I have been teaching this for more than 20 years...
"Nichiren never mentions the DaiGohonzon. All the ornate rhetoric and conjecture in the world doesn’t change this fact. These liars and base men won’t even give the Atsuhara Martyr’s their due, let alone the due owed to the Law. The actual proof of the people’s faith in the Daishonin’s teachings was, not begrudging their lives to see the Buddha, willing to give their lives for the sake of the Law. This was the reason for Nichiren Daishonin’s advent." [1996]
For 71 years SGI [and Ikeda for more than sixty years] erroneously taught that the purpose of Nichiren's advent was the inscription of the Daigohonzon. They deceived millions of people. They damaged their faith and destroyed any possibility of them attaining Enlightenment.
It was not thanks to the mentor-disciple relationship that the Atsuhara martyrs were able to attain enlightenment. It was due to their relationship with the Law...
“We care nothing for our bodies or lives but are anxious only for the unsurpassed way.” -- LS Chapter 13
and
"When living beings have become truly faithful, honest and upright, gentle in intent, single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha, not hesitating even if it costs them their lives," -- LS Chapter 16
Nearly everything about this lecture is false [except for the teaching that I have put forth for 21 years about the purpose of Nichiren's advent]. They retain many elements of their false sage Daisaku Ikeda's teachings. Only with the same faith and practice of Nichiren can we accomplish Buddhahood.
It was very difficult to watch this-- complete distortion of the Daishonin's Buddhism. But the many empty seats were a source of encouragement.
Interesting how the *church lady* presenter fielded questions- making a point to condemn the *priesthood* for controlling the members; claiming *sensei* challenged them in a lecture he gave on the Heritage of the Law-but failed to note that in 2009, in a lecture on the same Gosho, *sensei* says that one cannot attain Buddhahood apart from the Mentor/Disciple relationship, which SGI clearly teaches is the 3 SGI Presidents as the "Mentor"-- , Not a bit different than the *old dog chow*--
Notice how duped these people appear?-- They do not pick up on the contradictions they, themselves, are presenting; the vast difference between the Gosho and Ikeda's teachings-- especially the purpose for and the benefits of correct practice and faith in the Lotus Sutra.
Your right about the chanting Greg, I only heard less than a minute of it and it made me feel quite sick. I'll just read everyone's comments for now that's enough for me, I don't want to even go back there, it's too unbearable. How much can a Koala bear!!!
Guys, you can advance beyond that buzzing gadfly noise--- almost to or just past the 1 hour mark if memory serves.
YOU really should watch these Gosho presenters and the Q&A afterwards-- befuddlement, passionless , weird and insane, this video tells the story that words cannot express.
it never fails to amaze me that the sgi/nst cannot see themselves. they always have read the gosho like its talking about someone else. could this be because they have no clear mirror? me thinks so. i learned many years ago that sgi/nst takes smart people and turns them into idiots.
ikeda senseless's stately has always been ....get em young, get em dumb. pathetic!
The chanting lasts for about 45 mins. It's a concophony that lacks the rhythm and melody of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo chanted with sincerity and faith in its efficacy alone.
So around the 57 minute mark, we get the statement "...twelve days latter the Daishonin inscribed the Gohonzon for all humanity..." note the SGI is no longer calling this the Dai Gohonzon. The line is almost the same but it's puzzelling why an organisation dedicated to the mentor-disciple relationship and claimed tramsition, with the supposed oneness of it's 3 presidents would break so radically from what both Mr Makaguchi and certainly Mr Toda were teaching. I'm not asserting the Dai Gohonzon by the way, just that Mr Toda certainly had no trouble calling it such but the organisation that he effectively founded now has dropped the Dai. As late as the end of the 90's they were still teaching that - odd but it gets odder...
...So then at the 59 min mark we get the real purpose of this lecture stated clearly, not by what's included but by what's left out - faith.
You can see where it's headed straight away by the phrase "I believe that Sensei estimates that out of every 1,000 disciples (note the use of that term) 999 gave up their faith, mathematically 99.9% of essentially members left."
So straightaway, this lecture's purpose is to address the increasing flow of members leaving the SGI.
The subtext of course is "you wouldn't do that would you? Leave your "mentor" and abandon him like those faithless, deluded 99.9% of disciples who abandoned Nichiren. It invites feelings of egotistical superiority among those present. It's a subtle but powerful deployment of reverse psychology. That's how the ones SGI doesn't "get young", "get turned dumb".
