -- giving people a common enemy often does that. They made the priests sound dangerous. I was at meeting and we were told that Nichiren Shoshu priests might be coming to America! To our city! We needed to be ON GUARD -- and report any priest sightings to our leaders!

I never saw any priests in my area -- but come on! Even if priests came to town, what did SGI think that the priests were going to do? Ambush lone members, put a chlorofoam-soaked rag over our noses until we were unconscious, and drag us off to be prisoners in the temple basement?

Manipulation -- get everyone all upset over the priests, and they won't pay attention to what the SGI leaders are doing. It's like a magician -- distract the audience by doing something with one hand, while the other hand is performing the magic trick.

"The air-conditioning and lights never came on the entire time we were in the main hall before the daigohonzon"

Back in the day, there were official tozans and personal tozans - you go with the official group on the tour, or you just go by yourself. One of my YWD went on a personal tozan - she'd become friends with one of the Japanese YWD who was studying over here, and she'd invited the American YWD to visit. While she was visiting, she went up to Taiseki-Ji and did gongyo in front of the Dai-Gohonzon. I remember members who'd been on official tozans telling of "visions" they had while chanting to the Dai-Gohonzon, as if it were something magical - you know, seeing lightning bolts come out of it and halos and whatnot (they were probably too sleep deprived! :P ), but she said it just looked really dark to her, so naturally she thought there was a problem with her "life condition". Turns out the priests just didn't turn on the Dai-Gohonzon lights O_O

"Ambush lone members, put a chlorofoam-soaked rag over our noses until we were unconscious, and drag us off to be prisoners in the temple basement? "

"Does-u tis-ah smerr rike croroform-u to you?"

Quote

maybe the longer out ex members want to know about the current cult tactics. They appear to change their faces like a virus, cleanup the old informations and put on a new diguise or the old one again, and when you are a cult novice you know nothing about the whole priesthood affairs or SGlie history.

I am most definitely interested to hear about what's been going on lately. I believe I was out by spring of 2008. What you say about how we only got a "sanitized" history - one side's narrative, separated from actual details and events - is right on the money. And speaking of money...

Quote

In 2011 I had that study examinations 2 and it was divided into three sections. Part 1 was all about Nichiren and historical events and the history of the 3 presidents, a multiple choice test. Part two was about the gosho The Inheritance of The Law, you had to fill out in your own words a lot of life and death phrases and waves of the ocean blablaba.The most correct answers were those within emphasis on master-disciple relationship, the oneness of the group and the protection of the group. Always go conform with the group, ever protect the group, don't leave the group...The other questions in part 2 were about donations, an excert of the NHR triumph lecture about the Suddatta -rice- offering story. And a praise of SGI history of donations- how they carefully handled the money and only the most deepest heartfelt offerings are welcomed by them.

Oh barf. They'd take ANY money, no matter how grudgingly given! But I know what you mean about how the attitude toward money must be carefully managed - we can't let the organization appear greedy or demanding, can we? One time, in 2007, I think, I called HQ (I live in north San Diego county, so the HQ in LA is accessible to me) and asked for a copy of the SGI's financial statements. I have a graduate degree in finance, and financial statement analysis was one of my favorite classes. I was told that they would not give me copies; if I wanted to come all the way up there (almost 2 hour drive in heavy traffic), they would let me go into a room and *look* at a report - no pictures, no notes. Hmmm...

Quote

Part 3 was all priesthood conflict, and the only question was: what is your personel opinion about the priesthood split and do you think that SGI profits in the future from the splitting.So from your point of view, was it a good descision? You only had the filtered version of the story/ the script and you had to go conform with it, make a pretty little nikken-baiting and sum up with a sensei the good man. I think you had maximum of eight to ten lines to fill out in part 3. The examination papers had to be signed and I regret that I did sign it. With hindsight I would like to sign it with Micky mouse or Mork from Ork.
Fact is the SGI owns a paper signed by deceived sixtyseven. And I feel real sick when I think about that examination papers. - 67

I took the study exams (*eye roll*) years ago - they were apparently a bit different then. The article on the SGI over at culthelp (This article, not this exact page said that SGI was legally required to change its doctrines in order to set itself up as a separate religious entity from NS (or else NS could just excommunicate the SGI and that would be game over). I never heard about these doctrinal changes, and it sounds like they have lately accelerated. Details would be very much appreciated.

