Over the holidays, I had lunch with a former boss, who was my mentor when I was in my early 20's. When I worked for her, she let me know that she valued my skills and hard work. She encouraged me, advised me, taught me new skills, and gave me more responsibility. We are still in touch, though I work for a different organization now, and she has long since retired. She was a re
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Pages 314-316 of this thread discussed Ikeda's "World Poet Laureate" award. Simplify also raised a good point about Ikeda's claim that he is "a friend of the Bodleian Library," also on page 315 of this thread: ----------------------------Beginning of quote, Simplify's post, page 315 of this thread------------------------------------- Oh Oh Oh. I was
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Jeenia, welcome to this thread. Glad to hear from you. It makes me furious that some members believe SGI when its leaders cry poverty, and donate hard-earned money to an organization that has billions in money, investments and property. This thread may get your friend to start thinking...but I've also seen the opposite. Some members just cannot accept that anything is wrong with S
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Reading the Yahoo group's SokaGakkaiUnofficial website, I found this thread. As I read it, I didn't know whether to laugh or curse! The audacity and greed of SGI -- and the gullibility of some members, is just unbelievable! -----------------------Start of Quote--------------------------------------------------------------------------- From SokaGakkaiUnofficial: Message
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Wakatta, I believe that Tiger Woods explored Theravada Buddhism, going to a Thai temple with his mother. And you're right, the Japanese are in no position to throw stones at the United States for its racial issues. In Japan, there are three groups that suffer from heavy discrimination: the Burukumin, who are Japanese, but the descendents of members of the "eta," or untoucha
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QuoteNichijewFifty Cents is a better poet than Ikeda. I like Thug Love far better than To My Young American Friends. Well, maybe some day there will be a monument with Ikeda and Fifty Cent. Sadly, Ikeda is doing no better at running a charter school than he's done at being a poet. SGI's Spirit of Knowledge Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts, has had a very rocky first year.
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The following is from SGI's website: www.sgi.org In May, 2006, a monument dedicated to world poet laureates was dedicated at SGI's Korea-Japan Friendship Training Center on Jeju Island, South Korea. The monument honored Ikeda, as well as Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, Italian poet Francesco Petrarca and British poet William Wordsworth. Can you believe this -- Ikeda's s
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Hmm, so my dog could be an Honourable Friend of the Bodleian if I sent them 40 pounds in her name -- and Ikeda's claiming it as some kind of great honor? It's shocking....but not surprising, given his track record. I wonder if he pays the 70 pounds a year so that Mrs. Ikeda gets to be an Honourable Friend of the Bodleian too. Probably not. One Honourable Friend in the household
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The following is from Ikeda's website --www.daisakuikeda.org -- a list of literary honors that he's "won." We already know that the World Poetry Society, which selected Ikeda to be "World Poet Laureate" is "sponsored" by Ikeda. You can only wonder about the other organizations that have "awarded" Ikeda. How many does he, or SGI, actually
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This is the link that Simplify posted -- the World Poetry Society Intercontinentall's website. I think it's important to post it here, in case it's ever deleted from the internet. "Voice for Peace" -- that sounds like SGI language. Why does this matter? First, SGI does tout Ikeda's accomplishments, such as "Poet Laureate of the World." Well, i
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Simplify, I read the interview with Andreas Schroeder. That was hilarious, how Schroeder and his friends deliberately created horrible, nonsense poetry in German, and the World Poetry Society published it -- and sent copies to the German language departments of several universities, much to the amusement of the professors of the German language and German literature, who could actually read it
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Quotesimplify Shroeder says: "Yes, I've not only planned a scam, I actually pulled it off. There was a literary organization that called itself THE WORLD POETRY SOCIETY INTERCONTINENTAL. They took advantage of young hopeful writers by offering to publish their work - but for a considerable fee. They made big claims about how publication in their anthologies would promote a young
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Quotedoubtful @tsukimoto who wrote, "SGI does this quite a lot: sponsors all of these organizations that make no mention of being affiliated with SGI...they're for the arts, for anti-violence initiatives, "peace studies," the environment, educating youth. If you don't know the rhetoric -- or who SGI leaders are -- you have no idea that the organization is linked to SGI. W
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This thread, page 56, has the copy of a June 9, 1994 court case from Spokane, Washington, in which two Nichiren Shoshu members filed a complaint against Soka Gakkai members. A Nichiren Shoshu priest had come to the United States to perform a wedding ceremony for one of the Nichiren Shoshu members. The two Nichiren Shoshu members met the priest at the Spokane airport and planned to driv
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Simplify, that memo is valuable...and it really reflects the SGI of the 1990's. I well remember attending meetings where members were urged to chant for the failure of Nikken's (who was then high priest of Nichiren Shoshu) trip to New York City. I also remember a meeting where a leader told us that the Nichiren Shoshu priests were coming to American cities, and if we saw any, we ne
