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Friday, January 31, 2020

Civil War throughout the Gakkai realm

Congratulations to vice GD LSF, vice MD chief KPH, vice YMD chief HRS, and kaikan staff SCF for your happy CNY reunion with SKT and LKK!
SKT and LKK must be very touched by your support when many of his close associates have deserted him.
It is very obvious four of you do not care at all about Sensei’s repeated message, i.e. urging all of us to rally around GD and WD Chief for Malaysia kosen-rufu.
Don’t you know SKT and LKK were sacked due to their meeting with NBA and Nichiren Shu priests? As SGM national leaders and kaikan staff why did you meet up with traitors who collaborated with anti-gakkai groups?
PLEASE LEAVE VOLUNTARILY AND IMMEDIATELY!
It’s in the best interest of NBA’s Sympathisers and SKT’s Staunch Supporters to LEAVE VOLUNTARILY and IMMEDIATELY, be it he or she is an existing KAIKAN STAFF or currently assuming LEADERSHIP POSITION in the Gakkai.
At the early stage of Johor Incident in 2015, SGM leadership was supposed to meet up with a few RJ2 (Rescue Johor 2) representatives at Bunka Kaikan for a dialogue in order to resolve the Johor Incident issues. However, SKT and HCT led a LARGE GROUP of RJ2 (Rescue Johor 2) rebellious leaders to Bunka Kaikan, in an apparent show of force and tried to corner Exco into agreeing to their demands. During that time, SCF, a kaikan staff and close associate of SKT, without prior approval and knowledge of the Exco, facilitated those rebellious leaders with all the necessary AV facilities at Kinekan, for them to present the unfounded malicious allegations to some KL leaders.
Have you ever wondered how could RJ2 obtain so many email addresses and telephone numbers of the leaders and members and use them to send all the evil emails and messages? Coincidentally, SCF was the main kaikan staff that was in charge of SGM household records at that time. He had the access to all contact information of the leaders and members of whole SGM.
Till today, it is known to many people that SCF still stays loyal to SKT.
Quote from Gosho :
“Only the worms that are born from the body of the lion itself will feed on the lion’s flesh. In the same way, Ananda, the Buddha’s teachings cannot be destroyed by outside forces. But the evil monks who exist within the body of my teachings — they are the ones who will destroy these teachings that the Buddha has laboured over and worked to establish for a period of three great asamkhya kalpas.”
Just to clarify, we are not messing with someone’s rice bowl or deprive that person of his means of income. But, helping the concerned kaikan staff to understand in the highest professional and ethical standards that it’s in his best interest to leave voluntarily.
Thus, giving him the option of finding another role, that’s a better fit for his skill and expertise, giving him the opportunity to be more successful or happier, and stop making conditions so miserable for himself and disruptive to others!
There could be no compromise for Gakkai to eternally fight against evils, and we will continue to uphold the struggle of rebuking the evil and devilish forces of NBA and their supporters, the traitors of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism.
However, whoever the concerned kaikan staff and existing leaders who have made no secret of the fact that they continue the relentless “quiet” campaign and hidden” support for NBA, SKT, LKK, HCT, WWL to fiercely attack GD, our Central Leadership and Gakkai by using slanders, lies and all kinds of dirty tactics and false accusations, they are betraying Gakkai.
Please know that those who do not despise hypocrisy are hypocrites themselves. Those who betray the Gakkai are betraying Nichiren Daishonin. Those who betray the Soka Gakkai are betraying all the efforts, sacrifices made by the past two presidents and the present President of SGI as a whole!
An indisputable conclusion is that NBA leaders, SKT, LKK, HCT, WWL and their supporters are deluded traitors and they are enemies of Buddha.
Evil act of NBA, SKT, LKK, HCT, WWL and their supporters will drive people to hell.
Nichiren Daishonin said the source of all unhappiness and misfortunes of people is Evil (Slander of the Law). As such, we must fight resolutely against NBA and their supporters’ erroneous views and falsehoods that cause people to suffer.
For all intents and purposes, this request is nothing personal because by keeping or continue to retain this insubordination behaviour of such kaikan staff, NBA and SKT’s sympathisers and supporters  – it’s more like we’re living alongside with virus of evil thoughts and erroneous beliefs because we have no clue that some of our members or comrades may eventually get “infected”, thus disrupting and corrupting the very heart of our practice.
Strictly speaking, they owe everything they sow to responsible for everything they did.
It’s not unreasonable to suggest our Gakkai to immediately remove this problematic kaikan staff and those leaders who refuse to repent at all for their “sins” and “wrongdoings”, added with no slightest sense of remorseful apology but still continuously supporting and quietly conspiring with enemy to destroy the correct teaching as well as Gakkai towards misguiding people into suffering and misery.
Therefore, it should be perfectly clear that we are not nasty, neither we are cruel nor inhuman or lacking of compassion but we should not, we must not condone or tolerate wrongdoing or devilish forces in any form to continue or prolong, but are rather to condemn and rebuke it.
In all honesty and truthfulness, we’re again asking and reminding the concerned kaikan staff and those existing leader(s) who staunchly sympathise or continue to support NBA or SKT not to hide in your fake life, burying all the truth yet swimming in your own lies with evil intention to harm or disrupt the organisation and Kosen-rufu. Remember this, there is no room for you in Gakkai, please QUIT!
Sensei’s Guidance:
“Buddhist compassion entails fighting against traitors and ingrates. The Soka Gakkai is the most joyful and harmonious realm in the entire universe. We cannot permit devilish forces to destroy it. We must never let even one individual with evil intentions come anywhere near our noble organization!”

