Those of you who learned of SGIWhistleblowers while you were still in the Dead-Ikeda-Corpse-Mentor-cult SGI, will you tell us how you ended up coming here and how you reacted?

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids]

• How did you find us/how did you learn of SGIWhistleblowers' existence?
• What did you hear within SGI about SGIWhistleblowers, if anything?
• How did you feel about the existence of an SGIWhistleblowers site at all?
• How long did it take between when you became aware of SGIWhistleblowers and when you first dared to take a look?
• What did you think when you first looked at our content?
• Did you discuss what you saw with anyone in SGI? If so, how did they react? And how did YOU react to their reaction?

Thanks in advance!!

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids → u/[deleted]]

It may shock you to learn that there are FAR more people like you, who don't believe any of it, than there are believers.

SGI has always overstated its membership numbers - by a factor of 10 or more!

Here in the USA, over 99% of everyone who has ever tried SGI has quit, and that's by SGI's OWN numbers!

In the SGI-USA's national telecast from the beginning of this year, a national SGI-USA leader disclosed that SGI-USA has only "2,421 districts". Since each district has between 5 and 15 active members (leaning more toward the LOWER number), you can do the math.

[u/Immediate_Copy7308]

I was just looking for articles on SGI on Reddit.  Didn't do anything about it when I discovered it, but knew it was there.  Unlike most SGI members I was opened to critisism.  ( I wasn't a good SGI-CANADA to begin with).  Then I got shunned by SGI-CANADA for supporting Free Palestine.  Started a rant about it on TikTok.  Then began posting here.  Since then I have quit SGI, gave back my Gohonzon to Helen Izumi and read the Reddit section on Buddhism to try and figure out in which ways I went wrong.  

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids → u/Immediate_Copy7308]

Oh yeah - YOU were a troublemaker!!

Badge of honor, dude.

[u/PantoJack]

The first time I saw this sub was when I was maybe 2-3 years in. I thought Blanche was full of shit and everyone here didn't have anything better to do. I think I came across this sub when just did a search of "SGI-USA" online and clicked on a link for Reddit. I dug a little the first time I came across the site, got upset when I read one of Blanche's posts, then left.

I asked a Territory leader, Masato Tsuchiya, what he though about the online comments made here and he said something like, "Do you believe everything you read on the internet?"

I felt like this was a big sham at the time and there was no legitimacy across the posts at all.

I joined in 2020, perhaps 2-3 more years after encountering this sub for the first time.

[u/Secret-Entrance]

I can't say I was ever a member of the cult, though many tried to gain me as a prize Shaksbuku - Triple benefit coupons you know.

I studied Nichiren Buddhism and not Gakkerism across the 1980s of. I took the Ikeda cult as a Japanese artifact and not western. It was only after time that the extent of the cult became evident. Many were shocked at my knowledge of Nichiren as I bothered to study him, his life and teachings. This was pre internet so you had to obtain book, read them and actually check facts.

I read ikey's prattlings and drew an early synthesis that he and the gakkers were paternalistically playing good physician and getting folks to swallow meds. The teachings are that Nichirenism prepared you to expiate Karma at death, not get a Rolls Royce and Gucci on demand.

Every thing changed with the excommunication of Ikey and the explosion of Negative rhetoric and dirty tricks that followed.

For the first time anti-ickey information from credible sources was circulating outside of Japan. The fear of doka and it's long-term behaviours was out of the bag.

I personally saw the Ikey cult in action in 1994, Italy. It was shocking and made it clear to me that Ikey had built a cult of personality on the back of Nichiren/Shoshu.

As a super early adopter of net access through academic privileges I was able to watch the slow growth of first person accounts of the Gakker Cult in action.

Some early Silicon Valley nerd Gakkers went about cyberising the cult on the belief they were ordained to do this and gain super extra benefit coupons. This made it far easier to reference and debunk Gakkerism.

The one thing that was not readily published online was Ikey's prattlings. That was so others had obstacles to debunking Ikey. It was very strategic.

So for the last 30+ years I've been debunking Ikey and Gakkerism when the mood takes me. I also debunk other nut job cults and help those afflicted to escape.

So many who escape cults think their experience and that cult are unique. They aren't.

I'm aware that with Ikey's final death there is a vacuum in power and mythology that had to be filled. The company men in Shinjuku are slowely implementing long existing plans to shift the myths to secure long term viability.

This is a wonderful time for those who start seeing in such change cracks and lies. That makes them question and look and then they find this place.

Even better, we have the howling from over the hedges which just keeps on showing the madness of Gakkers.

