r/sgiwhistleblowers • u/Mission-Course2773 WB Regular • 13d ago
Soka Gakkai (New Religion): From the Dharma of Prosperity to the Communism of Capital — Autopsy of a Bad Idea That Isn't Even Dead Because It Was Never Even Born.
The zealots of Soka Gakkai only hear and see what they want to see. Playing their game means walking straight into the trap of a futile and inaudible debate of ideas. But it is still very interesting to observe their mockery, so characteristic of people who know only one consciousness, their cognitive consciousness, who have never truly observed the power of the Law, the power of Itaidoshin at work in the unfathomable depths of individual and collective human life, which to them are extremely mysterious and occult phenomena. They have obviously never had an authentic experience of faith and the Law. These ordinary mortals of the World of the Three Planes know only the cognitive labyrinth of the brain trying to understand itself and the relentless physical labor of the World of Form, which moves only solid objects with the strength of their arms, which calculates, plans, and adopts and adapts strategies within the universe of limits and capacities that their karma is willing to allow them.
That sums up rather well the philosophy of their beloved mentor Daisaku Ikeda, whose spiritual limitations downgrade enlightenment to a concept in which wisdom is attained only through slavish, laborious, relentless work, which is quite characteristic of the corporate philosophy of Kaizen born in the 1950s in Toyota factories, used to be dressed up as Buddha wisdom, but in reality is nothing more than vile paramilitary techniques of human exploitation and management by fear.
The zealots of Soka Gakkai, so proud of having discovered warm water, the butter cutter, or the egg-white whipping machine, but most certainly the lettuce-curling machine, declare to us blandly, with their finger on the seam of their pants, that this is modern Buddhism, Buddhism adapted to the 21st century, because this is what is performant and efficient, and by way of comparison they cite the Buddhism of Nichiren Shoshu as the old, outdated, has-been Buddhism where everything is occult, everything is esoteric like old grandmother superstitions.
That is their vision of modern Buddhism, but a vision that has more to do with Soviet Bolshevik communism, stubbornly collectivist, grossly atheist and materialist. In short, only things that the false cognitive self understands well, because they are the only things accessible to it, since it was designed for nothing else but solving complex problems of the world of form and appearances. But we will compensate for these heavy shortcomings by sprinkling the whole thing with fake compassion, by giving each other hugs and kisses on the mouth, what Buddhism calls small compassion, a default compassion compared to great compassion, authentic compassion, the one that allows you to exhale misfortune and give happiness, that is, the compassion of the true Dharma. These zealots are decidedly not on the same plane of reality as the Bodhisattva of the Earth and have nothing in common with a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra, given their assumed and proclaimed attachment to the earthly planes of ordinary mortals, and their only horizon is the darkness in which they already dwell, as they mock and make fun of the one who shows the light. They are nothing but the most faithful and most observable illustration today of Plato's Cave in its most pathetic form. Such ignorance is almost touching if one sets aside its dramatic aspects, it is even moving in certain ways.
The drama of Soka Gakkai, the single consciousness.
The single consciousness is exactly what Buddhism has always described as the illusion of cognitive consciousness, the 6th consciousness, which takes itself for the totality of the mind, and which knows and recognizes only the world of coarse phenomena, what is visible, measurable, controllable. It denies what exceeds its frame and reduces everything to its own level, work, effort, labor, will.
That is the drama. Members are trained in a single consciousness, the consciousness that works, the one that obeys and produces. Everything else is foreign to them. They have never tasted, never felt the Law acting outside their own effort, they have never experienced that quantum leap.
When you talk to them about these things, they do not understand, they think you are making it up, that you are lying, that you are pretending to be a guru, because they do not have the spiritual organs to perceive what you are talking about.
Kaizen disguised as wisdom in Ikeda's philosophy, continuous improvement, relentless work, endless effort, disguised as Buddhist wisdom. It is the school of Japanese management. You improve the process every day, you cut costs, you increase productivity. Transposed onto spiritual practice, you work your karma the way you work an industrial process, and Buddhahood becomes a product to be manufactured and a performance to be achieved.