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Josei Toda, 2nd President of the Soka Gakkai was NOT Enlightened

“But, without any thought for my person or my life, I chant Namu-myoho renge-kyo.” — Nichiren Daishonin

“When I meet you, I don’t ask: “Are you keeping faith?” The reason is that I take your shakubuku for granted. What I really want to ask you is how your business is, whether you are making money, and if you are healthy. Only when all of you receive divine benefits do I feel happy. A person who says “I keep faith; I conduct shakubuku” when he is poor – I don’t consider him my pupil. Your faith has only one purpose: to improve your business and family life. Those who talk about “faith” and do not attend to their business are sacrilegious. Business is a service to the community. I will expel those of you who do nothing but shakubuku without engaging in business.” — Josei Toda

And

“How can we live happily in this world and enjoy life? If anyone says he enjoys life without being rich and even when he is sick – he is a liar. We’ve got to have money and physical vigor, and underneath all we need is life force. This we cannot get by theorizing or mere efforts as such. You can’t get it unless you worship a gohonzon…It may be irreverent to use this figure of speech, but a gohonzon is a machine that makes you happy. How to use this machine? You conduct five sittings of prayer in the morning and three sittings in the evening and shakubuku ten people. Let’s make money and build health and enjoy life to our hearts’ content before we die!” — Josei Toda

World Fibune March 1, 2014

Daisaku Ikeda Receives 359th Award from the Devries Online College 

World Fibune Hamtramck Michigan, 02/05/2014 
Adin Straus reporting

For his outstanding achievements in Home Economics [bringing millions home to Japan for himself and his Vice Presidents], the Devries College awarded Daisaku Ikeda with his 359th honorary degree and the key to their online community. Unfortunately, Sensei was not able to attend the ceremony which was held at the Devries Online Computer Center in the Detroit neighborhood of Hamtramck. Hiramasu Ikeda, however, was pleased to receive the award for his father. Hiramasu talked about the revitalization of Detroit Michigan thanks to his father’s ongoing dialogues with Reverend Al Sharpton. Hiramasu related to the members that, during the first of their historic meetings, Reverend Sharpton hailed the Yemeni immigrants, both legal and illegal, as the bedrock of this predominantly polish community. Reverend Sharpton also praised the new Mosque across from the Devries Computer Center and Sensei concurred adding, “this beautiful community of ethnic and religious diversity is the hope for all mankind.” Sensei also brought up one of Hamtramck’s native sons, Rodney Dangerfield stating, “I don’t get any respect from the real Nichiren Buddhists and he didn’t get any respect from anyone.” Everyone was in a joyous mood at this profound award ceremony. 

May Contribution Is Just Around the Corner 
World Fibune 02/07/2014
Jim Celer Midwest Bureau Chief and Illarraza Buku World Tribune Reporter Santa Monica Ca.

Many members have been asking if it is too early to contribute? Danny Nagashima, SGI-USA General Director, responded to this very question with a question of his own at the January 18th Headquarters leaders meeting, right after the Daisaku Ikeda video presentation: “Is it too early to gain benefit?”. He went on, ”It is never too early to contribute to the May Campaign and it is never to early to gain more benefits.” He related the story of Orlando Cepeda who, through a myriad of bad investments, was nearly broke until he met Sensei. Sensei told him how, he too was nearly broke until he bought the four Renoir paintings from the Louvre Museum in Paris to donate to the members. He ponied up his last four million dollars and he is now a billionaire. Immediately after returning to the states, Mr Cepeda donated his last ten thousand dollars and, the next day, he became the national spokesperson for Churches Fried Chicken. You must be wondering by now, when can members begin to contribute? The commemorative May 2014 contribution period is actually from today, February 7, 2014 until February 6, 2015. 

How can members contribute? 

Financial contributions can be made in the following three ways: 

• In person at your local SGI-USA culture or community center, by cash, check, money order or credit card; 

• By mail with a postage-paid business reply envelope from your local SGI-USA center using a check, money order or credit card; 

• On our Web site at www.sgi-usa.org by credit card. 

What if members have questions? If you have further contribution-related questions, please call the toll-free hotline at (866) 501-3220 (within the United States). Hotline representatives are available weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT throughout the commemorative contribution period. Messages left after business hours will be returned during regular hotline hours. 

The Soka Gakkai International-USA is a religious, non profit organization and gifts to it WERE tax-deductible under the provisions of Internal Revenue Code Section501(c)(3) 

The fate of Adin Straus, Danny Nagashima, and all the national leaders of the Soka Gakkai

They will be bound by seven cords of iron and dragged by the two wardens of hell to the court of Yama, the lord of hell. While in hell, they will suspect that they had been brought before Yama because they had slandered the Lotus Sutra, and they then quickly will set aside all their songs in honor of Daisaku Ikeda, all their ill-gotten gains from the member's sincere donations, their Shingon type practice for material gain, and their tantric Guru Yoga, and instead they will chant the passage from the Lotus Sutra that begins, “Now this threefold world is all my [Shakyamuni Buddha’s] domain,”whereupon the cords that bound them will fall away and they will be returned to life.*

*The above modified from a passage in Repaying Debts of Gratitude.

Soka Gakkai "Mentor and Disciple" is too much for my sensibilities by Blue Lady

"I am SGI 

I have been a YWD Leader, WD District Leader, and now a Chapter WD Ldr. I have practiced for almost 45 years. I know Nichiren Shoshu Academy, Nichiren Shoshu of America, and now the SGI. I have marched in the fife and drum, been to at least 20 States for conventions, and I am too pooped to pop. 

The past 6 years plus have been hard for me to swallow. The whole Mentor and Disciple, now the ONENESS of Mentor and Disciple. It’s too much for my sensibilities anymore. I can only talk to 2 members about this whole idea of reaching enlightenment through the Mentor/Disciple relationship. That would mean the pioneers who came before us including my father would not have had the opportunity to reach enlightenment through this sort of new principal. 

Hell I always considered Pres Ikeda my master back when I was in youth division. I have been practicing since the late 60’s. However that was my choice, it was not printed in publications, spoke about daily, on Sundays etc. Now you have to accept it or ….. I don’t know what the or really is? 

Lately I have read The Autobiography of a Yogi, Fire in the Lotus, Old Path White Clouds, The Prophet Nichiren? Wake up to your life: Discovering the Buddhist path of Attention. The first 30 pages deal with picking your teacher. Very interesting… 

So I am at a crossroads in my leadership duties. What If what I believe is a lie? The practice of chanting and GONGYO and reading the Gosho are fine with me. --- It’s the body of Leaders in the SGI that concern me. The constant reference to each and every Gosho as the oneness of Mentor and Disciple. What does that really mean? I thought to myself. The constant steam cooker – me and my district leaders operate under. Some of them are not participating in leaders meetings – They don’t jump like they did when they first began their practice. The endless last minute meetings where you are expected to drop everything. I am constantly told “I am going home and going to bed” or “I can’t make all these meetings” 

We just had our May 3rd meeting it was FLAT nobody seemed to be enthusiastic about Rock the Era or none of what was going on stage. Clearly when it came to Pres Ikeda‘s video folks were flying out of the room to leave or go to the bathroom. 

