soka gakkai

I met someone recently who told me they were buddhist. Out of curiosity, I asked him if he refrained from intoxicants (i struggle with them myself). He said that he did not. he went on to say, "yeah well we don't really follow the eightfold path." this comment struck me as odd... both the "we" and the fact that he insisted he was buddhist but brushed off the importance of the eightfold path. He then said, "yeah, you know, get loaded, buy an expensive car, do whatever you want so long as it makes you happy!" which seems to me so totally opposed to buddhist thought that i wanted to know where he was getting this idea of "buddhism."

i asked him what school of buddhism he practiced and at first i couldn't really get a straight answer out of him. after a little prodding, he handed me a business card for Soka Gakkai International and started talking about it as if he was trying to recruit me. the business card had a website on it (sgi-usa.org). The website put me off from the start. It seems very commerical. The biggest thing on the page front and center is a link to the "bookstore" to buy a bunch of books or calendars or other stuff like that. There seems to be an exaggerated reverence for the leader Daisaku Ikeda, who also wrote all the books in the bookstore.

Does anyone know what the deal is with this group of so-called "buddhists?" it seems to me that it is a distortion of buddhist teaching in an attempt to make a buck. Anyone had any experience with them?

I met someone recently who told me they were buddhist. Out of curiosity, I asked him if he refrained from intoxicants (i struggle with them myself). He said that he did not. he went on to say, "yeah well we don't really follow the eightfold path." this comment struck me as odd... both the "we" and the fact that he insisted he was buddhist but brushed off the importance of the eightfold path. He then said, "yeah, you know, get loaded, buy an expensive car, do whatever you want so long as it makes you happy!" which seems to me so totally opposed to buddhist thought that i wanted to know where he was getting this idea of "buddhism."

i asked him what school of buddhism he practiced and at first i couldn't really get a straight answer out of him. after a little prodding, he handed me a business card for Soka Gakkai International and started talking about it as if he was trying to recruit me. the business card had a website on it (sgi-usa.org). The website put me off from the start. It seems very commerical. The biggest thing on the page front and center is a link to the "bookstore" to buy a bunch of books or calendars or other stuff like that. There seems to be an exaggerated reverence for the leader Daisaku Ikeda, who also wrote all the books in the bookstore.

Does anyone know what the deal is with this group of so-called "buddhists?" it seems to me that it is a distortion of buddhist teaching in an attempt to make a buck. Anyone had any experience with them?

Clearly, your friend is quite delusional, lol. I was involved with the SGI for several years and nobody was ever quite so blunt as that... There are no formal rules regarding alcohol, but I was advised not to drink because it was unskillful. They do not follow the 8-fold path, but your friend appears to be one of the people who misunderstands their message. Their main practice involves chanting. They tend to put a lot of faith in the mystic law (nam-myoho-renge-kyo) and some members misinterpret this as 'chant for whatever you want!' My guess is that he hasn't been practicing very long.
But having said that, perhaps I wish that they would have been a little more transparent like your friend... Might have expedited my eventual breaking off from the group.

In a nut shell: The SGI practice a form of Nichiren Buddhism. Nichiren found The Lotus Sutra to be superior and so most of their study involves either the LS or The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (referred to as The Gosho). Well... and of course, anything and everything written by Daisaku Ikeda.

To leave it simple and respectful, you are not alone in your observations.

It's a bit like Ecstasy.
You think it's great stuff but it messes your brain up.

thegoldeneternity said:

Does anyone know what the deal is with this group of so-called "buddhists?" it seems to me that it is a distortion of buddhist teaching in an attempt to make a buck. Anyone had any experience with them?

I think they are well-intentioned, though I have some reservations about how they interpret Buddhism, and about how they approach practice.

Spiny

See the false as false,
The true as true.
Look into your heart.
Follow your nature.

The Buddha

SGI has been compared to being a cult, and in having done minimal research on it was put off by it myself. Thankfully I have found a few more options here in Florida than i had originally thought, and it is quite likely that I will be visiting more than one sangha once I get my schedule worked out.

I have been an SGI member for 27 years. It has never felt like a cult, though of course 'cultishness' like everything, is in the eye of the beholder. I have never felt pressured to donate money, as a member you give as much or as little as you want, when you want, it is the sincerity in your heart that counts most of all. For 7 years I went to very few meetings due to work and family life commitments, but nobody ever pressured me to return to SGI. Nichiren Buddhism teaches reverence for all humanity, including Daisaku Ikeda, though some members misinterpret the mentor-disciple relationship and put him on a pedestal.

I have always felt able to express my ideas and challenge leaders' viewpoints and my fellow members include some pretty feisty people with strong opinions. I was brought up in the Catholic Church and looking back, that actually was a cult - 'infallible' pope, pressure to give money, child abuse etc... To me SGI is just a movement of ordinary people leading ordinary people to enlightenment, aiming to achieve world peace through millions of people transforming their own lives. SGI reveres the Lotus Sutra which was revolutionary in teaching that everyone (including women) could attain enlightenment in this lifetime. For these reasons it will inevitably attract opposition, especially from the media, which thrives on selling bad news (advertisers prefer negative stories) and brainwashing people (Rupert Murdoch is a cult leader, we just haven't realised it yet...)

But as Siddhartha Gautama himself points out, ultimately you can only decide for yourself:
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken of and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men.”

I will leave you with a couple of Ikeda quotes:
“Your home is where your loved ones live. Your home is the place where you work together with your fellow human beings to build a paradise, a realm of peace and prosperity for all. When we are asked where our home is, we can answer: “My home is the world. Everywhere in the world where my fellow human beings live, all of it, is my home.”

“The fundamental spirit of Buddhism is that all people are equal. A person is not great simply because of his or her social standing, fame, academic background or position.”
all best
David
PS. Two books worth a read: The Reluctant Buddhist by William Woollard. Encountering the Dharma by Richard Saeger

DavidSGI said:

I have been an SGI member for 27 years. It has never felt like a cult, though of course 'cultishness' like everything, is in the eye of the beholder. I have never felt pressured to donate money, as a member you give as much or as little as you want, when you want, it is the sincerity in your heart that counts most of all. For 7 years I went to very few meetings due to work and family life commitments, but nobody ever pressured me to return to SGI. Nichiren Buddhism teaches reverence for all humanity, including Daisaku Ikeda, though some members misinterpret the mentor-disciple relationship and put him on a pedestal.

But as Siddhartha Gautama himself points out, ultimately you can only decide for yourself:
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken of and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men.”

I will leave you with a couple of Ikeda quotes:
“Your home is where your loved ones live. Your home is the place where you work together with your fellow human beings to build a paradise, a realm of peace and prosperity for all. When we are asked where our home is, we can answer: “My home is the world. Everywhere in the world where my fellow human beings live, all of it, is my home.”

Sokkai a “Cult“ is likelihood speculation. Ikeda has a profound insight on buddhism. Guatama‘s point on do not believe in anything blar blar blar....should not be perceived likely, it is most often than not the pure emptiness of buddhaness.

The quote is beautiful, to the least a happy world together and more insightfully is a blissful smiling mind hahaha :D

With the quote of Ikeda to its students and the chanting of its mystic law of nam-nyoho blar.... it develops superpower of nkn dualism and buddhaness in the lifespan is achieveable. :D