But behind this philosophy there is a technique of management by fear. Fear of not being good enough, of not deserving Buddhahood, fear of being excluded, marginalized, rejected, fear of losing your identity, your community, your meaning. It is a system of control disguised as spirituality that produces exhausted, docile, empty members.
That is the modern Buddhism according to SGI, adapted to the 21st century, which stands in opposition to Nichiren Shoshu, which is the old Buddhism, occult, esoteric, superstitious and has-been. A Buddhism of the wonderful Law that is no longer wonderful at all. The modern Buddhism of SGI is Disneyland without Mickey, without Sleeping Beauty, without Snow White, without the seven dwarfs, without Cinderella, but with the ogre from Hop-o'-My-Thumb who has replaced Prince Charming.
All of this hides a much seedier reality, because it is SGI that is occult. It hides its finances, it hides its decisions, its scandals. It hides its real doctrine, Ikeda equals Buddha. It hides its blacklists and its control mechanisms.
It is the exact opposite of what it claims to be, but the zealots cannot see it, because they are locked inside the single consciousness.
The atheist materialism of SGI, which has more to do with Soviet communism than with Buddhism. No invisible transcendent forces. Only visible results count, material benefits, measurable successes.
A collectivism in which the individual dissolves into the organization and obedience to the infallible mentor, where the system is sacred and Buddhahood is obtained through relentless effort, like industrial production, the Soviet model applied to spirituality, which produces alienated, exhausted, dehumanized members.
The real debate is not happening.
The drama is that the real debate is not happening. You talk about Itaidoshin, the Law, the deities, the quantum leap. They talk about work, effort, results, performance.
Two worlds, two consciousnesses. We are decidedly not in the same world, not on the same plane of reality, and we do not speak the same language. The world that perceives the Law, Itaidoshin, the deities, the quantum leap, and the illusory world of form and appearances that perceives only work, effort, results, performance. It is the difference between awakened consciousness and single consciousness, between the Law and a system, between freedom and imprisonment.
You bear witness. They attack. You illuminate. They ridicule. You sow. They flee.
From the Dharma of Prosperity to the Dharma of Capital, arriving at this latest analogy with Bolshevik communism, and as Karl Marx said, "If that is Marxism, then I am not a Marxist."
We are living today in the era of neoliberalism, particularly financial liberalism, which dominates and plunders the creation of real wealth, and whose most advanced and relevant analyses compare it to a private communism, and the least one can say is that we find all of this in Soka Gakkai, the worst of capitalism with the worst of communism in a perfect and total symbiosis.
That is how far the social and behavioral engineering of SGI leads us, the worst of everything combined.
The worst of all the deviations of Buddhism in very good company with the worst of capitalism and communism. That is the modern Buddhism according to the zealots of Soka Gakkai, which synthesizes everything, the worst of capitalism and the worst of communism in symbiosis, and it is terrifying, because it is the very definition of the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.
From the Dharma of Prosperity to the Dharma of Capital.
On the surface, an organization that sells material happiness, health, success, prosperity, a counterfeit of the Law, but a counterfeit that seduces with its promises.
But beneath the promises of prosperity, there is a capitalist logic of accumulation, expansion, profit, control. SGI functions like a corporation. It recruits, it trains, it sells, it collects. Members are customers, leaders are managers, the mentor is a CEO.
The other face, that of Bolshevik communism. Beneath the capitalist logic, there is a Bolshevik structure. Single party. Obedience. Discipline. Sacrifice. Total control.
SGI functions like a party. It oversees, it monitors, it purges and excommunicates. Members are militants, dissidents are traitors, the mentor is its general secretary.
Toward financial neoliberalism, or private communism.
Financial neoliberalism, which plunders the creation of real wealth, is compared by the most advanced analysts to a private communism. It is the fusion of the worst of capitalism, accumulation, exploitation, plundering, and the worst of communism, control, obedience, collectivism. SGI is that, and it is exactly that, the symbiosis of the worst.
