QuoteHitchThis resulted in my having to borrow a phone set from the neighbor down the hall, who only loaned it on condition that I attend a "world peace" meeting with her. Leave it to an SGI member to entrap a potential shakubuku in exchange for doing something neighborly. If I had to pick the biggest turn-off regarding SGI folks it's the fact that they can't meet anyone
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

To be fair to the SGI (although I have no idea why I should be), I've heard many leaders say that you have to use common sense (!) in your practice; i.e. go to the doctor when you're ill, etc. Having grown up in the practice, my parents never replaced a doctor with chanting. If I needed medical attention, I went. The chanting was a supplement to that. It would make sense for the SGI
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteShavoyYou can add me to the list, SGBye...I did not know that Ms. Olivera had passed on, until your post just now. Whoa, wasn’t expecting that but I guess it proved a point I was making (Angela apparently died of leukemia). Pascual and Angela traveled the world, tirelessly performing for and contributing to the SGI. So if they couldn’t change their karma and avoid dying prematurely fro
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I've asked leaders before about long-time members dying in tragic circumstances. The answer I always got was "None of us really know what their practice was like." In other words, these leaders were implying that maybe these members weren't really the strong members they appeared to be and therefore didn't receive the "protection" that a truly strong member wo
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteTheVoid I also remember the claims of people beating illness by Chanting, the book 'The Buddha in daily life' even mentions somebodies futile fight against aids as some kind of victory. But in our area there was a family who lost a child at a very young age, they chanted for the lost child, no one questioned why chanting hadn't worked in the first place to save it. Whenev
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteHitchIf you tell non-gakkai Japanese people (i.e., normal people) that you are a gakkai member, they will be shocked and may forever view you a bit differently. The gakkai's reputation in Japan, is shot completely to hell. Every once in a while someone at a meeting will bring up the fact that Ikeda gets slammed on a regular basis in the Japanese press. In the 80's I remember
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Wow, I can't believe that nonsense is still going on! The 80's are back! Did you notice the guy in the front falling backwards onto the floor at 4:25? What are all those spotters there for?! Apparently not to catch anybody. The sign in the background states that it's a 50th anniversary meeting to celebrate Ikeda's 1960 trip to New York. Seriously, who celebrates such thi
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotetsukimoto"Not normal" can start to feel really normal. When I was growing up in this practice, I thought our family was the most normal family in the world. It was everyone else who was nuts. Now I see that it was quite the opposite. Sometimes I think about what non-members must've thought coming into our house, with all of those photos of some Japanese guy who wasn'
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Hitch, when I read your post and saw the words "pioneer members," I just knew that Kazue Elliot would make an appearance. I attended 2 separate meetings, years apart from each other, that were handed over to this "wise" pioneer member and she proceeded to give the identical speech both times. She's the queen of oversimplification and overgeneralization, giving long and
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QuoteHitchThose guys on the very top had eyes as big as saucers and you could tell that they were scared. I wonder what ever happened to them. It's a wonder one of them never broke their neck and wound up a paraplegic (more confirmation bias, of course). I was never at the very top of pyramids but near the top since I was young, thin and didn't weigh much. I was normally in the
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteHitchFor those that may not be familiar with the history of the cult in Japan, here's a performance for the dear leader (who can be seen at the very end of the clip): That old-school SGI propaganda film brought back many memories. Were any of those guys in that film wondering, “How is this going to lead to world peace exactly?” I wish I had expressed that question back in the
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

You gotta love how the SGI constantly tries to convince its followers that Ikeda pays for things from his own pockets out of the kindness of his heart. In the latest World Tribune, there's an article about new renovations to the FNCC (as if it wasn't opulent enough to begin with). FNCC Director, James Littlefield, states that the facility is "a treasured gift from our mentor, SGI
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteHitchI saw stuff at meetings that I haven't ever seen again my entire life. Things like a couple bringing their fight over to a meeting (I guess they just couldn't turn it off for an hour and half or skip the meeting entirely that night) and screaming at each other . . . . . The Japanese WD sometimes treated activities like glorified parties. I had the same experience
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteHitchEver wonder what the modern day version of Jr. Pioneers (Cult Kiddy Division) looks like? Look no further: (WTF!?!?!) It's called the "Lion Cub Club" or "Baby Lion's Division." I realize it was translated from Japanese into English, but that song has to be the most awkward-sounding song I've ever heard. I can't picture any child bein
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotejlynneda63I have knees permanently destroyed due to the hours spent sitting on them for hours & years. Had my first wheelchair ride last month & am being given one for mothers day! I could have refused to sit there hour after hour but I thought I was changing my karma! Now I have time to think about it all since I no longer can work. jlynneda63, reading your post really gave me an
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteSpartacusBack in that period, I was so completely brainwashed that I would have chanted for anything I was told to chant for without questioning it. How easily I (mis) placed my trust in the greater wisdom (what a joke!) of my senior leaders. Looking back now at this surreal memory, I know that chanting all night for a foreign political party's election victories was so twisted. Its
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteSpartacusYet another excuse stated that the war was a political affair and SGcult doesn't involve itself with politics. That's absolutely hilarious since the Soka Gakkai has their own political party in Japan. But that's one of their best-kept secrets in the U.S. I remember mentioning the New Komeito Party to some long-time members and they had no idea what I was talkin
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That's a shame. If they aren't going to use your friend's painting, there's no reason why they shouldn't return it. The decor in the kaikans are all the same: large, poorly shot photos of nature (complete with telephone poles and wires in the background) taken by "world-renowned photographer Daisaku Ikeda" in giant gold frames. Plus daimoku charts and banners
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Quotejlynneda63SGBYE...Just found ur post re the kids & May contribution & I was telling my husband last nite about the same picture! Doesn't creep u out? I went thru the W.T. just to make sure I wasn't misjudging the intent...NOPE! U would think people would b leaving in mass at this point! How does this not meet mainstream America at this point? It is not something anyone woul
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

