Quotequiet oneQuote SGI has also donated to political campaigns in the U.S., something that tax exempt organizations are not allowed to do. Who?? From page 58 of this thread: From the Cult Awareness and Information Centre website www.culthelpinfo.org Political bribery and violations of nonprofit organization regulations: -------------------------------Beginning of quote------
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteSoniqueSc I'd guess it's all about people. If people make our interaction joyful and hope filled, then wonderful things happen. If people (especially leaders) fail to see the law of cause and effect in their lives, then there will be suffering. (BTW: I'm not saying anyone on this forum is arrogant; I'm thinking that many of you have been hurt by arrogant leaders who fo
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

And speaking of buying and selling...for those who are keeping track, President Ikeda has received his 288th academic honor. From Yahoo's Soka Gakkai Unofficial Board: --- In SokaGakkaiUnofficial@yahoogroups.com, "d
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteRothaus"Religion is man-made, spirituality is God-given." Well, I am not to sure about morals … its a relative thing in respect to sexual orientation at times especially in case of hard-liners. And at the moment the catholic church isn't much of a shining example with its bigotry and double standards. Having said that the lay community is far more outspoken than the SGI-sh
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Blue Lady, I felt the same way. It finally hit me a few years in: No matter how much I did for SGI, it would never be enough. Leaders would always expect more. "Good" members went to lots of activities and meetings, called and home-visited people often, and cleaned the community center. They talked constantly about how they "wanted to follow our mentor's heart,"
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteNichijewQuotequiet one. "Sometimes people select a dharma-teacher or choose a particular tradition during a very low period in their personal life. When that happens, when someone chooses a person or a tradition because they have a need to lean on someone or they lack confidence or self-esteem, then there is a real vulnerability for abuse and when that dependence is placed on someone
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

This is from a website called "Endless Further," June 5. www.buddhajones.com also had a link to this website. The writer did not specifically mention SGI...but a lot of the article applies. ----------------------------------------Beginning of Quote-------------------------------------------------------------------- Just as in any other religion or spiritual practice, Budd
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteBlue Lady Where I am from in the early 70's and late 80's you could not get appointed a District Leader or anything above unless you were not Gay. I was a youth leader at the time and we had a meeting on this very point. If you lived with someone outside of marriage you could not be appointed. Many people moved in order to stay in Chapter positions. In the 80's I was a distr
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Regarding Ikeda and the mentor/disciple relationship: Mentoring, or being a sensei (teacher) in the traditional Asian culture involves choice, on both sides -- and personal connection. Ikeda, for example, chose Josei Toda as his mentor, or teacher, and Toda chose Ikeda as his student. Toda taught and advised Ikeda not just about Buddhism and SGI, but about literature, human relations, busi
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QuotedoubtfulDoes anyone feel like this? Sometimes I am so disgusted by my own behavior over the past 2o years that I want to take down my Gohonzon and get one not issued by the SGI.When I recall harassing uninterested members; trying so hard to hook the guests; building resentments toward guests I would bring who clearly didn't want to come back(Oh boy I did that--can anyone here relate?);
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Doubtful: "I attended a study meeting in my district last night where the central figure had not even read or studied the material in advance and blatantly relied on me(the district leader) and another leader to "help" her out. " "Okay, people make mistakes and no one at our level is getting paid so I cannot fault the scheduled presenter, even though this is the secon
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteFindingmywaytodayI looked at SGI as my support system, but I realize now it isn't a support system I want. Looking at it that way, I see it would be normal to feel as lonely as I do. I am concerned that people are chanting for me, and I am going to get swayed, or something bad is going to happen and I will want to chant and take back my practice. I realize I may feel this way for a whil
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Regarding Ikeda and gift-giving: page 88 of this thread has an article on Ikeda's efforts to cultivate Polly Toynbee, granddaughter of British intellectual Arnold Toynbee: In the 1980's, after Ikeda's book on his so-called dialogue with Arnold Toynbee came out...Polly Toynbee, her husband and their daughter were invited to Japan as Ikeda's guests. They were given th
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotewakatta1@doubtful "Believe it or not, FNCC is an excellent way for SGI members at any level of commitment to the organization to spend 3 days." Hmm, hadn't heard of this. Seems to me to be too little too late. Such a thing has been needed for a long time. Not to sound too cynical, but do they also market SGI Florida timeshares in reclaimed swampland during the session
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Both a source and a secret, Rothaus. I just keep thinking of "Jean" in that article. She was the member who took a second job as a waitress and donated the money to SGI....when SGI was rich enough to buy a five million dollar property and just pay for it on the spot, without even bothering to get a mortgage. I also remember reading about a young mother who only had five dollars
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

