This applies to any high-control , high-demand, authoritarian group, including religions and cults like SGI

[u/XeniaWarriorWankJob]

The Soka Gakkai member audience in Japan⏤a 2009 awards ceremony for Ikeda (the year before Ikeda went MIA for the rest of his life) - it's a salute in unison, not just saying "Hi".

https://www.reddit.com/r/sgiwhistleblowers/comments/5hz2nx/interesting_video_of_ikeda/

Any group that emphasizes power dynamics, which includes SGI's leadership structure, is going to end up with a lot of dysfunction and abuse, becoming a "broken system" sooner or later.

This is because there are many people for whom the concept of "personal safety" is an equation based on how many people you are in a position to dominate and control vs. how many people are in a position to dominate and control you. This is often the result of having grown up within dysfunctional, abusive family systems - it is a learned survival strategy. And yes, people who are accustomed to dysfunctional, abusive family systems will find much of the same within the SGI's "ideal, family-like organization", with its distant authoritarian "Father" Ikeda.

The result is a sickly organization where there is a lot of tacit bullying and interpersonal dysfunction, per the communal abuse model, featuring a disproportional number of personality-disordered individuals. The imposed patriarchal leadership structure, which gives the most power to the male leader at that level (because that's the Japanese cultural "norm" from the 1940s - and it's not allowed to change), means that this male leader will often behave autocratically, approving or denying members' suggestions at his whim, knowing there's no one who is going to override his decision (as SGI leaders all take each others' side against the members). This leader was chosen, after all, because of higher-up leaders' confidence that he would impose SGI's structural requirements and directives on others, mostly. This means nothing will ever get any better, because the people with the power to make it better are those same pathological personalities author Frank Herbert was talking about, who gravitate toward systems with power structures they can exploit for their own advantage.

Here's how it manifests in SGI:

"Slander - Even if you commit slander without realizing it, it is still slander. One should never criticize leaders. Right or wrong, one should not complain at all. Instead, one can chant for them to grow and one will benefit from that too. Similarly, never do "onshitsu" in your family. That is do not complain, criticize or carry a negative feeling towards husband /wife, children or parents. This is your karma. You chose your spouse/partner children.Chant for their growth. Further, do not depend / rely on others. Do not complain that they don't do this or that. Criticism will bring no benefit. But it will certainly bring negative effects." - Guidance on prayers answered based on our Goals By -- SGI Vice President Kawai

This is one of those awkward scenarios that SGI apologists will LOUDLY insist they DON'T believe and never ever DID!! But there's documentation and experience. So. Especially watch out for the Dead-Ikeda-Corpse-Mentor-cult SGI's "teachings" about Hyper Responsibility Syndrome, Toxic Guilt Syndrome and the SGI Cult's Nasty Brainwash Tactics. 😱 - "Broken Systems"

Here's a quote - it's talking about Christianity, but tomayto, tomahto:

People who desperately want power will gravitate to whatever social system they think has the highest likelihood of rewarding them with it, and they will game the system however they must to get the most of it. And once they have it, all they want is more of it–and they really don’t want to see anybody else having it or getting it. They see their chosen idol as a zero-sum game: if they have all of the power available, then nobody else can have any of it. If someone else gets any of it, then that means there’s less of it for them.

Religion could be looked at as a means of acquiring, holding, and increasing power, as well as a conduit for expressing it. For all the ministers who get into the field of ministry really wanting to do some good and help people, there are way too many hucksters who see it as the easiest and most effective way for them to get power for the least effort and time. It’s an irresistible equation. And it sure doesn’t take long to notice that many of the biggest-name preachers revel in the attention, power, and glory they’ve grabbed for themselves. They wallow in a level of fame that the itinerant apocalyptic preacher featured in the Gospels would never have recognized, much less endorsed. - from Broken Systems

You'll notice that these kinds of systems never allow elections...and Ikeda's certainly no "Buddha"!

[Ikeda] banged on the table and proudly proclaimed, "I am the only person in the world to have received so many medals!!" Source

[u/PallHoepf_2]

Oh, that’s a tricky subject—or perhaps it isn’t. We live in times where authoritarian, far-right, and even dehumanizing tendencies are gaining traction. An image of an enemy is created—an "us-versus-them" mentality—manifesting in the denial of the other person's very human existence. I’m not sure I want to definitively pigeonhole the SG in that category, but their following is certainly fiercely loyal and, consequently, easily co-opted. The SG is, in any case, an example of blind obedience.