SGI member: “After consistent practice over 24 years and the just as consistent demonstration and proof of the power of the practice both conspicuous (material) and inconspicuous benefit I feel compelled to tell you that SGI is correct in using “Tactful” means of offering practitioners the promise of material gain and benefit. Further to that it is absolutely the birthright of any human to openly benefit from the infinite abundance of the Universe. Your view is limited and ultimately both judgmental and pessimistic. The idea of course is to understand by gaining material that it is not the source of happiness in and of itself but that those who are aware or awake to their Buddha nature will want for nothing and can fulfill their desires. There is no “sin” other than to not live our lives and as fully as we can.
killianyacht@hotmail.com
Joseph
Response: Your benefits are minuscule compared to the devotees who practice as the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin teach. Try practicing as Nichiren did and you will experience the real benefit of the Lotus Sutra.
Here is the real reality of SGI “benefits”:
Shortly after the temporary Community Center opened on Park Avenue and 17th street (1979?), I went to a Young Men’s Division meeting on Saturday. The purpose of the meeting was to make our personal determinations for the future and to present them to Pres. Ikeda. We wrote down one or two line determinations in a binder-type book, one after the other. The meeting opened and, to my surprise, every determination was read. I was uplifted by the determinations. They were so lofty: US senators; judges; congressmen; doctors; lawyers; artists; musicians; and a few teachers, “for Kosen Rufu and for Sensei”. Final encouragement was given by Mr. Kasahara. The jist of what he said was to chant and do lots of activities and we would all realize our dreams without fail. At the end of the meeting, I’ll never forget, this Japanese senior leader going around and shaking hands very vigorously saying, “Ah!, future senator, future congressman, future doctor, for President Ikeda, neh?”
I’ll never forget the animated conversation I had with my best friend at the time after the meeting. I’m sorry if he reads this post and is offended but it is very instructive in terms of the truth of the SGI. He determined to become a US Senator. He told me he applied to become one of the “Who’s Who” of American Youth, and he determined to do so and was encouraged by his leaders to do so, so it would happen. It mattered nothing that he had accomplished little outside of the SGI. He even held on to his dream of becoming a US Senator for a time. He had attained the level of YMD headquarters chief, but he could barely hold on to a job for more than several months at a time, let alone finish college. He says he’s doing great, but to me, the SGI is just a fantasy land of broken dreams.
You will see replies to this post that this was an isolated example but if we delve into the history and the actuality of these young men, we will see that of the ~ 150 young men at the meeting, it would be safe to say, 120 stopped practicing with the SGI during the last 29 years. That leaves somewhere around 30 who continue to practice. Of those 30 how many have gone on to achieve a modicum of success (actual proof being touted by the SGI as the only reliable proof of a teaching)? How many have gone on to become senators, congressmen, judges, doctors, lawyers, accomplished artists or musicians, noted scientists, teachers, etc? To my knowledge, not one has gone on to become a senator, congressman or judge. Perhaps one or two has gone on to become a doctor or lawyer and there were conceivably a few who had gone on to become respected teachers, artists, scientists etc. But out of this handful of “successful” people, how many realized their determinations from that day in 1979? From what I’ve witnessed, the “actual proof” attained by these SGI practitioners was actually worse than the “actual proof” attained by those that stopped practicing or by a similar cohort who never practiced. For example, take any group of 150 highly motivated young men. One would expect that at least ten to twenty percent would go on to realize their determinations. But through the SGI faith and practice, probably less than five percent realized their dreams. However many (or few) there are, this is hardly the universal actual proof that the SGI espouses.
The bottom line is, there is no actual proof in the “Buddhism” of the SGI, regardless of how persuasively and aggressively the practitioners would have you believe. They have distorted the teachings of the Eternal Shakyamuni, the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin. How could they demonstrate actual proof?
2 comments:
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Buddhistnichiren90July 6, 2019 at 12:47 PMSo, what became of the lives of those who made such lofty goals in 1979?ReplyDelete
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Mark RogowJuly 6, 2019 at 3:57 PMZero realized to my knowledge. Proves SGI is a false religion.ReplyDelete