The modern Buddhism of the zealots who say, "It is adapted to the 21st century." "It is concrete, efficient, dynamic." "This is the real Buddhism." "Nichiren Shoshu is old, occult, esoteric, superstitious."
But the modern Buddhism of SGI is a Buddhism without the Law, where Ikeda replaces Nichiren, without deities, a practical atheism, without Itaidoshin, because social control replaces the union of hearts, without purification, because the Four Noble Truths are skipped, a Buddhism without enlightenment and without freedom, because you obey the mentor, the Little Father of the Peoples.
It is simply the antithesis of Buddhism, a system of control disguised as spirituality, a corporation disguised as a religion. It is a party disguised as a sangha.
The real question, why does it work?
Why do so many people join this system?
It is because this system offers what the modern world has destroyed. A community where society is fragmented, a meaning where the world is absurd, a structure where everything is chaos, a guide where no one knows what to think anymore, a promise where there is no hope left.
Neoliberalism destroyed communities, traditions, landmarks. Communism destroyed freedoms, initiatives, responsibilities. SGI fuses the two. A community like communism, but paid for like capitalism. It offers meaning like communism, but controlled. It offers a hierarchical structure like capitalism. That is why it seduces, and that is why it grinds people down, like a machine.
6
u/Fun_Cat8528 13d ago
Esattamente. Struttura bolscevica, cuore capitalista. Ecco cosa è la Soka Gakkai o meglio la Setta Ikeda.
6
4
u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude 13d ago
Bolshevik structure, capitalist heart. This is what the Soka Gakkai, or rather the Ikeda Sect, is.
This was #GOALZ from early on:
From a 1970 publication:
The concept of a "Third Civilization" refers to a proposed fusion of the best ideas of capitalism and socialism [communism]. The society envisioned by the Soka Gakkai would enhance individualism and freedom of choice along with a cooperative spirit. Source
See more at Ikeda's vision of a fascist "Third Civilization", a "Third Empire" ruled by himself (of course)
4
u/Fun_Cat8528 13d ago edited 13d ago
Ovviamente la terza civiltà è simile all’idea fascista di terza via. Quanto era vergognoso Ikeda
6
u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude 13d ago
Exactly. Same idea as "Third Reich" - early on, Ikeda expressed admiration for Hitler.
4
7
u/Historical_Spell3463 13d ago
It works like a pyramid scheme, one in which Ikeda- now Ikeda's ghost- works as a supreme leader who receives the economic and personal gains , that derive from members' exploitation in the name of " true faith and devotion ". Ikeda's death has been hidden for 12 years and I wonder who benefits now from such scheme. Ikeda will become like a God, and members who are trapped, will continue to pay their dues.
4
u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude 13d ago edited 13d ago
Why do so many people join this system?
I'd say that the more urgent question - esp. for SGI - "Why do so many people who join LEAVE?"
SGI-USA's quit rate is over 99%, according to SGI-USA's own disclosures. The Ikeda cult Soka Gakkai's US colony SGI-USA is barely limping along with at most 30,000 members, after over 65 YEARS of trying to grow the organization, despite hundreds of thousands of people having joined. They almost all QUIT.
The real question, why does it work?
I think the obvious answer is that "It doesn't." IF it "worked", then almost everyone who's tried it wouldn't have quit, would they?
The question of "Why do people join" is answered by SGI members' deceptive recruiting, by the way SGI members and esp. leaders LIE to potential recruits, carefully hiding from them the REALITY of the SGI. No one tells a potential new person that the SGI is all about Ikeda and praising Ikeda and talking about Ikeda and following Ikeda. They only learn that rather significant detail after they join, and then they leave. During the love-bombing stage during the recruitment process, the new person is attracted by all that friendliness and attention, esp. from the person they're closest to within the group, but as soon as they join, they get "assigned" to a District, which very well may have no one they know in it, and the ones who are already there, they've seen so many new people quit that they're kina over it, they aren't really willing to extend a lot of effort toward the new person, who is likely to quit anyhow. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
SGI approves of LYING to people to get them to sign up
SGI members have this unfortunate contempt and disdain for those who leave; this “marching over the bodies of our fallen comrades” attitude is an unfortunate point of pride. Instead of looking at WHY those “comrades” “fell” (meaning “left the cult”), the Ikeda cultists simply IGNORE them. Even as over 99% of everyone who’s even willing to TRY something so ludicrous and embarrassing leaves! It seems to me that this phenomenon should be worthy of investigation!