Several problems, firstly where did this estimate come from, what data was used to arrive at it?
It's notoriously difficult to get reliable figures on the population of believers now, SGI can't do it reliably it seems, let alone trying for a period over 7 centuries ago. Basically it's a wild guess that's been made to set up this lecture to address a problem the SGI is having right now...
...And then we are told that what was crucial in maintaining the Daishonin's buddhism was not faith, but courage, the mentor-disciple relationship (bam there you've got it, the central aim of this lecture) and shakabuku.
Put into the more mundane language it really should be, if it were being honest and we get "not being daunted (courage) by promoting brand loyalty (mentor-disciple relationship) to the corporation's sole product (Ikeda and his books) whilst upping the recruitment to the corporation (shakabuku)".
I said to note the use of "disciple", Nichiren uses "disciples and lay supporters" or "followers" but calling everyone "disciples" fits with what the SGI is selling, it's mentor-disciple "teaching".
It generates revenue off the back of that brand loyalty, books sales, magazine subs and contributions. But you're only going to part with your cash if you swallow the notion that Daiseku Ikeda is some super being (which of course he is not, he's just a savvy manipulative CEO who's got very rich by pretending to be).
Of course none of this fits with the reality of the time. The martyrs didn't give up their faith, because they had faith!!! As Mark has pointed out.
...It's just about as frank an admission we're ever likely to get that what SGI is selling doesn't work. As Greg has neatly pointed out SGI has no clear mirror.
Where's the Eternal Buddha of the 16th Chapter? Well observing those members lapping this up, who lack faith and so of course He's not going to show himself, let alone come forth and teach the Law.
And because of that faith in the mentor has to be substituted. "...when Nichiren found out they believed him..." subtext "he was saying something that sounded completely crazy, just like Daisaku Ikeda, who you should likewise believe".
The problem with this line is he wasn't saying something "crazy", Nichiren REASONED his argument and did so scrupulously based on deep study of buddhism and crucially based firmly on the Sutra. He and his arguments, his reasoning, were tested repeatedly in public debate by people well versed in Buddhism and it came out onto. In other words, there was extensive scrutiny, something SGI shies away from, as Mark points out.
Why did he do this, well in the early days, as he obseves, he was firmly following tge Law and quite clearly in my opinion, being taught by the internal Buddha and was being druven not by courage but by Comlassion.
For sure he was courageous, he actually aroused and met, head on, the persecutions that befell him. People believed him because he was believable, the real deal. But that, in a way was an expedient, if he made his case well and proved it by living it, then others would embrace the Sutra and once they did that...well faith took over, they followed the Law and were prepared not to begrudge their lives...
...Which just happens to be completely different from Daisaku Ikeda. What has the guy done other than build an organisation that tells everyone how great HE is? Dies he reason his case? No, he keeps changing his mind. One decade "teaching" one thing, the next another.
Has he ever entered a public debate to have his ideas tested? No, he has nice little chats with intellecuals and offers up bland homilies that few are likely to disagree with.
If Nichiren applied Ikeda's business philosophy, he'd have been selling his writings to his "disciples" and reinvesting the profits to build himself a nice set if plush temples, with his own luxury quarters and easy access to the hot springs. Oh and those writings would have put him, rather than the Sutra and faith in it, centre stage. It would all have been "through your relationship with me, me, me"
There's a great ray of hope though, in addition to the sparce clapping, there is a palpable sense of desperation in thise speakers. Lines delivered too fast, jumbled and chaotic. That they are now openly zeroing in on the 0.1% tells us just how dire their membership has become.
Gone is the bouyancy of yesteryear, the sense of a vital expanding movement, they can't message that way any longer. So now it has to be replaced by "we are the chosen and commited few"... well even that won't be for much longer - how wonderful!
Thanks Katie and MB for encouragement to watch the video and for Mark for sharing the SGI block buster video. And also SGI - USA East Bay Centre for streaming this lecture
Since we no longer attend their meetings videos like this keep us in touch with the current state of mind of the members we have left behind in what's left of the floundering organisation
"Gone is the buoyancy of yesteryear, the sense of a vital expanding movement, they can't message that way any longer."
This is so true. Just compare this Richard Causton video RISSHO ANKOKU RON = On securing the peace of the land through the propagation of True Buddhism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63YShFKStp0
"This lecture series was delivered over a two year period from 5/10/1980 to 3/10/1982."
They are on their last legs, grasping at straws, hoping in vain that they can keep the house of cards together.
