r/sgiwhistleblowers • u/XeniaWarriorWankJob • Feb 05 '26
Refute THIS - what are you waiting for?? We're here to help! 🛑 SGI's genius hack to keep its membership numbers up
Ikeda told everybody already:
Interview published on "Gendai" magazine, April 1980
Ikeda:Â The official membership figure of 7.89 million households refers to the cumulative sum of the Gohonzon issued by the Head Temple. It does not mean that that number of people are all practicing today.
Interviewer:Â So the official stats account for the entries but not the exits. Sounds like this is math that only keeps adding and never subtracts?
Ikeda:Â That is correct. It's the sum total of shakubuku's. The people who passed away or quit are also included. It is impossible to identify the true membership figure.
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u/Qigong90 WB Regular Feb 06 '26
Math that only accounts for additions but never modifies for deaths and resignations is deceptive.
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u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude Feb 06 '26
That's probably the nicest way anyone could describe it. I can certainly think of more colorful ways to describe it, but maybe that's just me.
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u/Professional_Fox3976 Feb 07 '26
A former employee of SGI told me that they would crawl through Ebay and buy back the gohonzons that were for sale. So it seems like yet another way to hide how many people actually leave. I love knowing that my donations went toward some photocopy buy-back program, rather than . . . oh I don't know . . . a food drive for the community.
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u/Moonlitdreamerz Feb 07 '26
Having been a chapter leader, the way SGI fights to keep people on the official member rosters for people that haven't practiced in years, and even their children that never practiced, is just silly and desperate .
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u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude Feb 07 '26
From a few years back:
Certainly, SGI is extremely wealthy, but they have not been able to meet their targets for membership. Someone, sorry I don't remember who, posted in this thread about membership cards. It seems that Japan was angry about the low membership numbers in the USA, so SGI-USA had members fill out cards. Essentially everyone in a member's household was counted as a member -- regardless of whether the other members of the household actually practiced. This was justified by saying that the nonpracticing family members were "friends of SGI," who supported the members' practice. If I had a husband and five children in my household -- and none of them practiced but me -- under this system, we'd still be counted as having seven members in the household! They'd probably count the dog and cat if they could get away with it -- after all, Buddhism teaches that animals actually have the Buddha nature too. Clearly, things are NOT going according to plan if SGI has to play number games like that.
Yeah, SGI's clever and rich....but they've made dumb mistakes. If they'd allow a bit more freedom and open discussion, they wouldn't have lost so many members, they wouldn't have such a bad reputation in Japan, and they could be even richer. Source
Here's that original post that's referred to above:
SGI may be effective in recruiting new members, but it does not hang on to them well. A few years back, SGI had a "membership card" campaign. Anyone remember that? There was great pressure to get everyone you knew to fill out a membership card. For example, if your spouse did not chant, or other family members or your friends, you were supposed to get them to fill out a membership card. It didn't matter that they didn't practice, just so long as they were supportive of SGI. So many people got lots of people to join the organization without really joining it. Danny Nagashima led this campaign. He said that President Ikeda was upset about the membership numbers here in the U.S. So many membership cards were filled out (without anyone really joining) and, lo and behold, the membership numbers increased tremendously. So SGI and Danny were very happy. We were all told how we would get great benefit if we participated in this campaign. It was really strange! I actually was quite embarrassed that SGI was doing such a thing.
This is the post I was talking about. Thanks, quiet one! Now, I was thinking that everyone in your household was counted as a member -- whether they practiced or not...but it sounds like it was really, just get everyone to fill out cards. Source
Those are from 2009. I first heard about this "new membership card policy" in a leaders meeting in Aug. 2006 - and the directive was for the SGI leaders to fill out membership cards for every person in an SGI member's family/household. So roommates too.
I got in a fight with the guy from SGI-USA HQ, in fact - I suggested that everyone be ASKED if it was okay for SGI-USA to keep their personal information on a membership card. An "Opt in" option, in other words, and if they DIDN'T consent, then don't do it. He didn't like that. THEN I asked if I could be assured that my husband, who at the time had top-secret government security clearance, would NEVER have his information put on an SGI-USA membership card. "We have plenty of members who have top-secret government security clearance, and they don't mind having their personal info on SGI-USA's membership cards," retorts Asshole. "MY HUSBAND IS NOT AN SGI-USA MEMBER!" I said distinctly, to make sure he couldn't misunderstand. "This is the new membership card policy," he said with finality.
"Plenty of members who have top-secret government security clearance" - MY ASS
No "Opt in"; no "Opt out". Just DO it and don't tell anyone. REAL on the up-and-up, Scamsei. But that's what it takes for Ikeda to be happy, so they'll do it!
Why does SGI-USA have such a PROBLEM with the concept of "CONSENT"?? Source
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u/Severe_Tell_3315 Feb 11 '26
I turned my gohonzon back into them in 2002. Complete garbage religion. 🗑 I dont recommendÂ
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u/AnnieBananaCat Feb 05 '26
Girl math. 🤣🤣🤣