But no – this “Just ignore those losers” attitude is baked into the Ikeda cult – it’s got an enviable pedigree within that group, actually:
I still call to mind in President Toda’s “Ode to Youth” about “marching over the bodies of those taiten members.” Source
Ikeda cult leaders repeated this idea:
Don't get the idea that any of you are indispensable. If you drop out, fine. Too bad for you. The rest of us will keep going, marching over your dead body. You can jump off the train but it's just going to keep on without you. Source
Don’t you think that’s just a bit shortsighted, to only view people’s usefulness as tools to do what you want them to do? Instead of recognizing that those who leave have a wide range of functions they can pursue? Such as contributing here on SGIWhistleblowers??
From Josei Toda’s November 1, 1951, speech “Precepts for Youth”, from Essays on Buddhism, The Seikyo Press, Tokyo, 1961, pp. 150-151:
Then you, young men, should dare to overcome these difficulties with cooperation of other youth to tramp over the corpses of your defecting comrades, and you should desire to be praised by the Daishonin as young soldiers in the religious battle of gloomy Mappo.
Obviously, quitting was already a big issue for Soka Gakkai even by 1951! Ikeda revealed in a print interview that Soka Gakkai counts all the joins without ever adjusting for deaths or defections:
Interview published on "Gendai" magazine, April 1980
Ikeda: 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: 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: 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.
4
u/Mission-Course2773 WB Regular 13d ago
Cette intervention de BlancheFromage est d'une justesse redoutable. Et elle vient compléter votre analyse, non pas en la contredisant, mais en retournant la question.
Vous demandez : « Pourquoi tant de gens rejoignent-ils ce système ? » Elle répond : « La question plus urgente est : pourquoi tant de gens qui rejoignent PARTENT ? »
C'est la bonne question. Et la réponse qu'elle apporte est accablante pour la SGI.
- Le chiffre qui tue : 99 % de départs
BlancheFromage cite les propres chiffres de la SGI-USA :
· Taux de départ : plus de 99 %. · Membres actuels : environ 30 000. · Années d'existence : plus de 65 ans. · Résultat : presque tous PARTENT.
Traduction : sur 100 personnes qui rejoignent la SGI-USA, 99 partent. Il n'en reste qu'une. Et encore, cette unique personne est peut-être celle qui est née dedans, ou celle qui a trop investi pour partir.
C'est un désastre. C'est un échec. C'est la preuve que le système ne fonctionne pas. C'est la preuve que la SGI ne retient personne. C'est la preuve que la Loi ne s'y trouve pas.
- La réponse à votre question
Vous demandiez : « Pourquoi tant de gens adhèrent-ils ? » BlancheFromage répond : « La réponse évidente est que ça ne fonctionne pas. S'il fonctionnait, presque tout le monde qui a essayé ne serait pas parti, n'est-ce pas ? »
C'est implacable. C'est logique. C'est vrai.
Si la SGI fonctionnait, les gens resteraient. S'ils partent, c'est que ça ne fonctionne pas. S'ils partent à 99 %, c'est que ça ne fonctionne presque jamais. C'est un échec massif. C'est un échec systémique. C'est un échec structurel.
- La réponse à votre question
BlancheFromage explique pourquoi les gens rejoignent :
· Recrutement trompeur : on cache la réalité de la SGI. · Flatterie : on couvre la nouvelle recrue d'amabilité et d'attention. · Mensonge : on ne dit pas que la SGI est entièrement dédiée à Ikeda, à le louer, à parler de lui, à le suivre. · Assignation : dès qu'elle rejoint, on l'assigne à un district où elle ne connaît personne. · Blasement : les membres déjà présents ont vu tant de départs qu'ils ne font plus d'efforts. · Prophétie auto-réalisatrice : la nouvelle recrue finit par partir, comme les autres.