Quite sad how its all worked out but its for the best when we consider how out of control it has all become. This is what happens to organisations when they become enormous and loose sight of their original purpose.
Hopefully the fallout from SGI will seek clarification about what they have been involved in through research from the various sources.
Now is the time of great compassion for us to share with those of the SGI who are presently feeling lost and bewildered
If they can go back to the Gosho, Lotus Sutra, have an authentic 10 world Nichiren inscribed Gohonzon it would be a good start to repatriation from the road of rack and ruin
"Hopefully the fallout from SGI will seek clarification about what they have been involved in through research from the various sources.
Now is the time of great compassion for us to share with those of the SGI who are presently feeling lost and bewildered
If they can go back to the Gosho, Lotus Sutra, have an authentic 10 world Nichiren inscribed Gohonzon it would be a good start to repatriation from the road of rack and ruin"
You're dead right, we mustn't lose sight of that compassion, thanks for calling it and remiding us all of what turmoil the current state of affairs must be creating for some as the SGI goes through it's death throws.
Thanks also for posting Dick's video for comparison. I remember Dick fondly, I think he'd be equally bewildered and not a little perplexed by the way things have played out.
I think Causton was a company man who would have done anything he was told to do.
"We must deeply understand that the heritage of the Universal Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo can only be transmitted through organizations joined in unity, based on faith in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism and the principle of the oneness of master and disciple." (emphasis added). Mr. Causton also explains his reference to "the oneness of master and disciple" as follows: "All of us who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which our ultimate master, Nichiren Daishonin, taught us, can develop the eyes of the Buddha; but it is President Ikeda, our master in life, who guides us through the rocks and shoals of this life, with pride and gratitude. President Ikeda has taught me everything. "The article also states: "Hence, the master gives his guidance based on his interpretations of the Gosho in contemporary terms and his experience of action, both for his own human revolution and for guiding the movement for kosen-rufu. We as disciples, must then set out to prove its validity for ourselves . ."
Please note the focus on President Ikeda and not on the Eternal Buddha, Namu myoho Renge kyo, the Lotus Sutra, nor the Daishonin .
greg romeroAugust 4, 2016 at 4:28 PM buddhism can and has been destroyed from the inside.
in my humble opinion.
ReplyDelete
Mark RogowAugust 4, 2016 at 9:51 PM Nichiren taught thus.
Reply as much as possible, i think is would be appropriate to take a fresh look at the buddhist teachings. i say this because most of us have had an affair with sgi/nst. some for many years. much of what we know is through the lens of slanderers of the lotus sutra. this is just my opinion and is aimed at no one. cheers all.
The daimoku they were chanting was fine. The equipment they used is interior. It sounds like one person was close to the mic, while the others sat further away. The person who could be heard the the loudest sounded like they were a bit nasal or being nasal.
I listened to them chant and at times I couldn't understand them. The other times I could hear them perfectly well. I could hear them pronounce the words precisely and clearly.
It wasn't their chanting that was the problem. It was the audio. They most likely used a camera that has a built in microphone. Those kinds of cameras have a bad reputation for for audio.
The visual of the video tells me that they were using an inexpensive camera.
"The daimoku they were chanting was fine. The equipment they used is interior... It wasn't their chanting that was the problem. It was the audio. They most likely used a camera that has a built in microphone. Those kinds of cameras have a bad reputation for for audio."
That's strange, that's exactly like the SGI claimed world membership, now just over half of what it was back in '88.
It's the teaching they've been using, it's interior too, the drop in numbers and the quaility of this "lecture" / Q&A tells me they've been using cheap, poor quailty understanding and guidance materials...
SGI has a bad reputation too but for not actually doing anything humanistic, being the change they want to see, funding any kind of relief aid or humanitarian projects or even being actively involoved. Words, words, words, all audio no action.
Perhaps the most chilling part of this video is where the big pitch is made to get people to the "study" meetings because they are so vulnerable.
They just sit at home chanting and getting benefits (how selfish), not doing their bit for SGI recuitment and profits - opps sorry, I meant 'kosen-rufu' (really, really selfish) and because if that they will be so vulnerable....hmm to what? Ah, vulnerable to spending quality time with their families, friends, being good neighbours, doing well at work etc. etc.
Vulnerable to not getting the message and getting with the SGI program.
Do they need an indoctrination, sorry 'study' meetings to study? No, they only need the Gosho and the Lotus Sutra.