I have told Region leaders I want to give up my Chapter position - I only signed on for 3 years and its now been 9. Before that I was a District Leader for 20 years. 

Guests come through the front door and leave out as members – in some cases never to be seen or heard of again. 

I have other reasons that I don’t want to talk about just yet. I am whipped and beat and tired. I want to retire like any other Manager who has been on the job for 42 years, collect my gold watch, and leave. 

I am funny if I think I can go out without a fight. 

Also========================================= 

From Reply to the Mother of Ueno… To reassure the lay nun Ueno that her son has attained Buddhahood, the Daishonin discusses the great benefit gained from embracing the Lotus Sutra, and asserts that a votary of the sutra will be protected by Shakyamuni, Many Treasures , and all the other Buddhas. 

Hmmp don’t see any mention of living the oneness of mentor and disciple. 

How many times in the Gosho did Nichiren emphasize that those who go against the Lotus Sutra suffer but those who continue to embrace it are Buddhas… Gee no mention here of the Oneness of Master and Disciple... oops they call it Mentor and Disciple now. 

Nichiren states of Shichiro Goro in the Gosho of the same name…. "At an early age, having not yet turned twenty, he began chanting Namu Myoho-renge-kyo and thus he became a Buddha. This is what the sutra means when it says: Then not a one will fail to attain Buddhahood.” 

Gee again no mention of this mentor and disciple relationship. It seems to be the relationship between us and the Lotus Sutra." -- Blue Lady

Lady Nichinyo's take on the Soka Gakkai

As much as everyone speaks about the S.G.I, that it only attracts those who are desperate and in dire circumstances, I did not match that criteria at the start of my practice. I realized that I was unusual when I first entered the organisation but I later understood, for my journey, it was necessary. I had a husband. my own home, two children and a job I wanted and not forgetting good health. I met someone who told me about it and they even said that chanting got rid of their kidney stones. I wasn’t very sympathetic, I just thought, I do not want to know, as it conjured up this image of him passing them while he was chanting. No, I decided to go to a meeting because my friend was having problems with her relationship and I thought it might help her. I can’t think why I thought that, as I was not particularly interested at the time.
Well I was blown away by the first meeting they started to talk about what I believed in, karma, cause and effect and reincarnation. So it was for that reason I joined immediately because I wanted to mix with what I thought were like minded people. As time went on I realized these philosophies were not really looked at. The emphasis was to chant and get benefits. Well looking back thats when my problems really started. Both my children joined because they saw a big change in me as I thought I had found the answer to the problems in this world.
Immediately things fell apart my husband was against the chanting so I had to become a closet Buddhist. I saw this as sansho shima and was able to work around this problem and only chanted when he was not at home.
If I experienced any difficulties it was my karma and I was expiating them. Better out then in as they use to say. I was made a leader pretty quickly and went on a big course to Japan called Tozo. You think this would have put me off when I gave a small contribution to the head temple of Nichiren Shoshu. This little priest pulled it out of the envelope and gave a sneer. I though at the time silly idiot and thought well it cost me enough to get here thats all your getting.
Then another time when I was on a course in Trets, a centre in the South of France. I had been put in charge of first aide. At the beginning of the course someone came to me saying they were having a miscarriage. I immediately went to the head leader of the course at that time, informing him that it would be best to send her to the nearest hospital. Well he decided she was probably exaggerating and it would not be necessary . I was livid and started to tell him she could be in danger and it would be better to be on the safe side and lets not let the ego get in the way. To be quite honest I thought he was going to hit me he looked so angry. Here I was trying to over step his authority as the course leader.I didn’t care I was right .In fact I think I said why make me in charge of the First Aide if you are not going to respect my judgement. It turns out later he said he took her to the hospital and everything was ok. He did not have the decency to ask me to come along. I felt he was more interested in his ego rather then doing the right thing. Of course, it could have been money as they would have had to pay for the hospital visit.
I didn’t leave because of peoples behavior but looking back I think I should have taken it more seriously especially when I heard someone was raped and they held a big meeting about it. The women should have gone to the police instead of it being discussed in the organisation. Looking back it was obvious that they wanted to keep things quiet. I realized now that they saw the organisation as more important then what was right or wrong. A dangerous place to be in for you sanity and you spiritual well being.
Also we were asked to volunteer to guard a building that had been bought as a new centre in England. We were expected through the day and late evening to do this. I suddenly dawned on me this was not at all common sense. What would I be able to do if someone came to burgle the place. The building was in a rather bad area in London which did not help matters. I spoke out about it and soon after they decided to employ proper security guards. Everything was all to save money. It eventually had a suspicious fire that led to it being sold and the larger building was purchased  and called Taplow court.
I do not have any animosity to S.G.I members because I have walked the walk and talked the talk but now I am beginning to realize that most people are really motivated by their emotions which come from deep within. So, trying to convince people putting forward incidents like these will not have any effect but others who are not really that deep in or those thinking of entering into the organisation, it may convince them.
It has all to do with needs which is where our emotions are based. In my case, it was wanting to be with like minded people A strong tendency in humans, is to be part of a herd and the safety of a tribe.
Because of my journey I have realized that the truth and staying true to yourself is more important then people agreeing with you. And if along the way you find certain aspects you have been mistaken about you can adjust them accordingly. Many people are hanging on to their ego of being right. To admit that they have devoted many years to an erroneous cult is too hard to face. Others feel that if they leave the cult they will lose their prestige of being a leader and their so-called friends. These needs will be fearfully guarded in order not to lose them.
What is disturbing about SGI is that it appears to meet some needs, especially if you are not too concerned about problems and deeply care about the future of the planet. For example, their false promise of a soon to achieve peaceful world (Kosen Rufu)*.
Most people, however, are quite selfish. They enter SGI because they want to get personal benefits and achievements. This blinds them to the truth. The Lotus sutra stresses that we should become detached from our desires whenever possible, save for the desire to follow and revere the Lotus Sutra. That way one will always be working for the truth, the good of the planet, and ourselves. Soka Gakkai urges you to put the organisation first which is not the Law. If we do not put the Law first, there will always be something other than the Law which SGI uses as a carrot.
I believes the SGI is losing its power precisely because it fails to revere the true teachings while stupidly following the New Age babble of President Ikeda. Their so-called benefits are benefits in name only. They are not the benefits of the Lotus Sutra and Eternal Buddha. Hence, we are starting to see long term members giving up. The false reasons you joined SGI will be the very reasons you will leave. The bottom line, your needs as a Bodhisattva and Buddha to be have not been met. If you do not put the truth of Buddhism above your selfish needs you will be a slave to them and therefore, blind to the truth.

