@rattyboy QuoteWhat DOES AAO mean? I had always regarded it as sort of a "WA-SHOI - WA-SHOI" sort of a thing in which the participants of the group urge one another on with. I first heard it when I got to the US however, at the Soka Gakkai meetings I attended in Japan (1968 or so) I never heard it used, not even once. Wakatta1
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@Freeheartandmind QuoteI remember when the Foster Ave. CC was opened, the CC was on Lawrence Ave I didn't realize how pathetic SGI (then NSA) was until they closed down the Foster ave Kaikan and moved operations to an old run down mansion closer to the lake. Parking was an even bigger nightmare than over on Foster ave., and the members (myself included) spent weeks (months?) renovating
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@Freeheartandmind - You said there was little info in NSA on what Soka Gakkai meant. I recall back in those days, if you wanted to dig around in the literature you could find out the full name of Soka Gakkai - Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, a creation of Makiguchi. The cult literature translated that into "Values creation society" and Makiguchi (who was a middle school teacher I think in Japan
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All, HEH! Decision time... So the choice is whether this NG continues to debate SGI and that organization's descent into full cult status or whether it simply evolves into a UFO newsgroup. Hmm, I wonder who's purposes THAT evolution would suit? There is ample actual evidence of how SGI has driven it's organization and membership into a hole, and that truth doesn't
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QuoteHitchIt's also being scientifically illiterate. (Cue in somebody trying to explain chanting in the same sentence with "Quantum Mechanics" now . . . . . ) Heh! You folks are having waaayyy too much fun in here, but in doing so perhaps we are risking detachment with the people who really need to hear a voice of good sense as it relates to the SGI Cult ? For some pages now
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Folks, Go over the the "SGI" thread and post over there, it is over 388 pages of interesting reading and insight. In particular there are a number of sub-discussions about what to do to ward off those "home visitations" in which they attempt to twist your arm into returning to the practice. I'll see you over there. Wakatta1
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QuoteSGByeI have no idea how they're going to abolish nuclear weapons when all they do is throw pep rallies for themselves. Instead of wasting all of that time and energy doing hip hop dance performances, why don't they do something that would benefit society like running a soup kitchen or cleaning up their city? For an organization that claims to be for the world, they're incredib
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QuoteFindingmywaytodayI have been doing a lot of reflecting this week, and I am trying to put all my thoughts into their correct places. I am just wondering if it is far-fetched to feel like some of my paranoia about stuff happening to me came from my participation in the SGI? I am saying this because there was this constant feeling of doom happening to me, that I never felt before the SGI. Yeah,
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteHitchEven as a young boy/man, I remember wondering why I had to go to meetings to memorize gosho quotes, get fear instilled into me (cause and effect, slander, etc.) and also get yelled at (for not playing the right note, marching incorrectly, not subscribing to your own copy of the publications, not doing (enough) shakubuku, not giving (enough) zaimu, not doing more activities, not having i
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteKRFor anyone who reads this: What would be the most effective method to "shakabuku" someone out of SGI or any other cult? Well, good luck with that. Of course it would depend upon the depth of committment or dependency the individual had to SGI. Kind of like convincing someone deep in substance abuse to simply "stop doing that". The only person who can &quo
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@Hitch I must confess that I've been a Japanophile for most of my life (at least up until I left NSA). I have worked with the Japanese people both professionally and personally (and through NSA). At the individual person level one would get the impression that for the most part they are a kind, decent and warm people. My comments have never been directed towards the culture as a whol
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@Hitch QuoteHitch It's done all the time in Japan. They just want to go through the motions for formality sake and a tie is always the best possible and preferred outcome to any game of competition in their mind Heh! That aspect alone is probably the most despicable element in having to deal with SGI "overlords". Endless meetings to get people's feelings on a topic and th
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@Hitch Sadly, the "Gakkai Family" is probably the #11 element. They encourage members to strive to develop relationships with one another closer than would happen in a real organization, there is no "arms length" aspect to it. They are in your face, their hands are in your pockets, and they meddle with your life, your family and with your own self image. Another item (
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@Hitch These discussions are great! Man, I recall many hours doing TOBAN at the Chicago Kaikan on Foster avenue and seeing the same games acted out over and over. Of course at that time I was "full in" for NSA, but occasionally the rational part of my mind would pose the question "why?" and I didn't have an answer :) For some reason, the TOBAN was supposed to
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteHitch On the topic of harassment, the gakkai members can also get borderline violent when confronted in a direct and strong way. That sure says a lot about their inherent buddha and peaceful nature, doesn't it. I've witnessed it on several occasions. I've seen temple members screamed at and physically pushed away and almost attacked when they showed up to regular gakkai act
