"It was a split. We knew we couldn't grow into the type of religion, the type of organization, to actually achieve Kosen Rufu and accomplish our Human Revolution under the thumb of the evil self-serving priests. So we left Taisekeji as Nikko left Minobu" -- Jim SGI Senior Leader
No Jim. You were excommunicated for changing the Nichiren Shoshu doctrines and verbally abusing the priests.
LOL Shoshu priests aren't choirboys neither , from what i recall back in my days
ReplyDeleteCertainly not but they don't go around claiming it was a mutually agreed upon split...."We just went our separate ways". LOL
ReplyDeletejoin sgi's fantasy world. only thirty bucks . a w.t. subscription and buy at least one copy of ikeda's daily guidance.
ReplyDeleteGood evening Mr. Mark Rogow.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the main issues are: the supporters or disciples and the money.
I know Sokka Gakkai since 1994 and in particular meeting community with a high office person had the audacity to ask us to pray to prohibit Nikken Abe entry in Brazil. I even found a shame! And I did not agree.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem of our society is money and values for humans in every way is tragic.
ReplyDeleteHell Andre. Thank you so much for your comments. Keep them coming.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteSome suspect that Nichiren Shoshu and the Soka Gakkai DID part under mutually agreeable terms, to the point that they're actually still in bed together in some financial aspects (owning property as "Nichiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai of America Inc.", for example), but cults MUST have a "pet devil" of some sort to promote the sort of "us against them" thinking that works best to isolate and exploit the membership. By presenting this as a huge insult (from both sides - Nichiren Shoshu gets the "before", SGI gets the "after"), both sides get to whip their membership into a furor of righteous indignation. The Sho-Hondo, a particular flash point, was built with substandard materials, necessitating its demolition only a few years later. That certainly upset the SGI members, who had been led to develop a deep and abiding attachment to that building by the SGI leaders. (Remember how Buddhism says the goal is to rid ourselves of attachments and delusions? Yeah. Not so much in SGI.) Yet, in "Fire in the Lotus", author D.B. Montgomery states that the courts ruled that the Soka Gakkai was the legal owner, with High Priest Nittatsu Shonin only allowed to enter the building one day per month! Notice that an excommunication has no legal aspects - there is no paperwork filed with any public agency, nothing can possibly be verified independently. Ikeda was now free to develop the cult of Ikeda; SGI members who valued the religious aspects would gravitate toward Nichiren Shoshu to practice with the Temple. Both sides win - this is nothing more than a clever marketing strategy - diversify into two products to more effectively serve two separate markets. Nobody cares how many families were split apart and marriages destroyed due to this strategy. Collateral damage - unfortunately unavoidable in the quest for ever-larger profits. They'll get over it, eventually, of course.
ReplyDeleteSo the REAL question is now WHY are they now copping to it? The mutual antagonism certainly served them well for a while, but now it's almost 25 years on - can't you people get over it? Perhaps they've decided it's time to get over it - but what will they do with the crushing load of Soka Spirit material that is out there, where everyone can see Ikeda and the SGI calling for EVERYONE to hate on the priests as an essential component of correct faith?
What a crock of revisionist bullcrap! As Mark astutely pointed out, the hard facts are: Ikeda and the SGI got ex-communicated for changing the Nichiren Shoshu doctrines and Ikeda's verbally abusing the priests. At the time, most members had no idea what was happening or why, beyond the limited propaganda pieces being fed to them by the cult-owned publications. The twisted conclusion, "we left Taisekeji" (can't even spell it correctly - its Taiseki-ji), is completely erroneous and misleading, if not and outright prevarication.
ReplyDeleteThey way this fact-challenged SGI sheeple-leader presents it, the entire membership was on board with "splitting" away from the temple to preserve the purity of the SGI and enable kosen rufu getting "rid" of the eeevil enemy priests. With the fast rate of turnover in the membership, that lie might be effective on the newer members, but the older members (and ex-members) that were active back then know this preposterous bit of propaganda is far from the truth.
SGI defenders are too brainwashed to know or care if what they constantly regurgitate is truth or propaganda. Very dangerousbehavior indeed!