*Actually, Kosen Rufu means widepread propagation of the Lotus Sutra amd what SGI propagates is not the Lotus Sutra but Ikedaism.

I’m so much better and happier since I left SGI UK 1 year ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/sgiwhistleblowers/comments/euvuz1/im_so_much_better_and_happier_since_i_left_sgi_uk/

To see a most interesting letter from sincere members with more than a hundred questions for the national leaderships:
Dozens of members were involved in formulating these questions. They were never addressed. Many of these sincere members quit the Gakkai.

There is NO dialogue nor debate with Soka Gakkai members

To Soka Gakkai members the Lotus Sutra and writings of Nichiren are "laughable nonsense, do not contact me again" - Soka Gakkai leader just yesterday. 

They can not discuss the teachings the Lotus Sutra nor writings of Nichiren because they study the Human Revolution and New Human Revolution novels by Daisaku Ikeda and his ghost-writers. They call these novels, "the Lotus Sutra of the modern age" (or Gosho of the modern age). They are not much different than the Scientologists who study Ron Hubbard's Dianetics instead of authoratative religious texts.

Nichiren on Debate

"You must not allow the towering pride of your present lifetime to plant the seeds of deluded wandering for endless kalpas to come. Let us make all haste to appeal to the authorities, make haste to meet face-to-face before them, and to put an end to these erroneous views!"

"The situation was similar in China. After Mātanga had introduced Buddhism to China, he held a debate with the Taoists. When the Taoists were defeated in debate, then for the first time there were people who put their faith in Buddhism, though there were many more who did not."

"In Japan, the Great Teacher Dengyō defeated in debate the leaders of the six schools and became the country’s first and foremost great teacher, Great Teacher Kompon."

"Eight hundred years after the beginning of the Middle Day of the Law, in the reign of the fiftieth sovereign, Emperor Kammu (r. 781–806), there appeared a young priest without reputation named Saichō, who was later to be known as the Great Teacher Dengyō. At first he studied the doctrines of the six schools—Three Treatises, Dharma Characteristics, Flower Garland, Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, and Precepts—as well as the Zen teaching, under the Administrator of Priests Gyōhyō and others. Later he founded a temple called Kokushō-ji, which in time came to be known as Mount Hiei. There he pored over the sutras and treatises of the six schools, as well as the commentaries written by their leaders. But he found that these commentaries often contradicted the sutras and treatises upon which these schools relied and were replete with one-sided opinions. It became apparent to him that if people were to accept such teachings they would all fall into the evil paths of existence. In addition, though the leaders of each of the different schools proclaimed that they had understood the true meaning of the Lotus Sutra and praised their own particular interpretation, none of them had in fact understood its teachings correctly. Saichō felt that if he were to state this opinion openly it would surely lead to quarrels and disputes. But if he remained silent, he would be going against the spirit of the Buddha’s vow.52 He agonized over what course to take, but in the end, fearful of violating the Buddha’s admonition, made known his views to Emperor Kammu.

Emperor Kammu, startled at his declaration, summoned the leading authorities of the six schools to engage in debate. At first these scholars in their pride were similar to banners raised aloft like mountains, and their evil minds worked like poisonous snakes, but in the end they were forced to bow in defeat in the presence of the ruler, and each and every person of the six schools and the seven major temples of Nara acknowledged himself a disciple of Saichō.

It was like that earlier occasion when the Buddhist scholars of northern and southern China gathered in the palace of the Ch’en dynasty and, having been bested in debate by the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai, became his disciples. But [of the three types of learning] T’ien-t’ai had employed only perfect meditation and perfect wisdom. The Great Teacher Dengyō, by contrast, attacked the Hinayana specific ordination for administering the precepts, which T’ien-t’ai had failed to controvert, and administered the Mahayana specific ordination described in the Brahmā Net Sutra to eight eminent priests of the six schools. In addition, he established on Mount Hiei a specific ordination platform for administering the precepts of the perfect and immediate enlightenment of the Lotus Sutra. Thus the specific ordination in the precepts of perfect and immediate enlightenment at Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei was not only the foremost ordination ceremony in Japan, but a great ordination in the precepts of Eagle Peak such as had never been known either in India or China or anywhere else in Jambudvīpa during the eighteen hundred or more years since the Buddha’s passing. This ceremony of ordination had its beginning in Japan.

If we examine the merit achieved by the Great Teacher Dengyō, we would have to say that he is a sage who surpasses Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu and who excels both T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lo. If so, then what priest in Japan today could turn his back on the perfect precepts of the Great Teacher Dengyō, whether he belongs to Tō-ji, Onjō-ji, or the seven major temples of Nara, or whether he is a follower of one of the eight schools or of the Pure Land, Zen, or Precepts school in whatever corner of the land? The priests of the nine regions of China became the disciples of the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai with respect to the perfect meditation and perfect wisdom that he taught. But since no ordination platform for universally administering the precepts of perfect and immediate enlightenment was ever established in China, some of them might not have become his disciples with regard to the precepts. In Japan, however, [because Dengyō in fact established such an ordination platform] any priests who fail to become disciples of the Great Teacher Dengyō can only be regarded as non-Buddhists and men of evil.

