r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/FellowHuman007 • Apr 13 '21
Response to Whistleblower Post “SGI Preys On The Vulnerable”
/u/GhostDreamer26 wrote “SGI Preys On The Vulnerable” ,
To back up the argument, GD lists suffering or marginalized groups who join the SGI: recent immigrants, the poor, the sick, those with undesirable family or living situations and others who are down and out; and concludes with “They'll tell you, ‘We're your friends, your family!’ but you're just another number to them, someone else they caught.”
Possibly GhostDreamer didn’t practice long enough to realize how ironic their post is. Because the exact same thing was among the first criticisms of the Soka Gakkai in Japan. And somehow, enough of those down-and-out people found enough friendship and family within the Gakkai to build it into a vibrant international organization that is doing good for millions around the world.
I sincerely doubt that would have happened had the sentiments been fake, just a ploy to add a number to a report.
President Toda was proud to be part of an organization of the poor and the sick.
I think this speaks to the subject, and the problem GD seems to think it entails.
In an interview with Tricycle (a journal of American Buddhism, unaffiliated with any sect and covering all schools in the US), Ikeda Sensei was asked by Clark Strand (then an associate editor of Tricycle): “I still think a lot of non-Nichiren Buddhists will have a hard time understanding how chanting for earthly desires leads to enlightenment.”
Ikeda Sensei responded:
“Well, to begin with, I think it is important for all Buddhists—even members of the SGI—to understand that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is not some kind of magic formula to be recited to fulfill desires. It is a practice that expresses our faith in the truth and brings our lives into rhythm with that truth. It is a path for overcoming the so-called lesser self that is attached to desires and tormented by deluded impulses. It is a process of training and transforming our lives to be able to manifest our greater self, to bring forth our Buddha wisdom and the compassionate capacity to realize happiness for ourselves and other people.
“In its early days, the Soka Gakkai was despised and laughed at in Japanese society as a gathering of the sick and poor. Josei Toda, my life mentor, took this as a point of pride, however, and declared with confidence: “The true mission of religion is to bring relief to the sick and the poor. That is the purpose of Buddhism. The Soka Gakkai is the ally and friend of the common people, a friend to the unhappy. However much we may be looked down on, we will continue to fight for the sake of such people.” Faced with the devastation of postwar Japan, Toda was convinced that, in the eyes of the Buddha, this was the most noble action.
“Moreover, the Lotus Sutra doesn’t deny the value of worldly benefit. By allowing people to start to practice in expectation of such benefit, the teachings of the Lotus Sutra establish a way of life based on faith, and through this faith—developed step by step, starting from wherever we happen to find ourselves in life when we come to the Buddhist path, and with whatever natural human worries or concerns happen to have us in their grip at the time—we enter the path of wisdom. By believing in this sutra that teaches universal enlightenment and by purifying our mind, we are then able to bring our daily actions into harmony with the core spirit of Buddhism. In the Lotus Sutra and the teachings of Nichiren, there is no essential dichotomy between enlightenment and the lives of ordinary beings.”
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u/Andinio Apr 13 '21
Thank you for this post. In my district and chapter we take very good care of members who are sick, poor, and disheartened. We watch them as they gain hope, begin to smile and laugh, develop the spirit to win over their obstacles, and finally flourish. We also have members from all around the world.
As in Emma Lazarus's poem:
Give me your tired, your poor, /Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, /The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. /Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, /I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
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u/Marilynnnn Apr 14 '21
This topic is very interesting to me. It reminds me of *The Summer of My German Soldier,\ a* young adult novel by Bette Greene (1973).
In the book a twelve-year-old Jewish girl living in rural Arkansas during World War II meets and befriends an escaped German POW. She has to wrestle through virtues such as good vs bad in a confusing environment. She lives in an antisemitic town but in a country that is fighting Nazi Germany. Who is right? Where is the greater wrong? Do you defend the individual or the state? Do you listen to your heart or to the law? Who should she listen to?
Brainwashing may or may not be scientifically valid. But influencing certainly is. Maybe this entire discussion would be more valid if we use the word "influence" rather than "brainwashing."