QuoteScoobyDoobyWhat is the difference between an evangelical Christian saying "You must except Jesus Christ as your personal savior" and an SGI member saying "You must except Daisaku Ikeda as your mentor"? Nothing. Personally, both statements give me the creeps. Not to get preachy here, but there is a vast difference between the two statements. In the case of the Christi
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@DavidM QuoteHopefully we'll hear soon. I don't want to sound too cynical here, but bear in mind that all these shenanigans have been going on for YEARS! The propaganda machine developed over years, and the arrogance of upper leadership developed along with it. Most members I knew before I "Jumped ship" were very ambivalent. On one hand they didn't like being
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@ROTHAUS QuoteI was a member during the split and all those who joined way after do not have the knowledge to judge us here as 'disgruntled' members. SGI then accused the temple of worshipping a person and not the law – exactly what SGI is doing now with Ikeda. SGI stole my youth I have every right to be pi..ed off by this ridiculous cult. After the old man dies? SGI will loose mor
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@quiet_one QuoteSaying 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 distrustful of SGI. I started to wonder what is the big deal and did they just make up the whole conflict with Nichiren Shoshu? If the temple was trying so hard to destroy SGI, why did they not try to get their members away? Actually,
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@overthetop, @doubtful The formula has always worked before, why won't it work now? Just stoke up the fires of "prove to sensei you are worth his trouble" and the WD will come out of the woodwork wagging their fingers at the slacker american members who won't participate or pay their zaimu! Sadly, the numbers of those WD are shrinking along with the rest of the membersh
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@DavidM But then I remember SGI's get out clause, "substitute faith for wisdom". I never could understand that idea when I was in SGI. I read the gosho passages that SGI claimed proved the idea, but even so it seemed a preliminary activity for those who had no oppertunity what so ever to study buddhism deeper, i.e illiterate peasants ruled by a brutal regime in Japan in 1200 AD.
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@SoniqueSC Anyway, 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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@Blue Lady "What as funny about the whole thing was that everyone who practiced in the 70's knew Pasqual Olivera was gay but got married like most YMD to change his gayness" I had almost forgotten about that. Being from Chicago I had multiple chances to watch Pasqual and and his wife (?)Olivia(?) and you're right, they are an excellent example of the SGI hypocracy. The
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@GWT He's going to hear about how I can't stand the constant negativity of members, the lack of passion, the lack of support and the years of trying to understand an incredibly complicated philosophy that has most of it couched in arcane language and too much metaphor with no current historical context that it makes the simplest concepts too difficult for us Americans to understand a
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@GWT You know, after reading many of these posts, I'm wondering a few things, and one of those things is "how much do any of you have really read the Gosho, how many of you have any real understanding of the cultural and historical context in which modern day Nichiren Buddhism is framed, how much do you know about the role of one mentor out of the three mentors, and if any of you kno
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@NichiJew They change a word here or there, remove a word here or there, or change the sentence structure. They pick and choose the passages to highlight very carefully in order to demonstrate the righteousness of their teachings or as a rationale for their perverted doctrine on the mentor disciple relation. Heh! You're spot on there. I recall those interminable sessions where we mov
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@FMWT Personal growth occurs on many levels and sometimes requires the courage to stand up for yourself. For some, learning to say NO to others and not worrying about what that all means is an important bridge to cross. Especially when your own satisfaction with yourself is at stake. It is a matter of standing up for what you need to be happy, and if severing an attachment with a manipulati
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@Morgaine I have seen many people leave and none of them have had any horrible things happen to them. Some have continued to chant on their own and others have followed a different path. Remember why you started practicing in the first place. The power in your life is your own. Good advice. Superstition plays to the "what if" or the mystic side of people's belief. Wanti
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@doubtful & @lthomas I can empathize with everything you state. Looking back at my own SGI career I can pick out many failures in judgement and in faith. As a leader I always tried to be as genuine as possible and not "gild the lily" when it came to the organization as well at to my opinion of "faith". I was also cautioned many times about indulging in my own perspec
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@Doubtful Hey Wakatta, given that I am on my way out of SGI I have no reason to misrepresent FNCC. Members are ecouraged to contribute when they leave, but no big deal is made about it. There are some envelopes on a table near an exit, but no one is there monitoring anything. I never gave and never saw anyone giving anything either. It is no different than what is found at other retreat center