As to the question of which of the two newer schools brought from China is superior, the Tendai or the True Word, the Great Teacher Dengyō was perfectly clear in his mind. But he did not demonstrate which was superior in public debate, as he had done previously with regard to the relative merit of the Tendai school in comparison to the six older schools. Perhaps on that account, after the passing of the Great Teacher Dengyō, Tō-ji, the seven major temples of Nara, Onjō-ji, and other temples throughout the provinces of Japan all began proclaiming that the True Word school is superior to the Tendai school, until everyone from the ruler on down to the common people believed that such was the case.

Thus the true spirit of the Tendai Lotus school really flourished only during the lifetime of the Great Teacher Dengyō. Dengyō lived at the end of the Middle Day of the Law, during the period described in the Great Collection Sutra as the age of building temples and stupas. The time had not yet arrived when, as the Great Collection Sutra says, “Quarrels and disputes will arise among the adherents to my teachings, and the pure Law will become obscured and lost.”

"Is any single great matter to be found in the other sutras? The Lotus Sutra contains twenty outstanding principles. Among those twenty, the most vital is the “Life Span” chapter’s revelation that the Buddha first attained enlightenment numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ago. People may well wonder what this revelation means. Explain that it teaches that common people like ourselves, who have been submerged in the sufferings of birth and death since time without beginning and who never so much as dreamed of reaching the shore of enlightenment, become the Thus Come Ones who are originally enlightened and endowed with the three bodies. That is, it reveals the ultimate principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life. From this perspective, you should firmly establish that the Lotus Sutra is the most profound among all the Buddha’s teachings.

You may bring forth this point in an official debate, but not during personal discussions. Should you indiscriminately mention it to whomever you meet, on any occasion or at any time, you will certainly incur punishment from the Buddhas of the three existences. This is the doctrine that I have always referred to as my own inner realization."

SGI indiscriminately mentions it to everyone against Nichiren's mandate. And just like the True Word priests, when they realized they had no chance to defeat Nichiren in debate, avoided Nichiren at all costs:

"As for my teachings, regard those before my exile to the province of Sado as equivalent to the Buddha’s pre-Lotus Sutra teachings. I had thought that, if the ruler of this country desired to govern well, he would summon the priests of the True Word school for an open debate with me, and that on that occasion I would reveal a matter of truly supreme importance. Before my exile, I withheld this even from my disciples for fear that if I should tell them, even in confidence, they might inadvertently disclose it to the True Word priests, who would then avoid the debate. This is why I refrained from revealing it to each one of you as well."

"At this time there was a humble monk called the Scholar Bhadraruchi who declared that the Brahman should be corrected, but neither the ruler and high ministers nor the common people would listen to such a suggestion. In the end, the Brahman charged his disciples and lay supporters to go about spreading countless falsehoods and abusing and beating Bhadraruchi. But Bhadraruchi, disregarding the danger to his life, continued to denounce the Brahman until the ruler, coming to hate Bhadraruchi, arranged for him to debate with the Brahman in hopes of silencing him. Contrary to his expectations, however, the Brahman was the one defeated in the debate.

The king looked up to heaven, then threw himself upon the ground lamenting, and said, “I have been privileged to hear your words on this matter firsthand and to free myself from my erroneous views. But my father, the former king, was completely deceived by this man and by now has probably fallen into the Avīchi hell!” So saying, he clung to the knees of the Scholar Bhadraruchi and wept in sorrow.

At Bhadraruchi’s suggestion, the Brahman was placed on the back of a donkey so that he might be led in disgrace throughout India and shown to all. But the evil in his heart only grew stronger than ever, and in his living form he fell into the hell of incessant suffering. Was he any different from the followers of the True Word and Zen schools in the world today?"

"I have no further details to add, so you may surmise what really happened. How could a person who believes in the Lotus Sutra and aspires to the Buddha way possibly contemplate misbehavior or deliberately use foul language when the Buddhist teaching is being expounded? However, I leave this to your judgment.

Having declared myself to be a follower of the Sage Nichiren, I returned home and reported to you exactly what had happened during the debate. Moreover, no one was present on that occasion whom I did not know. What you heard must have been the fabrication of those who harbor jealousy against me. If you quickly summon them to face me in your presence, the truth of the matter will be brought to light."

"In China, in the time of the Ch’en emperor [Shu-pao], the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai defeated in debate the Buddhist leaders of northern and southern China, and was honored with the title of Great Teacher while still alive. As Dengyō says of him, he was “far above the crowd; in all of China, he stood alone.”

"I have heard that, when the priest Ryōkan knew I was far away in a distant province, he told everyone how he wished I would hasten to Kamakura so that he might debate with me and dispel the people’s doubts. Demand to know if praising oneself and disparaging others in this fashion is one of the precepts his school practices. What is more, when I actually did return to Kamakura, Ryōkan shut his gates and forbade anyone to enter. At times, he even feigned illness, saying that he had caught a cold. Tell him, “I am not Nichiren but merely one of his disciples. Though I speak with a bit of an accent and am rather dull-witted, I fully agree with his assertion that the Precepts school is traitorous.” When in public debate, although the teachings that you advocate are perfectly consistent with the truth, you should never on that account be impolite or abusive, or display a conceited attitude. Such conduct would be disgraceful. Order your thoughts, words, and actions carefully, and be prudent when you meet with others in debate."

"This priest informed me of private reports from various people that there are likely to be doctrinal debates with the other schools in the near future. I have therefore been sending people to a number of temples in the different provinces in order to search out sutras and treatises from all over the country. I had sent this priest on such a mission to the province of Suruga, and he has just now returned, [so I am sending him with this letter]."

When the disciples of those three great teachers [Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō] slander the Lotus Sutra, is it simply because the minds of you gods of the sun and moon have taken possession of them and are causing them to commit slander? Or if that is not the case and I myself am at fault, then you, the god of the sun, must show me so! Let those disciples be summoned to debate with me, and if I am bested in the argument and yet refuse to change my views, then you gods may take away my life!

"When the Buddhist scriptures were first brought to China from India, some people said that they should be accepted, while others said they should be rejected. A conflict arose, and the ruler summoned the two groups to meet and debate the issue. The adherents of non-Buddhist teachings were defeated by the supporters of Buddhism. After that, whenever the two groups engaged in polemics, the devotees of non-Buddhist scriptures were defeated by the Buddhists as easily as ice melts in the sun, or as fire is extinguished by water. Eventually they ceased to offer any effective opposition to Buddhism."