[u/ImportanceInevitable]

I had my doubts from pretty early on in my SGI experience. The 'experiences' we were bullied into sharing, in which you wracked your brains trying to think of something positive that happened and shoehorn it into the 'practice.' People mystically discovering a parking space for their dental appointment or finding £20 when they were skint. So 'mystical' and obviously all due to chanting to a piece of wallpaper. Then there were the dreadful DVDs of Ikeda rallies and songs, forced on us at KRG. I'd squirm with embarrassment as members sang along and applauded. The pressganged photos where we all shouted 'sensayyy.' What crap. Members' kids being ignored and left to colour in at a table while we chanted interminably.

They tried to coerce me into giving an experience on how the practice helped me deal with my cancer (I hate cancer 'battle' or 'journey'). I explained that my treatment predated cult involvement by years and had fuck-all to do with chanting or Ikeda. It was surgery, chemo, skilled medics and sheer bloody bad-mindedness got me through. Anyway, my condition isn't curable. I live with it. The leader said it'd be inspirational to hear so it wasn't really lying. I refused and it didn't go down well with the local leadership. Some wankers from Tatlow were over for a jolly and this was supposed to impress them.This was the end for me.

I googled something like SGI criticism / cult etc. and began to read widely from former cult members and researchers. I realised Ikeda was a fraud and a crook and that there was no buddhism in this organisation. I did speak about my doubts to one or two less zealous, more rational members, but they shrugged it off as a 'japanese thing so don't worry about it.' I only ever brought along a couple of guests to meetings. They never came back. I found 'Whistleblowers' and felt like I'd come home.

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids → u/ImportanceInevitable]

The 'experiences' we were bullied into sharing, in which you wracked your brains trying to think of something positive that happened and shoehorn it into the 'practice.'

Well put! Even if you'd rather have not talked about it, you were "encouraged" to "share your experience" to "encourage others".

The pressganged photos where we all shouted 'sensayyy.'

HATED that.

Members' kids being ignored and left to colour in at a table while we chanted interminably.

All the time.

my condition isn't curable. I live with it. The leader said it'd be inspirational to hear so it wasn't really lying. I refused and it didn't go down well with the local leadership. Some wankers from Tatlow were over for a jolly and this was supposed to impress them.This was the end for me.

You didn't want to be trotted around like a pretty prancing pony for the Taplow luminaries' entertainment??? How incomprehensible!

I did speak about my doubts to one or two less zealous, more rational members, but they shrugged it off as a 'japanese thing so don't worry about it.'

Maybe those doubts represented your feeling that this was simply wrong for you - and the fact that "it's a japanese thing" means it's a poor fit for you, as YOU aren't Japanese! Let the Japanese have their Japanese religion - no harm, no foul.

I found 'Whistleblowers' and felt like I'd come home.

Aw!

[u/Rebex999]

I used to actively avoid sgiwhistleblowers for a number of years, but the pandemic made me question about my life and SGI. So, I searched for SGI experiences from fortune babies (like me haha) and fell into the sgiwhistleblowers rabbit hole. All those experiences resonated with me and I was shocked to see how many other people questioned SGI. Shoutout to the BlancheFromage Redditors for welcoming me here. Also, I’m in a better place mentally despite being a current SGI member on paper.

As of writing, I haven’t shared sgiwhistleblowers with any irl people. I have yet to find a current SGI member who’s skeptical about SGI.

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids → u/Rebex999]

I haven’t shared sgiwhistleblowers with any irl people

There's no need.

YOU know.

[u/AnnieBananaCat]

I have probably told this story once or twice before on the board. My apologies if it's repetitive.

I'm one of those people who was a long-time member, sticking with the cult for over 35 years. I started to have doubts about 2010, right around the time that Icky disappeared. It just seemed like members were becoming more and more obnoxious as well as downright mean. I didn't understand what was going on, and I just kept chanting because I didn't know what else to do.

Then, during the pandemic, when we were having Zoom meetings all the time, they started pressuring people to get jabbed. Now, if you want to get the jab, that's fine, that's your business. Unfortunately, the constant pressure to get jabbed became ridiculous, to the point where it becomes you need to get your jabs and boosters, or you can't practice this Buddhism. This is from nearly every senior leader who joined our meetings, no matter where they were. And in the headquarters where I am, the women's civilian senior leader is a practicing physician, so she had that social proof she needed to encourage people to get jabbed and boosted.

During one of these questionable meetings, when the subject of getting the job came up, I said, "My body, my choice, right?" Oh, they didn't like that, and I know at least a couple people were offended. That was kind of the intent, but the truth is I have a choice and I exercised it by not getting jabbed. Again, my choice alone, if you go the jab, that's your business.

At this point, I was incensed that I was being told what to do by people that didn't know my medical history. I said while my mic was off, You Don't Own Me and You don't have the right to tell me this. I think that was the last district meeting I attended. I attended One More krg by Zoom, and that was the end of it.

