Nichijew, Thanks for the warning. I think I'll skip this one!!
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@BeingAdagio I agree.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

tsukimoto, After I left, I was told that the reason that things were going well for me was that I had built up fortune from my years of practice and "good causes". That's why everything was going well. But I was warned that my fortune would run out!! Another way of looking at why things have fallen into place for you lately is that you might feel like I do....I feel liberated
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@morgaine & tsukimoto I feel that I've become more "scientific" minded since I have left SGI. I'm less spiritual, I guess. Now I don't attribute human behavior and things that happen to chanting, but instead to scientific evidence. For example, I might think, "Well, science shows that this is the explanation for xyz" when at one time I would have sai
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteBeingAdagio One of the most unfortunate things about SGI is the tendency of members to drag people into the practice with promises of "protection." The flip side of this "protection racket" is the intimation that if you leave, horrible things will happen to you, or worse, to your loved ones…and it will be all your fault because you left SGI. That's disgusting…and
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

v3rsus, I am so sorry about what happened to you. Why do uneducated "leaders" think that they can give you "guidance" like that? I can really empathize with you because I had a very similar experience. When my oldest was little, I wanted to have another baby so bad, but it just didn't happen. Then finally I did get pregnant. Me, my husband, and my little one were so
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

tsukimoto, great summary!
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

backnforth, I agree that others high up in the organization are probably behind everything. One time when going through old papers in a drawer I found some almost 20 year old world tribunes. The contents of these papers was SO different than what SGI spits out nowadays.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ Nichijew That SGI-speak makes me vomit!!!
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Morgaine, I have felt for a while that it is possible that President Ikeda has already passed away.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I did know some people in SGI that had mental problems. They couldn't hold a job and lived on disability insurance. Or they did not have decent relationships with others. Of course not everyone was that way, but I did meet some people on the fringes of society. When I started to attend SGI activities, I was at a low point in my life and, like doubtful, NSA made me feel wanted and im
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ evergreen Yes, but now it's changed. "The only way to true happiness is through the mentor-disciple relationship"
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Good grief indeed! But I would not be surprised, either. At meetings I heard him called the reincarnation of Nicherin and also a modern-day buddha.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I agree. The inflated numbers just contributes to the overall mistrust of SGI. I tolerated everything for many years, but when the mentor/disciple became more important than chanting, I had enough.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Many pages ago I talked about the "membership card campaign" that occurred a few years ago. Danny Nagashima reported that he got yelled at by President Ikeda because the numbers in the US had slipped. So we were asked to get many new people who didn't want to become active members to fill out membership cards. Family members, friends, co-workers, etc., anyone who was even somewh
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteScoobyDoobyAnother article from the Worcester Business Journal: Does anyone know if this Judith Sigolovsky is an SGI member? It sounds like it. Her speech contained some SGI buzz words, such as "value" repeated many times and "fundamental". Thanks for finding that for us.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotetsukimoto "A philosophy you don't quite understand," huh? What a weird question to ask! At what point are these teachers going to learn that their new place of work is actually affiliated with the Soka Gakkai, the Komeito Party, and Daisaku Ikeda? Sounds like it will be Soka University, where sure, in theory the administration didn't discriminate against nonSG
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteChanter16 I don't see it as a dangerous, life-threatening organization. Membership is still by choice but once you have a Gohonzon you are on the list forever and even if no longer attending activities may be contacted on and off by someone that believes they need to 'wake up' inactive members to improve their own fortune. Maybe it is much more like a cult in Japan or oth
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ goldenwords1 Many of the people who write here also love to chant. As far as practicing with SGI, there are old friends that I really loved. I miss them! It was great to practice with them. The other night, my husband got "home visited" by someone who just dropped by unannounced. We both really liked him and his wife. It was good to see him. It's not that we (and pr
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

ScoobyDooby, You are right!
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@cyclops When the videos fist started to be shown at KR Gongyo, my husband, who was a chapter leader, did not like it at all. One time, it was his chapter's turn to plan KR Gongyo, so he suggested that another DVD be shown, not the monthly Ikeda video. The DVD he chose was about, among other things, events that had occurred in Turkey and SGI's philosophy of world peace. The other
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I talked to someone who also went to the rock the era event on Saturday. It was held in a large arena that supposedly holds 19,000, and it was completely filled. In fact, there were people outside watching on a big screen because there were more people than the arena would hold. I looked in the Sunday paper for a review of it, but there was none. In today's paper (Monday) there was an ar
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotetsukimoto 3. How did SGI activities mke me feel? Some made me feel stressed, if I had to drive a long way or do a lot of work to get ready for them. I enjoyed others -- a good study session, or discussion meeting, if people stuck to talking about the Gosho, and how they applied them to their lives. Some of the bigger meetings, which drew people from all over the state, were fun
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotetsukimoto I really can't imagine SGI ever going back to the temple, even after Ikeda's demise. The older leaders and long-term members will remember SGI's hatred for the temple. Newer members won't have memories of ever being part of a temple or having priests -- so why would they suddenly feel that they need it? I agree. I have been told by a "wise&
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteDrJesusEsq Here is what I would tell your friend: Of course we are disgruntled members! We gave our lives and hearts to an organization that we believed in, only to be disappointed again and again until we said enough is enough! Very true!! Saying we just left because of the split is ridiculous. When the split happened, it seemed very sad to me. But when it went on and on, I became d
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Hi, scaredtoleave. I can relate to your post. I practiced for so long and didn't know many people well outside of members. I too was "scared to leave"! But I have developed some new friendships, and I have actually reconnected with some people that I used to know many, many years ago! I find that I make more of an effort and am more friendly and open with people. I used to be ju
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ SGBye, When Bill Clinton was president, the local senior leaders used to regularly make fun of him at KR Gongyo and other big meetings. We were expected to politely sit through their rude remarks and stupid jokes!
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Welcome, John Traficante.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@tsukimoto How true. We were told that we didn't need to read the Lotus Sutra because it was really too difficult to understand, and besides we just needed to chant. SGI says that "faith, practice, and study" are the essentials of practice, but they don't want the members to really study. Just read President Ikeda or SGI's interpretation of everything. When I w
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteRothaus . To argue that SGI introduced so many to Buddhism may be correct but it serves as no excuse. SGI has introduced many people to Buddhism, but it is also responsible for turning thousands of people away from Buddhism. How many people were "shakabuked" quickly, whisked off to the temple for a Gohonzon, and then threw the Gohonzon away, returned it, or gave it to a th
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families