One of the objections I read (I think it was there) was in the SGI calling itself "Buddhist" when it relied on Gosho and Ikeda guidance instead of sutras and rejected Shakyamuni Buddha as the source. Makes a certain amount of sense...

Quote

All of our CULTural festivals, zadankai meetings, garden parties, cult org. building tours, and obligatory cult HQ official visit were all finished up and we only had yet to visit Taisekiji. Well, a typhoon decided to blow into town and with it, our officially scheduled pilgrimage plans to the head temple got blown off the books. Roads were washed out and closed, so there was no way to get up there.

Wow. Wouldn't THAT be a kick in the pants? To spend all that money and effort and time to go see the Dai-Gohonzon - and then spend the entire trip doing something else and miss out on the "Prime Point"? Remember that cultspeak? "Prime Point" HA!! Boy, I would have been rather steamed, to have gone specifically for that and then not get to do it because of cultie running around instead.

Oh, who am I kidding? I would have interpreted it as MY KARMA and obviously the result of my own low life condition! :P

Back in 1987, a bunch of us went on a bus trip to Philadelphia to march in the parade for the 200th anniversary of the Liberty Bell (or something). One afternoon was scheduled to be a bus trip sightseeing around Philadelphia - our only sightseeing outing. We hung out in a parking lot all afternoon (our leaders wanted us to all stand in straight lines, facing the same direction), chanting for the buses to emerge from the state of ku. They never did...

Quote

This kind of meeting, especially the mc, brings back lots of bad memories for me. I can't believe that I ever sat through that kind of crap for so long, before. I definitely would not have the tolerance to do it today; just going thru selections of this clip was enough for me. Good luck to those of you who have the stamina to watch the entire thing, because I sure as hell didn't. - Hitch

*le sigh* Maybe I'll have the stamina to look at that video later today. Say, you were in back when men sat on *one* side of the room and women sat on the *OTHER*, weren't you? They got rid of that shortly after I joined - I don't think they could have made it if they'd continued that Japanese segregation model.

Hi all. The battle here is to reveal the true nature of the SGI and to encourage and support those who have left the destructive SGI oganization, not to fight among ourselves.

SGI Woman's Division Guidance
Sept-Oct 1989

Special Zaimu [Money collection] Campaign


Think Twice Campaign (Or reward yourself Campaign)

This means you think twice before buying any item and ask yourself, "Do I really need this now?" If you don't, you can reward yourself by putting this money into Special Zaimu (Money collection).

Treasure Hunt Campaign

To hunt for valuable possessions that may be "hiding" in your house. These things can be sold through garage sales, pawn shops ads in papers, etc.

Prime the pump Campaign

Especially in cases of financial difficulty, when a member is encouraged to contribute immediately, this cause will give the member an immediate surge of excitement and the confidence to continue fighting to contribute.

The Day by Day campaign (Turtle Race Campaign)

This means to determine to save a certain amount every day and to reach this goal by cutting back on regular spending habits. One member broke down her total goal into daily increments, determining to save $12 a day for a year. In this way she was able to attain her goal of $4000.

Warm Dialogue Campaign

By opening our own hearts and sharing our experience, we can warmly encourage members who are hesitant to contribute.

As an example, one WD Chapter Chief had a member who decided to run away from all her problems. She bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco. Based on her WD chief's warm and confident guidance to take this opportunity to fight to change her fortune by contributing to the Special Zaimu [money collection], she cashed in her bus ticket and gave all the money to Special Zaimu [money collection]. Within 24 hours, she was offered a job which came with a new apartment.

One member's husband surprised her with a gift that amounted to many times her goal of contributing. he told her he had been saving the money for many months after hearing her say how much she wanted to go to France. Of course, she gave **all** the money to special Zaimu!

You can tell from these experiences how much everyone enjoyed [sic] this special Zaimu Campaign.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I'll bet! Getting people to give $4000 in one lump sum x how many members? Sounds very enjoyable [for the high salaried top leaders]..