"It is now over two hundred years since the Latter Day of the Law began. The Buddha predicted that conditions would be much worse after his passing, and we see the portents of this in the quarrels and wranglings that go on today because unreasonable doctrines are prevalent. And as proof of the fact that we are living in a muddied age, I was not summoned for a doctrinal debate with my opponents, but instead I was sent into exile and my very life imperiled."

The entire Letter of Petition from Yorimoto talks about a particular debate in which Shijo Kingo was present.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Nichiren Daishonin perfectly describes the Soka Gakkai

“…Then, as laymen, they work to destroy the teachings of Buddhism. Men of this kind steal and usurp the correct teachings of Buddhism and use them to supplement and bolster the erroneous writings…” — Opening of the Eyes

Soka Gakkai steals and usurps the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra to destroy the Secret Law of the Object of Worship, the concept of Eternal Buddha, the doctrine of the exclusive faith and practice of the Lotus Sutra, the doctrine of the transmission, and the meaning and significance of attaining Buddhahood in this very body. They utilize the writings in a selective and arbitrary manner and highlight the disputed texts such as the forged and insignificant Ongi Kuden to supplement and bolster the erroneous teachings of Human Revolution, Lotus Sutra interfaith, SGI Oneness of Mentor and Disciple, and seeking guidance [control]. They [Daisaku Ikeda and his high paid lieutenants] also steal and usurp Namu Myoho renge kyo to enrich themselves.

Many SGI leaders are miserable, exhausted, and overstressed

"What I object to is how SGI is constantly glorifying this workaholic, go-go-go overscheduled lifestyle. Linda Johnson, for example, gave a speech about how she has this very busy job as a prosecutor, going to court herself and supervising other lawyers -- and then she also has two demanding positions in SGI. If that's what she wants to do, fine, that's her choice. What I dislike is that this is held up as an example to the rest of us -- we should be doing the same. Well, I don't want to! I would like to have a personal life, time for hobbies and friends, time to stop and smell the roses! When I tried to explain this to my leaders, their attitude was that I was being selfish and lazy, content with a narrow little life. 

Nonsense! I work quite hard at my job and at home -- but I also consider it important to have balance in my life. I have seen many SGI leaders who are miserable, exhausted, and overstressed -- and their families suffer too from their overinvolvement with SGI. Even if I loved SGI, that's not for me. It's not a healthy way to live." -- Tsukimoto

Nichiren too realized this:

"But for your person as a householder the essence is for you to chant 'Namu Myoho renge kyo' with no other thought and also make offerings to the monks. And also, if it is in accord with the sutra text, one should also 'expound it according to one's strength,' shouldn't one?" [Reply to Lord Matsuno] 

The key here, I think, is "according to one's strength". It doesn't read, "according to the strength of another". SGI changes Nichiren's teachings for their self serving ends. They are not "Nichiren Buddhists", least of all "The One True Nichiren Sect". Shameful. SGI is a bizarre parody of Buddhism.

Belief in Shakyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sutra will put SGI leaders out of a job.

The emperor Ikeda has no clothes. He and his disciples are so jealous of Shakyamuni Buddha that they threw him out of his own religion.

Years ago, on the Alternate Religion of Nichiren Google group, when former members would assert the centrality of Ikeda to SGI, SGI members would retort, "Shakyamuni the Easter Bunny" or "Shakyamuni Buddha... do you mean Santa Claus?" Isn't it strange that Shakyamuni Buddha, not only is rarely mentioned [in a so-called Nichiren sect] but they defame him. Nichiren mentions Shakyamuni Buddha thousands of times and with great reverence and deference. Were people to follow the Law rather than the person [of Ikeda], there would be no SGI. They fear Shakyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sutra because belief in them [rather than Ikeda and the SGI] will put them out of a job.

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Top Senior Leader incredulous that they didn't show Ikeda videos at Kosen Rufu Gongyo (Sunday meeting)

Tariq Hassan, SGI Men's Division leader was the next to last keynote speaker. He was incredulous that some regions and areas weren't showing Ikeda's videos at their Sunday Kosen Rufu Prayer meetings, "I don't understand it", he said in derision. Then he went on to give an experience about home visiting the husband of a member. This man is one of the top executives of Citi Bank. Hassan was literally gushing praise [like a little dog sniffing the butt of a big dog's behind] of this mega rich fool. He stated to the effect, "The favorite activity of the City Bank top executive is seeing President Ikeda's videos". No wonder the crook in City Bank is in awe of the billionaire Ikeda, the Soka Gakkai never loses money and doesn't have to pay even a dime in taxes. They do have one thing in common, getting rich off the little guys. At the same time, is there any doubt why Citi Bank lost so many billions and billions of dollars thanks to faulty investments? With heads of the company like this fellow, it was a matter of course. Top Senior Leader incredulous that they didn't show Ikeda videos at Kosen Rufu Gongyo (Sunday meeting)

Tariq Hassan also stated that you are not worthy of being a disciple of Sensei if you don't feel inspired to bring many people to see Sensei's videos. 

Another Ikedabot stated that the prime point of the national meeting in Guam, "was the VERY large picture of Sensei placed in the middle of the room."

Only in Soka Gakkai pseudo-Buddhism...

...is honesty and objectivity perceived as fundamental darkness.

Experience of a former SGI United Kingdom member

"I have been reading this thread for about the last 4 hours and it has made me sick to my stomach and close to tears." -- SGI member

"I'm glad you have spent four hours reading this thread. However, whilst it might feel safer to focus on things in the United States, these experiences are certainly not exclusive to the States. The worst extremes of SGI attitudes were, and still are most prevalent in Japan it seems. SGI is not quite so stupid to attempt acting so militantly elsewhere. I used to practice in the UK and the SGI here are no less insidious, having just changed their approach to the level our culture will allow. Barely. Even knowing that SGI used to, or are elsewhere using underhand and cult tactics to affect peoples lives, should be enough for anyone with integrity to distance themselves from such an organisation. Otherwise, I find it akin to locking oneself in a room with ones fingers in their ears whilst humming loudly, trying not to hear whats going on outside. It should be obvious that everyone here seems to have already attempted to "be the change you wish to see", and this approach has not worked. Therefore, this is why the thread is titled Former Cult Members and Affected Families. 