If this was already reported in this thread then my apologies but the SGI now has a new Youtube channel called SGIUSAmedia. They only have 2 videos up, one being the "We Are 2030" video that Nichijew had a link to earlier. The other one's a promo video for an Ikeda Youth Ensemble National Competition at Soka University happening in June. It's the usual SGI stuff but what�
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuotesimplifyQuoteHitchIncidentally, the recent Seikyo Shimbun has a May 3rd color photo of Daisaku & Kaneko "gracing" the front cover. Don't know if it is current, recent or legit, but it is there. Ikeda, IMO, looks pretty odd to me and definitely not "victorious." Hitch, I see what you mean by 'odd'. Here is a link to the pic in the online SS for those
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteShavoy The SGI adheres strictly to to the belief that "You can give someone a pound of fish, but if you bring them the rod and show them how to use it, they can take care of themselves." So therefore, it's considered a lesser cause to run things like food or toy drives. I know, right? This also seems to extend to major contributions when things like a devastating earthquake
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

A little while back I posted about the SGI urging children to participate in their May contribution campaign. In the new World Tribune, they're turning up the heat on the kiddies. Accompanied by a colorful photo of some piggy banks that kids in Washington DC painted for the campaign it reads: "Every May, we make offerings to the SGI-USA during our May Commemorative Contribution
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteredroseThe other thing I heard was that when Orlando went to FNCC with a YMD conf. the members were told not to make a big deal about him there and to respect him as just a plain SGI member. He intergrated with the members and was not treated any different. I wonder what days Orlando Bloom has set aside for Gajokai duty. Has he devoted any Saturday mornings to cleaning the toilets at hi
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteHitchIMO, I think monies are paid (donations to foundations, causes important to the person being met supported) and/or lavish trips to Japan financed (airfare, hotels, etc.) in exchange for "meetings" with the dear leader. Agreements also extracted (when possible) for the "dialogue" to be published and used. If the SGI is paying for those meetings they sure do get th
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteNichijewHere's a new one I heard yesterday from an SGI member who quit a couple of days ago.... "They are saying that thanks to the Hokke the Buddhist Gods have left the land"..... Implying that we are the reason SGI is not growing and not getting benefits. I love it. The Hokke is so powerful that the Buddhist Gods have left the land but the 12,000,000 Ikeda worshippers are s
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteShavoyThat could also explain why, despite all the YD imploring and praying for Sensei's Welcome Home to America has not produced Sensei in the last several years. Every year, without fail, some leader at the New Year's gongyo meeting would proudly exclaim, "We're going to welcome Sensei back to America this year!!," and every year it didn't happen. And there
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteTibbsDid you guys hear in the video that the SGI is going to abolish nuclear weapons by 2013? Good for them! Well, the WOULD have abolished nuclear weapons by 2013 but they were too busy planning more Rock The Era shouting rallies. I 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
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteHitchI can't tell you how many times I've heard the ol' "WE'VE JUST RECEIVED A MESSAGE, JUST THIS MINUTE, FROM DAISAKU IKEDA!!!!! IT WAS JUST HANDED TO ME RIGHT NOW!!!!! OMG, WE ARE SOOOOOOOO FORTUNATE!" I remember the same shenanigans happening at a lot of those big conventions in the 80’s. When they announce that they just received a message from Ikeda,
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotejlynneda63Guys..Again I'm saying PRES IKEDA HAS NOT BEEN IN A NEW PHOTO SINCE 2010! He has had some permanent incident such as a ztroke AND IT IS BEING COVERED UP. Why, i don't know. If u look through your WT u will see that they are doctoring old photos to look current but therw is no date. If it becomes known that he's had something like a stroke, he would then appear less
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families