Well, it’s certainly a question of what defines a SGI Headquarter. If it’s where the money is held or transferred to, as MIGHT be the case with Santa Monica, then you may have a case. If you consider it to be where the financial, political and directional decisions are made then it is Tokyo – that’s where Ikeda and the Vice Presidents are. On the other hand one should not underestimate SGI’s inf
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Sorry if I may ask, but what changes do you want to see in SGI? Does anyone believe one can 'de-cult' SGI? Its Headquaters are in Tokyo and that where the orders come from. Its like in the days of the Soviet Union - sure countries like Hungary, Poland, Romania were independent, but only on paper. A final change only came when the Russian bear had lost its teeth. A change as such therefo
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@ doubtful Glad you liked the book. As I said the only one around that gives a half way neutral overview of the history of Nichiren Buddhism.
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Blue Lady Sorry if I may sound harsh now, but maybe its time for the first time in your life to be honest to yourself --- AND SPEAK YOUR MIND. Good grief one is not glued to SGI, there is a life beyond SGI. You have to let go !!! All I ask you is now is to look up the yellow pages or contact the Rick Ross Institute IN PRIVATE and find out about somebody in your area that ypou can talk to w
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By the way, I remember too that we were not encouraged to read the Lotus Sutra before an officialy SG-Sanctioned translation was released, when it finally came what was studied were Mr. Ikedas ideas about it as an interpretation.
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Just as I said earlier I believe SGI is monitoring this forum heavily. In a way I could not care less if they know my name or not. What makes this site so valuable is the fact that we are not warming up old stories that the staunch SGI adherent would claim being Japanese tabloid lies (Interesting what Japanese newspapers they regard being tabloid). The huge advantage of this site is, that what w
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well to be honest blue lady when you mention incidents just like the one you mentioned then I guess it would not be hard to find out who you are - SGI does follow this board. Even though I am on the other side of the big pond I must say that SGI must be shi..g their pants because of this board - its the only one in the net - at least in the west - where people can exchange their current and pos
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How should they get a hold of our IP's ??? You'd ahve to have access to the protocols from here. And even if they did reason to prsecute then.
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@ blue lady @ tsukimoto Deep down the emphazis given on eductaion is a farce in SGI. As I said some in SGI even fear education and looking beyond one's own tea cup. Yet again reminds me of Mao and the Cultural Revolution. SGI-guys out there just reading the messages in here I truly feel sorry for you. SGI really is pathetic.
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Critical thought and relying upon previous experiences are made to appear the source of one's past or current problems. Quotequoted by Tsukimoto I believe this to be quite critical. The SGI-ideology is very good in creating a bad conscience and fear that evil will fall upon oneself if one disagrees or even thinks on leaving. In my books this is one of the most disgusting parts of SGI- ideo
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QuoteDoubtfulPerhaps at the outset an organization with global ambitions needs to be narrowly focused around an individual. I even agree with Nichijew on that one. Look at the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Greenpeace or Medcins Sans Frontiers --- sure somebody founded them but they are know as organisations. Besides Shakyamuni and/or Nichiren should suffice or not? They might not if we are
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@ quiet one You are right! The only thing is that to their mind SGI is the real McCoy and they posses the Dai-Mentor expounding the ultimate truth of the latter latter day, his appearance has been proclaimed in the depths of the gosho – and only he knows exactly where. Aappart from that to the average member SGI is Buddhism, everything else is hobo not to be investigated and learned eve
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Hi All, just had to think about the glossy magazine business today. I just thought that in the 'old days' the publications still contained a fair amount of study material having no direct link to SGI. I seriously wonder why SGI never published a pure study magazine concentrating on Nichiren and Buddhism in general only. Ever since there was the paradigm shift towards underlining SGI
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QuotedoubtfulWhile I don't demand that any religious leader necessarily take a stand on all of these issues ... Well why not? In areas like this you will find people with a religious background doing exactly that ... look at King. And even if we discuss SGI as only a 'Peace Organisation' then one would even more could expect this oganistaion to raise its voice --- but no they ar
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Quote"When Dr. King and his compatriots were fighting on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, I was uniting the youth in Kansai, supporting and encouraging new members, and leading a great people's movement for justice." Sorry just read that quote again ... what a little pompous egomaniac he is. Do they extract brains these days when becomming a member of SGI?