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@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 sessions? There has
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@Tsukimoto SGI USA can't possibly have zero revenue and zero assets. That's why they call it the "Great Secret" law. If I had those kinds of assets, it would be a great secret for me too! :-) Wakatta
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@DavidM Very well thought out, thanks for the post and pulling together those various points logically. I think the "awakening" process for those that have fallen asleep in SGI comes about in just such a way. At first you hear or see troubling things. As time goes on you start putting two and two together. You ask questions and get "guidance" that says "two plus tw
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Post Mortem Practice It's interesting reading the various views regarding whether a person should remain in or leave SGI. It isn't clear to me how long each person has practiced but I wanted to put my $.02 in to illuminate something I think I'm seeing. For members who joined NSA/SGI after the "schism" / Break away from the temple and move to "alternative"
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This Area leader was rude and ugly to this MD leader. Do you know what this MD leader did sometime later? Steal one of the Gohonzon out of the Center, joined the temple and then left his practice and now he is a devote Christian of something like that. I guess he thought maybe it could work for him and he too could be a Rock Start – leaving SGI and coming back as temple reject and now SGI Rock St
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Blue Lady, Suppose you had a friend that you kept having bad feelings about, perhaps their honesty or their behavior patterns just didn't ring true. Would you disregard those instinctive feelings as perhaps "devils attacking you to drive you away" from this wonderful person, or would you pay attention to your instincts and instead pay closer attention to the individual because
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QuoteDrJesusEsqIsn't it great that everyone in SGI is a lawyer of the Mystic Law? I think that is their interpretation of "Sokushin Jobutsu" (Buddha in life). Sadly, every lawyer interprets it differently, and when the canon that underpins the law is essentially "Ikea says so" then you are faced with a pretty chaotic situation. As long as I've got the talking s
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All, I can relate to folks stories of their final days with NSA/SGI, and although I can't directly tie their experiences into what I went through just prior to my "ULTIMATE TAITAN" - the underlying struggle was similar on several counts. Consider this: You have an organization that you have trusted for as long as you can remember and have always felt that it was an anchor in
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@evergreen You've asked twice so I'll help. Try thinking of it this way: Once you had graduated and left high school you never again returned to that school building as a student but as a graduate - someone who no longer was relevant to the high school environment and someone who had since moved on. Consider that your life moved on from "the old days" when you were m
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@TheVoid Many years ago I quit smoking cold turkey. Mostly out of fear due to other family members developing lung cancer in recent memory at that time, and once the aura of "finally getting free of it" wore off, I began to periodically have dreams in which I caught myself puffing away on a cigarette. Each time the shock would jolt me out of my sleep and often it would take me more
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@nichijew Don't forget Rapture, the big pay-off for Hunger!! As most of those reading here, the lower six worlds are tightly chained together and those chains are what really enslaves people to a group like the SGI cult. If you score big in one world and you wind up being dragged through the other five. Like winning at the casino, you keep going back for the rush. Successfully shakubu
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@Tsukimoto All excellent points. In retrospect it seems that the motivators used by the organization, along with the examples set by the upper leadership may have a role in this. Members were encouraged to chant for 'things' and to focus intentedly on achieving this goal or another. At the core of the practice was one member and one gohonzon and nothing else except the "tea
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Quotequiet oneI miss you guys! Where is everyone? Well, it's been about a year now since I started to think that I was about to leave SGI, and my attendance at meetings dwindled. It took a few more months to make the final severance! My life has changed so much. [...] Please, write! This forum has been very helpful to me, as I'm sure it has been to others, also! Okay, you
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QuoteFindingmywaytodayI joined SGI way after the SGI split from the temple. I am wondering if anyone can tell me if there is any focus on shakabuku, or is this an Ikeda created idea. Thanks. @Findingmywaytoday As long as I'm logged in I might as well respond to your other question too: As I recall my studies and observation, the act of shakubuku essentially responds to the almost-uni
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QuoteRothausHi Nichijew, I do understand where you are coming (.... snip ....) Having said that I find it hard to declare any 'right' or 'wrong' when in comes to matters of religion to the extend that if religious matters fail to meet standards of the secular world (i.e. laws, human rights, physiological and mental well-being ) then those issues become a 'wrong'.
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