no one knows more about the early days of nsa than i do. not only activities seven nights a week, but five meetings a night. have a 45 minute meeting , run out and get some more people off the street or wherever and have another meeting till 1 in the morning. . ywd pimping the world tribune on the streets late at night and promising boys whatever if they came to a meeting. get the pretty ones out there! all gmw talked about in the late sixties and 70" was sensei. williams , looking back, must have been under enormous pressure. gmw was very well liked/loved by the american members(ask dave cole). toward the 90's i believe williams had a nervous breakdown. "deprogram" refers to stealing the amersican members/staff allegiance from gmw to ikeda. ikeda did this by privately and publicly disparaging gmw to the membership, that gmw had built. the real ugliness here is that gmw was running 24/7 to fulfill and follow/live up to ikedas(kansai) guidance/expectations. ikeda says onREGS NSe thing publicly and another behind closed doors. always has. gmw was too well liked by his members for ikedas liking. ikeda senseless is an evil, evil man. gmw is a great example of wrong thought(religion) and following the wrong person. cheers all.
"ikeda says one thing in public....."
ReplyDeletekikumura, baldshun, the halls, albergate and all the early american staff turned their backs on williams for false security and a paycheck. shameless cowards. you too inatomi. shame shame.
So, all the ingredients for an epic fail were present from the inception of the Nichiren Shoshu lay organization in the U.S.??
ReplyDeleteI saw Mr Williams in the Washington D.C. area once,-- at a General Meeting in 1989. The hoopla surrounding his visit really weirded me out-- especially seeing MD Chapter leaders acting like school girls with a crush:-/
I had only been a member of NSA for a year, and was a hard sell for attending this BIG extra activity. I had to reschedule my shift from evening to day, which meant that I would leave straight from work to attend this meeting. I am not a morning person-- unless I have been up all night the night before. In any case, I was pretty tired, but that was a poor excuse for falling asleep in a cushy chair in a dark, packed to the rafters auditorium.
I remember Ronnie Smith (He & Jean Rosenberg were my chapter leaders) looking like a deer caught in headlights as he introduced Mr. Williams- to thunderous applause-- and I don't recall a single word GW said. The member sitting beside me was so engrossed that she didn't give me a jab until he was leaving the podium to more thunderous applause.
What should the early american staff done on behalf of GW and in protest of Ikeda? Has anyone in a TOP senior leadership position EVER exhibited anything close to behavior that reflects faith AND understanding of Nichiren's teachings? Were such a renegade that Mr. Williams himself gave you *guidance*, Greg?
Thanks for stepping into the underground history of NSA -- hope you aren't wearing your best shoes...
~Katie
i am not a morning person--unless i have been up all night the night before", ha! LOL, thats funny! ...........thanks for the laugh.
ReplyDeletethe first time i got guidance from gmw we were at the first headquarters bldg in a run down part of east los angeles. it was an old beat up abandoned post office bldg in a bad part of town. gmw lived a few blocks away. i was fairly new and someone said that i should go in and get guidance from him. i replied that i didn't know what to ask him--it doesn't matter, ask him anything. so i went in his tiny office and said, i want to go to the convention next year in Hawaii but i have no job and no money. he jumped up from behind his desk and started screaming at the top of his lungs that i should get out and that nsa did not need me and i was worthless because i had no faith. very intense. it was like that in the late 60's to the middle 70's. why did i put up with it? because i did receive some benefit through chanting. i think ikeda may have treated gmw the same. anyway the pace and the strictness in the early years was beyond explanation. gmw first encounter with N B was through toda and gmw came to the usa after toda died then came ikeda's mentorship. i was around gmw quite a bit. i think he was a sincere man but followed the wrong person(ikeda not nichiren) however his pace was outrageous and so was the pace of the org.
in the early days they actually did encourage reading the lotus sutra/goshos and to some extent following nichiren. the more ikeda developed the more it became about him.
as i have said before, nsa/nst/sgi never had a correct faith or practice due to it affiliation with the shoshit. so even though there was lots of activities and so-called shakubuku, and maybe even some real benefit, rotten roots make a rotten tree and a rotten tree produces rotten fruit. ta da!
budhism/nichiren teaches us that everything in life is a double-edge-sword . so even though gmw and many, many others may have been sincere people, the causes made, cuts deep. the law renge is true and very real. nsa/sgi/nst spreads delusion because they are deluded.
the big mistake was and still is; follow the law and not the person. something so clear and yet the history shows that no one can do it. gmw followed toda/ikeda. he taught the american member that ikeda is not fallible and he should be adored. cause and effect?
buddhism teaches that a real faith and practice of the lotus sutra will, over time, naturally bring forth the higher states of life and that state will be reflected in ones behavior(as a human being). the longtime members and especially the staff that gmw hired(although japan is where the money is), did not have the courage to do what was right regarding gmw. also missing was the very important sense of gratitude.
not saying gmw was all holy, but this whole story/history shows the true aspect of ikeda and his minions. about 8 or 9 years ago i ran into brian potter, simi famous music dude in the late 60's and 70's and worked with gmw on many of the gakkai songs for here and for ikeda. circa 2007 he told me that he had run into gmw and gmw begged him to help him organize to get his organization back. contrary to the hype and the gmw Facebook page surrounding his death, gmw died a frightened , no confidence, sad man. there is the sgi facade and then there is the truth, and like always the members continue to turn their backs. the truth comes out. this got a little long. cheers.
Glad I gave you a laugh-- :)
DeleteWhew ! I always wondered if tales of Williams' fury were embellished because there was a aura of *one ups-man-ship * as though the more severe the reaming out one got from Wiliams, the more his faith should be considered deep and sincere. The analogies of *master-disciple* to "The Lion King" were beyond sappy, but were also totally contradicting Nichiren's attitude and behavior as *master teacher*. this obvious point seemed irrelevant to the followers of George Williams that I meet D.C.