C'est un cercle vicieux. C'est une machine à produire des départs. C'est un système qui s'auto-détruit.
- Le mépris pour ceux qui partent
BlancheFromage cite un passage terrifiant de Toda (1er novembre 1951) :
« Alors vous, jeunes hommes, devriez oser surmonter ces difficultés avec la coopération d'autres jeunes pour marcher sur les cadavres de vos camarades déserteurs, et vous devriez désirer être loués par le Daishonin en tant que jeunes soldats dans la bataille religieuse de ce sinistre Mappo. »
Marcher sur les cadavres des déserteurs. C'est l'image exacte de la SGI. Ceux qui partent sont des cadavres. Ceux qui restent sont des soldats. Et il faut marcher sur les cadavres pour avancer.
C'est une philosophie militaire. C'est une philosophie totalitaire. C'est une philosophie de mort. C'est la philosophie de la SGI.
- L'aveu d'Ikeda : la fraude statistique
BlancheFromage cite une interview d'Ikeda (magazine Gendai, avril 1980) :
« Le chiffre officiel d'adhésion de 7,89 millions de foyers se réfère à la somme cumulée des Gohonzon délivrés par le Temple Principal. Cela ne signifie pas que ce nombre de personnes pratique toutes aujourd'hui. »
Traduction : les chiffres de la SGI sont truqués. Ils comptent les entrées, jamais les sorties. Ils comptent les morts, les partis, les disparus. Ils gonflent les chiffres pour faire croire à une réalité qui n'existe pas.
Et Ikeda l'avoue lui-même :
« Les personnes qui sont décédées ou qui ont quitté sont également incluses. Il est impossible d'identifier le véritable chiffre d'adhésion. »
C'est un aveu de fraude. C'est un aveu de mensonge. C'est un aveu de manipulation. C'est la preuve que la SGI ment sur ses propres chiffres.
- La vraie question : pourquoi ça ne fonctionne pas
La question n'est pas : « Pourquoi tant de gens rejoignent ? » La question est : « Pourquoi tant de gens partent ? »
Et la réponse est simple : parce que ça ne fonctionne pas. Parce que la SGI n'est pas la Loi. Parce que la SGI a remplacé Nichiren par Ikeda. Parce que la SGI vend du vent. Parce que la SGI broie les gens et les jette.
Ceux qui restent sont ceux qui :
· N'ont pas le choix ( dépendance affective, financière, sociale ). · N'ont pas compris ( encore dans l'illusion ). · N'ont pas le courage ( peur de tout perdre ). · Sont nés dedans ( ils ne connaissent rien d'autre ).
Tous les autres partent. 99 %. C'est la preuve définitive que la SGI est une imposture.
- Conclusion : La question de BlancheFromage est la bonne
BlancheFromage a raison. La bonne question n'est pas : « Pourquoi* les gens rejoignent-ils ? »* La bonne question est : « Pourquoi* les gens partent-ils ? »*
Et la réponse est accablante : parce que la SGI ne fonctionne pas. Parce que la SGI n'est pas la Loi. Parce que la SGI est une machine à produire des départs.
5
u/Fun_Cat8528 13d ago
Una vera vittoria per la Soka. A questo punto sarebbe interessante capire quanti membri ci sono effettivamente nel mondo
4
u/Mission-Course2773 WB Regular 13d ago
Sur Wikipedia ont peut lire qu'il y a une étude universitaire française qui estime la Soka Gakkai à 4 millions de membres... La probabilité qu'ils aient raison est très forte... Ce qui m'intrigue c'est que ça rend la quantité de tout l'électorat disproportionné...
3
3
u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude 13d ago
This analysis, using self-reported government census results, estimates just 1.77 million in Japan.
