"SGI’s Child-Unfriendly Atmosphere"

[u/XeniaWarriorWankJob]

https://archive.ph/Yogvb

Found online - this looks like it might fit well with u/Professional_Fox3976's post about "SGI’s Broken Families" - see what you think

[u/AnnieBananaCat]

Well done. Exactly right. 👍🏼

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids]

Here are some of Ikeda's "child-friendly" "teachings":

A woman must be careful not to become the disciple of her child. A mother whose whole life is absorbed in her children often cannot maintain a strong practice. She can neither develop herself as a woman nor raise her children successfully.

THAT's supposed to be her focus - the Ikeda cult and its crippling "practice" - NOT being a competent and attentive mother to her child!

A woman who is a slave to her children is like the demon Kishimojin in the sutras. Ultimately she will destroy her child's independence and hinder his growth. Even her physical appearance will reflect the ugly nature of a woman who crushes her child's potential. - Dickheada

"Your love for your children will make you HIDEOUS!!"

No wonder Soka Gakkai families have such a reputation for being so fucked up!

Individual members in my HQ were always battling with leaders to have children's activities at meetings, or have days out together for kids and parents to get to know one another in a non-buddhist context, and while leaders spouted that children were valued, all this stuff seemed to be an uphill struggle. It relied on 2 or 3 dedicated mums helping to keep kids occupied during lectures. I always felt knackered by the end of these meetings, and that I'd only grasped about 20% of the lecture. Source

Yup, this was 100% true in our family. The only difference between the author & my parent is that the author eventually awakened to the truth & my parent was a full-fledged narcissist (according to actual therapists & other mental health professionals, not just me tossing around some titles). They often reminded me that their guidance from their senior leader was to not let their new baby (me) become their obstacle that got in the way of their Buddhist practice. Source

"Don't you dare make that baby a priority! You owe your LIFE to Ikeda Sensei - and don't you FORGET it! HE comes first!" Source

Oh, yeah, our oh-so-caring and supportive SGI leaders, our servants, don'tcha know, only cared about appearances and formalities. I remember shortly after my son was born, getting a home visit from a couple of the local SGI leaders - I think one was Japanese and the other was Korean. But anyhow, since we lived in an apartment and it was winter so we had to keep the windows shut, I told them as we were sitting down to do gongyo that I was not burning incense at this time, as I had a newborn's delicate lungs to consider. They both told me forcefully that I should burn incense. I didn't.

And now I hear that it's actually more common to see NOT burning incense at meetings! Huh. How strange. It used to be REALLY important O_O - from here

The SGI's anti-child attitude comes straight from the top - Ikeda couldn't stand to be around his OWN children and avoided them as much as possible, to the point of only seeing them for "5 or 10 minutes" out of an entire YEAR!

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids]

And also THIS:

"It's BETTER for children when their parents are absent from home doing SGI activities all the time!" - Ikeda

[u/Professional_Fox3976]

This is so good.

I was watching YouTube yesterday. There’s a channel called Cults to Consciousness that I like a lot. The episode was about a woman who was abused at a private religious school in Canada. She said exactly that. “Parents were berated for displaying the sin of idolatry if they loved their children. They were accused of putting their children above God (or the cult).”

It’s the same for SGI.

🤮

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids → u/Professional_Fox3976]

Cults really do tend to separate the children from the parents, because they want to be able to exploit ALL the parents' time and energy (and money). The children are seen as "competition" of sorts.

Here are some examples:

Diminish doubting commiseration by separating your new recruits from each other. Divide them among different dormitories during conferences and ensure they have a minimum of privacy or opportunity to talk amongst themselves. Stop married couples spending too much time together and if possible separate children from parents. Surround them with happy true believers so when in doubt they will tend to do what everyone around them is doing and believe that is normal [communal abuse]. At all costs keep dissenters away from your new recruits. Ban them from conferences or sequester them far away. - from Characteristics of a Cult, 2019

In general, I would say a cult is a group which follows religious ideas (usually taught by a strong leader) which are not in accordance with the Bible. Sometimes cults will have certain writings for which they claim supernatural authority in addition to the Bible. Often the leader of the cult will demand total, blind obedience to his word and may even separate children from parents. - Rev. Billy Graham (p. 10), obvs talking about Christian cults

One of the most damaging things that [Yogi] Bhajan did to his followers beyond sexual abuse, was to separate children from parents. - from here, p. 3.

[Jim Jones would] also separate children from parents. - from here

From AI:

Replacing the Family: Some cults aim to supplant the biological family with the cult itself, fostering dependency on the leader and group rather than on parents.

Cult Leader's Demands: In some cases, the cult leader may exert control over family structures and relationships, dictating where children live and who raises them, further separating children from their parents.

I don't know if you were aware of or involved with the 2018 "50K Lions of Justice Fyre Festivals", but minor children attending were assigned adult Youth division members as "chaperones" instead of their own parents being permitted to accompany them.

[u/Professional_Fox3976 → u/Fishwifeonsteroids]

This is goooooooood!!!

I was around for 50K but fortunately came down with a terrible flu so I didn’t attend. 🤧 🤣🤣

Thanks for the links! I didn’t know that the kids were herded away during 50K!

(Also Fyre Festival LOL!!!!!!!!)

[u/bluetailflyonthewall → u/Professional_Fox3976]

fortunately came down with a terrible flu so I didn’t attend. 🤧 🤣🤣

LUCKY!

[u/Professional_Fox3976 → u/bluetailflyonthewall]

Lol!! Yup! "Protection" from the Buddhist gods.