I have page 314 as the last. oh well. things got kind of wordy after that anyway. this is a test to see if we're still on board
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I was watching an 'FNCC experiences' video on youtube and noticed something I had missed before. I heard a woman mentioning that she wanted to "reply to my mentor". And the almost teary eyed guy in the dining area talking about sensei donating FNCC to the members, etc, talks about finding a way to "respond to his mentor". I wonder if there was a poignant moment at
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Just some thoughts on SGI and trance induction - I've found that just doing "Sancho" or chanting NMRK 3 times was enough of a trigger to reset me in the Gakkai ways whenever I was meeting with a leader and it was known I was planning to discuss something challenging. I felt a softening of my intent and would not speak my objections as effectively, which of course could be attribut
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Hey taiten and proud - I was just thinking of Williams' "A New Common Sense" this morning. OOOOoo ...how Myoho! I'll look for it. I was thinking that he was competing with great author/ dear leader Ikeda with that one.
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Was it a couple of years ago that they made a celebration out of the anniversary of Ikeda's visit to Harvard University to give a speech? 20th year since? Ikeda + speech in front of people + world peace as subject + Prestigious Harvard....it looks good and typical show of Gakkai 'greatness'. Small rented room + Ikeda not actually invited by Harvard University + not many Buddhist
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Quotesleepy skunkI should also mention I found my only shakabukus and I apologized for potentially getting them into a bad situation. I feel quite a lot better since I've done so, like I've restored the balance in the universe somehow. I really did worry about that for the last while. The good thing is they never mentioned that they ever went to a meeting when I talked to them. I don�
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Hitch - Looking at the video you posted, around the 1:01 mark when one of the dragsters is doing the splits or what have you, you can see the gold incense burner on one level and what is some urn-like container for water(?) on the next level up. Replace that water vessel with the picture of the 3 mentors and that is the place "front and center" as I wrote that I am describing for the f
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I'd say that around 2004 or 2005 when that 3 mentor picture card came out and I began seeing that. Maybe not 'til 2006? There were no comments about it. No complaints. People wouldn't have it in their butsudan, but close to the edge near them, sometimes one level lower if they had a a multi- tiered altar. More often than not, if it was in the altar space it was pretty well in line
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QuoteHitchRegarding the men's division in drag, bunny ears, Nagashima & Malone absurd dirty dancing YouTube clip : I just noticed, if you look very carefully at the front of the butsudan table area, where the person who leads gongyo sits, over on the left side, you'll see a small B&W framed photo. It's about 6 inches tall and guess who it's of? The Dear Leader, Iked
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QuoteHitch$GI CULT informercial, made voluntarily (?) by a cult member eager to do "shakubuku", save other people and change his own karma. It reminds me of those con-men self-motivation speakers who promise to deliver all the secrets of "hope, courage, confidence, & unshakeable happiness" to you, for "free." "It won't cost you a dime, not one penny.&
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A warning sign to anyone watching the first volunteer video that Hitch posted at the top of the last page ( I include the link below) as a person first encountering this 'secret to happiness' is at the 2 minute mark after John holds up the NMRK sign. He says: "We actually chant this phrase." (Wait a minute, who is this WE. There was no mention of a bunch of you....oh oh, I get
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QuoteHitchThe celebration at a "grand reopening" of a $GI CULT pseudo-buddhist community center . Now, I ask you, where exactly is the "buddhism"?? All I see is bizarre cult-like behavior. I never saw anything like this when I was in the gakkai cult org.. This is completely unrecognizable to me. It just keeps getting weirder and weirder. - Hitch There's a woma
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QuoteHitchA behind-the-scenes glimpse into a $oka cult USA "planning" mtg.. This one is about shakubuku ('break and subdue' = proselytise, the fastest sure fire way to expiate one's fake karma). Lots of cult-speak lingo in the one, too. One interesting part = LPG Plan, Lowest Possible Goal Plan --> it's always a numbers game - always. 6 people: First lad
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In the late 80s, NSA days, I remember at least one leader telling YMD after big activities: "No accidents!". There was this idea that we might be spaced out after activities, or the cosmic forces would try to sneak in after our good causes, or maybe this was because something had happened (?) after some leader's skiing accident (?), - but there was this knowing look from some YMDs
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Just now: I had to try several times to NOT say "tremendous fortune!" without a slight Japanese accent squeezing through a tightened throat ( now taitened throat). Old school exes: Try it. Deep programming.