This is part of an article that was published in the Boston Globe's Sunday Magazine in 1989. Back then, SGI-USA had not split with the priesthood, and was still NSA -- Nichiren Shoshu of America. Yes, I know -- 21 years ago, practically ancient history, but the point is, if SGI had this kind of money, and property in 1989, it most likely has even more now. Steve Hassan posted this
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

This is copied from the link that Rothaus posted on page 171 of this thread: Soka Gakkai finances: ------------------------Beginning of Quote---------------------------------------------------------------------  Organization Details 1. Name & EIN Soka Gakkai International USA (952265667) -- Google 2. Street 606 Wilshire Bl 3. Location Santa Monica, CA   90401 4. County Los
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Thanks for posting that, Blue Lady! It sounds like SGI is getting very desperate to fill seats at Rock the Era.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotewakatta1 For members who joined NSA/SGI after the "schism" / Break away from the temple and move to "alternative" gohonzons I'm sure SGI/NSA is just one uninterrupted continuum. On the other hand, those that practiced prior to the "schism" would be more likely to note that along with the excommunication and the breakdown was the organizational and doct
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteBlue Lady on a seperate note----- She had mention before that the new guidance book out that is paperback and yellow is not written by Daisaku Ikeda. I don’t rightly know because I have not bought it. However yesterday at the Sophia group meeting one of the WD read from this book. I realize I have never heard guidance like that before. What I mean Pres Ikeda does not write like that or sp
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotewakatta1 I recall in one meeting a leader said that when you are doing shakubuku the end justified the means, i.e. if you had to avoid a sticking point, tell a white lie, or gloss over an organizational problem in response to that person's question, then that was okay since you were doing it out of "Buddhist Mercy". Has anyone else heard this line? Wakatta1 Not those e
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoterattyboyIn regards to not chanting and bad things happening: Many years ago when I broke from the practice for a while , which was because of the 'priesthood issue' according to members even though I gave them a list of all these cult concerns instead, some members agreed the reason I hit and killed a deer with my car was because I wasn't chanting. Months before that, someone
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

From the "Cults, Sects and New Religious Movements" Board, the James Ray thread, by WC This is something that I think everyone needs to know! --------------------------------------Beginning of Quote--------------------------------------------------------------- I did not know where to put this on the forum. So, I thought I would just put this study here: Brain shuts off in re
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

lthomas and findingmyway, I also have suffered from depression and anxiety. At the time I encountered SGI, I was desperate to find something to help me deal with it. The chanting seemed to regulate my emotions -- make me feel more energetic when I was lethargic and depressed, and make me feel calmer when I was anxious. The activities distracted me from my worries and problems, and it also s
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteRothaus Yesterday I was watching a programme on musicians in North Korea. Apart from the fact that ‘their beloved great leader’ has personally written most of the music and operas performed in North Korea (yea right), I was shocked by the terms used by those interviewed. Okay it’s a dictatorship, but one could not get rid of the feeling that some of those interviewed (certainly selected befo
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I don't often run into SGI members. I don't feel comfortable when I do. Like quiet one, I don't like conflict....it's like when Jehovah Witnesses come to my door. I don't believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, any more than I believe in Mentor/Disciple, and that won't change, no matter what they say. And they're not going to change their mind
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QuoteNichijew Dear T: Just a bit of satire. Sounds like the WT? Had you fooled. I'm just a liar, liar, pants on fire. Actually, the last part, How Can Members Contribute, was from the SGI web page. Nichijew World Tribune reporter extroadinary Aw, Nichijew, now I'm disappointed! I got to thinking I might like to get an online degree in Home Ec from Devries, and now you're
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

From Cybersangha, Laurence O. McKinney: "..Harvard Professor Christopher Queen, lecturer in Buddhism and Dean of the Extension School at Harvard, mentioned that the Soka Gakkai were doing some interesting things in Cambridge and had high praise for the Executive Director, Virginia Strauss. Following his lead, I called and spoke with her about an interview for CyberSangha. The Boston Researc
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Millionaire in Harvard Square -- Ikeda's "Harvard" Connection, by Laurence O. McKinney -----------------------Beginning of Quote--------------------------------------------------------- "And yet Harvard itself is not invulnerable to the ambitions and strategies of those who wish to associate themselves with the world's most legitimizing authority.....With each c
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoterattyboyI'm tired of reading about the 190+ honorary degrees received by Daisaku Ikeda mentioned by SGI defenders. Do we know that some sort of financial or political contribution has been made to allow this virtual unknown to allegedly have 'the world's record' in receiving these honors over the real humanists and contributors to society? Rattyboy, Anticult copied a
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families