The SGI needs them to be at those meetings though. Mr Harada's bonus is riding in it. SGI needs it's members and potential new business, not to see empty chairs and it needs to get it's manipulative materials into it's duped volunteer base, to keep them duped.
The only thing that's vulnerable is SGI and the profit and the wages of it's hired hands and wealthy board.
It's so sad to see people honestly believing that at 88 years old, having not been seen since 2013 and not now giving any 'Sensei videos', apparently Daiseku Ikeda is writing "so much" that the translation committee can't keep up.
It's even more sad to see them putting that across to others and duping them too.
At least they've come clean on the Dai Gohonzon though.
Yeah, finally Harada said the priests made a whole bunch of stuff up, it's not in the Gosho and it would have held back global expansion (which is funny given that they have been running hard in the opposite direction and contracting), so they got rid of it. (It was hitting profits having people buy the rivals product, when SGI doesn't get a cut, doesn't control the stock and is no linger part of the franchise)
Hmmm...so it's not in the Gosho.. so it's never been in the Gosho...so for almost 70 years, the combined three presidents, who are touted as understanding this stuff so well and who are supposed to have such a deep knowledge of the Gosho, didn't realise it wasn't in the Gosho and it was all made up. Or if they did, they just thought they'd go along with it and not rock the boat.
It's a wonder that this and other duped SGI members don't put 2 and 2 together and get 4.
I guess when you've been conned into giving your every last cent to support a corrupt organisation, you don't have any pennies left that can finally drop. It's really, really sad.
It may be their choices and karma but it still don't make that exploitation right. But then fools and their money are easily parted. Money you can make back, your wasted time is gone forever. Brrrr. Chilling.
Anonymous-- you are so wrong! There is nothing FINE about the desperate, buzzing sound that you are calling *daimoku* on this video! It is not due to inexpensive or inferior quality microphones, or video equipment-- it is due solely to the *minds* of those who are desperate to promote the egoism of their *mentor*-- who has claimed that one cannot attain Buddhahood without the *mentor/disciple* relationship, specifically Ikeda has stated that *the three SGI presidents* are the mentor and the SGI alone is propagating the *True Teachings* of Nichiren. This is a direct and very grave slander of the Lotus Sutra.
The insufferable buzzing sound, at the beginning of this video, is emitted from the gadflies who exert all of their efforts toward recruiting and maintaining the cult following of their *mentor* Ikeda--- elevating him to a status above the Buddha , believing THIS is their assurance of *material gain* and *status*.
Listen to the last segment of the Q&A-- all focused on *who is the eternal mentor*-- will it be Ikeda? Surely there is only a need for someone to handle *organizational matters* after his passing--so important to establish Ikedaism as the *new religion* SGI will practice and propagate. How bizarre!!
One leader insists *sensei* is still writing-- so prolifically that the translators cannot keep up with him! -- . Is THIS the reason Ikeda has been absent for so long? Others contend that Ikeda is either totally incapacitated or dead!
The truncated daimoku, chanted at fever pitch is the death tells for SGI, in my humble opinion.
-- For nothing in the minds of the leaders who continue to arrange and preside over these non-Buddhist activities comes close to the Buddha's intent-- They USE their truncated daimoku as the means for propagating the self serving agenda of a megalomanic who, for all intents and purposes has disappeared from their collapsing stage.
Please, anonymous--- do not insult the True teaching, Myoho-renge-kyo by claiming that those who steal it, distort it and propagate their own version of Buddhism are FINE. THEY are not FINE and neither is what they chant!!
ikeda has always been a media campaign. he is either incapacitated, or dead. either way, the sgi corporation will continue to use his image as long as they can. then they will use his image in death as the so-called buddha of the modern day. guaranteed.
I have been teaching this for more than 20 years...
ReplyDelete"Nichiren never mentions the DaiGohonzon. All the ornate rhetoric and conjecture in the world doesn’t change this fact. These liars and base men won’t even give the Atsuhara Martyr’s their due, let alone the due owed to the Law. The actual proof of the people’s faith in the Daishonin’s teachings was, not begrudging their lives to see the Buddha, willing to give their lives for the sake of the Law. This was the reason for Nichiren Daishonin’s advent." [1996]
For 71 years SGI [and Ikeda for more than sixty years] erroneously taught that the purpose of Nichiren's advent was the inscription of the Daigohonzon. They deceived millions of people. They damaged their faith and destroyed any possibility of them attaining Enlightenment.