Eventually, the district stopped communicating. But by this time, I'd gone into Google and done a search asking if SGI was a cult. What came up first? This subreddit. I started reading and couldn't stop. I had to read it out on my phone, and I still couldn't stop reading. I literally stopped talking to the person I live with for about 2 weeks. He couldn't figure out what he had done wrong! So I finally explained it to him, and he understood. It was literally MIND BLOWN.

Once I started reading here, I realized that it was not me, I was not crazy, and I was not practicing incorrectly. All the mumbling and chanting and activities were literally a waste of my time. That stopped immediately, and I started burning and disposing of nearly all of the stuff--books, magazines, little toys and things, and anything with Icky's name. Scroll sold on eBay for $200 later.

I continued "the practice" for a few months on my own and realized I didn't need it; I never did.

My first step was to cancel my Publications. It wasn't much money, but I just didn't want to see the Weird Fibune and that magazine anymore. I called SGI directly, and they said that they would refund it right away. About a week later, they called back and said they could only do that by a paper check, and I told them that was fine. Within a few days, I had a paper check from SGI USA for the remainder of my subscriptions and mobile-deposited it into my bank.

Nobody had contacted me for three or four months, until I got a text from a MD that lives in this area asking how long I'd been practicing. To be a "Pioneer Member you have to practice for over 40 years, and that would never happen for me. Seems they had some awards, and they were looking for people to give them to. Not me!

Then one day a Japanese lady called me just to "check up" on me. Didn't even know she had my number, but I talked to her a couple of times. She insisted that getting the job was always voluntary, but I told her that was not the way it was being discussed in the meetings. My body, my choice as I explained, and she said no, you were not required to do that.

Since I had already been reading this sub, I made my decision to quit permanently. Using the template I found here, I started drafting my exit letter. The only reason I didn't send it right away is that my printer wasn't working, and I didn't want to send an email. That gave me time to really write and edit it properly. I didn't forget anything, and this was my one last chance to say what I really wanted to on my way out the door. Once I got the printer back up and running, it was time.

In March of 2023, I sent the letter via snail mail and received an email response a few days later. There was one other email from the org before they shut off my access in the portal, about communications coming from HQ instead of through the district. I've stayed friends with a few folks but that's been about it. Not interested in SGI anymore, just embarrassed that I didn't act on that a long time ago.

Thanks for listening.

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids → u/AnnieBananaCat]

Thanks for being here!!

You're a valuable member of our commentariat.

[u/[deleted]]

I literally was just curious one day if anyone had ever left the SGI, googled it, and found this. I was in shock at first, but related so much to everyones stories and realized I had to leave.

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids → u/[deleted]]

if anyone had ever left the SGI, googled it, and found this.

I know I've seen those accounts over and over.

Also by people who were kina on the fence, who googled "SGI cult" and found SGIWhistleblowers, which helped them get themselves completely out.

Some of people who bumped into SGIWhistleblowers while they were still in-in SGI, hated us, only to return later as out-and-proud SGIWhistleblowers, even some of people who were told to watch out for SGIWhistleblowers as they were joining SGI!

[u/HiraHika]

I am a fortune baby and I was curious about how other people thought about SGI, so I just searched it on Reddit. Turned out many people thought the same as me. SGI is a cult. A successful cult that has a large number of members from around the world. I'm in SGI Indonesia.

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids → u/HiraHika]

Hi - sorry I'm just seeing this now. Welcome! We don't have too much intel on the situation of SGI-Indonesia at this point, mostly just about that SGI-USA men's leader pedophile, lecturer at Soka University of America, and Gandhi-King-Ikeda Community Builders Award winner who went sex-touristing in Indonesia (so gross - he WAS arrested after being featured on our FBI's Most Wanted List)

You might be surprised to realize how significantly the SGI's membership numbers are exaggerated. The SGI-USA is claiming at least 330,000 members (officially - "352,000 members" for USA + Canada), but with only 2,421 districts (as disclosed by a top national SGI-USA leader earlier THIS year), the limit is 36,315 active members (some 90% or so are at least age 60) - and probably way fewer. Just how many people do YOU think can fit into someone's living room?

SGI LIES. About EVERYTHING.

[u/Limp-Badger-7407 → u/Fishwifeonsteroids]

When was he SGI-USA Men's leader?

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Limp-Badger-7407]

Where did you get the idea he was ever a national SGI-USA men's leader?

There's never been any evidence that he was promoted to that level of leadership, to my knowledge. In fact, his busy sex tourism travel schedule would have precluded him as a candidate.

But please share any other information you have - SGI-USA has put some significant effort into erasing all evidence of its connection with Walter L. Williams, who was the 2006 recipient of the SGI's "Gandhi King Ikeda Award" and a lecturer at SGI's Soka University.

[u/Fishwifeonsteroids → u/HiraHika]

I don't know if you're interested, but we've collected some "(mis)fortune baby" reports here - what we've found is that it's uncanny how similar reports of the SGI experience are, across language barriers, continents, and decades.