But let's see what the SGI New Human Revolution has to say about this...

"Sensei...," she began hesitantly, as if wondering how to broach a difficult subject. "Actually, Yukiko Gilmore and some of the others have collected a dollar from each member because they want to treat us to dinner....Shin'ichi's face clouded when he heard Kiyohara's words. "That won't do" he said. He sent for Yukiko Gilmore and proceeded to give her careful and detailed instruction on this point.

"By announcing that you have decided to collect money to buy me dinner, you end up creating an atmosphere where everyone will feel they should comply even if they don't want to. Therefore, you may say it's everyone's wish, in effect it will be half compoulsory. This may actually cause some people to harbor mistrust toward the Soka Gakkai.

"Even thought the original intent may have been sincere, it could quite easily throw the member's faith into confusion. Therefore, leaders must take great care never to collect money from members. In the Soka Gakkai, we are very strict about money matters, if anything, tending towards over-cautiousness.

"Although it may seem like I am being very harsh, I want you to take the money and respectfully return it to each person, carefully explaining to each the reason why." Shin'ichi was fully aware that her actions had been well intentioned. Thus the thought of having her apologize and return the money to each member pained him. However, if she was to lead the organization, she had to learn the Soka Gakkai's strict attitude towards money matters. Otherwise, there was a possible danger that some major problem over money might erupt in the future.

Source: World Fibune, Feb 21, 1994

You belong to a duplicitous evil organization headed by a conman who would take every last penny of your hard earned dollars if he could..

Nichijew



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2013 02:03AM by Nichijew.

Quote

If memory serves, the reason "Ode to Joy" was supposed to be acceptable was that the original Beethoven lyrics, which are the ones the SGI choirs would sing, were NOT Christian! The Schiller lyrics were made up later - there is a long tradition in Christianity of putting their own words to existing classical pieces. Here are Beethoven's original lyrics - it's long, I'm just going to post a few stanzas. He sounds quite deist in his perspective, and many historians think that he had little real personal connection to Christianity:


NO.
Thats absolute NONSENSE.

What, specifically, is "absolute NONSENSE"? I can tell you from personal experience that the SGI choirs I heard used the Beethoven "Daughter of Elysium" lyrics. I *saw* the music sheets for the Chorus when I practiced in North Carolina!

Oh, wait - just looked up. Beethoven used Schiller's poem (with permission) as lyrics. And here I was thinking these were Beethoven's own words! Boy is MY face red!! :P

I thought that, by "Schiller", you were talking about the Christian lyrics - they call it "Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee." Come to think of it, that might be a better fit with the way the organization is trending...

Is that what you were talking about?

Quote

As an example, one WD Chapter Chief had a member who decided to run away from all her problems. She bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco. Based on her WD chief's warm and confident guidance to take this opportunity to fight to change her fortune by contributing to the Special Zaimu [money collection], she cashed in her bus ticket and gave all the money to Special Zaimu [money collection]. Within 24 hours, she was offered a job which came with a new apartment.

Ah, yes, these tabloid-esque "experiences"! Of course we can't identify this woman and confirm that it, indeed, went down like this, now can we?

I remember hearing an "experience" about some Japanese gakkai member who moved to Canada and couldn't get a job, in part because he didn't speak a word of Engrish o_O He spent the last of his money on several candles, and determined to chant daimoku until they were gone. When the last one was halfway down, he got a call from a company he'd sent a resume to - they offered him a job WITH HIS OWN TRANSLATOR!

I'll just bet -_-

He doesn't have a name, either. Naturally.

A lot of this is just confirmation bias. You want a job, so what do you do? You send out resumes, fill out applications, make phone calls, go on every job interview you can arrange. So then, when you get the job, it's because of WHAT YOU DID, right? So what if you chanted or prayed or danced naked in the moonlight? If you just did those things without sending out the resumes etc., there's *NO WAY* you would ever get a job. That's the fallacy - chanting is supposed to "activate the universe" to "send what you need", but you still have to go out and get it the same way everybody else does.