It was not thanks to the mentor-disciple relationship that the Atsuhara martyrs were able to attain enlightenment. It was due to their relationship with the Law...
“We care nothing for our bodies or lives but are anxious only for the unsurpassed way.” -- LS Chapter 13
and
"When living beings have become truly faithful,
honest and upright, gentle in intent,
single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha,
not hesitating even if it costs them their lives," -- LS Chapter 16
Nearly everything about this lecture is false [except for the teaching that I have put forth for 21 years about the purpose of Nichiren's advent]. They retain many elements of their false sage Daisaku Ikeda's teachings. Only with the same faith and practice of Nichiren can we accomplish Buddhahood.
It was very difficult to watch this-- complete distortion of the Daishonin's Buddhism. But the many empty seats were a source of encouragement.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how the *church lady* presenter fielded questions- making a point to condemn the *priesthood* for controlling the members; claiming *sensei* challenged them in a lecture he gave on the Heritage of the Law-but failed to note that in 2009, in a lecture on the same Gosho, *sensei* says that one cannot attain Buddhahood apart from the Mentor/Disciple relationship, which SGI clearly teaches is the 3 SGI Presidents as the "Mentor"-- , Not a bit different than the *old dog chow*--
Notice how duped these people appear?-- They do not pick up on the contradictions they, themselves, are presenting; the vast difference between the Gosho and Ikeda's teachings-- especially the purpose for and the benefits of correct practice and faith in the Lotus Sutra.
How can this sham organization continue to exist?
~Katie
SGI thought control brainwashing techniques are very advanced.
ReplyDeleteMaybe these SGi leaders would like to come here to debate us.
ReplyDeletei couldn't get past the sick daimoku. not as bad as ikeda senseless, but really really bad.
ReplyDeleteYour right about the chanting Greg, I only heard less than a minute of it and it made me feel quite sick. I'll just read everyone's comments for now that's enough for me, I don't want to even go back there, it's too unbearable. How much can a Koala bear!!!
Deleteunderstood!
DeleteGuys, you can advance beyond that buzzing gadfly noise--- almost to or just past the 1 hour mark if memory serves.
DeleteYOU really should watch these Gosho presenters and the Q&A afterwards-- befuddlement, passionless , weird and insane, this video tells the story that words cannot express.
~Katie
ok.
Deleteit never fails to amaze me that the sgi/nst cannot see themselves. they always have read the gosho like its talking about someone else. could this be because they have no clear mirror? me thinks so. i learned many years ago that sgi/nst takes smart people and turns them into idiots.
Deleteikeda senseless's stately has always been ....get em young, get em dumb. pathetic!
strategy.
DeleteThe chanting lasts for about 45 mins. It's a concophony that lacks the rhythm and melody of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo chanted with sincerity and faith in its efficacy alone.
ReplyDeleteSo around the 57 minute mark, we get the statement "...twelve days latter the Daishonin inscribed the Gohonzon for all humanity..." note the SGI is no longer calling this the Dai Gohonzon. The line is almost the same but it's puzzelling why an organisation dedicated to the mentor-disciple relationship and claimed tramsition, with the supposed oneness of it's 3 presidents would break so radically from what both Mr Makaguchi and certainly Mr Toda were teaching. I'm not asserting the Dai Gohonzon by the way, just that Mr Toda certainly had no trouble calling it such but the organisation that he effectively founded now has dropped the Dai. As late as the end of the 90's they were still teaching that - odd but it gets odder...
...So then at the 59 min mark we get the real purpose of this lecture stated clearly, not by what's included but by what's left out - faith.
DeleteYou can see where it's headed straight away by the phrase "I believe that Sensei estimates that out of every 1,000 disciples (note the use of that term) 999 gave up their faith, mathematically 99.9% of essentially members left."
So straightaway, this lecture's purpose is to address the increasing flow of members leaving the SGI.
The subtext of course is "you wouldn't do that would you? Leave your "mentor" and abandon him like those faithless, deluded 99.9% of disciples who abandoned Nichiren. It invites feelings of egotistical superiority among those present. It's a subtle but powerful deployment of reverse psychology. That's how the ones SGI doesn't "get young", "get turned dumb".
Several problems, firstly where did this estimate come from, what data was used to arrive at it?
It's notoriously difficult to get reliable figures on the population of believers now, SGI can't do it reliably it seems, let alone trying for a period over 7 centuries ago. Basically it's a wild guess that's been made to set up this lecture to address a problem the SGI is having right now...
