Oh great. Yet another new format (YAY) and my latest posts disappeared. WTH, admins???
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Oh, one last bit of interesting info - Sanskrit is a RECENT language - the earliest evidence of its existence is from 150 CE, in the Brahmi script (see Encyclopedia Brittanica). By the 5th Century CE, classical Sanskrit predominated on various inscriptions, replacing the various regional dialects, much the way English has become so widespread as a language. So that means that anything written
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Good points - the thing is that "Hinayana" literally means "lesser vehicle" which is compared with "Mahayana" which means "greater vehicle." So, yes, by comparison it IS pejorative. Interesting about the (brief) history of Hinayana, though - I did not know that. I realize a lot of people use the term "Hinayana," but I've only seen "Th
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I'm sure you noticed how SGI darling Orlando Bloom and his wife Miranda Kerr are now divorcing after only 2 or 3 years of marriage. How's that "actual proof" working out for everyone? I will give them props for having the maturity to put their concern for their young son first - it appears a very amicable split. But isn't the goal LASTING marriage??
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

"Hinayana" is a pejorative, the same way Christians belittle the Jewish Torah by referring to it as the "OLD Testament." "Theravada" is a better term, and despite Nichiren's denunciation of the Theravada scriptures, I have found them fascinating and totally appropriate to this time period. I'll give you a sample in a bit. Keep in mind that there is no tr
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I, too, am a fan of HHDL. The whole Tibetan culture is so strange and exotic to me - the way the whole reincarnation bit seems to work for them. Pretty cool. I think the real bottom line consideration is this: Would you rather have HHDL or Daisucky babysit your children??
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

"Hard to imagine Senseless twinkling, and it's not pretty in the mind's eye." *snork* Thanks - now I have to go bleach my brain! >.< QuoteIt is easy to imagine HHDL twinkling . . . he doesn't seem to take himself too seriously and is reputed to have a lovely sense of humor. I've read a number of his books, and that shines through. I love what he wrote in T
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

The Buddha never said he had the *ONLY* way - just *A* way. So other paths were both possible and perfectly acceptable - no "one size has to fit all" here. "The Dalai Lama has said that if science could disprove Buddhism, he would stop practicing. " I believe you are misremembering. What the Dalai Lama said was that, if science were to disprove a fundamental tenet of B
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I'm surprised that X is reacting as she is - typically, the Ikedabots simply smile and nod, while saying, "That's because of all the fortune you accumulated from your membership in the organization. But it will run out, and THEN you'll be sorry!" Or something to that effect. They describe it as, like, filling up a bucket or some such, and when you leave (or don't
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Could you go back, though? I couldn't - I outgrew magical thinking, so the most basic aspects of their practice now appear nonsensical and deluded. This is why the intolerant religions so carefully manage their membership's reading lists. Only the approved texts are permitted. Their leaders want to be the sole source of information, in order to keep the members going in the mindse
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

One thing I left out that I meant to include is that REAL Buddhism is about accepting situations and others AS THEY ARE. It's about acknowledging reality, not being caught up in delusions of how things SHOULD be and fantasies about how to change reality into something it's not. REAL Buddhism is about realizing that you can be content and fulfilled regardless of situations and others
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Welcome to the reality of intolerant religion, meh. Over the years, I have seen similar realizations, similar bitterness and hurt, when former "best friends" within the church suddenly dropped all contact when someone decided to transfer to a different church. Business relationships severed; unanticipated, damaging fallout as connections were deliberately, methodically, coldly cut.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

That's actually a good suggestion, meh. My former district leader *DIED* (she was younger than I), but I ran into a former chapter leader a few months ago - I think I could remember her name if I tried. OR I could just stop in at the new Community...ah, excuse me, BUDDHIST Center and ask at the desk, now couldn't I?? Some years ago, we decided to go all cell phone and canceled the
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Here's the thing - that woman I used to be friends with? She's the one who apparently had my card (as of April), and I'm reluctant to pressure her to give it to me, because then she'll probably get in trouble with her leaders, and her life's already such a pile of shit that I really don't want to add to it. Ugh. What to do? I think I'll send the follow up le
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

California, which is where I am, is pretty progressive, so I'd guess they're at least as forward as PA on that. But *how* do I find out if they're still keeping my stuff?? I have no access! I remember once there was a minor brouhaha at the San Diego Community Center in Kearny Mesa when a member found a copy of some membership list that had names listed and whether or not they
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Yeah, I sent off my official letter of resignation in March, I think, and I haven't yet received the letter of confirmation I asked for. So I need to follow up. You know, this is interesting. The Japanese ex-pat I had considered my best friend while her deadbeat junkie criminal husband (Thank you GOHONZON!!) was in prison on his 2nd of what would turn out to be 4 strikes, who dropped
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

