"The purpose and goal of 'groups' and 'leaders' in the Soka Gakkai is to produce in the adherents a psychological dependence on the group and especially the leaders. 'Members' are taught to put all their faith, hope and trust in the groups' leaders which is idolatry. It grants opportunity and permission for invasion by all manner of heresy, not the least of which is the spirit of fear. As a result, the members are terrified by the prospect of punitive action which they have been taught would be emanating ultimately from Buddha Himself, if they are not completely submissive to every dictate and whim of their leaders, they are laden with overwhelming burdens of guilt, isolated from other sources of 'truth and fellowship', and their entire life is totally immersed in the internal involvements of the Organization. The outcome is heresy against the law of Buddhism both non-scriptural and insidious and an all-encompassing spiritual and psychological dependency on the group and the leaders. Because of their adherence to the these heretical tenets, SGI is not able to'dip from the stream of the original converts of the Buddha'". -- author unknown
I think members are more terrified of losing material benefits-- having almost no association with the concepts of punishment for slander-- because there is not much attention paid to the definition of, or the consequences of, slander of the True Law.
ReplyDeleteIn American society "slander" is associated more with a legal term that describes a public smear campaign that has caused tangle damage to the intended target.
The whole idea of *disregard* being an offense is unfathomable to most Americans.
Disregard means you forgot or missed something--. "Oops!" No big deal.
Unthinkable that an *oops* could morph into a grave offense.
Semantics-- does have some cultural glitches, and some are more troublesome than others.
~Katie