QuoteThe Anticult...for some reason that page is not working for some people. What has happened many times with these groups, is that when this type of page of crucial information is found and made public, the sect immediately gets it removed. Can anyone else access the page below? Or is it coming up as... "Not Found The requested URL /ConfusingInformation.html was not found on this se
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

_________Quote, Sokacult.com, August 6, 2004, web.archive.org_____________________________________________________________________ Jealous Lies of Corrupt Journalists What is the mainstream press saying about Soka? They love us and praise us because we are such a great, humanistic organization. However, some corrupt newspapers have printed lies about Soka. Soka has many enemies who are angr
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotequiet one SGI may be effective in recruiting new members, but it does not hang on to them well. A few years back, SGI had a "membership card" campaign. Anyone remember that? There was great pressure to get everyone you knew to fill out a membership card. For example, if your spouse did not chant, or other family members or your friends, you were supposed to get them to fill out
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotewakatta1 To some extent there is a bit of complicity on the part of the leaders. Most have been practicing for a long time, and in that course of time they have become "indoctrinated" into the way of thinking of SGI. Take the money handling issue for example, to a very senior member the level of trust of the higher-ups is so great that they may actually become insulted when q
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteThe Anticult Again, there is a miscommunication about the local recruiting. They are certainly "trained" and reinforced, to constantly bring up SGI, and try to "share it" (push it) on their friends, and never quit. That is actually a VERY sophisticated way to do recruiting. They don't train SGI members to be dishonest, they train them to be True Believers, and nothin
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteThe AnticultBut is it still online today? Was this the same page? May 24, 2004 Confusing Information to Dismiss Yes, Anticult, I just tried it. I was able to go to that page just now. That's the same page I went to yesterday. I didn't copy the whole page, only the real-estate section.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteThe Anticulttsukimoto, is that same page about SGI-USA's assets referenced above still online on the Wayback Machine? People need to IMMEDIATELY go and copy every single relevant page from the former buddhajones.com, at the wayback machine and internet archive. Those pages can be removed by people who want them removed, if they are not all gone already. partial archive of Bu
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteThe Anticult Its unfortunate people often think of "cults" as being bald-headed bongo drummers, or mass suicides. Those are the most extreme examples. But there are countless other much larger cults, where things are not so black and white, where people dress normally, hold jobs, etc. Exploitation: In what way are people being exploited and used? Sometimes, for lower leve
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

From : Fox spirits arrived in Japan in the late seventh century. Although the first signs of their arrival were modest, they flourished, and soon were one of the staples of Japanese folklore. They even did what their Chinese sisters failed to do: They were accepted as part of the official religion. Today, statues of the rice-god Inari's fox servants are commonplace in Japan, and Inari him
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

This is from the wayback machine, buddhajones.com, May 24, 2004. (Click on "Confusing Information to Dismiss.) {Quote}SGI-USA is a multimillion-dollar religious corporation According to LA County tax records, SGI Plaza and adjacent properties around Sixth and Wilshire in Santa Monica are valued at over $20 million. (These are just tax valuations, not the market value.) Just across th
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

From agoravox.com: Human rights activists worldwide were outraged this week to learn that in a new Scientology cult fundraising video, cult founder L. Ron Hubbard is described as a humanitarian and inspirational world leader on a par with Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Nelson Mandela.Human rights activists worldwide were outraged this week to learn th
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I've only ever lived in areas where there were not all that many SGI members. Sure, an SGI member might prefer to date another member -- but nobody I knew insisted on dating ONLY SGI members. We couldn't. It would limit your love life far too much. There might be only one or two single SGI members the right age and sex in a fifty-mile radius -- and you spend so much time wit
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteobsidianQuotetsukimotoSGI, as far as I know, has NOT done # 97, demanded ALL of the members' wealth, 99, totally isolated members #97 They don't demand all your wealth, but if they could, they certainly would. They just know that by not demanding ALL the wealth, they would end up getting MORE, i.e. a little bit from everyone, instead of ALL from very few. #99 They do isolate
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

SGI, as far as I know, has NOT done # 97, demanded ALL of the members' wealth, 99, totally isolated members, or 100, promoted mass suicide. I can find at least some bit of the other traits in SGI. The following seem especially relevant to what we've been discussing: #1: "The guru is always right." I can't imagine anyone in SGI admitting that Ikeda could ever
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