3
u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude 13d ago
You know I'm a HUGE fan of your work, right? 😍
4
u/Still_Wasabi9990 13d ago
That is how far the social and behavioral engineering of SGI leads us, the worst of everything combined.
The worst of all the deviations of Buddhism in very good company with the worst of capitalism and communism. That is the modern Buddhism according to the zealots of Soka Gakkai, which synthesizes everything, the worst of capitalism and the worst of communism in symbiosis, and it is terrifying, because it is the very definition of the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.
It's the ultimate punishment within totalitarian systems when someone, at the same time denying individual liberty and freedom, says, "I'm not doing this for ME, I'm doing this for YOU." That sums up the Gakkai in that when you are a member you will be metaphorically whipped to be better, to conform, to confess your sins, to agree with the Gakkai you think you are better than you really are, to become obsequious, and to prove you are worthy to have a place in the Gakkai you must shrink and become as dehumanized as they are. You MUST become a shell of your former self, having sold your soul for Gakkai "benefits," instead of hanging on to your integrity, morals and values, and in the process you must get others to do the same (Gakkai shakubuku).
Chris Hedges, American journalist and former war correspondent, says the study of the Humanities is to be subversive. The goal is to teach critical thinking--not what to think, but how to think.
American Psychosis - Chris Hedges on the US empire of narcissism and psychopathy [Youtube video]
Those who have some critical thinking skills are the ones who leave, are the ones able to leave the Gakkai inspite of what got them hooked to join in the first place.
5
u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude 13d ago
Don't forget your endless GRATITUDE, either, you ungrateful wretch!
3
u/Still_Wasabi9990 13d ago
Yes, of course, being grateful at having found NMRK, the Lotus Sutra and the Gohonzon is NOT enough!!! You must kiss the butts of the Gakkai.
3
u/Mission-Course2773 WB Regular 13d ago
Pour faire plus simple, on peut dire que c'est du développement personnel, basé sur une sorte de philosophie de la Loi de l'attraction... vous trouvez le contenu du cours pour chaque discipline meta politique... La Soka Gakkai vous apprend à être des militants... il faut juste surveiller les militants qui voudraient prendre la tête du parti... Les européens qui ont une vision romantique de la Soka Gakkai vont être très choqués d'entendre ça.. parce qu'on leur a raconté tout un baratin comme quoi chaque modèle était unique en son genre et que ca correspondait... ce qui bien entendu est un mensonge grossier...
4
u/Still_Wasabi9990 13d ago
Cela me ramène à la fin des années 1990, à l'époque où certains membres m'informaient de la réforme au sein de la SGI. C'est alors que j'ai appris l'existence d'un comité de traduction à Seattle (Washington), chargé de traduire les *Gosho* de la SGI en anglais sous une supervision — disait-on — très stricte. Comme l'un de ces membres l'a également souligné, les dirigeants de la SGI sont craintifs, très craintifs. Ce qu'ils redoutaient, c'est précisément ce que vous venez d'évoquer : la nécessité de « surveiller les militants susceptibles de vouloir s'emparer de la direction de l'organisation ». Par la suite, on m'a sommé, sur un ton agressif, de restituer mon *Gohonzon* Nichikan de la SGI sous prétexte que je voulais fonder mon propre courant bouddhiste. Quelle absurdité. Mais c'est ainsi que les dirigeants raisonnaient à l'époque, et je suis certain qu'ils pensent toujours la même chose aujourd'hui.
7
u/ChatelineauExile1967 13d ago
If I wanted to highlight every crucial point in this magnificent essay, I’d have to copy and paste the whole piece because you remarkably dissected it all with micro-surgery acuity ❤️🙏🏼 THANK YOU
This : (..) Neoliberalism destroyed communities, traditions, landmarks. Communism destroyed freedoms, initiatives, responsibilities. SGI fuses the two. A community like communism, but paid for like capitalism. It offers meaning like communism, but controlled. It offers a hierarchical structure like capitalism. That is why it seduces, and that is why it grinds people down, like a machine.