That's interesting, KR. If you had handed your sponsor a letter of resignation from the SGI, then from that *moment*, their rules could not be applied to you. If he went ahead and tried to confiscate your gohonzon (and you could document it) and the organization had excommunicated you officially, you could have taken them to court and won some tens of thousands of dollars in damages, maybe
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Oh, THIS is rich! QuoteNichiren Daishonin identified Ryokan withthe third of the “three powerful enemies”of theLotus Sutra and its practitioners.Based on “Encouraging Devotion,”the thirteenth chapter of the sutra, Miao-lo of the Chinese T’ien-t’ai school defined three kinds of enemies,the third being “arrogant false sages.”This refers to those whose outward appearance is that of wise and venerab
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

The problem with a prediction is that, unless it's fulfilled quickly and obviously, how is anyone to remember that, oh, wait, THIS is what that guy who's been dead for 50+ years must have been talking about! Who?? Who cares??
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteI wish I would've had the info on the Mongols before I sent it to her! Anyway, I'm curious to see what her reply will look like. Oh, she'll reply! And THEN you'll have your chance! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Hey, check out Richard Causton's attempts to spin the facts into something they're not: QuoteHojo Tokiyori never replied to the Rissho Ankoku Ron, but
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Well, I think the biggest is the one I went into some detail about a coupla posts up. Nichiren's "prophecy" that the country of Japan would suffer the calamity of foreign invasion if the rulers did not do as Nichiren said, which is claimed as "proof" that Nichiren was the first and best Buddha, well, that failed. I'm sorry, but receiving hate mail does not an invas
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I'm wondering what happened to Hitch! Did a Gakkai goon squad take him out???
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteSTaP - based on your last post, Senseless certainly could be a rebirth of Nichiren; " . . . and Nichiren was an intolerant bigot who wanted the government to make him a superstar." Japan was Nichiren's world, so in effect, there's little difference between him and The Round One - the latter wants to be recognized by the world. Got hubris? heh heh Ain't it da troot??
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Hi, sunmoonstars. I'm very happy that you're feeling like you're in a good place. One note: Your gohonzon is YOURS. YOU paid for it, didn't you? Why not let the SGI buy it back from you? Until then, it's YOURS do to whatever you like with. You can hang it on your wall. Line your birdcage with it. Give it to Goodwill! Sell it on eBay! Toss it into the trash. It
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteGee Taiten, I sure don't remember expressing guilt regarding introducing anyone to the SGcult. I may be misremembering, but I thought you mentioned that you felt bad for the four people you'd introduced who were still hooked, now that you're "out". Saw-wee if I misrepresented your position! I could, of course, be thinking about someone else's comment and someh
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuotePrivate language is something else to set cult members aside as special - they have their very own esoteric tongue. One friend (who no longer speaks to me) was constantly inserting Japanese phrases into her conversations . . . I always found it annoying and pretentious. TELL me about it! Pretentious it is! I was waiting for my lunch order at Rubio's one day, and this woman approached
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I like the analogy of a commute. It really clarifies the disconnect between the requirements of commitment to the cult and the norms of society at large. It appears that this gap increases to the point of becoming unbridgeable the deeper the individual is immersed into that belief system. My best friend from high school converted to Jehovah's Witnesses so that the Jehovah's Witness g
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

QuoteWhich is why we already had so much trouble communicating with mainstream society. Too many of us had been in the resistance community for so long that we lost whatever social skills we had that would have made us useful in communcating with, listening to mainstream society. I think this happens with all cults. How many people do you know whose circle of friends is limited to their fellow
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Oh, yeah, it's choice all right. Hardly uncommon, though - one year, this friend of mine and her husband (formerly Sufis for 7 years, now nothing in particular) decided to go to the nearby large church for the Christmas Eve service. The husband felt they might be missing out on something. Well, they went - it was beautiful. Lovely music, beautifully decorated sanctuary, candles, etc. An
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Here's something similar, going back to SGI - I'll PM you with other comments rather than derail the thread (something I happen to be terrific at): So this woman who had been a district leader of mine, along with her husband, decided to take a lesbian lover. Turns out she'd been a completely out lesbian musician before meeting her musician husband, but they both felt "a co
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families