...And then we are told that what was crucial in maintaining the Daishonin's buddhism was not faith, but courage, the mentor-disciple relationship (bam there you've got it, the central aim of this lecture) and shakabuku.
DeletePut into the more mundane language it really should be, if it were being honest and we get "not being daunted (courage) by promoting brand loyalty (mentor-disciple relationship) to the corporation's sole product (Ikeda and his books) whilst upping the recruitment to the corporation (shakabuku)".
I said to note the use of "disciple", Nichiren uses "disciples and lay supporters" or "followers" but calling everyone "disciples" fits with what the SGI is selling, it's mentor-disciple "teaching".
It generates revenue off the back of that brand loyalty, books sales, magazine subs and contributions. But you're only going to part with your cash if you swallow the notion that Daiseku Ikeda is some super being (which of course he is not, he's just a savvy manipulative CEO who's got very rich by pretending to be).
Of course none of this fits with the reality of the time. The martyrs didn't give up their faith, because they had faith!!! As Mark has pointed out.
More to the point...
...It's just about as frank an admission we're ever likely to get that what SGI is selling doesn't work. As Greg has neatly pointed out SGI has no clear mirror.
DeleteWhere's the Eternal Buddha of the 16th Chapter? Well observing those members lapping this up, who lack faith and so of course He's not going to show himself, let alone come forth and teach the Law.
And because of that faith in the mentor has to be substituted. "...when Nichiren found out they believed him..." subtext "he was saying something that sounded completely crazy, just like Daisaku Ikeda, who you should likewise believe".
The problem with this line is he wasn't saying something "crazy", Nichiren REASONED his argument and did so scrupulously based on deep study of buddhism and crucially based firmly on the Sutra. He and his arguments, his reasoning, were tested repeatedly in public debate by people well versed in Buddhism and it came out onto. In other words, there was extensive scrutiny, something SGI shies away from, as Mark points out.
Why did he do this, well in the early days, as he obseves, he was firmly following tge Law and quite clearly in my opinion, being taught by the internal Buddha and was being druven not by courage but by Comlassion.
For sure he was courageous, he actually aroused and met, head on, the persecutions that befell him. People believed him because he was believable, the real deal. But that, in a way was an expedient, if he made his case well and proved it by living it, then others would embrace the Sutra and once they did that...well faith took over, they followed the Law and were prepared not to begrudge their lives...
...Which just happens to be completely different from Daisaku Ikeda. What has the guy done other than build an organisation that tells everyone how great HE is? Dies he reason his case? No, he keeps changing his mind. One decade "teaching" one thing, the next another.
DeleteHas he ever entered a public debate to have his ideas tested? No, he has nice little chats with intellecuals and offers up bland homilies that few are likely to disagree with.
If Nichiren applied Ikeda's business philosophy, he'd have been selling his writings to his "disciples" and reinvesting the profits to build himself a nice set if plush temples, with his own luxury quarters and easy access to the hot springs. Oh and those writings would have put him, rather than the Sutra and faith in it, centre stage. It would all have been "through your relationship with me, me, me"
There's a great ray of hope though, in addition to the sparce clapping, there is a palpable sense of desperation in thise speakers. Lines delivered too fast, jumbled and chaotic. That they are now openly zeroing in on the 0.1% tells us just how dire their membership has become.
Gone is the bouyancy of yesteryear, the sense of a vital expanding movement, they can't message that way any longer. So now it has to be replaced by "we are the chosen and commited few"... well even that won't be for much longer - how wonderful!
nice input.
DeleteThanks Katie and MB for encouragement to watch the video and for Mark for sharing the SGI block buster video. And also SGI - USA East Bay Centre for streaming this lecture
DeleteSince we no longer attend their meetings videos like this keep us in touch with the current state of mind of the members we have left behind in what's left of the floundering organisation
"Gone is the buoyancy of yesteryear, the sense of a vital expanding movement, they can't message that way any longer."
This is so true. Just compare this Richard Causton video RISSHO ANKOKU RON = On securing the peace of the land through the propagation of True Buddhism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63YShFKStp0
"This lecture series was delivered over a two year period from 5/10/1980 to 3/10/1982."
They are on their last legs, grasping at straws, hoping in vain that they can keep the house of cards together.
Quite sad how its all worked out but its for the best when we consider how out of control it has all become. This is what happens to organisations when they become enormous and loose sight of their original purpose.
Hopefully the fallout from SGI will seek clarification about what they have been involved in through research from the various sources.
