@ Rothaus, Hope I spelled it correctly, I hear your point of view about about M/D, but the gakkai is calling it "Mentor and Disciple" a bastardization of the true term Master and Disciple as you correctly pointed out. For many years I chanted wholeheartedly to "connect with the heart of my Mentor" and saw more and more that I would get the opposite of what I chanted for
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ cyclops, Your words are so true, and absolutely strange to me, why keep pushing a doctrine(m/d) that is so clearly not Buddhist and so clearly sending members away in droves??? It almost seems as if they are deliberately sabotaging the Gakkai and Buddhism.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@Doubtful, yes, I think we are kindred spirits, I am sure there are many more on the forum as well. @ The Void, No worries, I can completely understand the need to be careful, I have experienced the "secret police" aspect of the Gakkai and it ain't pretty. @ BeingAdagio, welcome to the forum. Peace
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@The Void, I don't want to demeen what you have written but what the hell, i am going to anyway. I have heard the same rubbish at many Soka meetings. 'hey everyone some i know (not me) had this incurable illness and the doctors said they were done for, but i got them to chant and the illness disappeared'. Sorry but total rubbish, are you sure you aren't an SGI mole. c
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ doubtful, "They would like us to believe that this practice "can make the impossible possible." That's not true." I have found this to be very true, one of my main expamples happened a few years ago : My sister was diagnosed with a terminal disease , she had many complications and was not just considered terminal she was labeled, "hopeless" the do
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@Nichijew, REading the cult list brings chills up my spine, I can think of two very distinct times when I was ''Isolated" and attempted to be bought back into the fold. One good way to address them if they should try this with you is to remind yourself of the long time, perhaps years that went by when they did NOT home visit or even talk to you . Only once you begin to voice con
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@chanter 16. Who-wee lots of emotion on our thread today, but I think your post was encouraging to FMWT , in the same way I have to encourage myself everyday. I look at some of the things I went thru and wonder why I put up with some-of that crap, and then I remind myself, as you said, that it gave me a chance to practice standing up for myself in my day to day activities. We all learn from ev
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotequiet one@ 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 t
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ doubtful. I agree so much with most of what you have said, my experience with the Gakkai was not all bad and I have to have appreciation for the many sincere members who supported me in times of need. I think it is important to point out the ways the Gakkai is off, but also to remember those who did help you. Remembering the good times is the thing that keeps me from thinking that it was a c
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

This page is so encouraging to me, just when you think your story is alone, you find so many people dealing with the same things. The most amazing thing to me about all of you is that with your challenges in life and in SGI, most all of you still seem to have hope and faith. It really is wonderful to hear your stories, and thank you for sharing them. This forum is very important and because of it
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Dear Scared to Leave, These people are NOT your friends, they are people who have an agenda and a quota to fill and that is what they are doing, but don't worry, you sound very nice and intelligent and I am sure there will be genuine friends that will come your way. As for RTE, please do not make me laugh, that is a big joke, this event will NOT change the world in any way, shape or form,
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Wow,this last few days have been very enlightening on this forum. I am not saying that any of you are but , we should not be afraid, it is very important to speak up about what is going on. Someone needs to stop the madness, at the end of the day there are many sincere people who simply just want to practice this amazing wonderful Buddhism correctly . I have spoken up so many times, I have
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ tsukimoto. I agree so much with you , I had to ask myself why the sudden push with the whole Ikeda is mentor thing and I realized it is branding. They are definitely, as many on these posts have said , trying to brand the SGI form of Buddhism, I guess from a business sense it does make sense but as you said from a religious sense it is a travesty.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Quotetsukimoto Back in the eighties, SGI did have real study, at least in some areas. This one leader that I had was very big on it. We were expected to read various Gosho and come prepared to discuss them, as well as studying concepts like ichinen sanzen. Then I moved to another city...and our "study" was just reading aloud from The World Tribune and Living Buddhism. That still
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@ Sparky quote: Keep your mind open (but not so open that your BRAIN falls out...if you know what I saying). A mindless person is useless to society and cannon-fodder for a cult/sect. Hi Sparky, I can't tell from your post,I always find the medium of email/internet to sometimes not be adequate for conveying the idea the person originally intended. So let me be clear, I hope you ar
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ David M Hi , I don't know about where others practice, but the last presentation I went to (and that was the last meeting ), a young lady read from Dr. Seuss and connected the various topics to Nichiren Buddhism, it was bizarre. The chapter study later that month consisted of the study leader person only reading from the living Buddhism, this resulted in us not studying the whole gosho
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Hi Ratty boy and all thanks for the replies, scary stuff.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Hi all, How is it possible that in the space of only a few years, the SGI went from having no money to taking in $40 million in 1960??? That seems very strange to me. just a few years earlier they were broke. I wonder if they got money from other sources than just the pubs?? Does anybody know???
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

@ quiet one this is the best answer to the whole "benefit" question that I have heard, this issue of benefit has bothered me for a very long time. I even got guidance about it and was told that my time had not come yet (it was well into my 15th year) , of course I was thinking, when will it come?? It came when I resigned my area leader position and focused on my career and life.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Thing that get me the most is that none of my fellow members seems to notice the deviation, I had a BIG debate in the middle of a meeting about this, because I was stupid enough to ask the question. AT the next planning meeting all the members ganged up on me for being so hard on the central figure( a 30 plus year zone leader). This is such slander of the Law the karmic effect will be awful.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Hi all, I am a very long term member who grew up in the SGI and was extremely SGI, my friends called me Gakkai Princess, but over the years and too many experiences to recount here, I realized all was not right in OZ. I think the main thing I would encourage anyone that wants to leave to do is , to go ahead and leave, then you will know for sure what you want to do. It may even be that you l
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families