A senior leader who did not go to LA and eventually faded into the scenery claimed that Ikeda's treatment of Williams was like the Lion King, who pushes all of his cubs over a cliff, then waits to see which one makes it back to the top of the mountain . The one who makes his way back to the Lion King, is *worthy* of receiving the Lion King's training. Pleeez!!
Look who Ikeda's sock puppets are ! so much for the Disney analogies?
Still, and I cannot explain it, there was a magnetic pure energy field around the leaders and enveloping the activities I attended my first 2 years-- and while *it* defied explanation, the experience I was having studying and chanting on my own began to finally make sense. Concurrently, I was viewed with suspicion and I found very few leaders who would actually discuss anything straight from the Gosho. Their guidance was as gentle as Williams' was severe . They said *don't make waves*-- come to us if you have any questions..
Crazy making stuff!!
~Katie
hey katie, at this time, this is the right place for you. no doubts.
ReplyDeletefirst let me say, no one here , myself, mark, the priest shinkei, noel,etc will ever say "follow me". our message has been/is/always will be , follow the buddha and his teacher for the latter age, nichiren. if that ever changes, walk away. however, we can share what we have experienced and what we know to be true. if it does not agree with you/someone, so be it. after digesting/chanting, one eventually comes to their own understanding. isn't it wonderful? as nichiren says - if it agrees with the teachings, it is the teachings. this is the guide.
what the sgi/nst and others teach and practice does not agree with the teachings. they take the medicine for the latter age and turn it back into poison. no good for us and no good for the world. as a reminder, the lotus sutra was taught for today.
my early years with nsa was a wash. some amazing experiences and much of it mean and ugly. i could write a book, however, i am not a very good writer. don't claim to be. still, i have some gratitude for exposing me to the lotus sutra. i made , what i thought was some good causes, and some not so good. at one time ikeda was my hero, my man, my jesus. until i was around him a little too much and until my level of study and understanding/faith opened my eyes to the truth.
everybody feels better when they are a part of something bigger than themselves. people join the army, start a gang, get captured by a cult. all cults are basically the same.
the state of faith(life condition) is a extremely powerful state. i think so. whatever one strongly believes in will bring one something, and for a while, it may make things better. however, buddhism teaches that what one takes faith in is crucial(it hurts so good). as you know, buddhism deals with eternity. not just this lifetime. the leaders/members in the sgi/nst may have strong faith, but what do they have strong faith in? same for any cult. at the end of the day, if it goes against the dharmas the later results will not be good. regardless of the intent. gmw , again, is a perfect example for those who follow. "the overturned cart ahead, is a warning to ....".
our great good fortune is that we have a small space in out hearts that believes in the lotus sutra. not many can. what mark produces here is beyond me, but i can support it. one by one. great causes are being made. i repeat, if it was easy and automatic with no resistance, the buddha would be a great liar. even dirham will someday wake up because he hates me(and nichiren). won't the slanderers be embarrassed when they wake up to the truth that the answer to the worlds ills has always been here.? yes they will. in advance slanderers... you are welcome.
"hey katie, at this time, this is the right place for you. no doubts."
DeleteThanks, greg, I am grateful to be here. I don't think anyone would really find my journey all that interesting, but I know that it is with great effort and steely determination that I finally encountered true followers of Nichiren--
The early history of NSA is pivotal to understanding the present situation. I can't help but see the similarities in the current array of corrupt institutions and their shrouded- in -mystery *histories*-- Why are people so disconnected from even our own history?
It is no accident that the scandals are buried and the skeletons are tucked safely into trunks, abandoned in the closets of every so-called top leader of the SGI today. This is purposeful activity.
Always the shroud of secrecy-- unless you are in the elite inner circle, you aren't even allowed to discuss the early NSA days-- forbidden fruit!! Alas, it will be sought... all the more.
It is clear to me now, that only a very few who joined NSA would have sought the truth in Nichiren's own teachings, and of those, even fewer who would have had the courage to speak out about the great divide between NSA/SGI and Nichiren's teachings. Fewer still who will continue based solely on shakubuku, refuting erroneous teachings and rebuking slander as THE correct practice for out time--
Something fishy going down-- early tip offs:
focus on *numbers*, focus on *material gain*, focus on *status and fame*-- None of which are mentioned in Nichiren's writings as the quest nor the benefit of practicing the highest teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha.
BETTER keep members from cracking those volumes of the Gosho--
Only way to KEEP the secret-- suppression, oppression and outright lies.
Thank you for setting the record straight!
~Katie
Wonderful Greg. There is a problem however. What did Nichiren teach in the 700 Gosho and Gosho fragments not translated into English and many of which have not even been translated from the classical Chinese and Medieval Japanese into the modern Japanese. This hurts me and frustrates me. The good thing is that we can follow what is in Nichiren's hand and has been translated into English. Unlike the modern sects, we at least try and follow Nichiren and will never stop trying.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely, not to mention the erroneous or tweaked translations we already have. it make take many years, but i think the world will become more and more difficult to endure. one can call it punishment or simply cause and effect. like a drunk who can only change by hitting rock bottom, hopefully, peoples eyes will open to the great teaching of the lotus sutra and the not yet translated gosho, will get translated. today, for me, what i see, is lotus sutra not being upheld but slandered. the world certainly reflects this. the sgi/nst avoid the entire subject. neh!
ReplyDeletethe volume of work that nichiren produced is amazing under the circumstances.
we can chant a correct daimoku with a correct heart as well. big difference.
Will certainly try.
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