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QuoteNichijew We see not one word about SGI and Ikeda while beseeching America to let I Choose into its High Schools. See the vacuous eyes of the I Choose cast and crew. The entire organization I Choose is an SGI covert mind control division of the Soka Gakkai as is the International Committee of Artists For Peace. They are no different than American journalists and entertainers who work for
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

From www.fraughtwithperil.com, Kempon Hokke blog -----------Beginning of quote-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “You don’t have to go to any temple. You don’t have to bow before any god. And you don’t have to give up on the way you live, like turn vegetarian,” she explains. “There is no conversion and there are no compulsions,” adds
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QuoterattyboyIn discussing the structure of SGI let's not forget that "Upside-down pyramid" claim. I've heard it said often by leaders that SGI is the only organization in which the leadership and organization works this way in terms of supporting the members. So they say....SGI supports the members. My question is, how? What do you feel that you gained from participat
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QuoteFindingmywaytoday I wanted to mention something else here. I remember a leader who said that people might as well stay in the SGI because if they go down to Agape down the street, or any other church, they will face the same difficulties with people, so we might as well stay in the SGI. On one level I agree with her. I only agree with the part that we carry our tendencies with us, that is
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To me, the problem is not that SGI asks for money, since all religious organizations do that, many quite aggressively. To me, the red flags are these: 1. SGI ties financial contribution with benefit, usually financial. I can't tell you how many "experiences" I've heard where someone gave a big contribution to SGI, and then they somehow came into some unexpected fin
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QuoteFindingmywaytoday Also, it was noted once that the more you participate in SGI, the more you participate in your life. Whatever.. It's this whole fusion things that happens in both cults and abusive relationships. SGI members tout this whole mindset: "SGI is my life." "Be one with your mentor's mind." Some gurus try to get members to feel as if th
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteFindingmywaytodayI have noticed a few tricks or ploys that Soka Gakkai Members used with me that made me feel brainwashed. I am wondering if anyone can relate to these. One of them was that when I had something good happen to me that had nothing to do with the Gohonzon, and they found out, they would then say it was because of the Gohonzon. Another thing is that I was often told that
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteFindingmywaytodayIncidentally, I also have gotten the message from the SGI that either I am for Ikeda as my mentor, and if I don't have him as my mentor, it means I haven't studied hard enough, or gone to enough meetings. This just makes my stomach turn. I find that assumption insulting. I am wondering how all of you feel about the President Ikeda's lectures. That was w
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QuoteFindingmywaytoday When I talk to people who have been in the organization for a long time, and still are in the organization, I feel their world is so colored and filtered through their practice. It is like they can't even consider another viewpoint. I've found this too. Now, we all have our own filters that we see the world through. You can't NOT have a filter. R
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QuoteFindingmywaytoday Okay, so certainly there is a difference and I am aware of it, but do SGI people know the difference? What does it mean exactly when they talk about a low life condition? What does that mean? I think that "a low life condition" is a very general term, like "feel bad." If you feel "bad," you might feel any number of things --- tired, weak
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Let's not forget -- Japanese wives also decide how the household's money is spent, an important consideration in an organization as money-focused as SGI. I'm told that even senior executives who broker billion-dollar deals, turn their paychecks over to their wives. The wife then gives them an allowance, the money that the man can spend for his fun that month.
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Bobze, Ikeda certainly is paranoid, but I'd consider him more of a narcissist, with a big helping of megalomania tossed in. If you look at the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, is there a symptom that he doesn't have? Someone with Narcissistic Personality disorder (NPD) has at least 5 of these symptoms: • has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggera
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Quotebobze39There is another aspect of SGI, that has been discussed here before. Did you ever have a feeling, when you came to SGI meetings, that you are in a looney bin and surrounded by a bunch of loonies? It's easier to convince people who are in a mentally vulnerable state to work for free and to give donations. So, SGI targets people, who are alone, depressed, in a mentally vulnerab
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QuoteShavoyThe Anti-Cult and Tsukimoto...thank you for answering my query. I also began thinking that because of the M/D hysteria mass, that objectivity has gone out the window. Of course, P.I. can afford to hire marketing consultants to tweak the medicine going down. One would think that a good marketing firm (If they are not members or have a major interest in SGI) could see and say, Hey....
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QuoteShavoyTsukimoto, The Anti-Cult and Wakatta1: Your posts reinforce the thing in my head that I can't get my head quite around....help me out here. How does Daisaku Ikeda believe he can make huge inroads with the American/world masses for membership in the SGI when written words like what Tsukimoto posted above SCREAM CULT!!!??? I mean, there is no difference between Fire and Brimsto
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