You could well be Robert Samuels. No offense intended, but your post certainly smacks of an "official, by the book, response". Of course, any and all are more than welcome to post here. But its not a forum for support of SGI and that should be blatantly obvious. I think you could better serve the voices here on this thread, by accepting and understanding them. If you wish to remain in a group that is unable, unwilling, and not even interested in reform, that is your decision. If you are happy in such a community, that is likewise your prerogative, but if you fly with the crows... 

I agree with the other responses, I don't particularly welcome your pity, however. I don't see how pity is befitting to people's experiences here. The word sounds a little inappropriate and somewhat insensitive to the people that have suffered within SGI. They did not suffer at random. The experiences related here bear common themes and are a result of the SGI mindset and structure. Just because you "are not aware" of similar events in SGI-UK, by no means does it mean they do not occur. A "pitying and sympathetic" post is not going to make all these events not exist. There are many more people who do not know where to turn. They have no-one to speak to regarding the discomfort and subtle mind control SGI exerts. Being in an SGI community is by its very nature a pressured way of life. These are my conclusions, and I am not alone. I am very glad to have followed all the "supportive steps and guidance" you have provided, in the past myself, and it had about as much effect as trying to slice a pool of water. Today I return, finally, once and for all my Gohonzon, to SGI-UK. I am so very glad to be rid of SGI's presence in my life - these strong emotions have come about after going through mental torture trying to consolidate my conscience with the nonsense I put up with as a member. I am glad to say my conscience, not SGI's alleged "value creating society", are what has endured, and it is once again guiding my life instead of Soka Spirit. Cult is not a dirty word. Christianity began as a minority cult. I too had many concerns about the cult of SGI, yet I found I could not live between the two worlds - my sense of right and wrong and what SGI was doing to me. The two were incompatible. -- Former SGI-UK member" 

Soka Gakkai's banal activities

The SGI is not much different than totalitarian governments and our modern republics and democracies which also have become totalitarian. Since life isn't so great for a good many people who are burdened with heavy taxes [donations], engaged in wars, and their leaders lining their pockets [corruption], the totalitarian governments attempt to keep the people entertained and uneducated, with endless sport programming, talent shows, reality shows, stupid "newsworthy" events, community activism for shallow causes, poor educational systems, etc. Likewise, the SGI doesn't want the youth to think and to really explore Buddhism, lest their free labor and donations stop, so it promotes mindless culture festivals like Rock the Era for Sensei and 50K Lions of Justice while drumming into their heads that they are contributing to world peace and "human revolution" through banal activities.

Say it ain't so department

"From what I can gather, the Soka Gakkai is standing up against authoritarian religion. To accomplish that, they must place strict limits on their member's freedoms of speech, association, assembly, publishing, and so on." -- R. Beck

Irony and karma

The Wadas and Hojos are the Japanese Borgias and Medicis and Ikeda is the Japanese Pope. It is ironic and due to karma that SGI's center in Florence Italy is the most beautiful Villa the Medici's ever built. Ikeda and his dukes act contrary to the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin who never advocated acquisitions. This is similar to the Medici's practices which ran counter to the teachings of Jesus and St. Francis.

My Soka Gakkai experience

I thought nothing about doing all sorts of non-Buddhist activities as a YMD member and leader. I wanted to attain Buddhahood and I was willing to do whatever my seniors said I needed to do: Stand from 2 - 4 am guarding a metal plaque of Toda in the middle of nowhere; directing traffic in freezing rain for hours even though there were so many signs a blind man could have found the parking lot; guarding a doorway for hours where not one person entered or left; cleaning community center toilets until they shined; endless marching; trying to memorize To My Young American Friends; meetings nearly every night and on the weekends for weeks and months on end; driving a large truck with manual transmission, all over Manhattan even though I had never driven a manual transmission; wearing white T-shirts and white pants and running around Union Square park every Saturday for nearly a year, sometimes with those white Japanese beanie hats and taking the subway there looking like an idiot; chanting to pictures of Daisaku Ikeda; doing street shakabuku in the worst neighborhoods in the South Bronx and making home visits to tenements; missing work and school for the sake of activities; strained family relations because they wouldn't chant or couldn't see how enlightened I was from doing all these activities or them criticizing Ikeda; trying to sleep in warehouses, either on the floor, a bench, or on a thin mat and with the lights on for many days on end; practically begging people to get the Gohonzon, paying for them to get one, shaming them into getting one, breaking off relationships because they wouldn't get one; giving my last dollar to attend retreats and having to eat spaghetti and butter and canned peas and ketchup for weeks and grubbing cigarettes because I had no money left; severe lack of sleep while doing strenuous labor, marching, and running for days on end. 

The problem was, I didn't study the Lotus Sutra and all the writings of Nichiren Daishonin. I followed persons rather than the Law. Nichiren taught that the only requirement for a lay practitioner is to chant Namu Myo ho renge kyo, support the priests who do shakabuku [forceful conversions] and tell other to chant Namu Myoho renge kyo according to one's strength. In other words, a simple straightforward faith and practice. SGI doesn't want you to study in depth because then, you would question almost everything about the Soka Gakkai faith and practice. That is why their study materials are always carefully structured into pre-prep lectures and the like, and they study the same things year after year. One would think that the entirety of Nichiren Daishonin's teachings is found in the Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life and the "oneness of mentor and disciple." Every week for several years we studied this writing in the light of Ikeda's teaching on the oneness of mentor and disciple. They lie that you only need to learn one concept of the Gosho to understand all there is about Buddhism. They take the phrase from the writings, "To practice and ponder one phrase" which refers to Namu Myoho renge kyo and shoehorn it to mean that any phrase Ikeda picks out from the writings is enough to understand the entirety of Buddhism. Suffice it to say I am extremely joyful to have found an authentic sangha in which to practice with other like minded individuals who try and have the same faith and practice as Nichiren Daishonin.