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@shavoy QuoteShavoyWhich follows in other religions as well....How many deeply professed Christians are guilty of the same thing...what is preached doesn't translate in the behavior Two things happening here - first is the human trait of "not living up to the promise" and the second being a more specific "SGI hypocracy" - which I differentiate as two different things w
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Here's a doctrinal question to anyone cares to respond. Using the well-worn NSA/SGI "rules of engagement", i.e. what is considered right and wrong behavior for "a lay member" - if a member were to take money that was given in an offering to the Gohonzon and instead misappropriated it and spent it on himself, would that be considered HouBou (Slander)? If that same me
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@Hitch Quote (...) Sit back, if you can still feel your legs and enjoy the ensuing display of brainwashing. There will be a genki MC who will introduce you to the group with a thunderous applause following. Then there may be a song or two like "Higher Than The Sky" or "Have A Gohonzon" with people standing up and swinging their right arms back-n-forth (the modern day versi
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@Shavoy You said ".... the hell of incessant sufferings". Once I got free of SGI/NSA I realized that the hell of incessant sufferings was actually inside SGI, not outside of it. - Eternal meetings, legs aching while you chant, and the words of leaders ringing in your ears that they are aching because of your weak faith. Only if you chant longer and longer will that turn arou
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

With the recent and unanticipated demise of the North Korean "Dear Leader" I began to wonder about Ikea's last days. No doubt the Seikyo Shimbun (Seikyo times) will be fillied with pictures of WD members weeping and articles about how his "legendary and valiant efforts to advance Kosen Rufu" must be continued. Like Kim Jong Il, does Ikea have a son that can lay claim to
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@Mitchell QuoteI sent her this thread and I think she began reading it last night. Also today I will stop by the bookstore and pick up a Buddhism 101 book. Any suggestions? As someone who was married to a 2nd generation SGI person over 20 years and eventually divorced, let me throw one or two more things in here. 1. As both yasmin and backnforth point out, the cultural pitfalls are pre
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@Mitchell QuoteAs today is the first sunday of the month, she was planning to go to a meeting. That's when I let it all out that I knew what it was all about. She seemed shocked that I knew so much. She said today she was to give her "experience". I asked if her story would include all the lying and the discontent at home... I was going to go and see all this craziness for mysel
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@Jackie_flash QuoteHi, everyone. I need to ask a question. Did any of you have a problem with getting scatterbrained after leaving SGI? Hi Jackie, Actually, when I made my decision to return my Gohonzon and to sever all contacts with the NSA (SGI) organization things began to get much, much better. My reasoning then was that I had removed a long-standing cause for suffering in my life t
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@Quiet One QuoteHi, Wakatta. I'm sure in SGI's eyes we are all still members. Every one of us......every person who posts here continues to be counted as a member of SGI!!! Hmmm, so THAT'S why every May I feel like I need to shower repeatedly. Virtual Zaimu created from past Karma BUX. <shudder> :) Wakatta1
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@Anticult I wonder. Given the size of SGI's cash holdings and the returns it enjoys from the financial advantages they provide (i.e. interest, turnover of "community centers", etc.) is it reasonable to assume that there will come a day when collecting the money from the membership will simply represent gathering "chump change"? I suppose that is the reason why th
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@Tsukimoto - another great post, thanks. You don't post often but when you do, it's always a doozie. @Jeenia, @Missy66 - Welcome to the ark. It's good to see that there are still members who can think for themselves. Ex chicago south-sider and north sider here. Regarding the nobel prize for Ikea, maybe he can get the Bernie Maddoff special mention for swindling people out
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@Simplify QuotesimplifyDoubtful, slimy is the word for it. I experience a similar disgust for my long membership of SGI when I hear about this stuff. When I saw the posts about this latest statue, I thought 'how can the existing members not see the vulgar (and undeserved) idolatry that is just the same sort of thing that petty political dictators demand' - to paraphrase Anticult.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Hilarious discussion ensues when racial equality and SGI get linked together. Too funny! I recall in the early 70's hearing all sorts of talk about how NSA and SGI were "fighting so hard for racial equality". In fact, one Japanese member commented to me how the awful it was that we "Americans" just had so many "racial problems" in our country. I asked hi
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteDoubtful said: In Chicago, SGI recently erected a statue to him re: a remark he made 40 years ago while visiting Lincoln Park. Simply because he observed an act of racism among children playing with a ball, he is supposedly some civil rights activist who is the equivalent of Gandhi and King. A statue in Santa Monica saying "Williams! Your standing on top of my toe!", another i
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@Joined NSA 40yrs ago Just for your edification, I probably know you as I was Shakubuku'ed in Japan and returned & practiced in Chicago from the 70's on. As a mid-level leader I saw a lot of good and bad, and eventually I threw in the towel in the mid-1990's. I am glad to see others are finding their way to the lifeboats. Wakatta1
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families