This is a great link if you are looking at a group and wondering if it might be a cult: www.orange-papers.org On the website, you can click on any of these 100 traits/questions and read about it in more detail. The Cult Test by A. Orange 1. The Guru is always right. 2. You are always wrong. 3. No Exit. 4. No Graduates. 5. Cult-speak. 6. Group-think, Suppression of Dissent, and En
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuotetsukimotoWakatta, I was not in Chicago -- I'm from further east, but the kaikon story seemed to happen the same way in a lot of cities. Local members would donate money and spend much time painting, cleaning, stripping floors, you name it -- because they so wanted a kaikon (community center.) Despite this, the senior leadership made decisions that totally bypassed the people who a
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Sorry, I meant to edit this message and I quoted it instead.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I am glad to see these articles included in this forum. The saying, "The personal is political," applies here. Accounts of Ikeda's wealth, ego, and greed provide a background, a perspective to the stories of ordinary members. I just remember how SGI leaders used to tell us that we had to donate to support the nearest community center 150 miles away. We were so LUCKY
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Another example of bad guidance: a Young Men's Division friend in another city began to show signs of mental illness. He heard voices coming from his electrical outlet and believed that government agents were spying on him. He kept getting the guidance to chant more and do more SGI activities. His family lived in a distant state and did not seem to be able to help him. He wouldn&#
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteRothausQuotetsukimotoFine, maybe some of us yearn for spiritual direction, but do we really need a priest? I don't like this notion that I need a priest or I won't attain enlightenment -- how is that any different than the idea that I need Ikeda as a mentor to attain enlightenment? Hi tsukimoto, Since I am in the process joining Nichiren Shu I found your rethoric question intere
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I like www.proudblackbuddhist. Anthony Elmore has found and organized a lot of information about Ikeda -- things that people need to know. I agree with him that Ikeda plotted the split with the priesthood years in advance. As he says, we SGI members (NSA back then), rarely spoke with priests. We were always encouraged to get guidance from SGI leaders instead, and these leaders told us h
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteArckangel Two women, a former Soka Gakkai Japanese leader as well as a Japanese singer who left the SGI for another Nichiren Daishonin group (Hokkeko) accused Ikeda of either raping or constantly asking them for sex (while married). The story about that Japanese Women's Division leader who claimed that Ikeda raped her has been around for awhile. The problem with that is, she d
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

If the link does not work, then just google "Honorary Degrees Daisaku Ikeda." Google will give you the link to the wikipedia page. That lists Ikeda's awards, books he's written (or claimed to have written) and honorary degrees. I can't post the whole list. It's too long. Would you believe he has received 250 honorary degrees from universities?
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteArckangel Say I wanna join Nichiren Shoshu and received their Gohonzon... How do I proceed? SGI is definitelty richer and wealthier. LOL! I've barely been able to find just one official Nichiren Shoshu website so far and some links are broken (you need to type them in the address bar). No Nichiren Shoshu Temple in Canada... There are SGI centers (kaikans) in Montreal, where I live, Qu
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I have seen SGI change course many times since the 1980's, depending on what the leadership in Japan decided: --1970's-80's: Huge national conventions, and just all this "rah rah rah" enthusiasm. We're just so excited to practice this Buddhism! SGI activities every night of the week. That got toned down dramatically in the late eighties, early nineties...
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Links on the political situation in Japan: www.csmonitor.com/2009/0713/ www.irishtimes.com In Japan, the Soka Gakkai's New Komeito Party has been allied with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In a July election for city assembly seats, the LDP/New Komeito coalition lost their majority to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Prime Minister Taro Aso has
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotedefying he bats So I was not happy but went along for awhile then we had a new set of leaders foisted upon us very arrogant, very Japanese, who came and wanted to push mentor/disciple and leadership training meetings where things got worse. I couldn't help notice Danny Nagashima and his minions were at every leaders meeting video in Japan, but when SGI members requested money or we
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotequiet onetsukimoto, just think of how much you have reduced your carbon footprint since you are no longer a member of SGI and don't have to drive 3 hours to see something that you could see right in your own city! It seems like SGI was always asking us to do things that were not good for the environment, such as going to so many meetings, burning incense (also bad for your health!), an
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotequiet one A few weeks ago, my husband and I were listening to the soundtrack from "Wicked". I told him that when we went to see it at the Pantages a couple of years ago, I couldn't stop thinking about SGI and President Ikeda. I didn't mention it at the time because we were still good members, but the comparison was troubling to me. For those of you that have never seen
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteAwaken7 I actually checked the page you suggested from SGI and I thought it was so cute the animation about how you click and it explains each thing. But don't worry I wouldn't join SGI! The plant, water, fruit, incense and candle are a lot to take care of everyday. No wonder why my 'friend' never stays at a job for a long time, with so many things to do at the altar, pl
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families