Soka Gakkai insults our intelligence

"I just came across an experience in the 10/23/09 issue of the World Tribune that is so ridiculous that I have to post about it. It's by a woman in California talking about how she and her daughter, named Destiny, overcame their problems through chanting and reading Ikeda's guidance. Towards the end of the article it reads:" 

"I wish that I could hug President Ikeda and thank him for the difficulties he endured so that people like me can transform their lives and find happiness amid darkness. Destiny, now 4, chants with me every morning and evening, and asks to attend meetings every day. She has me start out the morning by reading out loud her favorite piece of President Ikeda's guidance. She asked me to frame it and put it on the wall next to our altar, which I did. He writes: 'Prayer is the courage to persevere. It is the struggle to overcome our own weakness and lack of confidence in ourselves. It is the act of impressing in the very depths of our being the conviction that we can change the situation without fail. Prayer is the way to destroy all fear. It is the way to banish sorrow, the way to light a torch of hope. It is the revolution that rewrites the scenario of our destiny.'" 

Did you catch that her daughter is 4 years old? Four! Asking me to believe that your four-year-old wants to go to an SGI meeting every day is one thing, but asking me to believe that she even remotely understands that bit of guidance is insulting to my intelligence." -- SGBye

"Clothilde Hewlitt is on the SGI Board of Directors because of her Enlightenment and superior wisdom" - top SGI-USA senior leader

"Clothilde Hewlett is an Attorney and partner of Nossaman, LLP, with a focus on assisting private sector companies and tax-exempt organizations. She was previously a partner at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Elllis, LLP. Prior to joining K&L/Gates, she served as the California undersecretary of state and consumer services agency and interim director of the department of general services."

Soka Gakkai's paranoia

"I have seen numerous examples of people discarding the path of mentor and disciple and instead taking the most deplorable course of betraying their mentor and fellow members. They have invariably wound up spiritually bankrupt and in pitiful circumstances." -- Daisaku Ikeda 

"This is the very kind of situation to which my mentor, second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda, was referring when he said, "It may appear that our enemies are outside, but the most insidious enemies are within." Therefore, we must take a firm stand against those who seek to spread poison inside the organization. If left unchallenged, their noxious influence will pervade the entire organization and end up destroying everyone's pure faith. That is why it is imperative that we remain vigilant against those who would betray the teachings of our mentors." -- Daisaku Ikeda 

Daisaku Ikeda is confused about the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Taking SGI's teachings to their logical conclusion, I can see why SGI leaders are so paranoid. They are wary of their own members and their non-Buddhist guidance system which lacks privacy. With everyone spying and telling on each other, it is not unlike the practice of the Nazi youth corps. For example, "John Public has been teaching that one doesn't require Sensei for their mentor." or "Debbie Smith has a Shakyamuni Buddha statue on her altar." or "Timmy Lacosta has exchanged his Nichikan Gohonzon for a Nichiren Gohonzon but he is still leading Gongyo as the Chapter Chief." What a way to live! What a way to practice "Buddhism."

"The Soka Gakkai incorporates varied and multi-levels of cultism into their overall structure. A partial list":

"The Soka Gakkai incorporates varied and multi-levels of cultism into their overall structure. A partial list: 

1. First and foremost, it is a cult that hides under the general banner of a mainstream eastern religion. A Buddhist cult. 

2. It incorporates elements of a political cult (Komeito) which manipulates to gain power for the very top (Japan) leadership. 

3. It's a "peace" cult that exploits people's universal desires for world peace and human rights. 

4. It's a financial cult, a pyramid scheme, that makes overt promises of monetary and worldly gain, exploiting one of the most basic of human desires - avarice. 

5. It's an art based cult that uses creative-artistic angles to get people involved (e.g., music in the form of brass band/kotekitai, taiko drum groups / performing arts in the form of the cultural festivals / martial arts, they even used to have a kendo group that I recall). 

6. It's a business-employer cult that exploits its salaried staff by taking over their entire lives, using them for its own gain and making them dependent on the organization for their livelihood. The further you rise and the longer you do their bidding, the more they literally own your soul. 

7. It's a selling cult based on its SGI stores selling faith accessories, books (Ikeda's), multimedia (CD's/DVD's/etc.), newspapers (Seikyo Shimbun/WT), magazines (Daibyakurenge/SGI Graphic/ST). For those of you who may not know, their gakkai stores in Japan sell an entire line of gakkai-colored-themed goods (pencils, keychains, buttons, scotch tape, handkerchiefs, mini-flags, wrapping paper, posters, etc.) in red, blue and yellow. In many cases, the workers that staff these shops are unpaid member volunteers, as are the hundreds-thousands of members who deliver their organizational newspaper on their own time (and collect monthly fees) without monetary compensation. 

8. A metaphysical-magical cult that teaches and encourages rituals (gongyo, daimoku, reading daily guidance, etc.). 

9. A cultural cult that offers a community of like minded eastern based individuals (attitudes/outlooks/mindset/etc.) for those from those same countries or other ethnic groups that may be fascinated with such cultures. 

10. A self-help & philosophical bent cult that proffers wisdom & guidance to its members.

11. Surrogate Family cult. (I can also add that when the chips are down, they will not be around, either. I've seen it a number of times and it's a harsh realization for the people that experience it.) 

12. It's an autocratic cult with lower level hierarchies that pits even its own leaders against each other, playing off of their insecurities. (This is so true and I've seen evidence of this at the WCC.) 

13. It's a vengeful cult that can manipulate its membership to wage personal wars against those that it chooses to set their sites on secondary to perceived wrongdoings or crossing the wrong person. (The most infamous being - the priesthood.) 

Most cults only incorporate a single category or dual combination of the above, but the SGI has woven them all into a complete monolithic manipulative machine that ultimately aims to subtly take away your autonomy, self control and self determination rights by way of engaging you in a long lasting (sometimes lifetime and even generational for families caught up in it) destructive, coercive, deceitful, exploitive and harmful relationship. 

Having seen both the inside and outside of this monster cult, I feel sorry for anybody that gets mixed up in it and hope that they can eventually see the light and extricate themselves from it." -- Hitch