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Quote"When Dr. King and his compatriots were fighting on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, I was uniting the youth in Kansai, supporting and encouraging new members, and leading a great people's movement for justice." He and SGI cared a rats ass for what people were fighting for in the civil rights movement !!!! What an audacity to compare Kansai to that movement .... good gr
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@ quiet one I remember guidances of that kind too i.e. discouraging giving to other organisations. But also giving in terms of time working for other organisations. As it would mean less time for SGI. I was once looked at because I wanted to join amnesty. With all that in mind asking members to donate is actually an impudence, one really wonders where the money goes besides the obvious asset
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post scriptum for doubtful had to laugh at 'Recycling Trash for Groceries' in some corners of the world that has been done for more than 30 years and more ... for a city state like Singapore it might be a necessity instead of dumping it at their neighbours.
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@ doubtful Well I guess those titles are what they are … headlines in a glossy SGI-publication not more not less. SGI as such does is not DOING much in the sense of humanitarian relief … for all the wealth that is behind this organisation the donations it does give are a joke. The dialogues are nothing special nothing provoking the mind and theses days talking facts is a nice change. As I s
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@ Blue Lady Grin :-) have you noticed one thing in your message? You started of giving a gosho quote and ended up citing an Ikeda/Toda incident. Maybe it happend without noticing it, at any rate it seems that anything these days Ikeda said is given the same importance than the words of Nichiren and teachings of Shakyamuni. But reading this Ikeda quote just shows me the content is the same as
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QuoteSoniqueScAnyway, I've really come to the conclusion that I'm on a path that is leading to somewhere good. I'm growing in confidence, so I'm doing something that I think is working for me. My doubts have been alleviated (not to say I have answers to all the great points raised here). Maybe I will get whacked down the road and find myself on this forum as a former member. I
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@SoniqueSc you may study "joyfully" with your leaders, but when asked in the future - and this point will come, I sincerely hope that you won't say that you were not made aware of SGI's flaws, lies and shaddy character and yes that its NOT AT ALL an oranistaion of active humanitarian effort.
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@ DaviM: Yes, sure I forgot the "shu" I am sorry for that :-) @ Doubtful: All I know Ishibashi started his efforts already in the late 1950s. At the that time this move was even more unpopular. Given the long list of prime ministers in Japan I guess this is not much talked about anymore. To portray Mr. Ikeda as a pioneer in this effort is simply untrue. There were people who laid the
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'Based on his exceptional far-sightedness, Mr Ikeda made a public proposal for the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan back in 1968' Look up Tanzan Ishibashi he did more on the Sino/japanese relationship than Ikeda.
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I guess SGI is in a bit of a catch 22 situation at least in the west. During the time while members of Nichiren Shu they never did the job one would except from an organised lay congregation except being pissed off when the priesthood would be critical of Mr. Ikeda. Concerning being involved many of the mainstream Christian congregations are far more advanced than SGI. There is the official Chu
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"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-sheep. But th
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On Page 19 I once translated a list published by the DBU a German Buddhist umbrella organisation (SGI is not part of it and I have severe doubts they will be ever allowed to join). The list is a check list on unhealthy structures within Buddhist groups or groups that proclaim to be Buddhist. Interestingly enough its a list of questions, the word 'cult' never being used. Answering the
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QuoteNichijewOthers here attempt to awaken you from the perspective of common sense and the ways of the world. I will attempt to awaken you from the perspective of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin. Sorry this comes across nothing else but arrogant. Since this forum is also dedicated to friends and family of those who are in SGI, some in here may just try to keep the language simple. Even
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Sorry guys for posting that much (we have a holiday here today). But this Ikeda Buddhism stuff really does reveal that SGI is actually replacing Shakyamuni (do they still mention him at all nowadays?) and Nichiren with Ikeda. Did we not speculate on that a few dozen pages back in here?
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This is the whole quoted message, The topic being Nichiren Buddhism or Ikeda Buddhism?: In the "Seize the Day" Section of the May 28 World Tribune the following were written: In the article regarding the YMD flag, "The shield represents the vow one makes to protect the mentor, whose teachings enable all people to attain enlightenment." So now it is Mr Ikeda'
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