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Sokkai Gakka International
Man, I hate this cult. I went to a few of their discussion meetings to see if I could find out what their strange Japanese chants were all about. All I found was alot of seriously delluded people, many of them drug users, who thought this chant would bring them happiness and success.
I have no doubt in my mind this is merely and money grabbing cult (donations are encouraged and fees for classes are a must), and watching videos of "Preisdent" Ikeda made me sick. He mocked his students (cult followers) and seemed quite happy to be figure head, almost worshiped and basked in glory. I don't know why anyone would put up with it.
When I was there I asked practitioners of this bizzare cult what they actually knew about Budhism, and they new nothing, they didn't even know what Theravada meant. The chants went on for nearly an hour and it was abysmal.
I don't think this Cult has anything to do with Buddhism, its simply a cult that has organised itself very well. It sickens me it has anything to do with Buddhism.
Have any of you guys had anything to do with this shambolic, rubbish,nonsence that is SGI? Would be interesting to hear.
And yes, if your SGI I don't make any apologies for my stance, as its true.
I have no doubt in my mind this is merely and money grabbing cult (donations are encouraged and fees for classes are a must), and watching videos of "Preisdent" Ikeda made me sick. He mocked his students (cult followers) and seemed quite happy to be figure head, almost worshiped and basked in glory. I don't know why anyone would put up with it.
When I was there I asked practitioners of this bizzare cult what they actually knew about Budhism, and they new nothing, they didn't even know what Theravada meant. The chants went on for nearly an hour and it was abysmal.
I don't think this Cult has anything to do with Buddhism, its simply a cult that has organised itself very well. It sickens me it has anything to do with Buddhism.
Have any of you guys had anything to do with this shambolic, rubbish,nonsence that is SGI? Would be interesting to hear.
And yes, if your SGI I don't make any apologies for my stance, as its true.
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Comments
Hatred never ceases through Hatred......
Learn to be wary, protect yourself, and guard against that which doesn't not bear truth for you.
but 'hating' it?
Nooooo......
Not worth it.
I can't help but hate a lie thats set up to make money.
Thanks
This is saying "I am willing to hand over my happiness and serenity whenever I think about or interact with these people". This does nothing good for you.
I found there was a group in my area a few weeks ago and it smelled fishy to me... Just didn't feel right.
I'm not trying to be deep, I'm trying to be direct. I was simply pointing out that those bolded areas in your words might be useful to look upon.
Do you think you could?
Constant exposure to a certain train of thought, skilfully and subtly administered, can move mountains.....
I mean him. Not the general "you". For instance, Fede, would you consider yourself apt to be "assimilated, brainwashed or misinformed"?
I cannot believe that every single person ever exposed to the influences of a misguided, despotic, sadistic, sexually depraved maniac were all moronic idiots.
I was a devout Roman Catholic for 40 years or so.
need I say more?
I don't know why you stick up for SGI Matt, but I never will.
But fear and hatred are unnecessary and unskillful as they cloud your own judgment, create suffering in yourself and possibly others etc...
You can want to do something about any issue that is important for you with an open mind and a smile on your face.
Do yourself good and let go (not necessarely of the cause but of these unskillful emotions).
I stick up for them because they are part of my family, and while all of their practices may not be healthy, condemnation for anything is a subject of our own ignorance, rather than accurate and true observation of reality.
Injust action and aggressive activism against it are both rooted in samsara.
With warmth,
Matt
There is a lengthy peice on them in a Rick Ross forum, which I found a link to on another thread in this forum, are they ignorant too? I think not.
SGI is a money grabbing cult and I'll have none of it Matt.
Peace,
Stream
Good luck,
Matt
they seem to be "money grabbing", in as much as they grabbed enough to build some of the most astonishing buildings in the entire world..
Will you nurture anger and hatred toward every one of the organized religions as well?
What about every other sects and cults?
you will end up being very busy hating...
Peace Patt.
On top of what i said previously,
Let's say you want to do something to stop this cult from hurting peoples.
All you can do in your life is to do your best.
You cannot do your best if you have hate inside.
Your best can only come if your mind is not clouded with hate and fear.
So the more important a cause is to you, the more you want to make sure that you do not nurture hatred as it would prevent you from doing your best, on top of creating much suffering.
*namaste*
Nichiren buddhism was my introduction to buddhism, and for this, i am grateful. i practiced this form of buddhism for nearly 3 years, the middle year being with the SGI. the city i lived in was a huge college town so most of our members were foreign from all different countries, so i was able to learn about the differences in the SGI in other countries as well. i never encountered any fees of any sort. we had no community center so we met in older members homes where they would prepare meals for us. they really were like a family away from home, available at all times for advice for problems we encountered. we had two types of meetings weekly. study meetings and daimoku meetings where we would simply chant for an hour or so. the suggestion is to do gongyo(a practice that involves chanting and reciting parts of the lotus sutra) twice daily as well as chanting as often as possible for as long as possible.
i think it is important to stress that while daisaku ikeda may be the SGI leader, they are a lay organization being run by the individual members. this means that people can have vastly different experiences depending on where they go. i also think that, unfortunately, you get what you want out of the SGI. some members were really inspiring, great people who truly lived and taught the dharma... some seemed to think that the chant, "nam myoho renge kyo" was just a magic spell to attain all of their desires.
the SGI is based upon the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, a 13th century monk who studied all sutras he could get his hands on. what is called "the gosho"(The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin) is a combination of letters he wrote to his followers. to my knowledge, he left behind no writings other than these.
the reason i have left the SGI is that while it interested me for a while, i seemed to want more than they could give me. they only suggest reading the gosho, the lotus sutra, and writings by daisaku ikeda. we did a lot of study on all of these, but never learned the basic precepts. it was kinda weird. i determined that while i held a lot of respect for Nichiren, i would rather follow him by example and learn about all of buddhism... not simply what he taught.
so, say what you will about the SGI, but i do know that like everything else, it's neither all good... nor all bad. rather than putting all of your energy into hating them and writing them off as a cult, i suggest seeing them as actual people worthy of respect. perhaps invite them to a meeting at your house to teach them some of the other foundations of buddhism. this is what i wished for while i was affiliated with the SGI.
If your interested in Nichiren Buddhism then its worth an investigation.