Now is the time of great compassion for us to share with those of the SGI who are presently feeling lost and bewildered
If they can go back to the Gosho, Lotus Sutra, have an authentic 10 world Nichiren inscribed Gohonzon it would be a good start to repatriation from the road of rack and ruin
Thanks Noel, this really touched my heart:
Delete"Hopefully the fallout from SGI will seek clarification about what they have been involved in through research from the various sources.
Now is the time of great compassion for us to share with those of the SGI who are presently feeling lost and bewildered
If they can go back to the Gosho, Lotus Sutra, have an authentic 10 world Nichiren inscribed Gohonzon it would be a good start to repatriation from the road of rack and ruin"
You're dead right, we mustn't lose sight of that compassion, thanks for calling it and remiding us all of what turmoil the current state of affairs must be creating for some as the SGI goes through it's death throws.
Thanks also for posting Dick's video for comparison. I remember Dick fondly, I think he'd be equally bewildered and not a little perplexed by the way things have played out.
Cheers
I think Causton was a company man who would have done anything he was told to do.
Delete"We must deeply understand that the heritage of the Universal Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo can only be transmitted through organizations joined in unity, based on faith in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism and the principle of the oneness of master and disciple." (emphasis added). Mr. Causton also explains his reference to "the oneness of master and disciple" as follows: "All of us who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which our ultimate master, Nichiren Daishonin, taught us, can develop the eyes of the Buddha; but it is President Ikeda, our master in life, who guides us through the rocks and shoals of this life, with pride and gratitude. President Ikeda has taught me everything. "The article also states: "Hence, the master gives his guidance based on his interpretations of the Gosho in contemporary terms and his experience of action, both for his own human revolution and for guiding the movement for kosen-rufu. We as disciples, must then set out to prove its validity for ourselves . ."
Please note the focus on President Ikeda and not on the Eternal Buddha, Namu myoho Renge kyo, the Lotus Sutra, nor the Daishonin .
Soz for the typos! "Internal Buddha" should have been "Eternal Buddha". I hope the rest made sense.
ReplyDeletegreg romeroAugust 4, 2016 at 4:28 PM
ReplyDeletebuddhism can and has been destroyed from the inside.
in my humble opinion.
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Mark RogowAugust 4, 2016 at 9:51 PM
Nichiren taught thus.
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as much as possible, i think is would be appropriate to take a fresh look at the buddhist teachings. i say this because most of us have had an affair with sgi/nst. some for many years. much of what we know is through the lens of slanderers of the lotus sutra. this is just my opinion and is aimed at no one. cheers all.
comment above posted by greg.
DeleteThe daimoku they were chanting was fine. The equipment they used is interior. It sounds like one person was close to the mic, while the others sat further away. The person who could be heard the the loudest sounded like they were a bit nasal or being nasal.
ReplyDeleteI listened to them chant and at times I couldn't understand them. The other times I could hear them perfectly well. I could hear them pronounce the words precisely and clearly.
It wasn't their chanting that was the problem. It was the audio. They most likely used a camera that has a built in microphone. Those kinds of cameras have a bad reputation for for audio.
The visual of the video tells me that they were using an inexpensive camera.
no, the gakkai chants an ugly daimoku. although i do agree you have a valid point.
Delete"The daimoku they were chanting was fine. The equipment they used is interior... It wasn't their chanting that was the problem. It was the audio. They most likely used a camera that has a built in microphone. Those kinds of cameras have a bad reputation for for audio."
DeleteThat's strange, that's exactly like the SGI claimed world membership, now just over half of what it was back in '88.
It's the teaching they've been using, it's interior too, the drop in numbers and the quaility of this "lecture" / Q&A tells me they've been using cheap, poor quailty understanding and guidance materials...
SGI has a bad reputation too but for not actually doing anything humanistic, being the change they want to see, funding any kind of relief aid or humanitarian projects or even being actively involoved. Words, words, words, all audio no action.
Perhaps the most chilling part of this video is where the big pitch is made to get people to the "study" meetings because they are so vulnerable.
They just sit at home chanting and getting benefits (how selfish), not doing their bit for SGI recuitment and profits - opps sorry, I meant 'kosen-rufu' (really, really selfish) and because if that they will be so vulnerable....hmm to what? Ah, vulnerable to spending quality time with their families, friends, being good neighbours, doing well at work etc. etc.
Vulnerable to not getting the message and getting with the SGI program.