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Quoteholly_golightlyQuoteHitch I'm sure there are many, many more examples, too. If anybody cares to share theirs, I'd love to hear them for a good laugh. - Hitch Just one off the top of my head ................... FIGHTING DAIMOKU! I would sometimes be criticised by some of my fellow members for not doing enough of this (i.e. not shouting it at the top of my voice as if ab
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taiten and proud, in regard to your....ahem, these events you posted above, I can relate to the magical thinking of the professor not showing up. I would totally buy that like that member did... One of my biggest hang-ups still is imagining those voices of those still 'in' and what they would say about my objections. That they would try to counter any argument I posted here, or, maybe i
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I never heard the word 'encouragement' used by a member without feeling infantalized. A life coach or affirmation junkie might use that word in the course of an adult conversation, but not with as much syrup as the Jamie video where she makes a fitting transition from the preschool classroom to Munchkinland with her chanting. (I have to go back to see if she uses that word 'encour
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Good photo, sixtyseven! And what about that concerned yesman/handler in the background ? What is his body language saying?
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QuoteTaitenAndProudIt will be interesting to see the repercussions when Hiromasa is installed as 2nd International President, given that there are so many leaders from ever-victorious Kansai who have many more decades of experience and actual proof than Hiromasa does. I believe the Japanese will accept it, as they are more accustomed to such dynasties, what with Japan's Emperor and whatnot,
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@freeheartandmind. I had to go through a lot of tand p posts to get get back to my post from a few days back after the 'wtf' from tand p. Since we don't know each other off of this board, I can take that 'wtf' as a light-hearted mention of confusion, or maybe even calling me incompetent. I suppose that doesn't matter too much in the context here- (like, perhaps in
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QuoteTaitenAndProudRattyboy, you posted this a few days ago: Toward the end of my captivity in 2008 or early 2009 I read this summation from the Ikeda lecture series. (study material..or maybe I was out of rhythm again). Did you mean to include a link? Cause I'm all kinda WTF over here :/ Sorry about that Taiten and Proud, I meant to have that message right after my other one furthe
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QuoteTaitenAndProud"on Veoh, there used to be video of Ikeda's visit to the U.S. in 1993, some meeting in California. " I saw it - it was bizarre! Ikeda would randomly start whacking the desk in front of him like a monkey! George Williams was sitting right there - he was sittting slumped off to the side instead of sitting up ramrod straight as is expected of proper cult leader
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Taiten and Proud: Toward the end of my captivity in 2008 or early 2009 I read this summation from the Ikeda lecture series. (study material..or maybe I was out of rhythm again). In another book, Ikeda was praising some Italian world leader. There was an asterisk with 'Club of Rome' after it. That was interesting. I couldn't even respond to The New Human Revolution. So much brag
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QuotecorboyYears ago, Umberto Eco wrote an essay on the basic structure of fascism. For fun you can look at it and see whether there are any similiarities to what you saw for yourselves in SGI. Uts consists of 14 checkpoints. Here is # 9 -- sound familiar? Quote9. For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle. Thus pacifism is trafficking with the
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Other points from the Umberto Eco essay on fascism: 3. seems to point out the threat of the sharihotsu/intellectual type 4. disagreement is treason 5. This one poses a threat to the unity of believers 10. The best people in the world are YOU SGi people! 13.People in the particular group as a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will.. 14. Newspeak. Eco's term is also in cult descr
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When "the rhythym began to change" after Ikeda's visit in 1990(?) , I thought to myself that they are just going to be more insidious with the control. I thought this yet kept on. The group's process had become linked with my life. I wasn't in some ashram in some foreign country eating a different diet, what have you. I think it might be more challenging to extricate your
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and I don't think or talk in cultspeak like: "cause and effect in the world of common mortals" just for effect on the thread.
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QuoteHitchOh, btw, that clip with the messages to The Dear Leader, I didn't type it out, but one person even says, "Please come spend your final days with us here in America, Sensei" (or something to that effect). The cult brainwashing is so evident in that video. That young woman at the beginning of the video is the one I think of when we are discussing SGi Mentor/disciple
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re: findingmywaytoday's posting of two members of Nichiren Shu's observations on SGI practice: Thank you. The veil is lifted on another group's analysis of how Nichiren teachings are handled and their observations of the struggles of SGIers who are trying to move into another understanding and interpretation. They talk of a needed rest period as they see it, before ex SGIers explo
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