Do they need an indoctrination, sorry 'study' meetings to study? No, they only need the Gosho and the Lotus Sutra.
The SGI needs them to be at those meetings though. Mr Harada's bonus is riding in it. SGI needs it's members and potential new business, not to see empty chairs and it needs to get it's manipulative materials into it's duped volunteer base, to keep them duped.
The only thing that's vulnerable is SGI and the profit and the wages of it's hired hands and wealthy board.
It's so sad to see people honestly believing that at 88 years old, having not been seen since 2013 and not now giving any 'Sensei videos', apparently Daiseku Ikeda is writing "so much" that the translation committee can't keep up.
It's even more sad to see them putting that across to others and duping them too.
At least they've come clean on the Dai Gohonzon though.
Yeah, finally Harada said the priests made a whole bunch of stuff up, it's not in the Gosho and it would have held back global expansion (which is funny given that they have been running hard in the opposite direction and contracting), so they got rid of it. (It was hitting profits having people buy the rivals product, when SGI doesn't get a cut, doesn't control the stock and is no linger part of the franchise)
Hmmm...so it's not in the Gosho.. so it's never been in the Gosho...so for almost 70 years, the combined three presidents, who are touted as understanding this stuff so well and who are supposed to have such a deep knowledge of the Gosho, didn't realise it wasn't in the Gosho and it was all made up. Or if they did, they just thought they'd go along with it and not rock the boat.
It's a wonder that this and other duped SGI members don't put 2 and 2 together and get 4.
I guess when you've been conned into giving your every last cent to support a corrupt organisation, you don't have any pennies left that can finally drop. It's really, really sad.
It may be their choices and karma but it still don't make that exploitation right. But then fools and their money are easily parted. Money you can make back, your wasted time is gone forever. Brrrr. Chilling.
Anonymous-- you are so wrong! There is nothing FINE about the desperate, buzzing sound that you are calling *daimoku* on this video! It is not due to inexpensive or inferior quality microphones, or video equipment-- it is due solely to the *minds* of those who are desperate to promote the egoism of their *mentor*-- who has claimed that one cannot attain Buddhahood without the *mentor/disciple* relationship, specifically Ikeda has stated that *the three SGI presidents* are the mentor and the SGI alone is propagating the *True Teachings* of Nichiren. This is a direct and very grave slander of the Lotus Sutra.
DeleteThe insufferable buzzing sound, at the beginning of this video, is emitted from the gadflies who exert all of their efforts toward recruiting and maintaining the cult following of their *mentor* Ikeda--- elevating him to a status above the Buddha , believing THIS is their assurance of *material gain* and *status*.
Listen to the last segment of the Q&A-- all focused on *who is the eternal mentor*-- will it be Ikeda? Surely there is only a need for someone to handle *organizational matters* after his passing--so important to establish Ikedaism as the *new religion* SGI will practice and propagate. How bizarre!!
One leader insists *sensei* is still writing-- so prolifically that the translators cannot keep up with him! -- . Is THIS the reason Ikeda has been absent for so long? Others contend that Ikeda is either totally incapacitated or dead!
The truncated daimoku, chanted at fever pitch is the death tells for SGI, in my humble opinion.
-- For nothing in the minds of the leaders who continue to arrange and preside over these non-Buddhist activities comes close to the Buddha's intent-- They USE their truncated daimoku as the means for propagating the self serving agenda of a megalomanic who, for all intents and purposes has disappeared from their collapsing stage.
Please, anonymous--- do not insult the True teaching, Myoho-renge-kyo by claiming that those who steal it, distort it and propagate their own version of Buddhism are FINE. THEY are not FINE and neither is what they chant!!
~Katie
ikeda has always been a media campaign. he is either incapacitated, or dead. either way, the sgi corporation will continue to use his image as long as they can. then they will use his image in death as the so-called buddha of the modern day. guaranteed.
Deletelisten to the quality of the chanting, its marvelous what the quality of good acoustics and audio equipment make
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhN3Y8aSJyI
SGI and NST Daimoku
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_NWqalcuZ8
NIchiren Shu and Kempon Hokke Daimoku
The stains all over the ceiling tiles and garish fluorescent lighting adds the final flourish.
ReplyDeleteyes, lovely. where's all the members money going senseless????
DeleteThe ones who truly study leave.
ReplyDeletethanks Katie. Perfect analysis of the SGI.
ReplyDeleteTheir embark and promotion of the false teachings of Taisekeji doomed SGI to failure, not their personality defects.
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